Medford teen one of two recent murder victims linked to Lynn gym

LYNN – Two Lynn boxing club enthusiasts died from separate street confrontations in 24 hours.That’s how Ward 7 Councilor Richard Ford sees the common denominator shared by a 15-year-old Medford boy stabbed to death Monday night in Lynn and a 29-year-old Chelsea man fatally shot Tuesday morning outside a public housing project.According to Ford, both victims were frequent visitors to the Rivera Brothers boxing gym in Lynn before it closed in January because its owners were unable to pay the rent and utilities at 52 Columbia Ave.The city councilor is convinced if the gym had remained open the victims of street violence might be alive today.Rene Valdez of Medford was stabbed once in the neck and twice in the back Monday on High Rock Street. Javon Walczak, 16, 121 Fellsmere St., was charged with his murder Wednesday in Lynn District Court.On Tuesday, Luis Rodriguez, a 2005 Gold Gloves boxing champion who distinguished himself at Rivera Brothers, was shot multiple times in a Chelsea parking lot. Both Valdez and Rodriguez were often seen at the Lynn boxing gym, the latter as competitor and mentor.”We lost two members in 24 hours. One was stabbed, the other shot. I was at the gym a lot and I can tell you it helped keep kids off the street. That’s why we need to find a place for it in Lynn,” Ford said. “I want to keep these kids away from the gangs and drugs.”Ward 6 Councilor Peter Capano said he has been involved in talks with National Grid, owner of the former Boyd’s Potato Chips building on the Lynnway, which might prove a suitable home for the boxing club.Capano said that possibility was discussed by the council’s Waterfront Site-Plan Review Committee on Tuesday because City Fitness, a successful Union Street business, is looking to expand as part of a larger business deal that would include a name change and commercial tenants.City Fitness Inc., which would be renamed WOW – an acronym for Work Out World – needs approximately 24,000 square feet. The potato chip factory has twice that space.”We have been looking at five or six places. The hope is that Rivera Brothers can go into the remaining space at Boyd’s because City Fitness will be moving in there,” Capano said.James Marsh, city community development director, said City Fitness plans to lease the premises and possibly sub-lease about 19,000 square feet to the boxing club.”We met in committee to discuss the issue because we have to make sure it fits in with the city’s Waterfront Master Plan,” Marsh said Wednesday. “We voted to recommend it.”Capano said the Union Street health and fitness center plans to install an indoor tennis court and batting cages once the facility relocates. “Nothing is final yet, but City Fitness is at least willing to talk to Rivera Brothers about using some of the space,” he said.Roberto Pereyra, owner of City Fitness and spearhead of the WOW venture, said the licensing has been obtained for the new facility along with a vote of support from a key city committee. “There are still a lot of loose ends,” he said Wednesday. “We will be subletting out tennis and batting cage activities to tenants currently involved in doing that. We see this more as a community recreation and sports center, not just a health and fitness club with a grocery store in front of it. We want everything there to be related like a big sports complex.”George Panapoulos, a boxing coach at Rivera Brothers, asked city councilors Tuesday to take prompt action to find the club new quarters before more tragedy strikes. “These kids need a place where they can go not just to learn boxing but get away from the violence out there in the streets,” he said.Alex Rivera of Reading, owner and operator of Rivera Brothers, learned last winter that the club could no longer remain on Columbia Avenue because the property owner had put the building up for sale.Ford said he toured several vacant buildings in Lynn where the club might relocate but costs were prohibitive. “There was a building at 69 Bennett