LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Trainers at Center Ring Boxing are using their skills to help teach kids in the Las Vegas valley life lessons, one punch at a time.
Tony Alvarez is the owner of Center Ring Boxing and is carrying on the legacy of his late brother-in-law by giving kids a way to let out their frustrations.
“We just keep doing the things that he did. Everything that he did was for the kids,” Alvarez said. “The kids, they come here, they work out. You know, I’m kind of the grumpy old man but we keep them cool. We gotta get them in shape. A place they can come let out.”
Center Ring Boxing is the only boxing gym in the valley that does not require families to pay dues, ensuring that parents do not have to worry about a cost every month.
Parents like William Bean volunteer to help out at the gym to help the program continue.
“This is a non-profit, so we volunteer like myself, we’re doing this for free,” Bean said.
Trainer Victor Rubio told 8 News Now that the gym serves as a place for kids to find their purpose.
“There’s some kids that don’t have purposes or reasons or nothing, and they come here and find this. They find that purpose,” Rubio said. “It’s hard nowadays being a kid. The times have changed, so this is the perfect place for them to come. Even if I can change one life, that’s an accomplishment.”
Boxer Jennifer Vargas said she uses boxing as a way to relieve stress.
“You can let it all out here,” Vargas said. “Personally it has helped me with a lot of stress, a lot of problems I have at home.”
The gym has become so popular that they had to stop accepting kids because there was no more room. However, Alvarez said that the gym planning on expanding soon.
“This is us. Center Ring Boxing. We’re not the biggest, but we were the best.”
