DETROIT — The Kronk Gym, where Detroit boxing royalty sweated on the road to glory, is expected to reopen this summer in a building where Hall of Famer Joe Louis once trained.
The Brewster Wheeler Recreation Center will be the gym’s new home, city leaders and the team behind the project told reporters Wednesday.
The room that housed the gym where Louis trained remains in the building’s basement. But the center had become so dilapidated that it faced a wrecking ball about a decade ago, Mayor Mike Duggan said.
Duggan said he was urged to pause the demolition order by some who wanted to preserve the building’s history and its importance to the community.
“It was days away from being demolished,” he said. “We ended the demolition contract and said, ‘Let’s see what we can do.’ Can you imagine a more perfect use for this building than the Kronk Gym? This is the city we’re building, a city where we honor our history and we keep it alive.”
The original Kronk was established in 1971 by trainer Emanuel Steward in a gym on Detroit’s southwest side. Boxer Hilmer Kenty was Kronk’s first professional champion, winning the WBA title.
But Kronk rose to national prominence behind the punishing fists of Thomas “Hitman” Hearns, who pummeled the likes of José “Pipino” Cuevas, Wilfred Benítez and Roberto Durán on the way to five titles and a career 61-5-1 record as a pro.
World champions Lennox Lewis and Wladimir Klitschko later would train at Kronk.
The original gym closed in 2006 and was long vacant by 2017, when the building was destroyed by fire. Steward later would rent space at a gym in nearby Dearborn, Michigan, so his young fighters could train.
Steward died of colon cancer in 2012 at the age of 68.