Bruce Silverglade (far left) and boxing champs pose for a photo after the unveiling of ‘Gleason’s Gym Way’ in Dumbo.
Photo by Gabriele Holtermann
Gleason’s Gym, renowned as the world’s most famous boxing gym, was honored with a street co-naming ceremony at the corner of Adams and Water Streets in Dumbo on Aug. 22.
Boxing champions, including Vito Antuofermo, Michael Spinks, Junior Jones and Sonya Lamonakis, along with elected officials and numerous family and friends, joined Bruce Silverglade, owner of Gleason’s Gym, for the unveiling of “Gleason’s Gym Way.”
The street co-naming represents a pinnacle for the storied gym, which has trained boxing legends such as Jake LaMotta, Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson, and Floyd Mayweather Jr. It has also produced 136 boxing champions and hosted Hollywood stars like Robert De Niro and Hilary Swank during their preparations for “Raging Bull” and “Million Dollar Baby.”
Gleason’s Gym, the oldest boxing gym in the United States, first opened in 1937 in the Bronx, later relocated twice, and is now situated at 130 Water St. in Brooklyn. Bruce Silverglade, who has owned the gym for 42 years and celebrated his birthday on the day of the ceremony, expressed his excitement about the honor. He told Brooklyn Paper he was “thrilled” to have a street named after the gym.
“This is really very, very thrilling,” Silverglade, inducted into the New York State Hall of Fame in 2015, said. “It’s not for me; it’s for Gleason’s Gym, and it’s really for all the fighters and all the clients that have come through here that have made it as great as it is today.”
Silverglade added that he is continually amazed by the gym’s global recognition.
“I’ve had actual arguments with some of the Italian nationals that come in here,” he said. “They tell me that Gleason’s is more popular in Italy than it is here in New York City. It’s popular everywhere, and people know it.”
City Council Member Lincoln Restler (D-Brooklyn), who sponsored the street co-naming for the gym, described Silverglade and his trainers as “salt of the earth people” who welcome everyone, regardless of background or physical condition.
“Gleason’s is boxing. Boxing is Gleason’s,” Restler told Brooklyn Paper. “There is no more iconic training hub for the great boxers in the history of the United States than this fine gym.”
Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso and Council Member Farah Louis (D-Brooklyn), currently at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, sent representatives to the event. Community organizer Hassaan Chaudhary presented Silverglade with a citation on behalf of the Borough President, and Daniel Brady, representing Louis, thanked Silverglade for his “relentless advocacy.”
At the after-party, Ray Cuadrado, president of USA Boxing Metro, told Brooklyn Paper that the street co-naming was well-deserved and long overdue.
“Bruce is a mainstay in the boxing community,” Cuadrado said. “Bruce has always been the kind of person who helps everyone in boxing, from boxers to fellow gym owners to the community, who just want to train alongside and rub shoulders with boxing superstars.”
Former IBO World Heavyweight Champion and New York City public school teacher Sonya Lamonakis, who has trained at Gleason’s Gym since 2005, described Silverglade as a “second father.”
“He changes people’s lives whether they’re going to compete or not,” she told Brooklyn Paper. “It’s about boxing being a journey for everyone, and everyone finding something different from it, whether it’s self-discipline, building your confidence, or getting in better shape.”
Antoine Waldo, an amateur boxer who has trained at Gleason’s for the past five years, appreciates the gym’s no-frills atmosphere.
“[Gleason’s] has some of the best boxing coaches and just the environment. You know, I live out in Long Island, out in the Hamptons with a lot of nice and exclusive gyms,” Waldo said. “Gleason’s is rugged and a little rough around the edges, and that’s what I love about it.”
