Boxer Jamal James trains in 2022 at Circle of Discipline in Minneapolis. (Mark Vancleave/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Former welterweight boxing champion Jamal James and his mentor Sankara Frazier live blocks away from Cup Foods.

James developed his skills at the old Circle of Discipline Gym, a short walk from George Floyd Square.

Frazier, the founder, executive director and coach of Circle of Discipline, also used the gym as a refuge and training ground for young people. Medaria Arradondo, who was Minneapolis police chief during Floyd’s death, used to work out in the gym.

Sankara Frazier: “I met George Floyd at a fight. I was messing around with him, because he couldn’t walk, his knees were really bad, and I said, `Come on down to the gym, we’ll take care of you.’

“We’re at the fights and Chauvin was downstairs, doing security. I had talked to Chauvin before. Everybody used to stop by the Circle, including the old MPD chief, [William] McManus. So, I mean, where it happened, that’s our street, our community. I’ve been there since I was a kid, and we were there to instill the right mentality, that we can do for ourselves. I’m a revolutionary in that way.

“This was tragic, but it wasn’t new. I went to school with Eric Benford, and he was shot [while unarmed, by a police officer, in 1976] out in Eagan. They blasted him right there at a gas station. Then there was Philando Castile over in St. Paul [who was shot to death in 2016 by a police officer during a traffic stop]. That was super flagrant to me. What’s there to think about? George Floyd was killed while a bunch of people just stood there and watched.”