It’s a chilly Wednesday evening and from the street, I can hear the sound of gloves smacking bags. In a gym that is open on one side to the elements, men and women are working out and working out hard. I am here to try a beginners’ boxing class that, for someone as wimpy and uncoordinated as me, is not in my comfort zone at all.

When it opened in 2001, Boxing Central was the first boxing gym in New Zealand and it’s still going strong in the same location on Boston Rd. Founder Dean Evans, a South African, chose the location for its proximity to the city fringe. He began boxing in 1987, turned professional in 1997 and has lost only one fight.

“The focus of Boxing Central is not about fighting, but people,” says Dean. “Boxing is a great base for helping people to get fit. I don’t have to push a fighter to train, so my aim is to help people who want to get fit to learn the discipline and work ethic that comes with boxing.”

Before the class starts, there is the important job of wrapping my hands, which serves to pad knuckles and support wrists. I don boxing gloves and head downstairs to the three open-plan studios. Here, I meet trainer Jerome, who will be taking me and my classmates through the beginners’ class, introducing basic punches, defensive moves and footwork.

Jerome tells me that at 17 he weighed 120kg. He discovered combat sports and in three months had dropped down to 77kg and never looked back. He tried kick-boxing, Muay Thai, ju-jitsu, MMA and wrestling before finding boxing and becoming the No 1 middleweight in New Zealand. Five years after turning professional he is still fighting, as well as training would-be boxers at Boxing Central.

The class starts with a skipping workout. There are six rounds of 45 seconds skipping and then what feels like a rather slow 15 seconds of squats, sit-ups and press-ups. Jerome shows us some skipping tricks, bouncing easily from one leg to the other, before throwing in a criss-cross and a series of double jumps. It is clear he has done a lot of skipping in his time.   

The gym offers a wealth of classes, including high-intensity workouts that use free weights, ropes and tyres to improve strength and conditioning, as well as CrossBox, a boxing-based mixed class. There is a fully-equipped gym, with weights and cardio equipment, and a BoxingYoga™ class is coming soon. For those looking to learn boxing, the beginners’ Boxing Basics class leads to the Box2X class, which focuses on honing technique. It’s crucial for anyone looking to join a contact class such as Fight Club.

“Technique is everything,” says Dean. “Lots of personal trainers use boxing as part of their regime, but they don’t teach technique. We teach people how to box properly. When you throw a punch you should be rolling through your whole shoulder and using your abs. It’s a much more intense movement and that’s how we get results here. The reward is in the fine details.”

I suspect my fine details are rather lacking as I try to put together a punch with a hip swivel that Jerome describes as “like a washing machine” and footwork that is “like squashing bugs”. Throw in some defensive ducking and then some movements forwards and backwards and I am forgetting to hold my hands up to protect my face.

The gym is home to a whole mix of people, from nine-year-old kids right through to participants in their 60s and 70s. Dean tells me that “the challenge has been trying to find the right formula to appeal to the whole cross section of members and provide something they can all relate to”. He is working with his 14 instructors, largely former boxers, referees and coaches, to create a graduation process through the boxing classes.

The hour passes quickly, possibly because I am concentrating pretty hard on remembering all the elements. After the class, my fellow students have lots of questions and seem keen to join up. Jerome offers advice on everything from nutrition to balancing work with training, advising on simple lifestyle adjustments that can make a big difference. 

Casual workouts cost $25 per session, with a 10-workout concession card priced at $200.  Monthly and annual memberships are also available, with discounted rates for juniors and students. 

Sign me up!