KNOCKOUT! With Madison Boxing Gym

Madison Boxing Gym, located in the heart north Phoenix, focuses on fighting gangs and drugs in the community. They do so by providing a safe, welcoming environment to local kids and their families. Coach Ricky Ricardo is determined to make an impact and be the positive influence at-risk youth need in their lives. Madison Boxing Gym provides all ages with a great workout and life lessons such as respect, responsibility and punctuality. His students learn that if they work hard and stay focused, they can achieve great things!

Opportunity4Kids first interacted with Madison Boxing Gym and Coach Ricky when we received a Sponsorship request from a father of 3 children. After being diagnosed with diabetes, Juan had a hard time with neuropathy and in 2014, the pain became so bad he could no longer work. Shortly after, Juan, Angelica, Athena and Gabriel, were evicted from their home and stayed at short term housing while figuring things out. Unfortunately, because Juan still could not work, money ran out and they became homeless until acquiring community support to bounce from hotel to hotel. Finally, in 2015 the family secured safe and affordable living through Central Arizona Shelter Services.

Now residing in North Phoenix, Juan didn’t want his children to get caught up in the wrong activities so prevalent in the neighborhood. That’s when he reached out to Opportunity4Kids for Sponsorship of his 3 kiddos to work out at Madison Boxing Gym. After hearing their story, we absolutely wanted to help and sponsored Angelica, Athena and Gabriel!

Madison Boxing Gym has provided a positive place for the kids to hang out after school, plus a great source of physical activity. Juan has seen attitude improvement and an increase in enthusiasm in all the children and is so grateful that they have this activity in their lives.

Since then, Opportunity4Kids has also sponsored another set of 3 siblings whose mother was looking for a positive outlet and out-of-school time support. Opportunity4Kids is thrilled to team up with Madison Boxing Gym to provide a necessary outlet to youth in North Phoenix. Community partners like Coach Ricky are essential to the success of extracurricular programs in the Valley.

We look forward to continuing our partnership with Madison Boxing Gym! To find out more about the gym, visit http://www.madisonboxing.com/.