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Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
National
Michael Loria

Friendship starts with a fight, blossoms into a boxing club training at-risk youth

David Ortiz Anthony Vazquez SunTimes Northwest Side Victor Rodriguez West Side
Jordan Gearey (left), a case manager with a Puerto Rican Cultural Center violence prevention program trains withChristian Colunga, 24, at The Barracks Boxing Club on the Northwest Side. (Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times)

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. 

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