Anthony Figueroa could have been another statistic.
As a teenager running the streets of Gilroy, he had no direction, no goals - all he had was free time.
Being passed around from one family member to the next, there was little to no structure in molding the man he has become today. But then something happened.
While one moment doesn't define a person's life, Figueroa, 28, can point towards a specific turning point in which his existence took on greater meaning than just having a good time.
"What's kept me on course, really, it's my kids," Figueroa said. "I can't have this free-time to hang out and run around the streets and have a good time. I was kind of a knucklehead.
"Once my son came, I knew exactly what I wanted to do."
A father of three with his girlfriend, Jennifer, of 13 years, Figueroa was determined to make sure his son Anthony II (he also has a 4-year-old son, Joseph, and an eight-month-old daughter, Alexa) wouldn't fall into the same cycle of uncertainty that he and his brother, Angel, had to go through.
"We moved a lot in our younger days," Angel said. "We moved [to Gilroy], Washington [state], a couple different cities up there - we were just young kids running wild."
Figueroa declined to go into too much detail about his parents' difficulties in raising him and his brother, but he did say alcohol was an issue in the home. As a result, Figueroa has become the family health-nut, refusing to drink or take any kind of medication that isn't absolutely necessary.
"I love my dad and everything I've gone through has kind of made me the person I am today," Figueroa said. "Growing up with him, it was always kind of tough. As we grew up, he liked to drink alcohol and stuff, and to this day he still has an alcohol problem. That's always kind of interfered with our relationship, a father-son relationship. It kept me away. It kept him away."
Figueroa's mother helps out with his kids from time to time but the two don't see each other too often.
"She'll do whatever she can to help (but) she sticks with my dad," Figueroa said. "I guess you call them old-school. They're unbreakable."
As a result of what he has seen and experienced, Figueroa is never far from his family, whether it be coaching his sons' and nephews' Little League teams, teaching a niece to box or showing his youngest son how to ride a bike. The only thing that does keep him out of the house these days is working to provide them with a better way of life.
Figueroa often puts in 16-hour days, working in quality assurance for a medical equipment company in San Jose and training at Cung Le's Universal Strength Headquarters in Milpitas. A student of tae kwon do, boxing and kickboxing, Figueroa, known as "Antdawg" to the mixed-martial arts faithful, is working relentlessly to let his fists, feet and elbows put food on the table. The next step in his quest of becoming a full-time professional fighter will take place tonight at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, as he takes on Chris Cariaso (6-1) in a preliminary bout of the Strikeforce card being headlined by Gilbert "El Nino" Melendez and Josh "The Punk" Thomson for the Strikeforce World Lightweight Championship.
"[My family] inspires me to train hard when I'm in San Jose because I'm really sacrificing time away from them," said Figueroa, who currently boasts a 4-2 record. "When I'm away from them, it's like motivation to do my best and to get the most out of training."
Le, the Strikeforce Middleweight Champion after a recent win over Frank Shamrock, not only serves as the owner of the gym Figueroa trains in, but also is a mentor to the pit-bullish Gilroy native.
"He's a huge inspiration and guidance for me as an athlete," Figueroa said.
According to Le, the talent and drive of the 5-foot-5 135-pounder was easy to spot.
"When Anthony came into the gym, he already had a background in tae kwon do and boxing experience," Le said. "As soon as I saw how hard he worked out and his ethics and ideals, I really saw something special."
Fighting on his third-straight Strikeforce card at the Shark Tank, others are coming to the same assumption.
"My girlfriend is starting to see it, too," Figueroa said. "For a while, I was doing all this amateur fighting and I was like, 'It's going to happen, it's going to happen.' And that's good because it takes a huge amount of support from my family to do this."
The next step will be piling up victories to boost his profile. In his last bout, Figueroa lost to Darren Uyenoyama by submission in the first round. He won't be lacking in motivation for his current fight as Figueroa calls Cariaso, "my arch-rival."
Cariaso lays claim to Figueroa's first-career loss in the cage, earned by a decision a little more than a year ago.
"I'm excited to get this rematch because it's my chance to scratch that loss off my record," Figueroa said.
With extensive work on his ground-game, to gain better position while wrestling and to prevent submission holds, Figueroa feels like he should be the better man after three rounds - assuming it goes that long.
Regardless of the outcome, though, Figueroa knows what's most important will be waiting for him following the fight: Being a role model for his family.
"I think it's very important for kids these days to have structure, have someone to look up to, something to look forward to. Routine," he said. "If you don't have a routine, you're kind of lost. If you don't know what you want, you're kind of wandering around.
"But if you know what you want, you can go and strive for it."
Strikeforce
Gilroy native Anthony "Antdawg" Figueroa will be fighting in one of the preliminary bouts (6:30 p.m.) on tonight's Strikeforce mixed-martial arts card at HP Pavilion. Tickets can be bought at the HP Pavilion ticket office, online at ticketmaster.com or by phone at (408) 998-TIXS.
Josh Koehn Josh Koehn is a sports writer for South Valley Newspapers. He can be reached at jkoehn@svnewspapers.com.
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