*See Editor’s Note after article

Moms are schmoozing, elementary school kids are running laps and college kids are tying up their boots.

There’s no average scene when the Triple Cities Championship Boxing Club gets going at 7:30 on a weeknight.

Born out of the former Binghamton Boxing Association, the TCCBC opened its doors at 275 Chenango St. on Jan. 21, and it has already garnered about 20 members.

Perhaps that’s because walking inside the ground-level gym, complete with ring and professional equipment, doesn’t feel like walking into a gym. It feels more like walking into a bar where everybody knows one another, where people of all ages are helping and pushing one another to do that extra sit-up and learn how to punch the bag properly. Perhaps it’s the wall of windows that eliminates the stuffiness and constriction that your standard gym (read: FitSpace) has.

More likely, it’s because of the spirit the gym was built out of.

“We’re here for the kids, for the community,” says Nasim Jones, 31, one of the owners of the TCCBC and a former BBA athletic director.

The TCCBC is not meant just for the aspiring boxer, but for the youth who need a positive after-school activity. Jones, a former fighter who took on Oscar de la Hoya in the 1992 Olympic Trials, and partner Rico Munoz, decided they could do a lot of good by opening up their own gym. Munoz, a local business owner and good friend of Jones, says that the TCCBC has already been well-received by the community.

“We want to reach out to the community and the youth, and they’re reaching back,” Munoz says.

Munoz thinks of the kids who attend “as a pipe with pressure.”

“These streets can create a lot of pressure and we have an environment that allows the kids to release that pressure safely,” he says.

Although Munoz emphasizes the importance of education and conditioning, some parents of children who go to the gym have some alternate uses of it. Stacy Weston heard about the gym in a local newspaper and decided her 6-year-old son Michael should learn how to protect himself.

“I want him to learn how to defend himself most importantly,” she says. “The discipline will come with time — this will be really good for him.”

Michael can be seen some days working out next to Joe Calvello, who graduated from BU and finished runner-up in the 178-pound novice class of the Golden Gloves tournament held in Syracuse last spring.

Though Calvello can be seen sparring in the ring on an almost daily basis, you can’t jump right into a fight on the first day.

“You need to be training eight to 10 weeks before you can get in the ring and spar,” Munoz says. “We’re not looking to create bullies or street fighters. We’re here to educate and discipline.”

But if one sticks with it, Calvello, a former football player at Siena College, might be the gym’s best example of boxing’s benefits.

“I was looking to stay in shape because I’ve always been a competitor and I picked up boxing,” he says. “It’s a challenge mentally, it’s a challenge physically. It’s not like any other sport, there’s no teammates, it’s just you. You get out of it what you put into it.”

The TCCBC, though it relies mostly on its own funds, has been buoyed by local donations of both equipment and money. The gym features several weight training machines, speed bags, heavy bags and space to do your thing—something the BBA lacked.

“There wasn’t a lot of space, it was basically in an attic,” says BU student Dan Zupnick.

The donations help keep the gym affordable. Adult memberships cost $35 a month and youth memberships cost $25 a month, and you don’t have to have any experience to participate.

Trainer and Binghamton administrator Dr. James Pogue even hosts a boxing for fitness class.

In recent months, the comparison of mixed martial arts and boxing has been prevalent in the sports world in terms of fanfare and revenue. MMA supplies the extensive violence that has been absent in the boxing world since the decline of Mike Tyson, but Pogue says the two sports are totally different.

“In mixed martial arts, you have to be great at several things, but boxing is a pure discipline,” he says. “I myself am prolific in karate and I box to refine my hand skills.”

But the TCCBC’s owners keep their emphasis on community. Boxing is a means to a better place.

Binghamton student Zupnick says he wants to see more BU students, from beginners to veterans, in attendance. After doing enough work, you can earn a passport that allows you to fight at other facilities.

Those who are looking to join the TCCBC can go any weekday at 7:30 p.m. Private lessons are currently available and weekend classes are also in the works.

*** CLARIFICATION***

The Binghamton Boxing Association is still in existence out of Binghamton Post 80, at 76 Main Street on Binghamton’s Westside. The club was misidentified as defunct in the Feb. 15 edition of Pipe Dream. For more information, contact the club’s president, Jose Sanchez, at (607) 723-4423.