are there any amateur fighters here that compete but are unattached to any boxing gym? like, you have a trainer that trains fighters out of his garage or something like that. would it be harder to find fights or enter in tourney's if you aren't training out of a gym? im sure calling around to find gyms with fighters to spar with wouldn't be a big problem... do any of you do this or have you heard of anything like this. thanks.
I'm doing it right now. I take private lessons in my coach's basement. He owns a boxing gym but the lessons are where it's at. My own training is done in the weight room and my own basement with heavy bag/speed bag and whatnot. Your coach will get you certified and into fights. You don't need to be in a boxing gym. Sadly, most boxing gyms around me are turning into workout facilities where majority of the guys are there for an overall workout and will never compete. That doesn't help us at all. Cheap group lessons allow you to spar also. And if you have any friends who fight (boxing MMA or whatever) spar with them for extra training.
Here in Canada, you need to be affiliated with a gym, and the gym in turn needs to be affiliated with the provincial governing body. So you could train with someone in their basement/garage whatever but he/you would need to have something with an actual gym where officially you would be with them, even if you never actually go to their gym. It does happen. On one of the shows my gym hosted, we had a guy representing our club who I only saw in the gym once a week before the fight. He was doing all his training with his dad at home.....he got his butt kicked.
i'm in madagascar (yes like the penguins...except that there no fooking penguins in madagascar what dumbasses) and i train at home every day, with a personal trainer twice a week. just need an amateur license accepted by the federation and i can fight. but then again here you can buy a driver's license for a few euros, so...
Here in Australia you need to be a member of a gym othwerwise you can't fight. This has been my experience anyway.
I'm doing this - started working with a trainer at a non-boxing gym who has a strong boxing background. He really cultivated my interest and got me interested in actually fighting. When I realized I wanted to fight we started visiting local boxing gyms to find sparring and I've gotten into a good groove at one of them with a regular stable of sparring partners. No trouble getting on cards so far, although for women it's different - in my experience, gyms seem happy to get a female fight on the card and they work to make sure you're well matched. My current arrangement is okay, but I didn't expect to be taking it this far when I started working with my trainer, and I think I'm reaching the end of what he can teach me (plus he is quite a bit more expensive than a boxing trainer). There are a lot of really attractive things about being attached to a gym, and I think the learning curve is a lot steeper when you fight out of a gym because you have the opportunity to learn from quite a few more people. Beyond just your trainer and your sparring partners, everyone's there for the same reason and you can glean a lot just by watching other fighters and chatting with them. It's different when it's just you and some guy in his garage (or his fancy yuppie gym, as the case may be). There are two other trainers at local gyms that I'd love to work with, but one of them is friends with my trainer and the other is about an hour away so I'm not sure when I'll make the move or what the move would be.