DETROIT, MI — A small youth boxing gym that has been gathering attention, praise and donations for years is about to make a major move into a massive east-side building that will allow the after-school program mixing pugilism and academics to expand.
The Downtown Boxing Gym purchased a former book bindery on East Vernor Highway last year with help from Madonna and an anonymous contributor, and with about $2 million in ongoing renovations funded by other supporters, the new site could become a state-of-the-art boxing facility.
Only 65 youths are currently enrolled in the program, learning to box and getting attention from tutors and mentors after school at the original gym on St. Aubin Street.
Another 500 are on a waiting list.
“We’re very lucky to be going from a 4,000 square feet to a 27,500 square feet,” said Downtown Boxing Gym Development Director Carolyn Geck.
The new gym will host the ROSSETTI 2015 USA Boxing Junior Olympics Tournament on Saturday and Sunday, and the youth of the Downtown Boxing Gym will start training and studying at the new gym by the end of May.
Designs for the new training center were provided for free by ROSSETTI, the architecture firm that drew the plans for Ford Field in Detroit, Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids and renovations at the University of Michigan’s Yost Ice Arena and the Palace of Auburn Hills’ player facility.