Left hooks and life lessons: East Tampa Boxing Gym offers both

TAMPA, Fla. — As you walk into the East Tampa Boxing Gym, you walk under a sign that reads, “It Is Better To Bleed In The Gym, Than In The Street.” 

It’s one of the many mantras of owner Odeon Esson, for his boxing facility off East Hillsborough Avenue in Tampa.

“You’re in East Tampa. It’s rough over here, you know,” Esson said. “Out there in the street, you might not come back from it. But in here, you got a chance.”

Esson gives children as young as six years old the chance to come boxing at his gym Monday through Saturday nights.

It’s a three-hour boxing practice where the lessons are more about lifestyle than about left hooks and right jabs.

“Help these kids — a lot of these kids in this neighborhood — become somebody,” said Esson, talking about his goal for the gym. “Let them know, ‘You have a dream, you can do it. Whatever you set your mind to, you can do it.’”

Hanging on the walls of the gym are signs that reinforce those life lessons:

• “If You Can Accept Losing, You Can’t Win”
• “Life Has Got To Be Lived”
• “Winners Are Simply Willing To Do What Losers Are Not”

And those lessons on the wall are clearly making their way to the intended audience.

On a Tuesday night, the gym is packed. A mixture of elementary, middle and high school students jump rope, do push-ups, spar with a coach, pummel a punching bag, practice punching combinations and even get into the ring to face off against Esson himself.

“Things that you learn in here, teach you things in the real world,” said Vince Clavizzao, a friend from Esson’s boxing days who he recruited to coach here.

When the young boxers were asked what they learned by coming to East Tampa Boxing Gym, responses varied from heartfelt to real skills.

Some young people there that night cited boxing strategy and technique. Fifth grader Cody Amos said he’s learned “you have to punch to win.” Sixth grader Jayden Gilbert said Esson had taught him “how to jab” and get his stance right.

But Gilbert also said his nightly trips to the gym taught him “not to give up.” Fifth grader Pedro Ruiz said the gym helped him learn to “stay focused.” Third grader Alantis Howard, the only female boxer we met at the gym, said the practices had instilled in her the idea that “you have to work hard to get rewarded.”

Esson launched this place nearly a decade ago, and he has no plans to stop. For Esson, teaching life lessons — and boxing — will continue.

“They could have been doing anything else. They could have been caught up in the street. But they’re here. They’re in a safe place. They’re here,” Esson said.