For the
average
boxer a
career
may only
last a
few
years,
but
Jesse
James
Leija is
far from
average,
and
amazingly
he
remained
near or
at the
top of
the
boxing
game for
most of
his 16+
year
career.
He won 2
World
Titles,
had 9
World
Title
fights,
defeated
15 World
Contenders,
3
Olympians
and
retired
with a
record
of
47-7-2
with 19
knockouts.
For 16+
years,
he
brought
civility
and
honor to
a sport
that
rarely
offers
any of
it. Very
few in
boxing
history
can
claim to
have won
them
all. In
today’s
era,
very few
attempt
to fight
them
all.
Leija
can take
great
pride in
the fact
that he
can at
least
subscribe
to the
latter.
Born and
raised
in San
Antonio,
Texas,
Leija
was
practically
born
into the
boxing
game.
His
grandfather
and
uncle
were pro
fighters,
as was
his
father,
a former
Texas
Golden
Gloves
champion.
Despite
this
pugilistic
pedigree,
Leija’s
parents
didn’t
allow
him to
box
until he
graduated
high
school.
When a
coach
told
Leija he
was too
small to
play
football
at
Harlandale
High
School,
he
became a
boxer.
He was
then
told
that he
was too
small to
be a
boxer,
so he
became a
world
champion.
As a
boxer,
in
addition
to being
too
small,
they
said he
didn't
have
enough
power to
ever
amount
to
anything.
All he
did was
last 16+
years
and make
millions.
He's
short,
but that
wasn't
his
biggest
shortcoming
in the
ring. He
never
seemed
mean
enough
to be a
fighter,
but in
the end
maybe
that was
a good
thing.
And in
San
Antonio,
he
became a
hero and
symbol
of hope,
particularly
on the
South
and West
sides
where
boxing
always
has been
a
desirable
outlet
for
aggression
and a
way out
of the
barrio.
Boxing
was
Leija’s
ticket
out,
too. But
it came
at a
price.
He took
up the
sport at
age 19,
much to
the
concern
of his
mother.
As an
amateur,
the
first
time
Leija
came
home
with a
broken
nose, he
expected
warmth
and
words of
encouragement
from his
mother.
Instead,
his
mother
told him
to give
up the
sport;
she
wanted
her son
to
become a
physical
therapist.
But he
wouldn't
be
discouraged
easily,
he
already
had
wrapped
himself
around a
dream —
to
become a
world
champion
prizefighter
— and
wouldn't
let go.
He
started
out as
an
amateur,
competing
in the
Golden
Gloves
and
early
on,
Leija
showed
himself
to be a
top
prospect.
Boxing
fit like
a second
skin.
Compiling
a 23-5
record
in a
short
amateur
career,
despite
his
relative
inexperience,
he won a
San
Antonio
Golden
Gloves
title
and
earned a
spot in
the 1988
Olympic
Trials,
where he
lost a
razor-thin
decision
to
two-time
world
amateur
champion
Kelcie
Banks.
With his
Olympic
dreams
derailed,
Leija
turned
to the
pro
ranks,
the
victories
began
piling
up at an
alarming
rate. He
won his
first 17
bouts,
10 by
knockout.
On
October
2, 1988,
Leija
won his
1st
professional
fight by
stopping
Oscar
Davis in
a single
round.
14
consecutive
wins
followed
before
Leija
and
Edward
Parker
fought
to a
disputed
ten
round
draw in
October
of 1990.
He set
the
standard
locally
for how
to
conduct
a
career.
With few
exceptions,
Leija
kept the
same
team
together
from
beginning
to end.
He
overachieved
but was
under
appreciated
for his
ring
skills.
He was a
thinking
fighter,
first
and
foremost.
He
carried
bravery
in his
heart.
He was
substance
over
style,
character
over
charisma.
Leija
approached
boxing
as an
athletic
contest
— he
touched
gloves
with an
opponent
before
every
round in
a sign
of
sportsmanship
— not a
life-and-death
struggle.
Other
fighters
sometimes
didn't
like
that
about
him, but
they
faded
long
before
Leija.
He
wasn't
considered
an
A-list
fighter,
but he
fought
virtually
all the
big
names in
four
divisions.
Oscar De
La Hoya.
Azumah
Nelson.
Gabe
Ruelas.
Kostya
Tszyu.
Shane
Mosley.
Arturo
Gatti.
World
champions,
all.
He knew
how to
fight,
and how
to
retire.
During
his
retirement
speech,
the only
person
he
didn't
thank
was the
doctor
who
brought
him into
the
world.
He went
out the
right
way. Not
in leg
irons
and
handcuffs.
Not
cursing
and
claiming
he was
robbed.
Not
penniless
and
picking
up cans
along
the side
of the
road.
Now
retired,
he is
already
turning
his
attention
to life
after
boxing.
He is
soon to
open his
ChampionFit
Gym (a
boxing
gym/fitness
center),
he is
endorsing
his own
line of
sausage
and
chorizo
that is
soon to
be
available
throughout
Texas
and one
of the
projects
he seems
proudest
to be
involved
with is
a
program
called
the
Miracle
League.
The
program
allows
handicapped
and
underprivileged
children
to play
baseball.
Content
in his
new role
as
entrepreneur
and
businessman,
Jesse
James
Leija’s
record
will
show
that he
lost his
last
fight,
but he
went out
the same
way he
came in
— a
winner.
"I
fought
the best
guys in
the
world, I
not only
beat
some of
them, we
were
trying
to kill
each
other
inside
the
ring,
but
afterwards
I became
friends
with a
lot of
them.
They
brought
out the
best in
me.”
"When
you look
at Jesse
James
Leija,
he
overcame
every
challenge
in front
of him
not only
in
boxing,
but in
life,
and he
faced
them
with
courage
and
determination.
He dared
to be
great.
There
are not
many
fighters
who do
that,” –
Lester
Bedford,
Leija’s
manager
throughout
his pro
career.
