USA: LA Boxing and their Franchises

**falconhunter202** · Posted On: 9/17/2007 8:01pm

My Muay Thai instructor teaches a kickboxing class at the LA Boxing here in Central FL...

He gets pretty fed up with the place b/c of the management and the goals...he feels pretty limited. Bobby (my trainer) comes from training out of the Chaukiriki Dojo and Mejiro Gym...so he's a bit used to more "hardcore training"...however at LA Boxing, they just want him to give people a good workout...

Unfortunately...as somebody stated above, "nowhere on their website do they say they want to produce fighters"...which is fine, but it produces a slight problem...the couple of times I've been there, I've noticed two types of people who join:

1) People who actually read the website and want the "cardio" aspect of it joining up hoping for glorified Tae Bo
2) People who just see "boxing" and kickboxing and think "Oh ****, this place'll make me a champion!"

That's pretty much how it is...Bobby teaches two classes there a week and he wants to make it more serious and teach a couple more classes for the guys who actually want to fight, but the managers don't really care for that and disregard his suggestions to start more hardcore training...

It's the Bally's of "boxing gyms"...

Checked out an LA boxing here in California once. The facilities are nice, however the management is irritating dishing out high pressure sales pitches. They wouldn't give me a free trial and wanted me to put a small "deposit" before I even tried it out. I thought to myself "damn...these guys must be desperate". Anyways, this sales manager claimed to be a former fighter and started talking down on me when I told him I would think about joining before I put any money down. He probably found it a waste of time to meet with me and not close the sale. Oh well! I walked out of there giving the manager the middle finger for being a condescending piece of trash. Can't speak for all the LA boxinig chains here in Cali...just this one case.

This changes the game a lil bit. Here we have two cases where although the gyms feature trainers that were former fighters, the emphasis put on getting money from the fitness aspect is so strong that it hinders the instructor's creativity. Also, the sales manager from the second post sounds like a douche.

Is this a problem with the people on the upper ring of LA boxing specifically, or is the idea of a "chain" of MA schools (of any kind) inherently flawed?

**Goldenmane** · Posted On: 9/18/2007 10:47am

It may be worthwhile contacting the guys who run LA Boxing and inviting them to this discussion. Or anyone else involved, I guess. Instructors and the like.

There is always the danger when creating something like this (a franchised gym, or franchised business plan) that the focus is going to somehow drift toward the hunt for the dollar. Obviously the guys who originally set it up were after it generating an income. That's fine, as far as I see it. They even got someone to develop a business plan, and they want you (if you buy a franchise) to market it according to their plan.

The problem arises when the original idea (which, given the parties involved in the original development, I'll assume for now to be "let's make all the fitness freaks pay for all us fight freaks to train") gets derailed and people who walk into the place get faced by Commission Guy, or where the instructor (who was hired on the basis of, partly, his ability to train people to fight) finds himself disallowed from training fighters. Don't want to scare off the kiddies, after all.

Maybe we will be forced to write LA Boxing off as yet another good try gone wrong.

**Fearless Ukemi** · Posted On: 9/18/2007 11:09am

I used to belong to the LA Boxing facility in Albany NY. Most of what they do is fitness, but if enough people are interested in sparring, they will put groups together for it. All the instructors were either amateur or professional fighters, so you will be learning proper form and technique. If you're looking for fun and fitness, I would highly recommend it. The member base consists of a wide variety of demographics. If you are looking for something more intense with a higher emphasis on live training, I would look elsewhere.

**isol8d** · Posted On: 9/24/2007 11:25am

LA Boxing MMA

anyone ever heard of this guy?

**Goldenmane** · Posted On: 9/24/2007 8:51pm

I'll assume you're kidding...

**falconhunter202** · Posted On: 9/25/2007 12:46am

Originally Posted by isol8d

LA Boxing MMA

anyone ever heard of this guy?

Just because the good Iceman teaches at one shcool doesn't make them all legit.

**RABA** · Posted On: 9/26/2007 6:19pm

Originally Posted by Fearless Ukemi

I used to belong to the LA Boxing facility in Albany NY. Most of what they do is fitness, but if enough people are interested in sparring, they will put groups together for it. All the instructors were either amateur or professional fighters, so you will be learning proper form and technique. If you're looking for fun and fitness, I would highly recommend it. The member base consists of a wide variety of demographics. If you are looking for something more intense with a higher emphasis on live training, I would look elsewhere.

I think this is what they are selling. A lot of people don't want to compete or fight. But they want to get fit and say they do this and do that. If these people were to go to a boxing gym, they might feel. So they pay for service that is located in a good part of town and were they don't have to worry about their car being broken into.

**Fearless Ukemi** · Posted On: 9/27/2007 11:54am

And even though they are known for the boxing and kickboxing instruction, they do offer grappling programs, and we did roll each class. The instructors they hired at the Albany location hold legitimate ranks in bjj. However, the amount of mat time you get for rolling is far less than what you will get of you take classes at a bjj school.

**mixicus** · Posted On: 9/28/2007 7:06pm

I spent about 6 months at a location in SoCal. My work schedule precluded me from going to other places.

Instructors vary from place to place. Two locations within easy an easy drive have instructors with good credentials. I recognize them as main instructors (not owners) from other quality places or people who actively train for MMA competition. Your local may or may not have the same quality. Check it out.

The main focus of the gym is fitness (and making money afterall it is a business). The classes are good 1 hour beat-on-the-bag and conditioning workouts. They will be either boxing or MT based kickboxing. The instructors I had spend time with the students making sure good technique is used. So you will develop your basic strikes in the frame work of a bag. We did some partner drills with mitts. The locations I have been to do have maybe 2 BJJ classes/week.

When I was there, the local gyms will occasionally have a 'fight night' were there's some smoker fights between the gyms. I would necessarily try a fight with prior experience or some private lessons though as there is no sparring in the classes.

I would consider going back if my schedule got upside-down again.