DAVENPORT - The boxing ring has become a second home to 15-year-old Eleazar Diaz, who started boxing at Pena Davenport Boxing Club two months ago.
He's been using it as an outlet, a way to stay out of trouble, "I did have a grip on me a couple times, I had some pocket knives but that stuff changed," said Diaz.
In just the last week, a dozen teens have been arrested for committing crimes, most of them car thefts. "One of them was my friend," said Diaz.
Diaz, disappointed to hear of his friends arrest, doesn't want his life to go down the same path.
"I thought to myself, this attitude is not gonna get me no where and you know, I'm just gonna go and do what I love best and that's boxing," said Diaz.
He's found a home at Pena Davenport Boxing Club.
"This is why we come here at 3:30 to try and keep them as soon as they get out of school from getting into trouble," said Patrick Pena, Owner of Pena Davenport Boxing Club.
He's learning from others who also have a troubled past.
"It's something that you're not thinking about right now because you're young the only thing you're focused on is doing what you want to do when you get older to my age, I'm 23 and look back at the things I've done and it's just, I wish I would've taken it more serious," said Robert Calvin, boxer.
For Diaz, he hopes working hard in the ring will pay off not only in boxing but his every day life, "I just wanted to show my mother there's still hope for this one kid."
Pena Davenport Boxing Club is open every weekday after school, they are currently in the Lincoln school but will be moving to the J.B. Young Center.
The club will be holding it's annual Fight Night on November 11th, 2017 at Col Ball Room.
