By Stephen Elliott, Hola America
Jeff Perez passed away surrounded by family at his home on March 8, 2025, at the age of 76.
Perez, the coach who founded Alley Cat Boxing Club in 1996, was, at times, a bit rough around the edges. Anyone who boxed for him would likely tell you that. His voice was distinctive, carrying across the gym, sometimes without warning. It might be because a fighter was not doing what he was supposed to do while sparring. Maybe a young kid was standing around a punching bag instead of punching.
In the Quad Cities and beyond, his name was synonymous with boxing, both amateur and professional, along with mixed martial arts. Perez was an old-school boxing coach who could do a little bit of everything when it came to boxing. He coached kids, worked with world champions, wrapped hands, closed cuts, and directed strategy.
“I don’t believe in telling a kid too many things in the corner,” he said once. “You want to keep the message direct. Don’t give him too many things to think about.”
Whether the boxers trained in his garage, worked out during the four seasons, ran sprints on the long, hilly back alley, Perez made do with what he had before moving his gym to the current location in Moline. He believed in the philosophy of discipline, accountability, and work ethic, passing on those traits to his pupils, including his children.
Tough Love
“He was a tough love kind of a coach. He was a tough love everything. He was a tough love father. He was a tough love trainer. You know, he was a tough guy,” says his son, Jason Perez, who boxed in the amateurs in the 1980s and 1990s.
Coach Perez grew up in Moline. He signed up for the Army at 17 and went to Vietnam at 18. He was nicknamed “The Kid” by his fellow soldiers because he was so young while in combat overseas. He served two tours as a door gunner in the late 60s and lost men who were close to him. “A door gunner is like being on the front line,” Jason said. “He was going down to save people that were in trouble. He rescued many people, picking people up that were trapped and carrying them to his helicopter.
“He was coming home after his first tour in Vietnam and heard a platoon was short. He hopped on the plane and went with them and did a second tour. He said, ‘hell, I’ll go back.’
“He didn’t want to leave his buddies.”
The call sign for his flight platoon was Alley Cats because they fought like alley cats with their gunships in combat. Perez was involved in combat assaults, flew in medevacs, delivered water, ammunition, and food to troops, among other duties. He was awarded a Purple Heart when he suffered shrapnel wounds in battle. Fittingly, the name of his boxing club honors his service.
When he returned to the Quad-Cities after the war, he and his wife Sandy started a family. He worked at John Deere for years before being hired by the Illinois Department of Transportation until his retirement.
He plowed snow away from the interstates in the winter, worked outdoors in the spring, summer and fall, and followed his sons Jason, Joe Tim and his daughter Tempa in their athletic endeavors, whether it was soccer, football, karate, wrestling, cross country or boxing.
His interest in boxing took him to other clubs to work and learn before starting Alley Cat Boxing Club in his garage. Kids heard about the club through word of mouth, making their way to the club to work out.
One of those kids was Limberth Ponce. He started boxing for coach Perez as a boy, riding his bicycle to the gym and soon traveling to boxing shows, winning tournaments, including the Chicago Golden Gloves, before having a successful professional career, finishing with a 20-6 record.
From the time he was 11 years old until his retirement, Ponce spent hundreds of hours sparring, working the mitts, and heeding words of wisdom from Coach Perez.
“When I first saw him, I knew he was promising,” said Perez of his first impression.
“He changed a lot of people’s lives,” Ponce recalls. “He was like a second dad to me. He kept me out of trouble. As a coach, he would give everything for me as a fighter. He paid for us to go eat, the travel, the hotels. If you gave him 100 percent, he would invest in you. Sometimes, he believed in me more than I believed in myself. I’d see guys that were maybe too big, too tall. He would say, ‘you can beat this guy. You can beat him.’ He believed in me, and I would go out there and beat them.”
Photo by Todd Welvaert / Hola America
The coach also worked with others outside his club, including Robbie Lawler, Jens Pulver, and retired mixed martial artist, UFC welterweight champion and UFC Hall of Famer Pat Miletich. “He (Perez) did everything with a lot of intelligence and kindness,” Miletich says. “He was very patient with people. He loved helping kids. That was what it was all about, being a mentor for a lot of people who didn’t have mentors growing up. He was one of those guys you had a great deal of respect for. He was a good human being that loved helping other people.”
Coach Perez’ son Joe, also boxed briefly as a boy, before becoming a top cross-country runner. He watched his dad through the years working with boxers at the gym. “The biggest thing he took pride in, he always said to me, is there wouldn’t always be a national champion every year,” Joe Perez said. “But he had several people that were very successful in everyday life and in being a good citizen, being a good father, being a good husband. That was probably what he was most proud of. He’d run into a former kid he had coached, and the young man would say, ‘Hey coach, I’ve got a job. I’ve got a house.’ Dad really took pride in that.”
In recent years, Perez slowed down. His former fighters, Ponce, and Jesus Correa Jr., ran his boxing club on most days, coaching their sons as boxing amateurs.
Coach Perez also had a working relationship with The Rock Island Boxing Club founder Ramsey Vesey Sr., and helped coach and train Vesey’s son and nephew. “I wanted to bring Jeff onboard,” said Vesey Sr. “I wanted to honor him with the talent of these two boys. He was that missing ingredient they needed. He had a love and a passion for boxing, and a protectiveness for his fighters. He was the real deal. You knew where he stood. He was never afraid to tell you how he felt. He didn’t sugarcoat a thing.”
Today, Vesey Jr., a former Chicago Golden Gloves Champion, and his cousin Vershaun Lee, a former National Golden Gloves Champion, are undefeated professional boxers who recently won at a March 8 professional boxing show at the Davenport River Center, on the day of coach Perez’ passing. In the ring, they paid tribute to coach Perez with a 10-count, after which Ponce and Joe Perez shared a few words. Coach Vesey and Lee also shared what coach Perez meant to them.
“He started off as a boxing coach,” Lee said. “But then, he turned into a grandpa for me. Even though there was a big age gap, we got close, we clicked.”
A few days before his passing, the three along with coach Perez’ friend and fellow trainer Ernest Upchurch, visited with coach Perez at his home. “He was dying before our eyes,” Vesey Sr. said. “I was in denial. I still didn’t believe it when he said, ‘I’m not going to be here much longer.’ We sat for four hours. We talked. We laughed. We went over memories.”
TRIBUTE
On Sunday, March 9, roughly 100 people took pictures in front of the Alley Cat Boxing Club in Moline. There were current and ex-boxers, and MMA fighters. There were generations, kids fighting now, their dads who fought before them. Al Silva, 82, a former amateur star who runs the Silva Boxing Club in Sterling, Ill., has been involved in boxing for 57 years, not including his own time in the ring. He worked with Perez on many boxing shows. “He wasn’t only a coach,” Silva said. “He was a mentor. He spent a lot of time with those kids. He gave a lot back.”
Photo by Jose Murillo / Hola America
Afterwards, they gathered at Kiwanis Park, across the street from the Perez home. People shared memories, kids played basketball and swung on swings. A few threw a football back and forth. A taco truck was parked nearby and the atmosphere was festive on that sunny Sunday. Joe Perez watched the kids run around while the grownups reminisced about his dad. “It was never about awards. He wasn’t about the spotlight. He would be extremely proud of this today, seeing the people here. I don’t think he realized what an impact he had on so many people. I think he would be happy,” he said of his father, a man who left a legacy of service, tenacity, and family – in and out of the ring.
Funeral services for Coach Perez will be at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, March 18, 2025, at Rafferty Funeral Home, 2111-1st St. A, Moline. A rosary will be recited at 2:30 p.m. on Monday, March 17, 2025, with a visitation afterwards from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
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