Reshaping the world: Boxing gaining popularity among Northwest residents
By Christopher Wuensch, CWuensch@ExplorerNews.com
Source
July 13, 2005 - Judging by the block-letter sign on its façade, Boxing Inc. appears to be the perfect place where people can go to fulfill all their packaging or shipping needs.
Within its mustard-yellow walls, replete with placards of classic old-time fights and relic ring tales conjured up by Hollywood, however, it's a time warp to an era where a once mighty sport no longer clung to its waning popularity.
Except at Boxing Inc., boxing is alive and slowly regaining the beauty in which its gladiators have historically parlayed themselves into some of the most influential icons of the sporting community, and who revolutionized and reshaped the world.
At Boxing, Inc., they are trying to do just that: reshape the world.
"It doesn't change," said Boxing Inc. co-founder, Stephanie Crawford about one of the nation's oldest sports. "Boxing has been around since the 1700s, it's not going anywhere. It just needs to be fed into the mainstream, where people can do it safely, enjoy it and learn the real skills of it."
On any afternoon or evening, a prizefighter such as Hector "Macho" Camacho Sr. can be seen snorting like a bull as he charges a sparring partner, only to yield the regulation-sized Everlast ring to the rippling-veined muscles of Ultimate Fighting guru Don Frey.
But Boxing Inc.'s lifeblood isn't necessarily the heavyweight names it attracts. Having legendary boxers such as Sugar Ray Leonard show up for its opening nearly two years ago certainly helped to attract inquisitive gawkers but it's the non-pro athletes that make the 2,500-square foot gym a haven for the workout obsessed.
"It's like a fish tank, people can't help to look in", said Boxing Inc. trainer Charles Caraway, about the inquisitive spectators who often congregate outside the gym's windows to watch the fighters and exercisers sweat in the tropical jungle-like humidity.
Curiosity draws them in, the workout of a lifetime keeps them sweating for more. They may arrive in all shapes, sizes, colors, ages, clothes and dispositions but they leave with the same sense of total body fulfillment; that and a fresh layer of sweat.
Despite its modern equipment, Boxing Inc. isn't without its classic, sweat-ridden old-school side - evident by the mixture of blood, sweat and spit stained ring.
As the sport of boxing morphs and spins off into new directions so does the fighting world of Boxing Inc.
Tucked away behind the Chuys' Mesquite Grill at 4165 W. Ina Road, Boxing Inc. is revolutionizing the not-so-everyday workout for the common Joe and Jane Sweat Sock.
These aren't the days of yore where boxers earned their fame by scrapping for 20 rounds or fighting a kangaroo or a bear. These days boxing is as much as a fine art as it is a brutish slugfest of iron jaws.
That's where the bell rings for the trainers of Boxing Inc. None of the facility's 10 trainers are more energetic or charismatic as the slight but explosive Crawford.
"I have a women's only kickboxing group," says Crawford emphatically. " We don't have happy hour, we have angry hour. There's no cocktail waitress, but it is way healthier."
Crawford, a fireball of electricity, can be found every afternoon at Boxing Inc. - glazed over in sweat - kicking, punching or yelling at someone. Her style is unique but it's never meant to take anyone down a peg. Her exhausting workout is a hands-on experience to build stamina, speed and character.
"In almost seven years of doing this," said Crawford, "I have never lost my initial excitement and I meet a new person every single day that feels the same way I felt the very first day somebody put me on some mitts and wrapped my hands and put gloves on me."
Before co-founding Boxing Inc. - and well before relocating to Tucson - Crawford was a gym rat along the sandy shores of the Pacific Ocean where the fitness center was first born.
"I really wanted to learn real boxing moves," said Crawford who hired a local pro fighter from the gym she used to workout at in San Diego. "He wrapped my hands and put me on a bag. The first time I slapped leather on leather it was like I had a smoking gun in my hand. I was so jazzed by it. I was so excited that I wanted to keep going and going and going, he was like 'no, you're done; I'll see you on Wednesday.'
"The next morning I woke up I could feel muscles I never knew I had before and I train all the time."
As Crawford, 44, and her husband Bill were looking for a gym to replicate the exhilarating workout it came to their attention that such a place did not exist. Most fight gyms were dark and dingy and inhabited by fighters and trainers who believe women's role in boxing is as round card girls.
"It's not the kind of place where I'm going to get any kind of structured attention and education on boxing," she said. "Women do not want to do footwork, you can tell me about that later, I want to hit something and I want to do it now."
With that in mind, the Crawfords quit their jobs and poured their life savings into a tiny 3,000 square foot gym in San Diego. In less than a year, the gym busted at the seams with upwards of 800 members - which forced it to relocate. Less than five years later, the Crawfords owned six similar locations throughout San Diego. One of those gyms became the training facility for a spell for the 2000 USA Olympic Boxing team before it set off for Sydney, Australia.
"What I learned was everybody wants to hit something," said Crawford. "They just might not know it yet or they don't know where to go to do that."
The gyms, which became the basis for Tucson's Boxing Inc., featured everything a person who didn't want to train at a typical gym could want in a workout. As Crawford puts it, it's cardiovascular conditioning, muscular, total body conditioning and toning or training, psychotherapy and even anger management.
"I'm not going to teach some kind of hokey aerobic dancing," said Crawford. "There's no reason to not learn the real moves."
Eventually, the Crawfords sold off all six gyms and headed to Tucson to retire.
While in town and looking for something to pass the time, they decided to start Boxing Inc. in the Northwest in October of 2003, a simple mom and pop style-facility.
Before long, history was repeating itself and Boxing Inc. once again began to explode with popularity. Not too long after that, Zac Aikin, a member at the time, bought the Crawfords out but kept the couple on board to consult and teach classes.
Today Boxing Inc. touts upwards of 250 members and gets new ones each day.
With 36 classes training its members in arts such as traditional USA-style boxing and Muay Thai kickboxing, the unassuming gym is the only one of its kind in all of Pima County.
"We're the only boxing gym there is in this town for fitness," said the new owner, Aikin. "Although we do have fighters, the other boxing gyms don't have normal everyday people going there for classes."
The mixture of everyday folk coupled with professional fighters makes for an almost surreal atmosphere. At the very least, the lightning-quick echoes of blurring speed bags and thunderous body shots of goliath's sparring serves as motivation for those simply looking to keep fit.
"It's not for the (pro) fighters," said Aikin about the blueprint of Boxing Inc. "Those kinds of things just happen to come our way and we welcome them, but what we're here for is the everyday person to get in shape."
Every trainer at the gym is, or at one point was, a professional fighter, whether skilled in boxing, kickboxing or even Ultimate Fighting, a cage-style match where any form of martial arts is permitted.
The roles most of the pros assume at the gym isn't necessarily to ready themselves for their next fight, it's to prepare others in case they ever get in one. The majority of fighters at the gym are looking for instruction and a chance to spar with fighters of their own size and ability.
When a member joins up, they are given their own boxing gloves, wraps and a free one-on-one lesson with any one of the gym's specialized trainers.
"It's the best workout since I left the military," said Nathan Dixon, 24, who came back for his second day. For the former combat medic who spent time in Germany and Afghanistan, the hour classes at Boxing Inc. are just long enough.
"It requires way more endurance but it's more rewarding," he said.
No one leaves Boxing Inc. with a dry shirt, if they do, the trainers aren't doing their job.
"Our focus is a total body workout, total exhaustion," said Caraway, reaching out and tugging on the sweat-soaked T-shirt of an exiting patron.
Boxing used exclusively as a form of exercise is a process constantly being reshaped at Boxing Inc.
"We combine fitness with boxing skills," said boxing trainer Sergio Zaragoza. "We get a lot of new guys, some have a hard time (adjusting), and some pick it right up."
On average it will take a new fighter roughly three to four months to get in shape and be ready to step in a ring, said Zaragoza. To ensure the safety of its novice fighters, most start off with 22-ounce gloves for their bouts instead of the regular 12 ounce.
"Just the feeling when you're done," said Randy Stein, 25, a stuntman and production assistant for the John Jay and Rich morning radio show on 93.7 FM KRQ. "Trust me, it's not the feeling when you're doing it, no, it's definitely when you're done. You walk out of here high, endorphins like no other."
You don't have to be a member of the armed forces or a professional stuntman to reap the benefits of Boxing Inc.'s classes. The gym is as much a family oriented place, as it is a haven for first class fighters. In fact, around 50 percent of the gym's patrons are women.
"I had four kids in seven years and so I'm ready to get back in shape," said Kim Cipriano, on her first day working out in a boxing class. "Plus, I think it will give me a better sense of confidence knowing that I've got the ability to defend myself and feel strong and capable."
After an hour workout - precisely timed to the minute - with jump ropes, medicine balls and a round of wailing on a pad, Cipriano was thoroughly exhausted but ready for more.
"I've never worked out so hard," she said. "But I can't wait to come back. It works your whole body and it's fun. They keep you moving so just when you think 'I can't do it' or 'I'm bored' they change it up on you."
Cipriano wasn't alone; her family came along for the experience, not as spectators but as fighters themselves.
Three of her children, Bradley, 13, Michael, 11, and Katie, 10, are taking boxing classes at the gym - fueled by the popularity of recent movies "Million Dollar Baby" and "Cinderella Man."
"He's wanted to do this for a year and a half," said Brian Sauro, about his oldest son. We've been looking for that long trying to find a safe place."
As for the diminutive but feisty Katie, she asks everyday to get in the ring, said Sauro.
For those patrons whose endorphins burn at a higher rate, the question always lingers in the back of their sparring helmet: "how would I do in the ring?"
For those who welcome the abuse, Boxing Inc. has their fix. It's also the place to dole out some punishment.
"This place is bad ass," said Anthony Cruz, who is there to train for his future profession: cage fighting. At a little over 6-feet tall and 235-pounds, Cruz is as solid as a cinderblock outhouse. But he'll have to wait three years before he is eligible to climb into a caged ring; he's only 15 years of age.
"At school everybody comes up to me and asks how I can lose weight," said the junior-to-be at Flowing Wells High School, "I tell them, 'Boxing Inc.'"
To train to fight and shed the 30-pounds he feels he needs to lose, Cruz is working out everyday in the club's ring and classes.
Cruz is among many of the fighters who come to train at Boxing Inc., pro or amateur. The hassle-free environment and top-of-the-line equipment are just a few of the amenities that have attracted world-class fighters such as Hector "Macho" Camacho Sr. and his son Hector Jr., who used the facility to train for their July 9 bout at the Tucson Convention Center.
Two or three times a year, Boxing Inc. will host "Fight Night." The extremely popular event attracts a standing room only crowd of family and friends who come to witness amateur members fight other members.
To keep within the rules of the boxing commission, Boxing Inc. cannot charge for admission, otherwise amateur fighter status could be put in jeopardy and sanctions could be levied against the gym. Instead, the exhibition matches are designed to provide a true boxing experience for those brave enough to slip between the ropes. Each event usually features about 15 bouts, each match consisting of three, 2-minute rounds.
Pat Roach fought in the last Fight Night, held May 14, where he earned the nickname "the animal" from Caraway after delivering a crushing uppercut to his opponent.
"It's, I want to say, stressful," said Roach, "it takes a lot out of you, a lot physically and a lot mentally."
The toughest part, said Roach, is getting in the ring with friends and family looking on.
Whether they are watching from a fight night crowd or simply peeping in through the "fishbowl," Boxing Inc. is attracting fighters and fans alike at a rapid pace.
The success may very well translate into new locations near the University of Arizona and on the east side of town. By the first of the year, Aikin hopes to have a UA facility open or at least close to completion.
One thing is for sure, wherever the next Boxing Inc. erects, classes will still change every hour on the minute and another exhausted customer will exit in a marinade of their own sweat.
Source
July 13, 2005 - Judging by the block-letter sign on its façade, Boxing Inc. appears to be the perfect place where people can go to fulfill all their packaging or shipping needs.
Within its mustard-yellow walls, replete with placards of classic old-time fights and relic ring tales conjured up by Hollywood, however, it's a time warp to an era where a once mighty sport no longer clung to its waning popularity.
Except at Boxing Inc., boxing is alive and slowly regaining the beauty in which its gladiators have historically parlayed themselves into some of the most influential icons of the sporting community, and who revolutionized and reshaped the world.
At Boxing, Inc., they are trying to do just that: reshape the world.
"It doesn't change," said Boxing Inc. co-founder, Stephanie Crawford about one of the nation's oldest sports. "Boxing has been around since the 1700s, it's not going anywhere. It just needs to be fed into the mainstream, where people can do it safely, enjoy it and learn the real skills of it."
On any afternoon or evening, a prizefighter such as Hector "Macho" Camacho Sr. can be seen snorting like a bull as he charges a sparring partner, only to yield the regulation-sized Everlast ring to the rippling-veined muscles of Ultimate Fighting guru Don Frey.
But Boxing Inc.'s lifeblood isn't necessarily the heavyweight names it attracts. Having legendary boxers such as Sugar Ray Leonard show up for its opening nearly two years ago certainly helped to attract inquisitive gawkers but it's the non-pro athletes that make the 2,500-square foot gym a haven for the workout obsessed.
"It's like a fish tank, people can't help to look in", said Boxing Inc. trainer Charles Caraway, about the inquisitive spectators who often congregate outside the gym's windows to watch the fighters and exercisers sweat in the tropical jungle-like humidity.
Curiosity draws them in, the workout of a lifetime keeps them sweating for more. They may arrive in all shapes, sizes, colors, ages, clothes and dispositions but they leave with the same sense of total body fulfillment; that and a fresh layer of sweat.
Despite its modern equipment, Boxing Inc. isn't without its classic, sweat-ridden old-school side - evident by the mixture of blood, sweat and spit stained ring.
As the sport of boxing morphs and spins off into new directions so does the fighting world of Boxing Inc.
Tucked away behind the Chuys' Mesquite Grill at 4165 W. Ina Road, Boxing Inc. is revolutionizing the not-so-everyday workout for the common Joe and Jane Sweat Sock.
These aren't the days of yore where boxers earned their fame by scrapping for 20 rounds or fighting a kangaroo or a bear. These days boxing is as much as a fine art as it is a brutish slugfest of iron jaws.
That's where the bell rings for the trainers of Boxing Inc. None of the facility's 10 trainers are more energetic or charismatic as the slight but explosive Crawford.
"I have a women's only kickboxing group," says Crawford emphatically. " We don't have happy hour, we have angry hour. There's no cocktail waitress, but it is way healthier."
Crawford, a fireball of electricity, can be found every afternoon at Boxing Inc. - glazed over in sweat - kicking, punching or yelling at someone. Her style is unique but it's never meant to take anyone down a peg. Her exhausting workout is a hands-on experience to build stamina, speed and character.
"In almost seven years of doing this," said Crawford, "I have never lost my initial excitement and I meet a new person every single day that feels the same way I felt the very first day somebody put me on some mitts and wrapped my hands and put gloves on me."
Before co-founding Boxing Inc. - and well before relocating to Tucson - Crawford was a gym rat along the sandy shores of the Pacific Ocean where the fitness center was first born.
"I really wanted to learn real boxing moves," said Crawford who hired a local pro fighter from the gym she used to workout at in San Diego. "He wrapped my hands and put me on a bag. The first time I slapped leather on leather it was like I had a smoking gun in my hand. I was so jazzed by it. I was so excited that I wanted to keep going and going and going, he was like 'no, you're done; I'll see you on Wednesday.'
"The next morning I woke up I could feel muscles I never knew I had before and I train all the time."
As Crawford, 44, and her husband Bill were looking for a gym to replicate the exhilarating workout it came to their attention that such a place did not exist. Most fight gyms were dark and dingy and inhabited by fighters and trainers who believe women's role in boxing is as round card girls.
"It's not the kind of place where I'm going to get any kind of structured attention and education on boxing," she said. "Women do not want to do footwork, you can tell me about that later, I want to hit something and I want to do it now."
With that in mind, the Crawfords quit their jobs and poured their life savings into a tiny 3,000 square foot gym in San Diego. In less than a year, the gym busted at the seams with upwards of 800 members - which forced it to relocate. Less than five years later, the Crawfords owned six similar locations throughout San Diego. One of those gyms became the training facility for a spell for the 2000 USA Olympic Boxing team before it set off for Sydney, Australia.
"What I learned was everybody wants to hit something," said Crawford. "They just might not know it yet or they don't know where to go to do that."
The gyms, which became the basis for Tucson's Boxing Inc., featured everything a person who didn't want to train at a typical gym could want in a workout. As Crawford puts it, it's cardiovascular conditioning, muscular, total body conditioning and toning or training, psychotherapy and even anger management.
"I'm not going to teach some kind of hokey aerobic dancing," said Crawford. "There's no reason to not learn the real moves."
Eventually, the Crawfords sold off all six gyms and headed to Tucson to retire.
While in town and looking for something to pass the time, they decided to start Boxing Inc. in the Northwest in October of 2003, a simple mom and pop style-facility.
Before long, history was repeating itself and Boxing Inc. once again began to explode with popularity. Not too long after that, Zac Aikin, a member at the time, bought the Crawfords out but kept the couple on board to consult and teach classes.
Today Boxing Inc. touts upwards of 250 members and gets new ones each day.
With 36 classes training its members in arts such as traditional USA-style boxing and Muay Thai kickboxing, the unassuming gym is the only one of its kind in all of Pima County.
"We're the only boxing gym there is in this town for fitness," said the new owner, Aikin. "Although we do have fighters, the other boxing gyms don't have normal everyday people going there for classes."
The mixture of everyday folk coupled with professional fighters makes for an almost surreal atmosphere. At the very least, the lightning-quick echoes of blurring speed bags and thunderous body shots of goliath's sparring serves as motivation for those simply looking to keep fit.
"It's not for the (pro) fighters," said Aikin about the blueprint of Boxing Inc. "Those kinds of things just happen to come our way and we welcome them, but what we're here for is the everyday person to get in shape."
Every trainer at the gym is, or at one point was, a professional fighter, whether skilled in boxing, kickboxing or even Ultimate Fighting, a cage-style match where any form of martial arts is permitted.
The roles most of the pros assume at the gym isn't necessarily to ready themselves for their next fight, it's to prepare others in case they ever get in one. The majority of fighters at the gym are looking for instruction and a chance to spar with fighters of their own size and ability.
When a member joins up, they are given their own boxing gloves, wraps and a free one-on-one lesson with any one of the gym's specialized trainers.
"It's the best workout since I left the military," said Nathan Dixon, 24, who came back for his second day. For the former combat medic who spent time in Germany and Afghanistan, the hour classes at Boxing Inc. are just long enough.
"It requires way more endurance but it's more rewarding," he said.
No one leaves Boxing Inc. with a dry shirt, if they do, the trainers aren't doing their job.
"Our focus is a total body workout, total exhaustion," said Caraway, reaching out and tugging on the sweat-soaked T-shirt of an exiting patron.
Boxing used exclusively as a form of exercise is a process constantly being reshaped at Boxing Inc.
"We combine fitness with boxing skills," said boxing trainer Sergio Zaragoza. "We get a lot of new guys, some have a hard time (adjusting), and some pick it right up."
On average it will take a new fighter roughly three to four months to get in shape and be ready to step in a ring, said Zaragoza. To ensure the safety of its novice fighters, most start off with 22-ounce gloves for their bouts instead of the regular 12 ounce.
"Just the feeling when you're done," said Randy Stein, 25, a stuntman and production assistant for the John Jay and Rich morning radio show on 93.7 FM KRQ. "Trust me, it's not the feeling when you're doing it, no, it's definitely when you're done. You walk out of here high, endorphins like no other."
You don't have to be a member of the armed forces or a professional stuntman to reap the benefits of Boxing Inc.'s classes. The gym is as much a family oriented place, as it is a haven for first class fighters. In fact, around 50 percent of the gym's patrons are women.
"I had four kids in seven years and so I'm ready to get back in shape," said Kim Cipriano, on her first day working out in a boxing class. "Plus, I think it will give me a better sense of confidence knowing that I've got the ability to defend myself and feel strong and capable."
After an hour workout - precisely timed to the minute - with jump ropes, medicine balls and a round of wailing on a pad, Cipriano was thoroughly exhausted but ready for more.
"I've never worked out so hard," she said. "But I can't wait to come back. It works your whole body and it's fun. They keep you moving so just when you think 'I can't do it' or 'I'm bored' they change it up on you."
Cipriano wasn't alone; her family came along for the experience, not as spectators but as fighters themselves.
Three of her children, Bradley, 13, Michael, 11, and Katie, 10, are taking boxing classes at the gym - fueled by the popularity of recent movies "Million Dollar Baby" and "Cinderella Man."
"He's wanted to do this for a year and a half," said Brian Sauro, about his oldest son. We've been looking for that long trying to find a safe place."
As for the diminutive but feisty Katie, she asks everyday to get in the ring, said Sauro.
For those patrons whose endorphins burn at a higher rate, the question always lingers in the back of their sparring helmet: "how would I do in the ring?"
For those who welcome the abuse, Boxing Inc. has their fix. It's also the place to dole out some punishment.
"This place is bad ass," said Anthony Cruz, who is there to train for his future profession: cage fighting. At a little over 6-feet tall and 235-pounds, Cruz is as solid as a cinderblock outhouse. But he'll have to wait three years before he is eligible to climb into a caged ring; he's only 15 years of age.
"At school everybody comes up to me and asks how I can lose weight," said the junior-to-be at Flowing Wells High School, "I tell them, 'Boxing Inc.'"
To train to fight and shed the 30-pounds he feels he needs to lose, Cruz is working out everyday in the club's ring and classes.
Cruz is among many of the fighters who come to train at Boxing Inc., pro or amateur. The hassle-free environment and top-of-the-line equipment are just a few of the amenities that have attracted world-class fighters such as Hector "Macho" Camacho Sr. and his son Hector Jr., who used the facility to train for their July 9 bout at the Tucson Convention Center.
Two or three times a year, Boxing Inc. will host "Fight Night." The extremely popular event attracts a standing room only crowd of family and friends who come to witness amateur members fight other members.
To keep within the rules of the boxing commission, Boxing Inc. cannot charge for admission, otherwise amateur fighter status could be put in jeopardy and sanctions could be levied against the gym. Instead, the exhibition matches are designed to provide a true boxing experience for those brave enough to slip between the ropes. Each event usually features about 15 bouts, each match consisting of three, 2-minute rounds.
Pat Roach fought in the last Fight Night, held May 14, where he earned the nickname "the animal" from Caraway after delivering a crushing uppercut to his opponent.
"It's, I want to say, stressful," said Roach, "it takes a lot out of you, a lot physically and a lot mentally."
The toughest part, said Roach, is getting in the ring with friends and family looking on.
Whether they are watching from a fight night crowd or simply peeping in through the "fishbowl," Boxing Inc. is attracting fighters and fans alike at a rapid pace.
The success may very well translate into new locations near the University of Arizona and on the east side of town. By the first of the year, Aikin hopes to have a UA facility open or at least close to completion.
One thing is for sure, wherever the next Boxing Inc. erects, classes will still change every hour on the minute and another exhausted customer will exit in a marinade of their own sweat.
posted by Scott Fish at 3:11 PM
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