The Unanimous Boxing Gyms in Chicago (Plus Helpful Tips)
With around 2.7 million residents, Chicago boasts one of the largest populations in the USA. It’s renowned as the city of sports in addition to its striking architecture and museums.
Boxing is one of the sports the city is well-known for, and the skill, coordination, and physical condition of boxers are prominent characteristics of this age-old sport. Chicago was recognized as the finest sports city three times — 1993, 2006, and 2010.
Accordingly, we’ve compiled a well-sourced list of the best boxing gyms in Chicago. These gyms generally have all the necessary amenities and pay close attention to their client’s health. If you live in Chicago and are interested in boxing, you may consider joining one of these gyms.
Top 10 Best Boxing Gyms in Chicago
Locating a reliable boxing gym in big cities like Chicago could be tedious. If you’re currently in such a dilemma, today is your lucky day. Outlined below is a list of boxing gyms in Chicago that may give you just what you seek:
1. Unanimous Boxing Gym
- Price Range: $140 monthly (Unlimited classes)
- Address: 2764 North Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago, 1L 60647
Unanimous Boxing Gym is among the finest boxing gyms in Chicago and is renowned for its elite coaching and inspirational trainers. The gym has two branches in Chicago. The first is situated at 2764 North Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago, 1L 60647, while the second sits at 1356 West Lake Street, Chicago, 1L 60607.
Yuri Polyak and Trinidad Garcia, two friends, discussed the 2015 sequel match between Floyd Mayweather and Marcos Maidana that led to the establishment of the boxing gym in June 2016. Consequently, individuals of various skill levels can take boxing lessons at the gym.
Last but not least, the Unanimous Boxing Gym has over 400 members and offers an average of 8 courses each day, all of which emphasize essential skills and techniques.
2. Franklin Street Boxing Club
- Price Range: $95 monthly
- Address: 162 N. Franklin St. in Chicago, 1L 60606
The Franklin Street Boxing Club is another well-known fitness center that instills a sense of achievement and positive self-confidence in its members.
Ray Pace and Jimmy Mango are the founders of the boxing club, situated at 162 N. Franklin St. in Chicago, 1L 60606. In his younger years, Jimmy Mango won the Golden Gloves title, and in 1976, Chicago City Championship “Most Exciting Fighter” voting went to Rap Pace.
The club holds boxing courses for people of all ages—including men, women, kids, professionals, and amateurs—with various backgrounds and specialties. More importantly, it boasts expert coaches with more than 30 years of training experience.
3. Sam Colonna MMA, Fitness and Boxing Gym
- Price Range: $50 monthly
- Address: 2600 W 35th St, Chicago, 1L 60632
Sam Colonna MMA, Fitness and Boxing Gym was named after the gym’s founder, Sam Colonna. He was an acclaimed former fighter who served as the director of numerous prestigious boxing clubs in Chicago.
Many of the boxers Colonna taught have achieved considerable accomplishment in their professions. Moreover, he spent 17 years as Windy City Boxing’s chief boxing instructor.
You can locate the gym at 2600 W 35th St, Chicago, 1L 60632, in the Chicago Business Center. The boxing club has expertise in training multitudes of amateur boxers and has won titles as the National, Illinois State, and Chicago Golden Gloves Champions. Amateurs and professionals may take boxing courses at the facility, and it’s open to men, women, and kids of all ages.
Kickboxing, Muay Thai, and youth boxing are the areas of expertise available at this boxing gym.
4. Windy City Boxing Gym
- Price Range: $40–85 monthly
- Address: 2150 S Canalport Ave, Chicago, 1L60608
Montell J. Griffin—an Olympic Boxing graduate with a background in boxing—owns the Windy City boxing facility. The gym is located at 2150 S Canalport Ave, Chicago, 1L60608.
The gym’s story began when Montell J. Griffin’s father, Clarance Griffin, acquired and rebranded the gym to Windy City Boxing from the boxing club of previous bantamweight title holder Jhonny Coulon, previously situated at 5411 East 63rd Street.
The boxing gym is known for training Clarance Griffin and Muhammad Ali during its early years. It focuses on its clients’ fitness, self-mastery, self-esteem, and weight loss goals to reduce body fat and extra inches.
5. Title Boxing Gym
- Price Range: $89 monthly (unlimited)
- Address: 313 S. Peoria St., Chicago, 1L 60607
Title Boxing Gym is one of the elite boxing clubs situated in Chicago. The gym has coached numerous professional boxers and has multiple locations around the country. Its owners and current CEOs are Graham and John Rotche.
The club came to be in August 2014, and it’s situated at 313 S. Peoria St., Chicago, 1L 60607. It’s currently housed in an apartment building called Tailor Lofts.
Title Boxing Gym is well-known and well-regarded as a sports brand, with 165 locations nationwide. It specializes in complete body boxing, kickboxing exercises, and mixed martial arts.
Lastly, the gym offers boxing lessons that include thorough heavy bag training to build and tone the client’s confidence, core, stamina, arms, legs, and back.
6. Hammer Fitness and Boxing Gym
- Price Range: $150 monthly (Unlimited)
- Address: 525 W North Ave, Chicago, 1L 60610
Hammer Fitness and Boxing Gym holds the real growth of its clientele as a priority and desires to develop its customers’ physical and mental strength. The gym has a solid track record and has coached several professional fighters with excellent outcomes.
Located at 525 W North Ave, Chicago, 1L 60610, Jhonny Higgins is the proud owner of the gym.
The advanced professional boxing coach and gym owner have been involved in combat sports since he was 15. Meanwhile, Brian Deleon oversees the facility and serves as its primary boxing teacher.
Since he started practicing martial arts at the age of 13, Brian has achieved much fame and experience in boxing. He uses his expertise from his successful sports career to instruct his students.
The gym offers personal training with a boxing coach and personal trainer Arthur Pike. At age 19, Arthur began learning martial arts instruction.
The gym focuses on Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Muay Thai, kickboxing, and boxing. It also provides boxing sessions for all genders and kids to motivate and strengthen them as they learn useful self-defense techniques and push their physical and mental boundaries.
7. Chicago Thai Boxing Academy
- Price Range: $152–199 monthly
- Address: 5651 West Irving Park Road, Chicago, Illinois 60634
The Chicago Thai Boxing Academy specializes in a particular kind of boxing. The boxing gym is noted for its Thai boxing expertise, which gives the athlete an advantage in unique fighting techniques. The boxing club was founded in 2015 at 5651 West Irving Park Road, Chicago, Illinois 60634.
The group focuses on Muay Thai sparring for more experienced fighters, pad work, and mild partner contact drills. Its head coach—who doubles as the gym’s owner—emphasizes fighting techniques and physical fitness more.
Furthermore, the gym boasts a welcoming atmosphere; its teachers are exceptionally knowledgeable and have a successful fighting history.
8. Chicago Youth Boxing Club
- Price Range: $25 monthly
- Address: 2300 S Millard Ave, Chicago, 1L 60623
The Chicago Youth Boxing Club is an independent boxing organization based at 2300 S Millard Ave, Chicago, 1L 60623. It was founded in 2006 and focuses mainly on improving Chicago’s youths.
The club was established as a non-profit sports-based youth rehabilitation organization to provide an option to gang violence and drug dependency for young individuals in Chicago. Notably, the club promotes good and beneficial skills and discipline through boxing and a team environment.
Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) funds the club to expand its premises and purchase equipment. It started with only a few participants from the surrounding communities, and the trainers solely volunteered for the group.
The organization offers over 25,00 hours of after-school coaching annually and assists youths in developing skills, nutritional and health education, and college visits. It also assists its trainees in getting jobs and volunteering and provides grants for advanced studies.
9. POW! Boxing Gym
- Price Range: $25–50 monthly
- Address: 310 S Racine Ave 1st floor, Chicago, 1L 60607
POW! Boxing Gym is regarded as one of the city’s preferred gyms, with a high customer positive outcome. The boxing gym, situated at 310 S Racine Ave 1st floor, Chicago, 1L 60607, was founded in 2001.
Katalin Ogren, the owner of the Parisi Speed School of Chicago, owns the gym. She’s a skilled martial artist with considerable expertise and has been involved in the fitness sector for over 25 years. Again, she has trained in martial arts for over 38 years.
One fun fact about Katalin is that she was recognized as a professional in the sport after portraying three parts in the popular computer game Mortal Combat 2.
The major purpose of the POW! Boxing Gym is to develop its clients’ strength, fitness, speed, flexibility, and self-defense skills. It offers strict, focused, determined, and friendly boxing and Muay Thai coaches.
10. Northside MMA and Boxing Gym
- Price Range: $20 per class
- Address: 1310 Sherman Ave, Evanston, 1L 60201
The Northside MMA And Boxing Gym is among the best Chicago-located boxing gyms. The boxing club was founded in 2017 at 1310 Sherman Ave, Evanston, 1L 60201.
Richard Garnica—a prominent and esteemed professional boxing trainer in the greater Chicago metropolitan region—owns the gym and doubles as its head instructor.
The gym emphasizes instilling a passion for the sport in its patrons and training students to fight against elite combatants. To achieve this, its instructors have extensive training and ring fighting experience and are experts in boxing, mixed martial arts, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, strength training, and conditioning.
Guide to Finding the Perfect Boxing Gym for You — Helpful Tips
Finding the ideal gym for you is a crucial component of boxing that you should carefully consider. Whether you’re a new or seasoned boxer searching for a new boxing club for some reason, it’ll help to choose a suitable boxing gym.
Here are some factors to consider when choosing a boxing gym:
1. Specify Your Boxing Goals
Knowing your boxing goals before beginning your search for a reputable boxing gym is important. This implies establishing your goals before signing up for a boxing class, as there are numerous gyms for various uses.
It’s advisable to join professional boxing centers if you plan to participate in tournaments. These gyms’ primary goals include improving boxers’ stamina and fitness levels while preparing them for battles, and you may prioritize more one-on-one coaching sessions. Again, a top-notch gym incorporates sparring into the training regimen.
It’d be ideal to locate fitness gyms if you only desire boxing for fitness purposes. Rather than sparring, they’ll include sessions of rope jumping, shadow boxing, and bag exercises in their programs — which will mostly focus on group training. Fitness gyms emphasize exercise and fitness rather than improving your boxing techniques.
MMA fighting gyms are a different sort of boxing facility that you may also join. They teach fundamental punching, footwork, and other martial art skills, including kicks, which sets them apart from regular boxing clubs. In addition to preparing you for fights, they’ll focus on your fitness.
Pick the boxing gym that best suits your needs based on your search criteria.
2. Consider the Closeness to Your Place of Residence or Employment
The gym’s proximity to your house or place of employment should be your priority. If you intend to get the best out of training boxing, it’s best to complete training sessions continuously.
It’ll help if you pick a boxing gym that you can conveniently access and is also in line with your goals. If you join a gym far from your place of employment or residence, you could encounter issues, such as getting stuck in traffic or having problems with your car. As a result, choosing a gym close by is a wise decision if you want to attend your courses consistently.
3. Look Into the Availability of Training Resources
A decent gym doesn’t necessitate having all the up-to-date equipment, but it must have the fundamentals. Your prospective boxing gym should include all the standard equipment for boxing training and a space for stretches and strength training. Similarly, it should be equipped with weights, a timer, a ring, double-end bags, heavy bags, speed bags, and free weights.
4. Enquire About Boxing Techniques
Another significant factor that shouldn’t be overlooked is the trainers’ and trainees’ boxing stance. The gym may have various boxing styles for their trainees or utilize a similar style.
It’s best to choose a boxing club that encourages individual style development rather than pushing for uniformity among boxers. This climate also conveys their capacity to adapt to different styles and tactics.
5. Examine the Price Range
It’s also critical to consider the cost of the gym and tuition. It’ll help if you inquire about the cost of gym memberships drawing from each criterion you’ve narrowed down.
Compare them based on their resources, expertise, and goals in boxing. This action will enable you to choose a gym that’s financially feasible for you to attend.
FAQ
Can you learn boxing without hitting the gym in Chicago?
Yes, you can.
The sports-loving city of Chicago is populated with boxing coaches and other professionals who may not mind training you in the comfort of your house. So, it’s possible to master the fundamental methods at home.
However, enrolling in a gym is important if you want to practice boxing professionally. This is because you’ll need to compete with other amateurs to enable you to develop your technique, skill, and drills.
How much time is required to learn boxing in Chicago?
Learning the principles of boxing takes at least six months, but depending on the person, it may take up to one or two years. Regular practice and a commitment to paying close attention to your coach’s instructions are necessary for mastering the fundamentals.
Do the gyms and boxing clubs in Chicago train beginners?
Absolutely! Many gyms and boxing clubs in Chicago accept participants of various ages, degrees of experience, and abilities. If you’re relatively new in boxing, the steps you’ve taken have been experienced by every skilled fighter you encounter.
Most boxing trainers in the city are familiar with the nerves that come with entering the gym for the first time. On your first training day, your trainer won’t expect you to arrive with a perfect punch or any prior boxing experience.
How much does it cost to take boxing classes in Chicago?
There’s no fixed price for boxing lessons in Chicago, as the clubs and gyms have different membership rates. Generally, it costs between $20 (per class) and $200 (monthly) to learn boxing in the city’s best gyms and boxing clubs.
What type of fitness centers teach boxing in Chicago?
Chicago boasts various fitness centers offering boxing training to aspiring boxers. For instance, you may learn basic boxing skills in the youth centers, professional boxing gyms, MMA gyms, and fitness gyms situated in the city.
Conclusion
It’s best for anyone in Chicago who has taken a liking to boxing to consider checking out the city’s acclaimed boxing gyms. These gyms provide their customers with quality training for the right prices and tremendous success rates.
As you train, remember that boxing isn’t just a competitive sport. Engaging in this activity can improve your physical and mental health while teaching you self-control and developing your self-defense skills.
Also Read: 10 Best Boxing Gym (Classes) in NYC (Works For Beginners, Affordable)
