You’re going to get hard in boxing. There’s no way around that. You will take some punches that will drop you in pain. You either get up and try again or stay down.
AJ Vasquez has risen from the hard punches he has taken as a former boxer. However, those punches seem tame to the ones life, the ultimate opponent, has hit him with.
Vaquez, founder and executive director of Azteca Boxing Club in Greeley, was living a different life over 15 years ago.
“I was in and out of trouble,” he said. “I went away for a while. (Then), I came home and I didn’t know what I was going to do.”
On Saturday morning, Vasquez and members of the club were holding signs to get drivers to turn into the club’s parking lot for a car wash fundraiser. Located at 2525 W. 10th St., the club has been housed at that location since last November. The club is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
(Photo by Zant Reyez/Staff Reporter) Members of the Azteca Boxing Club assist with washing a car Saturday, June 21, 2025, at the boxing club located at 2525 W. 10th St., Greeley. The car wash was a fundraiser for the club. All funds raised go towards boxing and other programs the club houses.Even though it’s a boxing club by name, the space houses more than punching bags and a ring. It houses hope for community members who may not have any. It offers guidance for a better path for teens who may wear red or blue colors, depending on which gang they’re affiliated with. It’s a safe place for everybody.
The club offers a lot more than boxing. It shows you can get up when life knocks you down, and Vasquez is living proof of that.
In 2010, still living a “crazy life,” Vasquez finally gave in to his nephew’s repeated request to teach him how to box. It was around that same time when Vasquez’s best friend asked him to start a tattoo business with him in Loveland.
In 2015, while still in Loveland, life delivered a life-changing blow to Vasquez. His infant son died. Vasquez said he was still leading a “crazy life” when his son died.
“The things that we were doing just followed us home one day,” he said. “When my son died, it was the worst and best thing to ever happen to me. It changed me instantly.”
Soon after the death of his son, Vasquez had an encounter with God that instilled faith in him.
He was in Greeley in 2018, and the boxing club was operating out of a building on the west side of Greeley, out by Sonic Drive-in. The gym was a part of vivid dreams that he started having that year. Dreams of youths boxing in a gym, but there was more to them. That same year as his dreams started to become reality, he encountered Angel Flores, the lead pastor at Mosaic Church in Evans.
Flores invited Vasquez to Mosaic, where he not only found more faith and hope, but love. He met his wife, Annie, there.
“He does more than anyone could possibly imagine,” Annie said.
Vasquez said he doesn’t need recognition or the limelight for what he’s doing. However, he has connected with the Weld Trust, the Weld Community Foundation, the Aims Community College Foundation and others of the like to show them what’s happening inside this boxing club. Those connections have led to grant money for all the year-round programs the club offers, and other benefits.
That funding goes to the boxing, which is for ages 6 years old and up. Other programs at the club include the Mixed Martial Arts and Jiu-Jitsu programs are for 6 years and up. A recovery group called Breaking Chains meets at 6:30 p.m. every Friday. Annie oversees that group. A mentoring group for middle school and high school students is Monday for boys, Thursday for girls. Tutoring occurs throughout the school year. Open gym is every Saturday and Sunday.
For the last five years, Krystal Zamudio has been coming to the gym. She’s a recent Platte Valley High School graduate who is one of the youth boxing coaches. She is set to attend the University of Northern Colorado this fall. She has boxed in 25-30 matches since coming to the gym and has won numerous titles. She said her mentality before coming to the club was the opposite of what it is now.
“I was lost in what I wanted to do,” Zamudio said. “I really didn’t have a pathway for my life. I didn’t see myself going anywhere or making it passed the age of 17. AJ (Vasquez) was the person who said, ‘No, you do have a pathway. Your life is important. You’re important, and I’m here to help you and teach you in every way I can.'”
Go to www.aztecaboxingclub.org to donate, for more information and to connect with their social media accounts.
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