Owners of St. Paul boxing club aim to teach life lessons to kids, help neighborhood grow

A ribbon cutting and a new beginning. 

“We need this boxing location,” declares Sharon Smith-Akinsanya, the CEO of Rae MacKenzie Group. “We need Sir Boxing for our young people.”

Along Arcade Street in St. Paul Thursday, there was a grand opening for Sir Boxing Club, a $1.2 million investment on the city’s east side.

“Why not invest in a business like this, that’s Black-owned and that has such heart and soul to serve the community,” explains Georgia Fort, the club’s co-owner.

The club facility- undergoing a rebuild since 2021 – is a labor of love for Fort and her husband Cerresso, a former professional middleweight boxer.

He says he’s taught and mentored hundreds of young people over the last decade. Now, he has a new gym to teach boxing lessons- and life lessons.

“You gotta keep that positive mentality and mindset,” he says. “The concept they can get from getting knocked down and getting back up. You’re having a tough day in the gym, your arms are sore, you’ve got to push through that. We gotta get through it. Life.” 

Solomon Hollins, 13, says there’s a bigger mission here, even as he and other kids are learning about themselves.

“I like it, they’re trying to bring the neighborhood back,” he explains. “I learned how to talk to people, not be a scared as I used to be. Walk up to people and ask them to be friends.”

The hope is that this facility will not only teach the next generation of fighters but will also encourage investment in the neighborhood by its example.

“As people hear Georgia and Cerresso’s story, they’re going to be inspired,” Smith-Akinsanya says. “They’re going to look to see what they can do, two blocks down the road this way or two blocks down the road that way.”

One visitor to the club said places like this can be ‘the lifeblood of the community, where dreams take root.’

Cerresso, an active fighter between 2009 and 2014, says he’s been training for this his entire life. He says he’s thinking about these athletes of the future.

“Some of them might become doctors, lawyers,” Cerresso notes. “Might not be a boxer, but what they can gravitate from this can be tremendous.”