By Héctor Villarreal

All of the gyms in Panama have been forced to close their doors since middle March because of the coronavirus pandemic, especially the training centers for combat sports such as the main boxing gym Pedro Alcazar in downtown Panama City where more than one hundred fighters and about twenty trainers attend from Monday to Saturday.

One of those coaches is Julio Cesar Archibold who despite not having a government salary like most others, decided to bravely adapt to the situation and invest all his savings in building his own private gym behind his home.

“Most of the people I consulted told me that it was a crazy idea and that it was not the best time to invest but I did not want to sit idly by while my boxers gained weight and their physical condition deteriorated,” said Archibold, who prepares several of the best fighters residing in Panama, such as WBA interim light flyweight champion Daniel Matellon who is Cuban as well as his compatriot Pablo Vicente, a super featherweight ranked #11 by WBA and WBC.

“Manager George Sarantopoulos donated the ring, structures for the bags, padding for the floor and some equipment. Suddenly other promoters such as Robert Diaz de Havoc, Diego Victoria and the most experienced promoter in the country Sergio Gonzalez also made their contributions as the weeks passed without the Ministry of Health having announced a date to resume sports activities” added coach Archibold who also got a valuable donation of punching bags from former world champion Anselmo “Chemito” Moreno.

What most pleased the donors was to see the boxers themselves collaborating in the construction and equipping processes of what will be their new training site, located in East Panama, a distant area of the city that has already produced a couple of world champions.

“We used to spend 3 hours roundtrip to Curundu gym by bus every day so now we will have extra time for training also to rest and share with our families,” said lightweight Juan Huertas, a former Olympian in London 2012.

“The quality of the equipment installed in Archibold´s Academy is better than the ones on public gyms and this place is only five minutes on walking distance from the last Metro train station, which will also benefit fighters from other areas,” commented Sergio Gonzalez who has been a promoter since the early 80s.

After two and a half months of hard work, Archibold Boxing Academy was declared opened on Tuesday, September 1st, only to workout with his fighters individually while they wait until the Health Minister orders all of the gyms to reopen.

See the video report by Hector Villarreal