By Albert Alvarez
The police of the city of Phoenix are searching for leads that may lead them to a suspect or suspects who may have killed young promising, 17 year old Olympic boxing hopeful, Alexis Urbina.
Reports thus far indicate that Alexis’ mother discovered him beaten and left for dead just a few hours after she left their house which is located near Broadway Road and Central Avenue this past Tuesday.
Alexis Urbina passed away yesterday Thursday after a day and a half of fighting for his life on life support. Alexis was a 2013 USA Boxing Youth National Champion and was training for the 2016 Olympics along with his sister Sulem Urbina and their training coach, Andrew Soto, Alexis’ brother-in-law and husband to Sulem.
His death will lay heavy for his family, friends, and the entire boxing community. Alexis was, I mean IS, a gem, and was a much greater person. I feel extremely privileged to have known him and the conversations we had together will forever be close to my heart.
Too much comes from the death of Alexis Urbina, too many questions left unanswered, a young man with a very bright future was taken from his mother, father, family, and friends who will never be whole again. Hopelessness despair, and anger are deep emotions replaying again and again, echoing, through the entire community.
My brief interactions with Alexis were more than enough to touch me deep, I feel extremely lucky to have had the pleasure to see him in the place where he always looked free and so full of life, inside the squared circle.
I recall a conversation Alexis and I had, where I asked him about his immediate dreams and goals, he responded not just by telling me about his goals but also felt the need to make sure to bring his sister Sulem into his response. He mentioned to me that he is looking forward to represent USA and come back with the gold medal, while his sister can do the same exact thing representing Mexico in the 2016 Olympic games.
At the present time, police are looking into a home invasion as a possible motive since some items were stolen from the home. But in the reality of it all, those things can be replaced, but what was really stolen here, was the life of a young man that had dreams and aspirations of doing big things in life. That is where the true real crime lies, a mindless act of violence took it all from him in a blink of an eye.
It sickens me down to the core, I keep going back to that last conversation that Alexis and I had. He seemed to me to being the type of person that looked ahead towards his dream alongside his sister, but he struck me as not wanting to look deeper into the future. You see, many young fighters that I have talked to, when asked about their goals, they mention to me about going to the Olympics and then turning professional to then become a world champion.
This was a young man who lived in the moment and reminded me that we must not allow to get too far ahead of our sights. To keep our stems grounded, keep your foundation strong. We must not be in too much of a hurry to grow, because like a tree that grows too fast without having strong stems, will have a stronger chance of being blown away because it will not be able to withstand the force of the wind. Alexis was very well grounded and had a clear understanding of what his immediate goals were.
There is a crowd funding account set up online to help the Urbina family with funeral expenses at gofundme.com/46xnfs.
Also it is imperative that if you have any tips for police, please call 480-WITNESS and remain anonymous.
