Yahoo Sport 
Orland Park boxer, 12, hopes to achieve national title in 2024 — and join the US Olympic team in 5 years
Leo Ortiz, 12, of Orland Park started boxing when he was 6 years old as a way to work out his energy.
Since then, he’s competed in six national championships and has achieved high rankings in the boxing ring. In four of the national tournaments, he placed as national runner-up.
“I ended up getting really into the sport and I ended up loving the sport,” Ortiz said. “It teaches me a lot of discipline, staying focused and not giving up.”
Ortiz, a seventh grader at Jerling Junior High School, said he fights in the Bantam division and is the second ranked boxer in the country in the 85-pound category and fourth ranked boxer in the 90-pound category.
Most recently, he competed in the USA Boxing National Championships in Lafayette, Louisiana, where he lost in the first round.
“This tournament was the first time that he got an early exit,” said Amauris Ortiz, Leo’s father. “He did a good job.”
He was unopposed in this weekend’s 2023 Illinois State Silver Gloves competition in Rockford, said Amauris Ortiz, Leo’s father, so he will automatically advance to the regional competition in January in Nebraska. If Ortiz wins there, he advances to the national tournament held in Missouri, his father said.
Ortiz said he is focused on winning a national championship, and he’d like to make the U.S. Olympic Team when he’s 17.
“I have my eyes set on the national title right now. I want to become the national champion,” he said.
In July, Ortiz competed in the National Junior Olympic Championships, but ultimately lost. He said he’s proud of his performance because he won some tough fights.
Ortiz trains five to six days a week, he said, with a run in the morning and then boxing practice in the evenings. He jump ropes, shadow boxes, hits the bag, boxes with his coach and then does a run and strength training.
He trains at Hammond Boxing Club with coach Jesus Dominguez and among championship fighters Jourdin Dominguez, Ja’leecia Dominguez and Mary Ann McGee.
“He already came advanced and well trained and in great shape,” Dominguez said. “Now we’re just working on some of his boxing skills because he was more of a brawler so we’re trying to make him a complete package.”
Ortiz said he has focused on skill work in the ring with Dominguez.
“He’s a good coach. He pushes me. He’s a technical coach,” Ortiz said.
Dominguez said Ortiz is a fearless fighter who isn’t timid in the ring. When he’s in the ring, Ortiz said he doesn’t get nervous and enjoys the feeling of adrenaline during a fight.
“When you’re in the ring, it feels good to fight,” Ortiz said.
