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Politics & Power Quote by Alexis Arguello

"I made a gym, it's the best gym in Nicaragua, I have kids that this year July 6th through the 11th will be fighting and then will go on to the Central American Games and I'm sure at least one will win a gold medal"

About this Quote

Bravado is the expected language of boxing, but Arguello aims it somewhere unusual: community infrastructure. The boast about "the best gym in Nicaragua" isn’t just ego; it’s a claim to legitimacy in a country where opportunity has often been scarce and unevenly distributed. He’s not selling a fantasy of personal greatness so much as trying to manufacture a pipeline: a place, a schedule, a cohort, a calendar that leads out of the neighborhood and into the Central American Games.

The syntax matters. It runs on, breathless, like someone talking through logistics in real time: dates, events, medals. That specificity is doing work. It signals seriousness and accountability, the opposite of the hazy inspirational talk athletes sometimes default to after retirement. He’s staking his reputation on outcomes that can be checked. The phrase "I have kids" is also telling: paternal, proprietorial, a little rough-edged. These aren’t abstract "young athletes"; they’re his responsibility, his extension.

Underneath the confidence sits a nervous hope: "I’m sure at least one will win". Not all. One. It’s the pragmatic optimism of someone who understands how narrow the margins are in sport and in life. Coming from a national icon who moved into public life, the line reads as a political argument delivered in athletic terms: Nicaragua doesn’t need another legend; it needs systems that can produce the next one.

Quote Details

TopicTraining & Practice
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Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Arguello, Alexis. (2026, January 17). I made a gym, it's the best gym in Nicaragua, I have kids that this year July 6th through the 11th will be fighting and then will go on to the Central American Games and I'm sure at least one will win a gold medal. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-made-a-gym-its-the-best-gym-in-nicaragua-i-have-63343/

Chicago Style
Arguello, Alexis. "I made a gym, it's the best gym in Nicaragua, I have kids that this year July 6th through the 11th will be fighting and then will go on to the Central American Games and I'm sure at least one will win a gold medal." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-made-a-gym-its-the-best-gym-in-nicaragua-i-have-63343/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I made a gym, it's the best gym in Nicaragua, I have kids that this year July 6th through the 11th will be fighting and then will go on to the Central American Games and I'm sure at least one will win a gold medal." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-made-a-gym-its-the-best-gym-in-nicaragua-i-have-63343/. Accessed 4 Feb. 2026.

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Alexis Arguello on building the best gym in Nicaragua
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About the Author

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Alexis Arguello (April 19, 1952 - July 1, 2009) was a Athlete from Nicaragua.

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