By Ryan Burton

 

Miami, Florida is famous for nice beaches, wild nightlife and beautiful women. Besides being the home to warm weather and partying, Miami used to be a haven for boxing.  Sure there are still local fighters and Cuban immigrants who live and train in the area but if you step back in time the 5th Street Gym was one of the premier boxing gyms in the country.  A who's who list in boxing history have trained at the 5th Street Gym .  Names such as Joe Louis, Muhammad Ali, Willie Pep and Carmen Basilio to name a few all trained at one time or another at the fabeled gym.

 

The gym closed in 1992 but with the backing of Tom Tsatas, who reached out to BoxingScene.com for this story, the gym is set to re-open on August 14th.  The 60 year anniversary party is also scheduled for that day.  Tsatas isn't going it alone as he has a number of investors behind the project.  He has an all-star team consisting of Angelo Dundee, Matt Baiamonte, and Dino Spencer to make upt he rest of his team who will handle most of the operations.  "We found the location where the original gym was at and it became available.  I talked to Angelo and his kid and they gave us the green light so we are re-opening it in the same location with the same name and same everything."

 

Tsatas has been involved in boxing for many years in different roles from managing Fres Oquendo to promoting fights.  Tsatas thinks one key to success with the gym is adapting to the times.  "We want to have different champions training here but we also will train M M A in the gym.  You have to keep up with the times.  Dino has trained Fres before and he and Matt will run the gym.  Matt worked under Angelo for about 10 years so he provides the linkage back to Angelo.  Angelo will be part of it as well but at 88 years old he won't be part of the daily operations."

 

The 5th Street Gym is rich in legacy and tradition.  Many European fighters would come by the gym because it was the thing to do.  Ali was training there as were other champions so it became a status symbol to be in the gym.   Non boxing stars such as The Beatles and Frank Sinatra were also frequent visitors to the gym.  The 5th Street Gym has a rich history but the reality is that it cannot rely on its history to be successful in the future.  "We want to build on the energy and tradition of the gym.  It is just a matter of time before we build our champions," said Tsatas.

 

Building champions can be a very long process. Tsatas and the rest of the team want to get out of the gate fast.  "We have talked to Luis DeCubas about having some of the Cuban fighters train there.  We have reached out to Freddie Roach and we think he will do some training there.  There is a 168 pound kid out there who is 20-0 name Donovan George that we think will hold his training camps there once he starts going away to camps.  I think Fres will train there as well plus some of the locals down there."  Tsatas thinks that once the word gets out that the gym is reopened that more and more fighters will start to train there.  "We plan on having a great gym.  One of the best best gyms out there."

 

The 5th Street Gym is a link to the golden age of boxing and a reminder of a time when boxing was America's number one sport.  The reopening of a gym won't bring boxing back to its glory days but it is a step in the right direction.  There will never be another Muhammed Ali but Tsatas and company are confident that they will be able to build world champions and write another chapter in the legacy of the legendary gym.

 

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