Emanuel Herman Lugo, a 13-year-old Oak Park teen, took top honors — and the heavy championship belt that comes with it — at a national boxing championship tournament in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Emanuel, an eighth grader at Brooks Middle School, is the middle son of a Venezuelan immigrant family that settled in Oak Park after being sheltered there a year ago. He remained undefeated at the 2024 King of the Jungle National Championships held Oct. 18 to 20 at the Devos Place in Grand Rapids.
The Herman family was part of the large group of migrants whom Oak Park activists brought to Village Hall during the snowy and bitterly cold Halloween night of 2023. They subsequently found shelter for two weeks at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church and for several months at the Carleton Hotel. With the help of Good Shepherd, the family settled in a southeast Oak Park apartment last March.
Manuel and Emili said they are grateful for the welcome and the help they have received in Oak Park from so many in the community, especially from the migrant ministry team at Good Shepherd.
Competitive boxing enthusiasts from Emmanuel’s father’s boxing days as a young boy in Venezuela, the family traveled with him and his younger brother, Samuel, to cheer them on. Samuel, a 9-year-old fourth grader at Holmes School, also competes and performed well, bringing home two trophies from the event.
Emanuel competed in the junior middleweight class (80 to 85 pounds) and Samuel in the junior strawweight class (50 to 55 pounds). Emanuel started boxing four years ago, when the family was still living in Venezuela. He won second place at a national boxing championship in Venezuela in 2023.
The two brothers prepared for the event with an intensive training, sparring, weight-lifting and general fitness program. About five months ago, they joined the Beast Boxing Gym in Hillside, where they practice on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays; and the Midwest Training Center in Schaumburg, where they practice on Wednesdays and Fridays.
The father, Manuel, accompanies the boys to the gyms and helps with the practices as an assistant coach. He and his wife, Emili, are proud of their sons’ boxing successes. But, as parents, they say it is always nerve-wracking and makes them very anxious to see their sons fighting and to worry about the possibility of injuries.
“It is a strong sport, and we always tell the kids to cover up and stay safe from opponents’ punches,” Manuel Herman said.
In the end, Manuel added, they follow the lead of our kids. “Our oldest son, Alexzen, was a very good boxer as well, but he decided that boxing was not for him, and he is much happier playing soccer.”
Emanuel said he dreams of participating in the Olympics, becoming a professional boxer, and eventually, he said with a grin, becoming world boxing champion. The minimum age for participating in Olympic boxing is 19, so the first Olympics that he could qualify for are in 2032 in Brisbane, Australia.
The Herman family’s boxing glories are just one of the many success stories for Oak Park’s new asylum-seeking neighbors during the past year. Today, the family makes ends meet with cleaning jobs and collecting and recycling metal.
They and others also settled into apartments throughout the village, integrated into Oak Park and made friends at schools. They’re earning temporary protective status or applying for asylum, maneuvering countless bureaucracies and receiving their work permits or driver’s licenses, while they’re making progress in English fluency and finding work. Some are getting married and celebrating the birth of children — all of this has been made possible by the resilience and drive of Oak Park’s “new neighbors,” as well as the generous support of the Oak Park community.
Of course, the families continue to face many obstacles, setbacks and challenges.
But, Manuel Herman said, “We are truly thankful for the warm welcome Oak Park — and especially Good Shepherd’s pastor and members — have given us. You opened your arms and gave us shelter, and you continue to care for us. Without that kindness, we wouldn’t be where we are today.”