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(Watch) Kids Punching Kids: Local Gym Trains the Next Round of Philly Boxers


It’s easy to write off Kensington as a place you want to avoid; the police are highly visible in this area but seem apathetic toward blatant acts of deviance and violence occurring. It’s no secret that a prevalence of illegal gun sales, heroin and prostitution in the neighborhood have led many people to give up on the community where they — and maybe generations before them — lived.

But if there’s one thing that Kensington takes as seriously as heroin, it’s boxing. It’s  home to Philly’s most famous “athlete,” Rocky Balboa. Frank Capcino, a prominent boxing referee who recently passed, was from the neighborhood. Port Richmond’s Front Street Gym, which has prided itself in training contenders for years, is a stone’s throw away.

Despite the crime and negative press that Kensington receives, Chuck Diesel never forgets where his roots are; he’s opened a world-class gym and fitness center, Diesel Fit Boxing at 3412 J Street, right in the heart of one of the most blighted areas of the city. He believes this gym is exactly what his neighborhood — and its large population of youths — needs.

Diesel grew up at 4th and Thompson Streets in the heart of culturally diverse North Philadelphia. In the early 1970s, he moved with his family to Kensington at a time when the neighborhood’s demographics were different than what they are today.

“It was an all-white neighborhood, and my friends couldn’t come visit me. I didn’t like that,” Diesel said in a thick Kensington accent.

“I was the new kid. I had to fight to play baseball.”

The diversity and racism he experienced in his youth shaped him into the person he is today, which is evident by the many different races and nationalities of the people who train at his gym. Diesel even brought one of his fighter’s families, who happens to be Muslim, to America as a “Christian gesture” on Christmas Eve.

A few years ago, Diesel was renting a key to Harrowgate Boxing Gym and letting his friends train during odd hours of the night and early morning. What started as a low-key place for Diesel and a few cohorts quickly became of interest to the neighborhood children. “Next thing you know there’s a line of kids…They’re like, ‘Help me out,’” Diesel said. “You see that passion and that fire.”

Kensington kids are tough — and they have to be considering the environment they are thrust into daily. But this toughness can manifest itself in negative ways: fights, gang violence, drug dealing. Traditional means of channeling this energy, like through public school sports, are difficult in a time of school district budget slashing. Getting kids to commit to something is also a challenge in and of itself.

Diesel opened Diesel Fit Boxing in order to teach kids in the neighborhood about what it means to be a disciplined athlete.

“He never takes his eyes off the bag,” Diesel says pointing to one of his young students as he pounds away on a heavy bag.

The student, Juan “June June” Davila, is only 11 years old but his discipline and passion for boxing are clear, even at his young age. He lives close to the gym and is well aware of the problems that kids can easily get into.

Chuck Diesel gives a heavy bag lesson to one of his youngest students. “Little Speedy,” seven, has been working out with Diesel since he was five. Photo by Ptah Gabrie

Chuck Diesel gives a heavy bag lesson to one of his youngest students. “Little Speedy,” seven, has been working out with Diesel since he was five. Photo by Ptah Gabrie

“I live in a bad neighborhood,” Davila said.

“I see kids in my street. They’re hooked up on drugs.”

Davila’s passion is fueled by his desire to not be a victim of the negativity in his neighborhood.

“It keeps me going to the gym, staying focused and getting better,” he said.

Personally, I believe that teaching kids how to box is perfectly fine, as long as it’s done in a safe and professional way. However, if you’re a peace-loving, violence-hating flower child like my mother, you may think it wrong or even barbaric. Diesel and Davila both disagree.

“I think it’s a great thing. By the time you’re 17 or 18 you’ll be a great boxer,” Davila said.

But boxing is the just end result when Diesel begins training kids.

“We’re teaching them physical fitness,” Diesel said.

Kids Punching kids-01

He points out that most boxing gyms are businesses, and if a five-year-old goes to one of these gyms, stays for an hour and leaves, the gym doesn’t make any money. This is one of the reasons why children are often turned away. Diesel doesn’t see his gym as just a business.

“I’m making a friend, and he’s gonna want to come back,” Diesel said. “You couldn’t put a dollar sign in my hand that could equal that.”

He, too, was given a chance at a young age to learn the sport of boxing. Now, Diesel has gone from being a street kid to giving back to his community.

“My friends lived up here. I used to walk down here and break these windows,” he said referring to the building where his gym currently is.

You can really see the focus in Juan “June June” Davila’s eyes. He understands how much conditioning and discipline go into being a great boxer. Photo by Ptah Gabrie

You can really see the focus in Juan “June June” Davila’s eyes. He understands how much conditioning and discipline go into being a great boxer. Photo by Ptah Gabrie

Diesel wants kids in his gym, not on the streets; and he wants the gym to be known for more than just boxing. He’s got a full range of cardio machines and weights and is looking into setting up a computer lab so people in the community can have access to the Internet. Diesel’s vision is clearly bigger than running a profitable gym: He wants to help out kids who are coming up in the same place he did.

“They’re either gonna be out there with the guys with nice sneakers, or they’re gonna be in here with these funky sneakers,” Diesel said, referring to the drug dealers on the street who wear nice shoes out on the Ave. “I’d rather have them in here with me.”

 

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