Into the ring
by Mark Connor “Why can’t I have this?” Lisa Bauch asked herself when she first entered a gym. “Why can’t I do this?” But traditional boxing gyms are run by ex-fighters who work full-time jobs and volunteer spare hours in the evening, concentrating on the young boys and men there to compete and have careers.
Bauch wanted to be professionally involved, but not as a fighter. So she designed a program catering primarily to a clientele older than 20, many of them over 40, who enter the gym with no previous experience. While she respects the not-for-profit approach of her predecessors, she knew there was a demographic willing to support a for-profit endeavor.
She used her background in the nightclub and restaurant business to combine a traditional boxing gym with the atmosphere and profit potential of a health club. She began the endeavor in 1996 after a call to the local Golden Gloves directed her to a gym in Minneapolis, where she learned the basics. She opened Uppercut Boxing Gym shortly thereafter, building it from a modest operation in a rented storefront to the thriving enterprise in the spacious warehouse she now owns.
“I wanted to offer it to anyone with any skill or fitness level,” she says, adding that such an open approach has a positive effect not just on her venture, but also on the boxing community at large. “So they drop out after a month, after two months; they also brought in some revenue.”
Furthermore, they brought new energy to the boxing world, providing potential for a bigger fan base, and in some cases a larger pool of volunteers for the Golden Gloves. It amounts to a double success for her, the maintenance of a thriving business yielding a simultaneous contribution to a larger sports program that helps young people throughout the state and region.
Trip to New YorkOnce her gym was up and running for a few years, Bauch came to a crossroads. Having moved from Lake Street and Lyndale Avenue to the Hyatt Regency Athletic Club in downtown Minneapolis in 2000, Uppercut was gaining popularity. However, by 2003 logistical problems inhibited growth. She also knew she had to increase her technical knowledge of boxing before expanding.
So she took a month off, flew to New York, sublet an apartment, and trained at Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn. There she met Bruce Silverglade, the owner of Gleason’s, who set her up with a trainer and shared his years of experience in the boxing business, allowing her to get new ideas for running things at home.
“She came to New York and started training at Gleason’s Gym, and it just went from there,” Silverglade says. The two have maintained contact, and Silverglade’s friendship and advice have been instrumental in her success. “I have a lot of confidence in her. . . . I want to continue my relationship with her and get her involved with the expansion of Gleason’s Gym.” While Gleason’s now has multiple gyms on the East Coast and in London and Aruba, Uppercut has not yet officially affiliated with it, although Silverglade and Bauch have discussed that possibility.
“I walked into his gym,” Bauch says. “I said, ‘This is what I want in Minneapolis, why can’t I have this?’ And I just had a picture in my mind, so we developed a relationship, and I made sure I kept in contact.” Keeping that contact brought her more encouragement and ideas. She urges new business owners to never pass up an opportunity to build contacts. “That’s a huge deal, even if it’s dropping an e-mail or sending a note, because it’s name recognition.”
After returning from New York, she was directed to a warehouse that was up for sale. The moment she walked in, she says, she knew she would buy it.
“If somebody said, ‘Take a picture of what you saw when you walked in the door,’ this is exactly it,” she says of the current gym, which has two rings, a vast array of punching bags, a section with weight lifting equipment, and mirrors on rollers. The mobility of the equipment, especially the large mirrors and the two rings, enable her to change the setting for specialty classes and events, as well as to transport the main ring for competitions.
Uppercut promotes bi-weekly amateur boxing matches at Canterbury Downs every summer, and monthly matches at the gym through the winter. The space is rented out for video and photography shoots, private parties and other events.
Selling confidence“It was June of 2004 that I had heard they’d moved from the hotel in downtown Minneapolis,” says Jack Kennelly, a 53-year-old marketing director from St. Paul. “So I gave a phone call, and went over and took a bag class, and didn’t leave.”
The move to Northeast Minneapolis from downtown made all the difference for Kennelly, who says the distance from St. Paul, coupled with the cost of parking, would have been far too great. He says he can’t get enough of it, and that although he was athletic before, the boxing training has energized his life, and even colleagues who have no idea he does it have noticed his increased confidence.
“That’s probably the biggest thing we sell,” says Bauch, who believed from the beginning that people who wouldn’t compete would feel better about themselves by training the way regular fighters do. And they do train in the company of accomplished boxers. While Uppercut fields a Golden Gloves team each year in both men’s and women’s competition, significant professionals train there, including Anthony Bonsante — who was featured on the TV series “The Contender” — and former World Junior Bantamweight Champion Jorge Julio.
Bauch, who turns 41 in April, says hers is now the largest gym in Minnesota, adding that multiple use of the facility is crucial to survival. Traditional methods of privately contracting personal trainers enables her to keep a low overhead. In fact, she has no employees. Besides private contracting, she has also been able to build much of the business through trade.
The company Web site, www.uppercutgym.com, was originally built on trade, although it is now paid for as a normal expense. Bauch also directs all membership funds and class fees back into the business, forgoing a salary and living solely on whatever she makes from personal training. Gross sales are $175,000, and the property is valued at $750,000.
Bauch has thought of implementing some features Silverglade originated in New York, like the monthly “white collar” matches that consist largely of business professionals going at it in sparring sessions. But she doesn’t believe local officials are ready to sanction it.
Still, she has made her gym a major presence in the area, and a number of world champions have visited or trained there, including the legendary Roberto Duran who stopped by for a promotion last summer.
[contact] Lisa Bauch, Uppercut Boxing Gym: 612.822.1964; lisa@uppercutgym.com. Bruce Silverglade, Gleason’s Gym Inc.: 718.797.2872; info@gleasonsgym.net
