Tim Knox saw New Yorks famous Gleasons Gym to photograph some of the six female world endorses who train there and find out about what motivates them and some of their fellow girl regulars at the establishment
In 1982, Bruce Silverglade, in his 30 s at the time, went into collaboration with Ira Becker, the second owner of Gleason’s gym. Ira was in his 70 s.
Silverglade says:” I came from an age where elders were to be respected. I had a great deal of respect for Ira and basically left the main decisions up to him. During this time, there was a lot of filming at the gym and a lot of the women on the crews wanted to try boxing learn. More and more dames were expecting and Ira refused to allow the status of women to improve .”
Inside the gym at Water Street, Brooklyn.
Ronica Jeffrey is the International Women’s Boxing Federation world super-featherweight champion.
Keisher “Fire” McLeod, current WIBA world champion and four-times Golden Glove champion, constitutes in the gym and, below, is helped with her practice by her partner Tayshawn Autry.