Ardon Sweet Science Gym

December 6th, 2009

December is a time to reflect on the past year: we compile top-ten album lists, spend time with family during the holidays and try to figure out what went wrong with the New Jersey Nets. For me, 2009 was the year I developed an interest in boxing, thanks in no small part to a friend who should probably be working as an analyst for HBO. I took baby steps: I watched some pay-per-view title fights, I read Joyce Carol Oates’ On Boxing and Thomas Hauser’s The Black Lights, and went to a couple of amateur nights at Gleason’s Gym in Dumbo.

We also moved to the Sunset Park neighborhood this year. On my walk home from the subway a couple of weeks ago, I noticed two fighters sparring in a ring that was visible through second-floor windows of a building on Fourth Avenue. But there was no sign. I told a few friends about it, and one of them pointed this New York Times article out to me yesterday. Quite a story.

Photo: John Jon-Long Tan, from Ardon Sweet Science Gym Facebook page