With the attention-getting brevity of a right jab, Nick Delury will tell you why 200-plus men and women ”“ “about a 50-50 split” ”“ sweat to the sweet science at his White Plains-based Westchester Boxing Club.
“They want to feel like a champ.”
The no-appointment, self-directed workouts take place among four pro boxing trainers: Delury, Dave Tenny, Ryan O”™Leary and Cris Correa, each of whom, in turn, trained under boxing legend Maurice “Kid Sharkey” Spasato, now 91 and still very much involved with the gym, which is downstairs at 220 Ferris Ave. from Spasato”™s storied boxing gym, The Cage.
The Cage was a different boxing environment from the one embraced and promoted by Delury. Notably present in The Cage photos, and absent at the Westchester Boxing Club, is a ring.
“We offer world-class boxing instruction, even though it”™s noncontact,” Delury said. “It”™s all about the form and the fundamentals without worrying about getting hit or getting hurt.”
He describes a typical Westchester Boxing Club member as someone with high blood pressure or who is stressed out and has been told by a doctor to get in shape. But athletes of all stripes are welcomed, right up to John LaMotta, Jake”™s nephew, whom Delury trained to five Golden Gloves victories.
The workouts take place in a prescribed circuit. From the moment the three-year-old gym opens at 4 p.m. (Monday, Wednesday, Friday; plus special youth group hours), the gym thrums to the beat of three minutes, one minute, three minutes, one minute ”¦ , which has constituted the chronology of boxing since the second hand was invented. Three minutes to figure out Iron Mike or Smokin”™ Joe; a minute to catch your breath. Or, at this gym, three minutes on the heavy bag, one minute rest, three minutes of uppercuts, one minute rest, right through to the end of the circuit. More advanced boxers, as you”™d expect, engage in more grueling workouts of repeat sets. Various workouts ”“ spanning the gamut from Caspar Milquetoast to Boom-Boom Mancini ”“ are laminated and taped to the wall.
The benefit of that structure is that there”™s no waiting to get going. Arrive, stretch, tape up, join the circuit. “The gym might look crowded, but it works smoothly,” Delury said. “The woman taping up is just getting going; the man doing strength work is finishing up.”
The circuit involves stops at the angle heavy bag, leather heavy bag, heavy ball, speed bag, uppercut and hook bag, reflex bag, double-end bag (that”™s the elusive one attached to floor and ceiling) and the maze bag (quiet teacher of bobbing and weaving).
The gym is also filled with dumbbells, jump ropes, medicine balls, balance balls and other pugilistic accouterments such as gloves. (For hygiene purposes, the gym recommends buying your own gloves.)
Workouts are tailored to individuals, but the basic three-minute/one-minute premise remains the same. The trainers roam the gym freely, coaching, advising, helping, all without an appointment. “They”™re very supportive,” Delury said of the trainers. “You don”™t pay extra; they”™re already on the floor to help you.” Among their tools are the padded “focus mitts” the trainer wears on his hands and the trainee punches.
The benefits of boxing, according to Delury, are numerous: lower blood pressure, increased flexibility, increased strength and stamina. “There”™s no better form of physical fitness than boxing,” he said. “You get cardiovascular training, muscle toning and strengthening, all simultaneously.”
Delury is a natural ambassador for boxing: articulate, pleasant and quick as a jungle cat in boxing gloves. He has taken his boxing philosophy to television: “In the Ring With Nicky Knuckles” airs on Cablevision channel 76 at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday and 5 p.m. Saturday. “I interview different boxing people: cut men, trainers, boxers, historians.”
It”™s not all boxing for Delury. He coaches his 8-year-old son Dylan”™s Little League baseball team. He notes Dylan is sizing up a career in golf and is being urged in that direction by Sharkey Spasato. “Sharkey is like a grandfather to Dylan,” Delury said. “And he tells Dylan, ”˜You want to be a golfer. It”™s good to get out in the fresh air.”™”
That may be true, but for a quicker, more physical remedy for modern stress, hundreds are putting up their dukes.
The Web site is www.keeponpunching.com.
