Tszyu boxing academy in Rockdale Sydney. Mundine Gym in Redfern Sydney. Hardcore Gym in Carlton Sydney.
Mainly just amateurs now that fight out of here but we get so much sparring because of how good the gym is they have sparring days. Kambosos, Tim Tszyu, Nikita Tszyu, Sakio Bika, Lenny Zappa and a bunch of others have been here for sparring. Gairy Stclair brings his lads here to spar so does Johnny Lewis. It's also a bodybuilding gym they have everything its a 24/7 gym.
I think that the gym in Big Bear is the facility owned by Abel Sanchez that he rents out for training camps. A fighter that I worked with that subsequently went to Abel trained there. Oscar De LaHoya had a gym at his residence there but he sold that years ago to Tito Ortiz, I think it was, and it has changed hands since then. Way back when, when the Ruelas brothers and Shane Mosley and Botha trained in Big Bear, the facility was a ring in the corner of a fitness gym and a heavy bag and speed bag along the wall. That was it. The original RGBA gym is in Oxnard, but their main operation is now in Riverside, California. Last I knew Robert and his father are almost always in Riverside. Also a friend of mine changed the name of his gym in San Antonio, Texas, to RGBA, with blessings from the Garcia family. His son trained in Riverside with Robert and that is a big part of how Bam Rodriguez ended up with Gqrcia. Ronnie Shields's gym in Houston is a very important place for some time now. There is also a gym in Las Vegas, the name escapes me, where a lot of pros train. What makes a gym a 'hotspot' isn't the training or the instruction that you get there. It is the quality of sparring available. These name gyms, you don't just show up there and they aren't beginner friendly, and they tend to attract fighters in a particular weight class and it comes and goes in waves. For years the Wild Card was a mecca for 140 pound fighters and it wasn't because of the few rounds on mitts with Freddie that fighters were paying the gym a cut from their purse. It was because of the quality sparring available, for 'free', daily.
Johnny Tocco’s Ringside Gym in Las Vegas. Top Rank has one too. I’ve been to both but it was a lifetime ago. Wild Card in LA — haven’t been there but its reputation is sterling. I used to visit gyms basically everywhere I travel. There are great gyms all across the USA and around the world. Some are absolute holes in the wall or backyard gyms where you can get everything you’d want. Main thing is to connect with coaches. Call ahead if you are traveling and let them know you’d like to drop by and work out (or get instruction, or just to visit). Mostly when coaches connect, even if we’ve never met, a call to say ‘hey one of my guys is going to be in your area, he’d like to come by, can you take care of him?’ — you’re set. I’m going to be in Panama City Beach, Florida, in a couple of weeks. I take an annual vacation beach trip and Downtown Boxing Club is a fantastic facility. I always make part of my vacation working out there — they know our family and refuse to take my money, haha, unless I want to pay them for a mitt session.
Please correct me if I’m mistaken but I seem to remember that Gleason’s has become more of a social media attraction than a champion producing gym nowadays. I could be confusing it for another gym though.
