ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – An Albuquerque community center known for its historic boxing gym will reopen Saturday after being closed for renovations since 2023.
The renowned Jack Candelaria Community Center and Boxing Training Facility will reopen its doors with more space and new equipment.
“We added about 3,500 to 4,000 square foot of event space for our new boxing ring. We also did some renovations on the recreation side. We actually built out a good multi-purpose room, a computer lab, and we resurfaced our mini-gymnasium,” said Jess Martinez, director of the City of Albuquerque Youth and Family Services.
New gym equipment includes an event ring for boxing, free weights, a Smith machine, cardio machines, and a universal circuit area.
“All of our boxing bags—our heavy bags, our speed bags—that type of equipment was put back up. So, if you walk into the space itself, you will see three rings. You will see a section where the heavy bags are, and the speed bags. And then to the west, you will also see our fitness equipment,” Martinez explained.
The facility will also eventually be open to rentals for events the boxing community calls “smokers,” which Martinez said are small amateur events.
Since the 80s, the Jack Candelaria Community Center has been home to boxers training for local, national, and world championship fights, including Johnny Tapia and Danny Romero, and national Golden Gloves champions Stephanie Jaramillo, Albert Ruelas, Anthony Contreras and Joseph Brady, according to the city.
While the center is known for boxing, it also serves as a place for community members to gather outside of the sport. Because of this, the city also installed a new computer lab equipped with one dozen computers and built a new multipurpose room for other activities.
“We’ll still maintain a small recreation portion of the facility. I mean, originally it was a community center, so we have a before- and after-school program, open recreation-type of stuff,” said Martinez.
The renovations cost around $5 million. A grand opening event will take place at the center, located at 400 San Jose Ave., on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
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