People unfamiliar with training at a boxing gym might be slightly intimidated by the environment. There’s no reason to be.
Boxing gyms are diverse places housing thugs, wannabe tough guys, criminals, kids, yuppies, women, amateur boxers and celebrity pro boxers. Due to the testosterone overload you’d think there would be a lot of tension at boxing gyms, but I’ve almost never seen it.
So much of masculine behavior is posing and attempting to display power: a man’s image, his dress, his tatoos, the way he walks around other men. There’s often a hint of violence behind these things, no matter how deeply buried. But in the ring it doesn’t matter how many tatoos you have, how long your criminal record, or how many untrained fighters you’ve beat up. To get in the ring and face another man in combat cuts through all this bullshit.
It takes a special kind of person to box, and these unique people develop a natural kinship. This bond goes across all boundaries, no matter race, nationality, creed, socio economic status or criminal profile. Boxing is the great equalizer.
I don’t care who you are, where you come from, or what you look like, if you keep your mouth shut and work hard you’ll fit in.
