David Ortiz and Antonio Beniquez’s friendship began 25 years ago with a brief tussle in their high school gym class.
They were on the Lakeview High School basketball court when someone said Ortiz, a freshman, was a wrestler. Beniquez, a sophomore, decided to see if it was true, and put Ortiz in a headlock until a teacher blew the whistle for them to stop.
“After that, I put my hand out, said ‘I’m Antonio.’ He said, ‘I’m David,’ and we’ve been friends ever since,” Beniquez said.
Now, decades later, they’re teaching the lessons fighting can impart at their own boxing club with free training for at-risk youth.
“The vision for the gym is to be able to serve the community we’re in and the neighborhoods we grew up in,” said Beniquez, 39.
They opened the Barracks Boxing Club in Logan Square, near Armitage and Springfield avenues, in 2021. That Northwest Side spot puts them between Irving Park, where Ortiz grew up, and Humboldt Park, where Beniquez is from.
“We really wanted to create a home base where we know the people and their struggles, and give them an opportunity we didn’t have,” Beniquez said.
Beniquez, an artist known for his murals, designed the space and helps fund it with Ortiz, who is lead trainer and handles day-to-day operations.
The gym has about 80 members. The youngest is 7; the oldest, about 50. Memberships cost up to $135, but donors have recently helped cover that cost for some new members.
Round one
Fighting might seem like an unlikely way to help young people, but Beniquez and Ortiz say it opens doors and teaches life lessons.
It’s also what first brought the two friends together in high school, nearly 25 years ago, and since then they have since supported each other through school, family and business ventures.
After seeing how Ortiz coached his son, Jeremy, to becoming a nationally ranked boxer, Beniquez decided to join Ortiz and help open the gym.
Ortiz grew up wrestling, like his dad and uncle, but threw himself into boxing after his son took to the sport. Initially, he brought his son to train at a gym in West Town and then eventually the Chicago Youth Boxing Club in Little Village.
At the time, the gym was run by Rev. Victor Rodriguez, who besides helping to coach prize-winning fighters, offered free training as a way to keep kids off the street by doing something positive. Rev. Rodriguez died in 2019.
“That’s where my inspiration came from, learning under him and working alongside him,” said Ortiz, 38.
