Punch for punch, Inwood Boxing Academy a heavy weight workout
by Daniel P. Bader Before Inwood Boxing Academy owner Joe Brender discovered the sport known as “the sweet science,” he was bored stiff. He played baseball, basketball, tried skiing, swimming and track. Nothing stuck. The Washington Heights native was in his late 40s when he first walked into a boxing gym. “I was overweight and I was bored,” said Brender. “I needed some kind of challenge.” He liked the sport, and found that he was good at it. He got in shape, he started competing. In 2004 he had reached a level where he almost went to the national competition in Kansas City, Missouri. In 2006 he gave up his work as a Canon business machine dealer for Elite Business Services and opened the Inwood Boxing Academy on Academy Street near Broadway in Inwood.  “I think boxing is the ultimate sport,” Brender said. “You gotta be in great shape. Your cardio, your strength, your stamina.”
There are three interchangeable groups that use his gym. Teenagers whose parents want them to focus their energy positively, amateur boxers who are training or work out to stay in shape and those who come in for a focused, goal oriented work out. Brender sees the most value in the first group, teens. He sees his gym as a valuable family-oriented community resource. “It’s always been about keeping kids off the street and in the right path,” Brender said. “There’s a sense of accomplishment. … Everything you do, you just feel better about yourself.” Counter intuitively, people who learn to box, to fight, will choose not to. “You don’t find boxers looking for fights,” Brender said. “You walk away from confrontation.” To keep that resource available, Brender has been seeking the help of local politicians to find funding to supplement the cost of memberships for kids in the neighborhood. He’s received some help from NY Foundlings, a group that helps foster children. But he’d like more help. “If we were to close down, there’d be a big black hole,” Brender said. The second biggest group is the competitive boxers. Athletes who train at IBA have competed and done well in the Golden Gloves – what Brender calls the “World Series of amateur boxing.” Two boxers, Matt Slane, a Manhattan College student, and Doc Hoskins Jr., a computer technician, both made it to the quarter finals of the tournament in 2006. “Doc just won a fight at Gleason’s,” the venerable Brooklyn boxing gym, Brender said. This year two boxers made it to the Junior Olympics, and a third, Kumani Cunningham, had his first pro fight, which he narrowly lost. The third group is made up of those who use the gym to keep in shape and learn a skill. “This is goal oriented. That’s what translates into success,” Brender said. “We motivate you here.” There are different levels of membership at IBA, but those new to the sport start at $160 a month ($135 for kids) and participate in one-hour group sessions with a trainer, twice a week. “The first thing we do is stretching,” Brender said. “Then you’re going to calisthenics.” People work at their own level, but the first half hour is dedicated to building up a sweat with jump rope and crunches. “Then we do shadow boxing,” Brender said. “Teaching you how to move forward, throwing a jab and learning how to move right.” The hardest part is building stamina, he said, so the next stage is working the heavy bags, which he compares to sprints. “A fight is more like a marathon,” Brender said. Once the fitness and boxing parts are over, its time to hit the pavement. “After you’re done with that, we expect you to run for 10-15 minutes,” he said. Basic monthly membership at IBA starts at $75 and tops out at $275 if you want a personal trainer. There is also a 10-percent discount for families. Equipment is provided, but new members must buy their own wraps and gloves, which cost about $50. Lockers are available and there are showering facilities for both men and women. The first lesson is free for people so they can see what it is like. “I just want them to be serious,” Brender said. The Manhattan Times is the bilingual newspaper of Washington Heights and Inwood.
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