Main Street Gym a safe haven for boxers

For some the gym is just a place to workout, for most boxers, though, it's so much more. The gym almost acts a shield from everything outside its doors.

"I remember there was times, where I was going through something and I could just walk through those doors and forget about it, you know, even if it was just for those two hours. I didn't have to worry about nothing else outside those doors," said Coach Ryan Watson.

For Coach Ryan and countless others, Main Street Gym in Salisbury is a safe haven. The gym's guardian: owner and coach Hal Chernoff.

There to discipline, but also provide a heavy dose of love when needed.

"We're here to help to help kids, that's what we are. The boxing is a huge part of it, but that's our main goal," Chernoff said.

There are three kids Coach Hal has helped maybe more than most, Jordan Brown, Eric Acosta and Kobe Moore. All three have been in the gym since they were little; all three had rough starts.

"When i first started i wasn't very respectful, I was angry, I didn't listen a lot," said the Brown, who's just 14-years-old.

"It was really frustrating, I'm not going to say I disliked it. I felt like I had better things to do, when I really didn't I just wanted to sit home and do nothing," said Moore.

The path to their success came with training and a whole lot of patience. Monday through Friday, two hours a night, 52 weeks a year.

Speed bags, heavy bags, sparring, cardio and maybe the key component: learning to listen to their coaches.

"When I first started I thought it was just going to be playing around having fun, but when I found out I had to actually do some work I didn't like it cause I never like getting told what to do," Moore said.

The thing is there is no playing in boxing and for good reason.

"When you hit that switch I got to be serious because at the end of the day boxing is serious and you can get hurt, and if you come in here just playing around, when you step in this ring you get a hard shot, it can really hurt you," said coach Ty Hargrove.

"They say you can play football, you can play baseball, but you don't play boxing it's real and you've got to be on your toes even to do fair in this sport you better be good, but to excel at it you got to dedicate yourself," Coach Hal.

Dedication that sometimes means punching one of your closest friends in the face.  

Eric and Jordan have been close friends since Jordan joined Eric at the gym over six years ago.

During that time they've also been each others best sparring partner

"I remember one time I got him right in the nose and he started pouring and I got so scared, I looked at coach and he said it's fine and he took awhile to clean it up and then we sparred again," Acosta said.

"When we're in the ring we know we're trying to help each other get better, so we're going to work and work and we're going to get each other better and then after the ring, after we get out, we're going to go back to being friends," Brown said.

Acosta admits he had a rocky start. but the turning point came at age 10 with an ultimatum from coach 

"I remember one time me and Jordan were playing with a medicine ball, it was like really hard, I like threw it across the ring and he didn't catch it in time and it broke the mirror," Acosta said.

Eric lied about it at first  and when he finally confessed Coach Hal gave him a choice.

"You either be respectful, treat all your elderly correctly or you get out the gym and you know I love the gym and so I didn't really want to leave so like after then I just switched and I've bean really respectful to all the coaches and everything," Acosta said.

With patience Coach Hal says most get there for  some it just takes a little longer than others

"Different ones at different times, Kobe took the longest," Chernoff said.

"Honestly without the gym I don't know what path he would have went on. I'm not saying he's a bad kid or he would have gotten into anything, but just because the love for boxing that he has, he wasn't going to get that anywhere else," said Moore's mom, Cindy.

As a single mom Kobe's mom Cindy faced an uphill task raising Kobe and his older brother, but when she needed help Coach Hal and the gym were always right there.

"There's times that they had events or have done things that I wasn't even like aware of, but the gym took care of everything. All I knew was one of the coaches would say oh the boys have a tournament coming up and I'm like okay what do they need, never mind they already have everything, they already have their boxing shoes or they already have their hand wraps, you know," Cindy said.

It's that sense of family that sense that every one gets taken care of  that has helped these three boys grow into responsible young men.

"It's everything it's the payoff. I mean that's it, that's when you go now I know why I did this not only now I know why I did this but now I'm completely comfortable in my own skin knowing I dedicated so much of my life to doing it," Chernoff said.

Kobe, Eric and Jordan all understand the work and what it takes to succeed and they credit the coaches or rather their second family for that.

"They really help you they really put their time and effort into showing you what's right what's wrong, it's not just boxing, it's boxing, it's school, it's life. they show you how to be better at everything," Moore said.