Rising Salisbury boxers will be in spotlight at Main Street Gym's big event this week
Main Street Gym is set to host a night of amateur boxing this Saturday, with the Eastern Shore gym welcoming boxers from all across the East Coast to compete in Salisbury.
Main Street Gym, a staple in the local boxing community for 30 years, trains and grows local fighters and teaches them the art of boxing, with some starting at a very young age and growing up in the gym. And on the amateur boxing circuit, founder Hal Chernoff and his fellow trainers often take their fighters to other gyms in cities like Philidaelphia and Baltimore to compete in fight cards against other amateur boxers.
But Main Street doesn't hold too many fight nights at its home gym, preferring to keep it to just one or two a year. But when they do, it's always an exciting thing for the fighters and fans, with the young boxers getting to compete in their hometown, and fans supporting the homegrown talent.
"It's a big deal. Typically, every kid that boxes wants nothing more than to do it in their hometown," Chernoff said in an interview. "In front of their parents, their cousins, their teachers and everything. So I make it a big deal for them. You're representing Main Street Gym, their family name, Salisbury. It's not about winning, it's about how you perform. Win or lose, if you go out there and perform well, that's aces."
Six young Salisbury boxers will on Saturday night's fight card
Community support has been a major factor in Main Street's growth and development in the time since the doors opened and boxers began to train at the gym. Whether it be the enthusiasm for the fight night events or the spread of its reputation for helping local kids, the backing from supporters has played an integral role in getting Main Street to where it is now.
"I didn't jump up and down and try to get parents to send me their kids, we just put one foot in front of the other and kept running our program," Chernoff said. "It was the word getting out on its own and spreading in the schools, in the court system, police departments. And then, eventually, parents were bringing their kids saying 'I've got a problem with my son, and people told me that this would be a good place to bring him.' And then they bring them and they see results and they become an advocate for the gym."
On the 18-fight card that Chernoff has put together for Saturday, six bouts will feature fighters from Salisbury who will represent Main Street Gym: Corey Moore, Beautiful Griffith, Anthony Drummond, Lenox Horton, Christian Gonzalez and Maddox Harbour. And for those fighters, some of them very experienced while others are just getting their amateur careers started, the opportunity to fight with a home crowd behind them is an exciting one.
"I anticipate going in there and just putting on a show for the fans," Maddox said in an interview last week. "I fully anticipate for them to all be on my side crowd-wise. I'm looking forward to being able to put on a great performance for my people."
Main Street Gym's Saturday Night Fights are set to take place on Saturday, Nov. 4, with doors opening at 6 p.m. and fights starting at 7. The address for Main Street Gym is 310 Bowl Drive in Salisbury.
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This article originally appeared on Salisbury Daily Times: Salisbury boxers in spotlight as Main Street Gym hosting big event
