Highland Park trainer ready to go a few more rounds after 40 years and boxing hall of fame induction

After more than four decades of training fighters and running Highland Park-based WareHouse Boxing Gym, Albert Falcon is now a hall of famer.

Falcon was honored during the Illinois Boxing Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Nov. 16 at the Abbington in Glen Ellyn in front of an audience of more than 1,000 in attendance. 

When he received a phone call letting him know that he was going into the hall of fame, Falcon said that he was “really surprised.”

“But after 40 years in the business, why not?” Falcon joked.

Ten boxing inductees were recognized during the Nov. 16 ceremony, as well as 14 mixed martial arts inductees, including Patrick Doljanin, a coach at WareHouse Boxing Gym who has worked alongside Falcon for 25 years.

Doljanin said that Falcon’s dedication to his training, and his lengthy career in the industry speak for themselves.

“I think it’s a culmination of his unselfish dedication and his body of work,” Doljanin said.

Falcon was born in Cuba, where he said that the sporting options are either “boxing or baseball.” His older cousins in Cuba taught him to box as a child, and Falcon tried to find a boxing gym after his family emigrated to Highland Park. Not able to find one, he instead started playing football and wrestling for Highland Park High School.

After high school, Falcon began powerlifting and opened up a powerlifting gym in Highland Park in 1979, but, unable to kick his first love, boxing, he always “had a punching bag around.”

“After about five or six years, I converted my powerlifting gym into a boxing gym,” Falcon said. “Then, I started competing.”

Falcon went 12-3 in his boxing career and tried to get a professional boxing license at the age of 37, but was told that he was “a little bit too old,” he said. Instead, he made the switch to managing and training fighters. 

“I started training some elite boxers, and we worked with 17 professional boxers,” Falcon said. “I’ve been on every TV channel that shows boxing, but I never did it for the money, I always did it for the love of the sport.”

The fighters with whom he has worked agree that Falcon’s spot in the Illinois Boxing Hall of Fame is well deserved. 

“Albert deserves to be in the Illinois Boxing Hall of Fame because everything he does in boxing is out of love for the sport, and everything he does for his fighters is the same,” said Rino Calise, a boxer who has trained with Falcon at the WareHouse Boxing Gym for more than a year. “He acts in selflessness and has dedicated decades to the sport and provides opportunities for lots of fighters and regular people who want to enjoy boxing.”

Falcon said that one of his intentions in training boxers is to help kids stay out of trouble.

“It’s my job to teach them that you can be as aggressive as you want in the gym, as long as you’re following the rules, but you’re not allowed to be aggressive on the street,” Falcon said. “If you do, you’re going to end up in (juvenile detention), in jail, and end up in big trouble and I won’t be able to help you.”

He said that it’s a “great feeling” to have helped kids avoid trouble, and instead, embrace boxing, throughout his 40-year career.

While he’s been in the business for more than four decades, Falcon has no plans of slowing down just yet. Next up, he wants to train a fighter to become a world champion.

“I’m looking for that one kid who is going to give me a world title,” Falcon said. “It’s just a matter of time.”

WareHouse Boxing Gym is located at 1630 Old Deerfield Road Suite 107 in Highland Park. For more information, call (847) 432-4444, email warehousegymandboxing@gmail.com or visit the gym’s website.

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