Boston Boxing & Fitness - a book of photographs by Jim Fitts

I purchased my condominium in a Boston neighborhood referred to as Allston/Brighton just over 40 years ago. I can’t imagine living in any other part of Boston. Allston/Brighton has a wonderfully diverse population and a remarkable selection of businesses.
For this series of photographs, I chose a local boxing gym called Boston Boxing & Fitness. The gym epitomizes a number of the qualities I think make the Allston/Brighton neighborhood a unique place to live. It is a non-assuming, local gym where men, women, and young athletes of all abilities come to workout. It is definitely not a dating bar health club.
The first time I visited the gym, I watched an instructor coaching a young boxer. Knowing how hard a boxing workout is, I realized that this is a place that pushes young athletes beyond what they think they are capable of. Boston Boxing & Fitness is home to many local high school and college athletes who pour their hearts out on the athletic field... but as it says on the gym’s website, “their sweat and tears belong to us!”
I started taking the photographs in June of 2009 and I will continue for as long as they will let me.
I have to give great thanks to Ed for granting me access to the gym for over a decade and to all the boxers for being kind enough to stick my camera in their face.