San Francisco may have suffered something of a black eye earlier this year when the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America moved its annual book fair to Oakland's Marriott City Center.
By Paul Duclos
Published: April, 2016
Books on the “sweet science” moved well, too, which brings us to our next item:
Premier amateur boxing is being revived in San Francisco this month thanks to legendary matchmaker Rob Fernandez, who is assembling some of the best non-professional fighters from around the state to compete on Saturday, April 23.
The venue will be the Third Street Boxing Gym, which was opened in September 2003 by Paul Wade, an Irish boxer, trainer and champion of the sport. Originally hailing from Dublin, Ireland, Wade first spent his time in a Mission District boxing gym. He made connections in our local boxing community, united by a heartfelt passion that continues to deepen.
Wade won Golden Gloves titles here in San Francisco in 2001. After 2001, he began to focus on training and developing fighters, producing numerous Golden Gloves champions. During this period, he realized that boxing in San Francisco had seen better days and that there was a pressing need for an authentic boxing gym.
Third Street Boxing Gym is home to many aspiring amateurs and local professionals. With its family atmosphere and an instructional system designed to teach boxing to the masses, the gym has also become home to a growing number of people who recognize the unparalleled benefits of a boxer’s workout. One might find school teachers, mothers, stockbrokers, dentists, artists and lawyers in attendance at one of the gym’s expertly guided classes.
Wade notes that as the foremost genuine martial art, boxing is full of hard, brilliant and sensational life, possessing an astounding local history. From the golden days of 20-, 30-, and 40-round matches from the 1880s until now, San Francisco has loved boxing and produced many champions in every division. A detailed account of the ups and downs of boxing in Northern California would fill many volumes. In fact, the City by the Bay used to be called the “Cradle of Fistic Stars.” Long before mainstream sports like football and baseball came to San Francisco, it was home to famous fighters such as James J. Corbett, Jack Dempsey, Abe Attel, Joe Choynski and Bobo Olsen.
Wade said that he grew up fighting on the streets of Dublin, in a country that breeds fighters. “Fighting is not just a sport to my people,” he said. “It is a way of life, and has been for hundreds of years. From a rough start, I discovered boxing, which changed my life infinitely for the better.”
Wade maintains that his philosophy is the same as President Theodore Roosevelt, who wrote:
“I regard boxing professional and amateur, as a vigorous, healthful sport that develops courage, keenness of mind, quickness of eye and a combativeness that fits every boy who engages in it for the daily tasks that confront him. It is not half so brutalizing or demoralizing as many forms of big business, and certain legal work that is often carried on to help such business.
“I have often thought that if we had more boys’ clubs where the art was taught, we would have fewer adolescent criminals, the street-corner type of hoodlum and would breed a better class of young American citizens—the future voters. Boxing develops elements of character that are difficult to obtain in other sports: fairness, a spirit of give-and-take, courage and alertness.
“It is only the bully who wants to give and avoid the taking. If boxing were taught in every public and secondary school and in college, this nation would soon find it rid of the bullies and would develop in our youth a spirit of manhood, a spirit that teaches fairness to our fellow men. We would be rid of street corner rowdies and cowards and make our boys a better, sturdier and healthier lot.”
Wade’s mission statement is clear and unapologetic: “I want to play a part in bringing back to San Francisco the amazing sport of boxing in all its glory,” he said. “I want to pay homage and respect to the fighters and trainers who came before us. This is my mission for Third Street gym.”
For more info, see www.thirdstreetgym.com.
Follow Paul Duclos’ Cultural Currents online with his blog at: paulduclosonsanfranciscoculture.blogspot.com
