Life has never been easy for boxing trainer Yecson Preciado. Hailing from Santiago de Guayaquil, Ecuador, he grew up in a drug-fueled, murderous environment. Suffering abuse at the hands of his father, he left home at 10, spending two months on the streets. In spite of these traumatic circumstances, he persisted, driven only by his dream of becoming a boxer. Yecson was eventually adopted by a family. He told them of his aspirations, and they bought him everything he needed to boxing. The remainder of his youth was spent training under his boxing mentor Chango. He fought some of his country’s best boxers, becoming something of a local legend himself. It was not enough for Yecson to fight only for himself. He could have easily fallen victim to a life of crime or homelessness, but boxing saved him. And he knew that it could save others by becoming the best trainer in boxing. Enter Trinibox.
The story of Trinibox begins in 2014. Boxing trainer Yecson Preciado watched as police mass-evicted a suburb of Guayaquil. Given nowhere else to go, an entire neighborhood’s worth of families suddenly found themselves homeless. Never one to just sit and watch injustice occur around him, Yecson was inspired to start Trinibox, a boxing gym that caters to youth facing homelessness. “I train them until the age of 13,” boxing trainer Yecson tells Your Everyday Heroes. “Then, they can participate in a national game. And I have to train them the best I can because the bad ones don’t go there… Later, they fight and become champions, and only then do they get a salary.”
All this is not to say that Yecson doesn’t have his own personal dream. But even that is intertwined with his desire to see his students grow: “My goal since I started this,” the boxing trainer explains, “was to see a student of mine fighting in Las Vegas… or at the Olympic Games.” While his dream has not yet come true, it is not outside the realm of possibility. Considering that many of his students have competed nationally, training an international champion is the next logical step for Yecson