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By Ray Hamill — As he gets set for the biggest fight of his young life, Ricardo Talavera Jr. is hoping his journey can serve as inspiration for young people on the North Coast.

The Humboldt County native and former Fortuna Husky will make his professional debut in bare knuckle fighting in Palm Desert next month, but it’s been a long road to get here, with many twists and turns and decisions that sent him down the wrong path.

Talavera, however, believes he has found a home for himself in the ring after first being introduced to the sport at the Bear River fights last year.

“It’s definitely something I started having a very, very close relationship with,” he said of bare knuckle fighting. “It made me realize where I was in life. It’s something you can’t explain. You have to do it for yourself.”

By his own admission, Talavera struggled to find direction in his life as a teenager.

But things began to change for the 20-year-old when he made the decision to fight at Bear River 11 months ago, making his debut at Rumble at the River 6.

He lost his debut fight by split decision, but something began to click for the young fighter and a love for the competition began to take hold.

He would fight again at Bear River five months later, losing another split decision, before leaving the county and moving south to Oceanside.

He carried with him a newfound love for the sport of bare knuckle fighting and continued to hone his talents at the Cvmpound Gym, where he was encouraged to take up the sport professionally.

Next month, Talavera will make his pro debut after signing a contract with the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, facing off against the experienced Victor Flor at BKFC 89.

He joins another Humboldt County native, Ryan Petersen, who also will be in action at BKFC 89 after also getting his start in the sport at Bear River and is 2-2 after making his pro debut last year.

But getting there has not been easy for Talavera, who by his own admission was headed down a very different path before he found direction.

“I came from a very troubled childhood,” he said. “I started doing bad things, started falling down the wrong rabbit hole. I started doing some gang activity, and to this day I regret it. You feel like you’re accomplishing something, but you’re only failing.”

Talavera played football and wrestled at Fortuna High School, before leaving the Huskies and attending East High continuation school in Fortuna, where he graduated in 2024.

“Up to my sophomore year I was doing good,” he said. “And then I started falling off. I started getting bullied and let it get to me, and then I started doing what they were doing.”

A decision to fight at Bear River, however, would change the course of Talavera’s life, and something clicked when he stepped in the ring.

“Something told me I needed to go in there and show people I have the heart to do something with my life,” he said. “Something told me I needed to be in the ring.”

After his two fights at Bear River, Talavera made the decision to move south and start over, and the change, coupled with his newfound focus, has transformed his life.

The 20-year-old says he has been drug free for 18 months and now spends most of his time training in the gym and preparing for what he hopes will be a long career in the ring.

“Every since I moved down here I started doing good things and never looked back,” he said. “You can do it if you stay positive and keep pushing.

“It clicked for me that what I was doing is really not what I should be doing, that I was wasting my life, and as soon as I realized that I took control of my life.

“I am a very addictive person and I had to leave. I knew what I needed to do. If you really want to change, it’s just something you have to do.”

Talavera now trains for several hours a day, six days a week.

He says the people he met in the gym encouraged him to go pro, and that’s given him the confidence and focus he needed.

“I train my butt off and proved to these coaches here that I can compete at this level,” he said. “They threw it at me, ‘do you want to fight at the BKFC?’”

The answer for Talavera was a resounding yes.

Photo by Kenneth Tinkham Photography

And now he’s busy preparing for his pro debut in the sport on May 22 and is confident he can beat Flor, a 38-year-old veteran fighter.

“He’s more experienced,” Talavera said of Flor, who carries a record of 4-3 into next month’s fight. “But I think my speed’s going to take him for sure.”

Whether he wins or not, Talavera believes he’s already succeeding.

He has overcome a troubled past and gotten his life back on track, and he’s done so at a relatively young age.

But more than anything, Talavera wants to inspire young people in Humboldt County and show them there are alternatives when you feel trapped in difficult situations.

“I want to show kids that are in the situation I was in and trying to prove a point to people that there is a way out,” he said. “I want to prove to them that no matter how stuck you feel, there’s always a way out to do better.”

Talavera says Bear River promoter John McGinnis played a big role in helping him turn things around.

He also has a close relationship with his parents and four brothers, and says “they’re the reason I’m doing good, because they helped me a lot.”

As for his future, Talavera is keeping his options open but is hoping to continue fighting — in the ring and not on the street — for as long as he can.

“I’m definitely doing pretty good now,” he said. “I’m just the type of guy to go with the flow. If something comes up, something comes up, but right now I’m planning on sticking with fighting for sure.”

And he wants to keep inspiring young people in Humboldt County who find themselves on the wrong path.

“Just keep pushing through those hard times,” he said. “I just want those kids to understand I’ve been there and it will get better. Every day is a day to grow.”