Life flipped upside down last weekend for the Palacios, a family known for their unrelenting love for boxing. On Jan. 24, head trainer, owner and founder of The Truth Boxing Gym in West Turlock, Adrian Palacio, suddenly passed away in his sleep. It is a loss that has sent shockwaves throughout the entire state’s tightly-knit boxing community.
The unfathomable loss of the 41-year-old has also brought the heavy responsibility of keeping the popular gym, and its over 150 members, active and successful. And it’s one that his wife, Veronica, and amateur boxing champion son, Christian, are determined to take on.
“It’s been a crazy week, to say the least,” Veronica said. “But we’ve felt like there hasn’t been any time to stop. We couldn’t stop. This gym is basically our home, and the home of so many kids who box for fun, to do away from home and those looking to make actual careers out of this.”
For many boxers, they're unfamiliar with afternoons that don’t consist of hard work inside the gym. For others, hitting the bags was a way to cope with the flurry of emotions.
Nearly every day this week, the gym has been open for regular hours, and nearly all regulars showed up to train, including Christian, who is adamant on sticking to plans to go professional later this year.
“I’m going to turn pro because I want to see him again and I know I will when I have that championship belt in my hands like he wanted,” he said. “I want it more than ever to show that what my dad believed in was true…. I want my dad to be remembered as a man who was never afraid to bet on or believe in himself and always believing in me.”
“There’s been a lot of questions about what we’re going to do with the gym, if it’s going to close, but we can’t do that,” Veronica added. “This gym was Adrian’s life, his work. He put so much into this. We all have. He spoke many times about Christian going pro and taking over down the line to continue the legacy.”
It will be an expensive and extensive operation in order to do so, as the gym is one of the only sources of income for the family. It also operates out of a predominantly new venue. While The Truth has existed for a number of years at a number of spots across town, they moved into their new 3,660 square-foot space at 2224 Maryann Drive in January of 2024. A number of boxers are also scheduled to travel to events over the next five weeks — the Caballero Promotes Boxing in Sacramento and the USA Boxing Golden Gloves Tournament in March.
“Like Christian, these kids don’t want to stop,” Veronica said. “I even told them, if it’s too much for you to go, you don’t have to and that it’s completely fine, because they’re grieving and it’ll take time to adjust to not having Adrian training them or in their corners. But they are so determined.”
Six volunteer, registered coaches have stepped up this week and will continue to do so for the coming weeks. Community partners have also begun fundraising efforts to help keep the gym open, the family afloat and the dreams of Adrian and his dozens of clients alive.
The main effort to support the Palacio family and The Truth Boxing Gym is a GoFundMe at https://gofund.me/a7e4a4f6. The Gonzalez Boxing Gym in Madera is selling custom fight posters with a graphic of Palacio for $25 at their Instagram, @Gonzalez_Boxing_Team. Local combat sports content creator Marissa Olivera is selling her signature “FightCulture” apparel for $15 on her Instagram, @FightCultureCA. On Sunday at 10 a.m., the KW Recovery Lab at 330 Crane Avenue in Turlock will have a cold tub fundraiser, where for a donation, attendees can take a dip in a cold tub, Christian’s preferred recovery method.
And the family wants to make one thing absolutely clear: The gym is still open for business, taking new clients every day.
