Blood Sweat and Tears: A Dad, a Son, and a Gym

The gym is situated off an alley in an older part of town.

The door to the red square building is old and scared, like a face that’s taken to many blows.  

Creaking steps lead to the entrance, which is covered with pictures of a fighter over the words “Rest Easy Taj Fields.”  

Boxing lore is filled with places like this. The young Cassius Marcellus Clay (later Muhammad Ali) learned to box in a basement gym in Louisville, Ky. “The Brown Bomber,” Joe Louis, found boxing at a Brewster Recreation Center in Detroit, Mich. Brewster’s was small, smelly, and cramped, but soon became a second home to Louis, and sometime later, another youngster, born Walker Smith, who would be known to the world as Sugar Ray Robinson.   

If there had been no tiny gym in Kentucky, and a recreation center in Michigan, the boxing world might have never witnessed the boxing prowess of Ali, Lous, and Robinson.   

Without these work-a-day places, their dreams might have died.

Hit Squad Boxing is such a place. Once a nightclub, the gym found life in 2004. The man who opened it was a fighter of some renown. His talent was obvious to those who worked with him. He lived boxing to the fullest. To him, there was nothing else. As a young boy, he grew up listening to his grandmother tell stories about her cousin, professional boxer Joe Vargas, who fought for a world title in the 1920s. 

The young man could feel her pride with every word she spoke.

“My dad was ten when he walked from Marysville to a gym in Yuba City to learn how to box,” said Miguel Fields, son of Taj Fields. ”It was owned by Mr. Romero. He watched world champions Bobby Chacon and Tony Lopez train.”  

Three years later, Fields was in Oakland working with Charles King in a rundown gym made famous years later by Olympic gold medalist, and world champion, Andre Ward.   

“My dad had a pretty stellar amateur boxing career,” the younger Fields said.   

Taj Fields won over 100 fights, capturing the top spot in many California tournaments. He split two fights with future world champion Clarence “Bones” Adams and was crowned California State Golden Gloves Champion in 1996.    

Fields was a dad at 17 and a professional fighter soon after. The future looked rosy until an injury at his day job ruined his hip. Fields, who had compiled a record of 10-1 as a pro, was finished as a boxer. He was 24 years old.   

He channeled his love of boxing to his young son, Miguel. They’d be a team.     

“I can remember training next to my dad here in Marysville when I was four years old,” says Miguel Fields with a smile. “There were times it was fun, and times when it was hell”  

But Fields knew that his dad was molding him into a good fighter. A family problem caused the then-seven-year-old Fields to train in Modesto. Through his dad, he was introduced to Sammie Lacross, Bill Silva, and Louie Jordan. 

“It was my lifetime opportunity to learn with experienced trainers,” said Fields.   

Soon, his dad was back in the picture.   

“My dad was a perfectionist,” Fields said. “He was all about standards. We’re in the gym and my dad pointed out a fighter who wanted to go to the Olympics. Dad told me, ‘You see him? You’ve jumped more rounds than him.  

“He planted it in my head at a young age about what a work ethic was. ”’If someone beats you, son,” he told me, “I’m OK with that. That’s part of the game. We’ll come back, but if you lose by getting tired – that’s not acceptable.’” 

“I was up at four am running miles. If it wasn’t up to his standards, there would be a problem. But there weren’t many problems, because I knew what he expected.”  

Fields, like his dad, would win a number of amateur tournaments. He made it to the National Silver Gloves - competing with future professional champions Rasheen Warren, Adrien Broner, and Danny Garcia. His record was an outstanding 30-4, but there were problems between father and son.   

“I didn’t fight that much,” said Fields. “Dad wanted everything to be ready and perfect. I’d train for six to eight weeks and no fight. Then we’d argue.”   

The professional ranks beckoned, but disagreements had become commonplace. Even Fields’ boxing style was a point of contention.   

“I was a boxer-puncher, Dad was a slugger,” recalled Fields. “I came up in the era of (Hall of Famer) Roy Jones. Drove my dad crazy. He always said, “keep your hands up.” Everything he told me needed to be said. I was just young and hardheaded.”  

Fields wanted to be his own man.  

“I’d be getting ready for a fight, we’d have a fight, I’d go stay with my mom,” Fields said. “Happened a bunch of times. I was also drinking and smoking. Being a world champion has been a dream of mine since I was four years old. I’d be home and see these other guys getting opportunities. I was lost.”  

More arguments, more silences.   

“I know dad was training a top ranked fighter, “Fields said. “We were in one of those things when we weren’t talking.”  

The months dragged by.  

November 2, 2016, seemed like a normal day until the unthinkable happened.   

Fields hadn’t spoken to his dad in eight months.   

“I was sleeping. My Mom comes into the room screaming,” said Fields. ”Dad had been shot. We didn’t know who did it. My little brother was with my dad. He saved his life. My little brother went to get help. He had to step over my dad’s body. He’s my hero.” 

Fields saw what was happening and shielded his son. The assailant fired several shots, all striking Fields who died where he fell - exiting the gym he loved.   

He was 42.   

Information came out later that the shooter was a friend of the family who worked at the gym.   

”He had a lot of talent, but started hanging with the wrong crowd,” Fields said. “He went to jail and was later treated for schizophrenia. After he got out of jail, my dad wanted to help him out. He started helping in the gym, but he was still having mental issues.   

“We got were close over the years. The guy was like a brother to me. He told me one time that ’my dad was more of a dad to him than his own dad. I never thought he would do anything. He waited for my dad to come down the stairs…”  

Senseless. Fields was numb. And lost. The gym went dark.     

“What my dad did in this community, no one has ever done,” Fields said. “He put this community on his back for these kids. Dad wanted to train a world champ, but being here with the kids was his calling. He was a special person.”  

Near the anniversary of his dad’s death, Fields woke up one day and asked himself what the hell he was doing. Not much, he answered. Soon after, he made a decision. He would fight, not in the amateurs, but as a professional. He had no choice. The itch was back. The dream of being a champion still burned. He had to find out.   

“I lost sixty pounds in three months,” says Fields shaking his head. “I had to fight for my mental health. For dad. But he wasn’t here to train me. First time.”  

Fields thought he would be fighting someone of equal inexperience but ended up tangling with the Mexican National champion. He did pretty well in the early going but grew weak after losing so much weight. He ended up getting stopped.   

Disappointed and angry, Fields searched for answers.   

“I was upset with boxing,” said Fields. “I put my blood, sweat and tears into this. I knew I had the skills.”  

A few months later, still aimless, Fields received a call from a young kid his dad had been training. The kid needed a trainer. He wanted Fields to train him, but the answer was no. The kid persisted. Finally, Fields agreed.    

“We would meet at a school and later at a church garage,” remembered Fields.  

“One day I heard a knock at my door,” said Pastor David Dena. “It was Miguel. His dad used to come here. The gym was shut down after the shooting. He told me he had to do something to help the kids. I told him to go for it. We had some bags in the garage.”  

Soon, Fields was training several youngsters.    

“It felt so natural,” Fields said.   

“When you give, you receive,” Dena said.  

The training helped Fields mourn, but his sorrow ran deep.   

“I had a lot of regrets,” Fields said. “Sometimes I’m upset with my own dad, even though he had passed away, and other days I’m upset with myself.”   

Fields then made a decision he wasn’t sure he could keep. He would reopen his dad’s gym.   

“I didn’t know if I had the courage, “Fields said. “I’ve been here (in the gym) since I was thirteen years old. There’s so much history.”  

And ghosts of the past in every corner. But Fields soon realized that even with the pain, came redemption. The gym was like home. His joy was obvious when the doors reopened to his dad’s sanctuary nearly a year after his tragic death.   

Fields felt reborn.  

“It gave me power, said Fields. “I had the keys back.”  

Losing the gym had been almost as bad as his dad’s shocking death.     

Success soon followed. Fields has trained two Northern California champions, a 2021 National Junior Olympics Silver medalist, and has two boxers, Kaden Freeman, and Felix Guzman, ranked in the top five. He has high hopes for 16-year-old Guzman.   

More importantly, Fields feels centered. He misses his dad, but he doesn’t brood about it.   

“I’ve made my peace,” he says with a smile. “Now that I’m older, I know that everything my dad was trying to do, he had my best interests in doing it. He needed boxing. He did everything to the best of his ability.”  

Fields is the man at the gym. He’s Coach Fields. Pictures of his dad adorn the walls as if watching over him.  

“That was the cloth I was cut from,” Fields said. “This is my paradise. I felt so bad before when the kids in the community weren’t getting a chance to do stuff. That hurt.”  

The feeling is alive and electric in the gym. Kids smile. And work. Hard. Fields watches over all them as his dad used to. 

As hard as it is to walk up the stairs where his dad died, Fields does it. It feels right.   

Somewhere Taj Fields is smiling down and filled with pride.   

He lives on through his son.   

Originally published in the Gridley Herald and Territorial Dispatch Jan.27, 2023