The intersection of Pico and West boulevards will be dedicated Saturday as Jose Manuel Saucedo Square in honor of the founder of the Westside Boxing Club, which is located at the Mid-City intersection.
The 10 a.m. ceremony at the West Boulevard Bridge will be followed by a community event with food, music and a resource fair that will run through 2 p.m. A boxing class led by Westside Boxing Club trainers will begin at noon.
Saucedo founded the club in 2007 because his grandson was training at various gyms that were expensive, making it difficult for him to box regularly, a problem his sons Jose Jr. and Ignacio also faced in their youth
In addition to youth and amateur boxers, world champions Sugar Shane Mosley, Canelo Alvarez and Victor Ortiz have trained at the Westside Boxing Club. Actor Robert De Niro also trained at the club in preparation for the 2013 film comedy “Grudge Match.”
Saucedo was born Sept. 5, 1955, in Naica, Chihuahua, Mexico and spent his early life working as a miner in his hometown. Saucedo and his wife Leticia immigrated to the United States in the early 1990s, initially working in a sewing factory. They soon saved enough money to bring their sons to Los Angeles.