ismael CarDenas ForT DoDge

Creating a positive environment

Cardenas enjoys seeing boxers find their confidence

By CHRIS JOHNSON

cjohnson@messengernews.net

Ismael Cardenas pours concrete all day and into the night for Castor Construction and when he’s done he heads quickly to the gym.

He treks up the old wooden stairs and enters the second level of the building, turning into a gym that looks like it belongs in the “Rocky” movies.

“Sometimes I’ll pour 170 yards of concrete until 6:45 p.m. and then come up to the gym at 7 p.m.,’’ Cardenas said. “I tend to get tired at work, but when I come up to the gym and see the kids ready to work, it puts a smile on my face. We’ll get done and they say, ‘See you tomorrow coach.’ I enjoy training these kids.”

This is Cardenas’ spot — the Fort Dodge Boxing Club — where he trains local youth who are aspiring to be boxers, looking to get into better shape or just looking for a place to belong.

“We have some kids that don’t want to compete; they just come here for the environment, where everyone is treated the same,’’ Cardenas said. “Everyone is the same and they come here and work their tails off.

“It’s just something in this environment that kids want to be here. Some come here to lose weight and to meet their goals.”

This is where Cardenas shares his love and knowledge of boxing. Cardenas, who is known as “Smiley” to his friends and family, helped at the club under the late Bud Fair and ultimately took over in 2015.

“My kids and Bud Fair — rest his soul — wanted me to come and help,” Cardenas said after Fair’s passing in 2020. “Bud was getting older and wasn’t able to do quite as much, so I kept coming in. When it got to be too much for him, I took over.

“He (Fair) always said, ‘Dedicate yourself to something and stick with it. He really helped me and showed me a lot of tricks of the trade.”

Cardenas makes the boxing club a great environment where kids can come and feel like they belong and train for whatever their needs are.

“You can see it when they first get here that some of them struggle,’’ Cardenas said. “But I tell them it will get easier and they keep on trucking, and when they do, you can see the smile on their face. I have had some kids come in here very angry and talk back to their parents, but once they get involved, they straighten out.

“We get so many kids —shy, quiet kids — and they leave here and away, holding their shoulders out as a nice confident kid and are very polite, saying, ‘Yes sir.’”

Cardenas, who is 48 years old, started boxing with his son in 2012.

“I started with my son in the garage in 2012,’’ Cardenas said. “My other boys came in with Bud and worked on some stuff and then I came in and helped out.

“When we were kids, I was always around boxing. My dad was always around boxers, most of them in Mexico. We would always get into boxing matches and duke it out.”

Fort dodge

-Messenger photo by Chris Johnson

ISMAEL CARDENAS, boxing coach, spends some ring time with Jesus Castillo at the Fort Dodge Boxing Club.

“We get so many kids — shy, quiet kids — and they leave here and away, holding their shoulders out as a nice confident kid.”

— ISMAEL CARDENAS Fort Dodge Boxing Club

Tim Lentsch (515) 955-1050

1812 Central Ave Ft Dodge, IA https://timothylentsch.fbfsagents.com

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