I live in Honolulu which is a major city with about 900,000 people on my island but we only have a handfull of gyms on the island. I really want to start training at a gym and transition over from just roadwork and weights. There are a few really nice gyms in my city which offer free training and have many of the state champs and golden glove types training there, all you need is equipment.

However from what I've seen (i went to a gym to train/check it out), and heard from people, these gyms mainly attract really rough kids from bad neighborhoods/situations. Now this is fine but I've heard that they are alot of kids who act really tough and even want to take the fights outside the gym sometimes. I come from Middle/Upperclass and go to a private school so I'd likely have a hard time getting respect from them. I mean I'm not scared, but I'm not sure if it will be the best training environment.

My question is should I just tough it out and go there or go to a combo fitness/boxing or martial arts/boxing place that will be more structured, but probably a better environment?

Try out the real gym first. You'll soon find out if you're cut out for boxing.

thats what im leaing towards, im pretty sure i'm going to have to work extra hard to earn any respect. im from a different area, different skin color, and go to a private school.

thats what im leaing towards, im pretty sure i'm going to have to work extra hard to earn any respect. im from a different area, different skin color, and go to a private school.

Can you not get picked up by a parent outside the gym? If you do come along trouble with one of the guys just tell the rest to respect and let you and that guy have a box and ask the guy your about to box if thats fair. If any of them jump in you take your beating you aint gonna die and that means they aint got respect for what you asked which makes the guy you were gonna fight look like a ***** to be honest. Go for it as i quote from muhammad ali “He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.”

The respect issue is overrated. Anyone worth their salt will have a respect for you (silent or otherwise) just for showing up and working when other people don't, so long as you are respectful to others as well. If anyone doesn't, or tries to act like a hardass, ignore them. No one respects them either. Also to note, though...Hawaii is famous for MMA gyms. I mean..the PIT is there, so its big. Be careful about asking the wrong questions to the wrong people. Just do your research and stick to your guns and you should be good.

What does it mater how you where raised? With money or not.

It's your personality and how you carry yourself.

Just be confident, take no **** from no one. If someone wants to **** with you then dont be afraid to knock a mother ****er out the first time it happens and no one will bother you.

Man. In my gym, there's a few kids that have gotten into jail for a few weeks more than once for assault, drug, etc whatever. But really, once you get to know them, they're good and I've actually become good friends with some of them that I thought I never would.

Go to the real gym.

i'll add my 2 cents here - take it or leave it.

find a gym that is comfortable for you. shop around. you don't want to train at a gym where it is all about beating someone's ass. meaning, that you should want to go to a gym to train, learn, not just to get into fights with people(whether they be in the ring or outside it).

kids from bad neighborhoods may(or may not) be involveed in some messed up **** - maybe bangin' or down with a click of ppl that are on the wrong direction. these are people that you want to avoid. making friends with bad company will only **** you up and draw you into that misdirection.

another thing, like ringo said, respect is due just for showing up and trying your hardest to achieve what you want to. you don't have to be the best boxer to be respected as one.

as for martial arts, it's really the best way to go for personal self defence. however, you want to make sure that you're not getting caught up in a bull**** school or club. this is where i can help. if you find something you think is interesting, PM me and i can ask some ppl about it or do the necessary research for you.

good luck! :) :boxing:

yeah we have some of the best MMA gyms here The Pit, HMC, Grapplers Unlimited, Bulls Pen, Etc. Unforutunatly the same cant be said for boxing gyms.

thats what im leaing towards, im pretty sure i'm going to have to work extra hard to earn any respect. im from a different area, different skin color, and go to a private school.

Welcome to my world, mother****er. Some of the guys in my gym have diamonds in their teeth and gang tattoos. One guy wears a house arrest bracelet on his ankle -- they only let him out one night a week and he uses it to come beat the **** out of someone. I live uptown and drive a Saturn. Six months ago I'd have crossed the street to get away from these guys.

But you know what I've found? These are some fundamentally good guys. The serious ones, anyway. After a few months of showing up and working hard, I was blown away when some of the "hom33z" invited me out to a neighborhood bar.

Someone else here said it: "Show them you're strong on the inside and they'll show you how to be strong on the outside."

^^^It's weird right. The scariest guy who would knock me out with one punch ends up being the nicest while on the other side, the quiet white kid with gelled ****ed hair who's rich ends up being he prick.

[QUOTE]^^^It's weird right. The scariest guy who would knock me out with one punch ends up being the nicest while on the other side, the quiet white kid with gelled ****ed hair who's rich ends up being he prick.

Haha yeah appearances deceiving*spelling*

And don't get me wrong; there are a couple of other midlife-crisis -yuppies who have drifted in after getting their chops up in the "white collar boxing" gyms on the shinier side of town. Mostly, though, it's either young gangstas or Gen-X trail mix crowd, with the tattoos and soul patches. The kind of guys you'd expect to jump out of planes on snowboards. And some very, very badass chicks. :boxing:

God, I want to go back. It's only been a week and I'm already jonesing.

There's one girl at the gym. After she graduated high school, she never came back, only once like 4 months later. Very beautiful girl, like model looking.

There's one girl at the gym. After she graduated high school, she never came back, only once like 4 months later. Very beautiful girl, like model looking.

Ours, not so much. They generally look like the kind of woman you see in hardware stores. And one of them is 8-1 as a pro.

u should jus tough it out. i train at a gym with less fortunate ppl also but it doesnt phase me

haha

my coahc told me himself

i was the first asian fighter to come in through the doors since 12 years of opening

im the only asian kid inside a mexican enviroment

all you have to do is be humble and show them your skills

i decided to contact the coach and he told me to come on down on monday and check it out. the coach seems really nice, and i've decided to just go for it and man up like you guys said.

Best of luck to you!!

funny thing i just realised is the coach and I have the same name.

my advice is to just never show any fear, regardless of who asks you to spar. Remember, it's only sparring. i remember the first time i got asked to spar someone that could potentially take me out with 1 or 2 shots. a guy whos 30-6 challenged me and while I was really afraid inside, I just said 'Looks like I won't be looking my best for my date tonight'with a smile and him and his boy chuckled. They were gettin ready as I began warming up shadowboxing throwin 3-4 punch combinations beside the ring, lookin at them thru a mirror lookin at me and they almost looked suprised that i didnt seem afraid at all.. I got in there and dominated that boy with nothin else but the jab, a couple feingts and a big right hand to his body which landed on his lead hand effectively disabling it for our sparring session, and didnt get hit in the face once, so just be humble, go in there, and remember, if you don't dedicate yourself 100% to learning everything you can, you dont belong in this sport. if u dont show up every day, regardless of how you feel, you dont belong in a sparring match with any kind of decent opposition. thats just my opinion.

you get to choose when you spar?

^^^Haha. I wish.

Welcome to my world, mother****er. Some of the guys in my gym have diamonds in their teeth and gang tattoos. One guy wears a house arrest bracelet on his ankle -- they only let him out one night a week and he uses it to come beat the **** out of someone. I live uptown and drive a Saturn. Six months ago I'd have crossed the street to get away from these guys.

But you know what I've found? These are some fundamentally good guys. The serious ones, anyway. After a few months of showing up and working hard, I was blown away when some of the "hom33z" invited me out to a neighborhood bar.

Someone else here said it: "Show them you're strong on the inside and they'll show you how to be strong on the outside."lmfao thats gotta be the funnies gym story ive heard in my life lmfao you think thats bad to work out with try going to a alternative school we have mother****ers like that all over the place **** we even had a kid that claimed he was a terrorist and told us we were all goona die because of him **** you wana hear something dumb one of the kids thats in my class asked one of the lunch moms when they were selling bagels are lunch if they had a menthol flavord one now thats bad right there lmfao:tapedshut

you will learn a hell of a lot more in this so called rough gym than you will hanging out with in that other gym...

its no co incidence that all the champions i know of come from a poor background... they are hungry for success and to learn to box

This is just my personal opinion but even middle class and/or upper class people are still hungry for success. "Rough Gym" or a not so "Rough" gym, he won't know wats best until he trys out both to see what both gyms have to offer. Perhaps the training is acutally twice as hard at the not so rough one, who knows? When it comes to learning a new craft, you gotta be open to all possiblablies. But then again, this is just my opinion.

well, you may have already decided, but if not, here's food for thought.

an unstructured gym with wild "boys" may only help you if you think you need to feel tough.


look for a gym that will help you learn the art of boxing. anybody can fight, not just anybody can box.


i've found the real badasses never really act like badasses.

im from the north end in my city and the gym i goto is in the rough east part of town. Many sell weed and ****, but in my experience as soon as they saw i had some skill in the ring they respect me like im one of them. I just see em as regular people and show no fear. It doesent matter where ur from, u share the same interest as them

I live in mexico and in a middle-upper class area, i'm a lawyer and have a similar issue, i was training at a white-collar boxing gym, and it was a boxing class with a lot of other people and we don't have the same level and i think it's a little lo light for my taste, i'm going to change to a rough gym and see what happens.

Lol thats boxing bud. If you cant take that then dont join the sport.

I know what its like to be the outsider. I go to a gym where the trainers dont even speak english. I have been to honolulu a few times and I know the hawaiians can be very racist. I'm guessing you didnt grow up on the island. possibly military? I think that if you feel that the guys are gunning for you outside of the gym and the enviroment isnt good for training then if possible you should split and go to a better gym. I wanted to start boxing years ago when I lived in louisiana. When I walked into the gym I felt like Rocky in "rocky 3". the speed bags stopped and everything. everyone was looking at me and one dude started joking about getting me in the ring. Maybe he wasnt joking... I felt uncomfortable with it cause alot of the dudes just wanted to **** me up with out giving me a chance. Looking back I wish I wouldve stayed and proved myself but its too late now. good luck.

where is the pit? I have never heard of that before except chuck lidell's Pit team. that isnt here in hawaii right?

i hate you

dude seriosly the best boxers are the kids who dont have much i go 2 a catholic skool which is private but not that wealthy and the area i live in is poor i used to go to a gym with not much and a lot of poor kids now i go to a more expensive gym but seriosly if u want respect be nice 2 ppl and dont complain about ur "training environment"

yeh its like my gym some ruff guys drug dealers etc.. but there all gd man jus get to know them

well, you may have already decided, but if not, here's food for thought.

an unstructured gym with wild "boys" may only help you if you think you need to feel tough.


look for a gym that will help you learn the art of boxing. anybody can fight, not just anybody can box.


i've found the real badasses never really act like badasses.

the old small dogs barks loudest princip

thats my experience both in fight sports and real life