Azteca Boxing Gym, located in the heart of Oklahoma City on Capitol Hill, is a home away from home for many young kids. Take any weekday afternoon and climb up the narrow staircase to where the gym is housed and you will find kids aged six and up training to be the next Rocky Marciano or Muhammad Ali. Had these kids not been in the gym, many of them would have been recruited by local gangs to do their grunt work, failed to go to school for lack of direction in their lives, or may have ended up in juvenile hall. It is a place they can go to be somebody. But it is not a place for the faint hearted. They are expected to train and train hard. Using heavy bags, jumping rope, sparring and tearing up the fast bag, they sweat and grind their way to success.
An example of this discipline and hard work is Alex Secoda, the current National Golden Gloves Champion, weight class 140. Alex, aged 15, recently returned from Las Vegas, Nevada and California where he competed in several tournaments. The crowning glory was his winning the Golden Gloves championship in California. Several weeks later in Kansas City, Alex competed against kids from Europe and the United States and once again, returned with the Golden Glove. Alex's family supports him in his hard work and works with him daily to help him excel in the most solitary and tough sport of all, boxing. But as much as they can help him, when the bell rings, young Alex is alone, facing his opponent, and eager to demonstrate all the skill, hard work and determination for which he has become famous.
There are many other kids at the gym aspiring to be like Alex or who have trained by his side through the years and are just as dedicated and hard working. This is why it is important to support such places for the youth, to support amateur boxing, and to support these tenacious youths.
Alex Secoda, National Golden Gloves Champion
To support the Azteca Gym or for more information, please contact Armando Lopez at Capitol Graffix 405.616.3050.
Oklahoma Lightweight Champion Noah Zuhdi also trains at Azteca Gym
catBOX Entertainment, Inc. P.O. Box 1077 Oklahoma City, OK 73101 405.445.2507
Interested in catBOX Entertainment producing an event for your organization? Please contact info@catboxentertainment.com for more information
