Amid boxer Gabriel Flores Jr.’s return to his hometown for what he calls the biggest fight of his career, he has been greeted by the all-too-familiar heartbreak of losing a relative to gun violence.
The Stockton native is taking on former International Boxing Federation world champion Joe Cordina on Saturday at Adventist Health Arena in a bout with title implications. This is a business trip for the 25-year-old Flores, but also the first time he’s returned to Stockton since a mass shooting over Thanksgiving weekend killed four young people — including his cousin Susano Archuleta.
Archuleta, 21, was among those gunned down at a child’s birthday party in north Stockton on Nov. 29. The others who were killed were Amari Peterson, 14, a student-athlete from Modesto; and Journey Rose Guerrero and Maya Lupian, 8-year-old cousins and Stockton schoolgirls…