The oldest boxing gym in the United States, Gleason’s, age 87, isn’t as stuffy as you might assume. Well, the actual air in the Brooklyn gym—heavy with the sweat of 50 or so boxers and their coaches during a Tuesday evening training—is a bit stifling. But the vibe of the gym is surprisingly open. It’s a place where greats like Muhammad Ali, Floyd Mayweather Jr., and Mike Tyson have all trained, and in more recent history, Nolan Hanson has been coaching students through his Trans Boxing club five days a week.
“I started boxing for exercise because I was looking for community,” Hanson, 33, says. “It felt good to have a place where my masculinity and my natural aggressiveness were encouraged.” Eventually, he started competing, until a career-ending wrist injury caused him to look inward: He chose to medically transition and begin coaching. “I wanted to stay involved in boxing because I love it, and this was a way for me to provide an in for trans people, who have historically been excluded from the sport in a serious way.” That’s when Trans Boxing was born, eventually finding a home at Dumbo’s Gleason’s Gym.
