At Hudson Boxing in Robbins, a Son Carries On His Father’s Work (Robbins, IL) — The gym that Glenn Hudson II now leads began in a barn with a dirt floor. His family improved it over the years, putting down carpet and eventually an epoxy surface. Along the way, Hudson went from a child learning to fight to a coach working beside his father.
Now he is carrying that work forward without him.
In an interview, Hudson spoke about the responsibility of leading Hudson Boxing, the young people who come through its doors and the father whose lessons still guide his decisions. About a year after his father’s death, talking about him remains difficult.
“I wish I had a longer time with him,” Hudson said.
What he has is the gym, the students, and a deep belief that his father’s work in Robbins deserves to continue. Some people arrive hoping to compete. Others need help building confidence, improving their fitness or finding structure during a difficult period in their lives.
Hudson wants room for all of them.
A Family History
His father, also named Glenn Hudson, was a professional fighter whose career began in California, where the younger Hudson was born. But much of what the son remembers is his father’s life as a coach.
Hudson said his father developed lupus shortly after he was born and lived with the illness for roughly 25 years. As his fighting career wound down, coaching and working with young people became an important part of his life.
The younger Hudson began training with him at age 4. He started with karate, moved into kickboxing and eventually boxing. He also watched his father work factory jobs, coach through the park district and build relationships with families in the community.
His father established the gym in 1999, Hudson recalled. The converted barn became a place where the son learned the sport and watched his father run a program of his own.
There were boxing and kickboxing events, along with other community activities. Hudson remembers his father’s involvement with a Robbins basketball team called the Knights, another way of giving young people somewhere to go and something to work toward.
What stayed with him most were the expectations his father set: leadership, accountability, respect and a willingness to understand people before judging them.
That last lesson matters in a gym where students arrive with different experiences and needs.
Boxing is More Than a Sport
Hudson said some children come because they are being bullied. Others struggle at school or need a constructive outlet for frustration. He also works with students with disabilities, including ADHD, and said coaching requires paying attention to how each person learns.
“It’s a certain way that they learn, a certain way they need to be taught,” he said.
The gym serves people of different races and ages, Hudson said, and he wants newcomers to feel welcome from their first visit.
“Once you enter this gym, it’s a family feel,” he said.
That welcome comes with expectations. Hudson tells aspiring fighters that wanting success and doing the daily work to achieve it are separate things.
“Nothing happens overnight,” he said.
There will be days when training is difficult, motivation is low and a student questions whether to continue. Hudson tries to teach people to work through those moments, taking progress one day at a time.
“We all have dreams, but not everybody’s able to make their dream a reality based on their work ethic,” he said.
Parents sometimes bring children to him because they are having trouble at school or need more discipline. Hudson said the boxing program is part of the nonprofit Hudson Academy Foundation, which also provides an after-school program.
He sees coaching as an opportunity to offer steady support, particularly when a young person is dealing with problems beyond the gym.
Asked about students whose lives had changed, Hudson spoke about people navigating grief, difficult home circumstances and choices about their futures. He described former and current students becoming parents and role models themselves.
A Winning Heart
There are competitive accomplishments, too. Hudson pointed to a recent tournament victory by Ronnie Sims and spoke about amateurs gaining experience and fighters preparing for possible professional careers.
When he assesses a newcomer, though, previous athletic experience is not his first concern. He has trained people who had never boxed or played another sport.
Heart and a willingness to learn matter, he said. Confidence can develop as students become comfortable with the skills they are practicing.
For some, training serves a career goal outside boxing. Hudson said people have come to the gym to improve their conditioning as they pursue work in law enforcement or firefighting. He spoke proudly about a firefighter who competes and provides an example for others considering that profession.
The gym’s recent activities also reflect Hudson’s desire to keep it involved in community life. He said it held its first breast cancer awareness walk in October and brought back an amateur boxing show after several years.
An event listing for “War in the Ring” identified Glenn Hudson Boxing as the host of a USA Boxing-sanctioned amateur competition scheduled for Sept. 3 at the Robbins Community Center.
For Hudson, continuing those activities is part of honoring what his father built. He has lived in Robbins since he was 3 and is sensitive to how often the community’s problems receive more attention than the people working to help it.
His father’s example gives him a way to respond.
“A lot of people do make it, but they never come back,” Hudson said. “And my dad is one that did.”
He remembers a man who pursued opportunities beyond Robbins and still made time for people at home. Now the son who once trained beside him is responsible for offering that same attention to another generation.
“I am going to continue on the marathon for him,” Hudson said.
