"In boxing there are 3 distances: long, medium and short. In social boxing there are four, long, medium, short and then the last one that is the best: the hug. The best message that a kid without opportunities or alternatives can have is to give him a hug, to see that he is not alone, that he has unconditional support. So you can create a sense of community and healthy habits." David narrates his project with that enthusiasm that noble causes give and with the anger that is felt when the administration moves away from the most disadvantaged.

That passion and that will to help those who need it most, usually young people, he met and transmitted to others in the Uva de Hortaleza, a popular and humble neighborhood of Madrid. He did it through boxing, a sport that requires the discipline and strength necessary to get ahead without falling into drugs or crime that can be taken to your environment.

But it is not a boxing to give blows but a very concrete one with a social component, such as the prevention of hate speech, homophobia, sexism and drug prevention. "We create healthy habits" among the youngest and also "a bond between them," says David who adds that "in the end we move them away from the bad life and they themselves, from their criteria, begin to be responsible for their actions, they know how to say 'no', 'no' to drugs, for example, when at a certain age it is difficult due to peer pressure. "

"I come from a very beautiful experience in my neighborhood, in the Uva de Hortaleza. It worked very well among the kids, we reached where the educational system did not reach and we eradicated bullying, harassment, sexist speeches. We could reach all those kids who centrifuged the educational system and who often do not even adapt to it. Imagine a gypsy child who is clear that at 15 years old he does not want to study and they are forcing him, because he blows up the class. It is a clear example. In Boxa Raval nobody is obliged to come, who comes is because they really like it".

This sporting and vital philosophy was brought by David from Madrid to Barcelona six years ago and began to apply it in the most disadvantaged neighborhood of the city: El Raval. Specifically in the Sant Pau Social Gymnasium, which functioned as a cooperative so that vulnerable people could also play sports as well as assist and help those who needed it most. There was born Boxa Raval that allowed to attract hundreds of children and "some adult" to the classes and teach them a sport that "is a tool that helps us to convey many things" with a basic and "sacred" rule: "You can not hit in the street".

Combat of the meetings organized by Boxa Raval@BoxaRaval

"We do not like the rules very much because they come from failing and that is why we put only one that is not to look for fights outside", explains David who narrates how those three intense years were with his project in the Raval: "We met other popular gyms, such as the Rukeli de Sabadell or the one in the Gràcia neighborhood, and we did boxing matches "entrebarrios", which we celebrated in the Agora Juan Andrés Benítez. We gathered kids from all over in an evening of boxing and ended with a hug and all going to the beach together with families." They also had the support of social movements such as Marea Turquesa, or entities such as the Red Cross, Arrels or Pere Tarrès Foundation, which contacted via Sant Pau.

"I was referred by people, young people and adults from these entities since there is a lot of demand for boxing but when the project ended in the Raval they never contacted me again," says David who highlights "the affection and respect of the neighbors and the parents of the kids, as well as some neighborhood associations, such as Lokal and Acció Raval. " David's social boxing classes concluded in 2020 when the Sant Pau board dismissed him, although after appealing to the courts it was considered that it was inadmissible.

Ninguneo in Ciutat Vella

Since then he has been looking for a space for Boxa Raval in the neighborhood to continue with his social project. He has asked for a place, without success, to the Ciutat Vella District of the Barcelona City Council and even met with the counselor Oriol Casabella to give them one in the municipal sports center Can Ricart that is public, but managed by a private company. "They have an underused place and I do not ask for it only for Boxa Raval, but for all the sports entities in the neighborhood" that do not have adequate facilities.

El Raval has a high deficit of sports spaces and that is why the entities claim places to carry out their activities. David met with Casabella and the person in charge of Can Ricart, Paco Ruano, "and in the end they gave me long. For there to be an excluded, there has to be another that excludes. And these people who have the power and have the spaces, are constantly excluding us." "The Boxa Raval project is in high demand among young people and despite that and the social importance on them, I am not given any premises in the neighborhood. It's funny."

He also addressed the Consell del Raval last February to know the public spending on police in the neighborhood since despite having more agents "there are more drugs, narcopisos" as well as "violent evictions" or the feeling of insecurity with more robberies. "No one is bothered? Is no one going to do is go to raise their voice? We need answers. The neighbors are worried. They feel more and more unsafe because there are more drugs, but also more police. That is, fires are being put out with gasoline, "David questions and regrets that no one answers him despite the fact that they are "sincere, concrete and direct" questions.

Boxing class social@BoxaRaval

"Our kids need healthy leisure alternatives with a real impact, we have been invaded by foundations of banks / social works and educators who can not develop any sports project from within the young community of the neighborhood, social services are a constant failure in this regard," David explained to the Consell and "before his passivity" offered "Boxa Raval as an alternative" since it is "a tool to prevent addictions and delinquency in youth."

That is why he asked to invest in the project through the cession of a place in the municipal gymnasium and "turn it into a service for the community." "They don't take us into consideration. Above all, the youth society of the Raval is not being heard. The voice of those below, of the kids, is not being heard," says David, who concludes that everything is a matter of "political, social will and creating communities from within."

An "honest" sport

David is not only critical of the administration but also of entities and foundations that take advantage of the neighborhood: "The third sector has created a macromarket of usury and poverty in the Raval." He also points out that many of these associations "that fill their mouths to save the poor are not in the neighborhood. El Raval is a brand to use in their foundations, but they do not contribute anything to the neighborhood, they subtract the name and subtract the poor for their personal profit."

Fight in the Agora Juan Andrés Benítez del Raval@BoxaRaval

The Boxa Raval project can also be extended to other neighborhoods of the city that want to give an opportunity to the youngest, with a minimum of investment, such as sacks or premises. "There are more and more popular gyms throughout Catalonia as the administration puts itself in profile, it is unstoppable," says David. He also defends that boxing is a very honest sport since it is very demanding on a physical level and creates discipline. "It is a sport that you must practice constantly and, although you are alone hitting another, you depend on the group to train you," he remarks and adds that "a kid who practices it ends up with vices, such as smoking or drinking, incompatible to train."

Although the project is for young people, it also teaches adults and sometimes mixes them since they create "a very natural bond, the adolescent corrects himself and becomes serious and the adult recovers his youth. In the end it's like a balance and you work in harmony," says David. In addition, he believes that it is a sport "without cheating" in which there is an "explicit but regulated violence, and two face each other with the same weapons, two hands, two legs, a mind that moves the heart and you end with a hug."


  • Barcelona
  • Heroin
  • Articles Germán González

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Learn more