Boxing champion Danny Garcia is a hero in Juniata Park

At Harrowgate Boxing Club on Monday afternoon, the seasoned amateur fighters went into their usual routines - one stretched, another jogged while throwing punches, a third boxed the air - and the new ones fussed with jump ropes.

At the Rivera Rec Center, trainers spoke in Spanish about forthcoming fights.

At nearby Freddy & Tony's Restaurant on West Allegheny Avenue in North Philadelphia, waitresses brought out pork, rice, and beans to Spanish-speaking customers. A routine day for all - except, that is, when asked about Danny Garcia.

Each place had its own shrine dedicated to the Juniata Park boxing legend, the undefeated 25-year-old who retained his unified light-welterweight title Saturday night with a unanimous decision over Lucas Matthysse at the Las Vegas MGM Grand Garden Arena.

At the restaurant, the waitresses pointed to his autographed portrait and white and blue gloves hanging from the wall near the walk-up counter. When he's in the area, he usually comes in to eat at the Puerto Rican establishment with his sisters or girlfriend, they said.

Three blocks down, the boxing gym at the Rivera Rec Center is full of posters from Garcia's early days and of other Latino boxers who made it big after spending grueling hours training in the small gym with the worn ring and taped punching bags.

"A lot of them came through here," Humberto Perez said, pointing to the posters. Garcia's outnumbered the rest.

"He's the best role model that Latinos have right now," Perez said. "He's an educated kid who showed you can accomplish things."

Perez's comments were similar to those at Garcia's other former stomping ground - the boxing club in the Harrowgate section of Kensington.

Pictures and newspaper articles about Garcia adorn different parts of the two-story gym. But the focus Monday seemed to be more on future Garcias than on Garcia's newest victory.

"We tell our kids, if you want to be successful, that's who you want to be like," said John Gallagher, one of the longtime trainers at Harrowgate Boxing.

They all knew he had it in him. But he went out on his own a few months ago, which left a sour taste for some of the trainers at Harrowgate.

"Once people get some money, they change," said Lester Santana, who has been coaching boxers, including Garcia, for 20 years.

City Councilwoman Maria Quiñones Sánchez, who hosted a viewing party for the championship fight in her husband's "man cave," said Garcia wants to give back to the community.

Garcia has been going to schools and speaking to youths, Quiñones Sánchez said.

"He's really embracing the role that he now plays," being an example for the area's Latino youth, she said.

Many young boxers, especially Puerto Ricans like him, smile at the sound of his name. Of course they know who he is, they say.

"Everybody looks up to him," said Andres Cuadro, 17, who lives diagonally across from Garcia's former house on Glendale Street in Juniata Park. "They know he is one of the guys that made it out."

Juniata Park is a working-poor neighborhood. That's why when Garcia comes back and plays basketball with the youth, he is seen as someone they aspire to be, Cuadro said.

Although Garcia now lives in the suburbs, he recently opened his own gym on Jasper Street in Juniata Park along with a barbershop and auto-detailing garage.

Residents across the street say there is sometimes a line of children waiting to get into the gym.

"At least it's something good for the neighborhood," said Tim Trainor while sitting on a stoop looking at the fenced-in Garcia three-in-one business. "If he keeps winning, it will get more kids in there and off the streets."