116 East 14th Street  ·  New York City  ·  Est. 1933

Gramercy Gym

Where Champions Were Forged  ·  The Sweet Science Since 1933

◆ Founded by Constantine "Cus" D'Amato ◆ World Champions Trained Here ◆ East 14th Street, Manhattan ◆
Floyd Patterson — Youngest Heavyweight Champion in History ◆ José Torres — Light Heavyweight Champion of the World ◆ Cus D'Amato — The Greatest Teacher the Sport Has Ever Known ◆ 116 East 14th Street — The House That Champions Built ◆ Peek-a-Boo Style — Born in This Gym ◆ Floyd Patterson — Youngest Heavyweight Champion in History ◆ José Torres — Light Heavyweight Champion of the World ◆ Cus D'Amato — The Greatest Teacher the Sport Has Ever Known ◆ 116 East 14th Street — The House That Champions Built ◆ Peek-a-Boo Style — Born in This Gym ◆
✦
✦
✦
✦
Est. 1933  ·  New York City

The Empire Sporting Club Presents

The Sweet
Science

"The hero and the coward both feel the same thing. But the hero uses his fear, projects it onto his opponent, while the coward runs."

— Constantine "Cus" D'Amato —

Founded 1933
Location East 14th St., NYC
World Champions 2 + Countless
Head Trainer Cus D'Amato
◆   Gramercy Gym — Hall of Champions   ◆
Floyd
Patterson
Heavyweight Champion of the World
1956 · 1960
vs
José
Torres
Light Heavyweight Champion of the World
1965 · 1966
Both Champions Trained Under the Direction of Cus D'Amato  ·  116 East 14th Street, New York City
The History

A Gym Above a Candy Stand

◆

In those days, you had to pass a small candy stand to get to the door. Up a steep, dimly lit staircase on East 14th Street, above the noise of the city, sat one of the most important rooms in the history of American boxing. This was the Gramercy Gym.

In 1933, at just twenty-two years old, Constantine "Cus" D'Amato — born to an Italian family in the Bronx, raised on the streets, hardened by necessity — opened the Empire Sporting Club at 116 East 14th Street, just off Irving Place. He had no money to speak of, no powerful backers, and no connections to the men who ran the fight game in New York. What he had was a vision and an iron will.

In his early years, Cus lived in the gym. His only companion was a massive boxer dog named Champ. He slept on a cot, ate when he could, and waited for the next young fighter to walk through the door. He was not waiting for a meal ticket. He was waiting for a champion.

That fighter arrived in 1949, when a fourteen-year-old boy from Brooklyn named Floyd Patterson climbed those stairs for the first time. Shy, quiet, and possessed of a ferocity that Cus recognized immediately, Patterson would spend the next seven years under D'Amato's guidance before becoming, in 1956, the youngest heavyweight champion in history.

After Patterson came José Torres, the Puerto Rican southpaw who would claim the light heavyweight championship of the world. After Torres came Teddy Atlas, Kevin Rooney — trainers who would carry the D'Amato method forward into the next generation. And in a small gym in Catskill, New York, in the early 1980s, Cus would find one more champion: a troubled teenager from a reform school named Mike Tyson.

"In those days, you had to pass a small candy stand to get to the door of the Gramercy Gym on East 14th Street."
— Pete Hamill, Journalist & Author
The Roll of Honor

Champions of the Gramercy

◆
I
Floyd Patterson
Heavyweight Champion of the World
1956 & 1960
The youngest heavyweight champion in history. Trained at Gramercy from age 14. Developed the Peek-a-Boo style under D'Amato. First man to regain the heavyweight title.
II
José Torres
Light Heavyweight Champion of the World
1965–1966
Puerto Rican southpaw. Olympic silver medalist. Trained under D'Amato at Gramercy. Later became a celebrated author and chairman of the New York State Athletic Commission.
III
Cus D'Amato
Trainer · Manager · Teacher
1933–1985
Founder of Gramercy Gym. Architect of the Peek-a-Boo style. Refused to deal with the corrupt International Boxing Club. Mentor to Floyd Patterson, José Torres, and Mike Tyson.
IV
Teddy Atlas
Trainer · D'Amato Disciple
Trained at Gramercy
One of boxing's most respected trainers. Learned his craft directly from D'Amato. Carried the Gramercy method forward through decades of championship training.
V
Kevin Rooney
Trainer · D'Amato Disciple
Trained at Gramercy
Trained under D'Amato at Gramercy and later at Catskill. Became Mike Tyson's primary trainer during his undefeated championship run in the late 1980s.
VI
The Gym Itself
116 East 14th Street
1933–1993
For sixty years, the most important room in New York boxing. Demolished in 1993. The block was renamed "Cus D'Amato Way." The legacy cannot be demolished.
The D'Amato Method

The Philosophy of the Gym

◆
Principle I

Fear Is Your Friend

Cus D'Amato taught that fear is not the enemy. It is the fuel. The hero and the coward feel the same thing. The difference is what they do with it. In this gym, we teach you to use your fear — to project it, to channel it, to make it work for you instead of against you.

Principle II

The Mind Governs the Body

Before a man can fight, he must first learn to think. D'Amato was as much a philosopher as a trainer. He read Nietzsche and Sun Tzu. He believed that the mind, properly trained, was the most powerful weapon a fighter possessed. The body merely executes what the mind commands.

Principle III

Integrity Over Everything

Cus D'Amato refused to do business with the International Boxing Club — a mob-connected monopoly that controlled the sport. He lost fighters, lost money, and nearly lost the gym. He did not bend. The IBC was eventually dissolved by federal court order. Cus was still standing.

"A boy comes to me with a spark of interest. I feed the spark and it becomes a flame. I feed the flame and it becomes a fire. I feed the fire and it becomes a roaring blaze."
— Cus D'Amato
Daily Programme

Training at the Gramercy

◆

The Gramercy Gym operates on a simple principle: you come to work. There is no music, no mirrors, no performance. There is a ring, there are bags, there is a trainer who knows more about boxing than you ever will, and there is the work itself. The schedule below reflects the daily programme as it has been run since 1933.

Day Morning Session Afternoon Session Evening Session
Monday Roadwork & Conditioning
6:00 – 8:00 AM		 Bag Work & Footwork
2:00 – 4:00 PM		 Sparring — Invitation Only
7:00 – 9:00 PM
Tuesday Roadwork & Conditioning
6:00 – 8:00 AM		 Fundamentals & Technique
2:00 – 4:00 PM		 Open Gym
6:00 – 9:00 PM
Wednesday Roadwork & Conditioning
6:00 – 8:00 AM		 Peek-a-Boo Fundamentals
2:00 – 4:00 PM		 Sparring — Invitation Only
7:00 – 9:00 PM
Thursday Roadwork & Conditioning
6:00 – 8:00 AM		 Bag Work & Combinations
2:00 – 4:00 PM		 Open Gym
6:00 – 9:00 PM
Friday Roadwork & Conditioning
6:00 – 8:00 AM		 Technique & Sparring Prep
2:00 – 4:00 PM		 Main Sparring Night
7:00 – 10:00 PM
Saturday Open Gym
8:00 AM – 12:00 PM		 Amateur Bouts & Exhibitions
1:00 – 5:00 PM		 Closed
Sunday The Gym is Closed. Rest. God made Sunday for a reason.
The Man Behind the Gym

Constantine "Cus" D'Amato

◆
✦
Constantine
"Cus"
D'Amato
Trainer · Manager · Teacher
1908 – 1985
2 World Champions
50+ Years in Boxing
1933 Opened Gramercy
0 Compromises Made

Constantine "Cus" D'Amato was born in 1908 in the Bronx, the son of Italian immigrants. He grew up fighting on the streets, not because he wanted to, but because the streets demanded it. He learned early that the fight was not just physical. It was mental. It was moral. It was a test of character.

At twenty-two, he opened the Gramercy Gym with his partner Jack Barrow. He lived there. He slept there. He turned down money from the mob-connected International Boxing Club, knowing it would cost him fighters, cost him income, and nearly cost him the gym itself. He did not care. His integrity was not for sale.

He developed the Peek-a-Boo style — a tight, high-guard defensive system that turned the fighter's hands into both shield and weapon — and taught it to Floyd Patterson, José Torres, and a generation of trainers who would carry it forward. He believed that boxing was a moral art, that the ring was a place where character was revealed, and that a trainer's job was not just to develop fighters but to develop men.

Cus D'Amato died on November 4, 1985, fourteen months before Mike Tyson became the youngest heavyweight champion in history. The block where the Gramercy Gym once stood is now named Cus D'Amato Way.

Membership & Admission

Come Up the Stairs

◆

There is no application. There is no tryout. You walk in, you pay your fifteen cents, and you work. That is how it has always been done.

Day Pass
$0.15
Per Visit — As It Was in 1933
Access to the gym floor, bags, and equipment. Bring your own wraps. Gloves available for loan at the discretion of the trainer.
Monthly Membership
$5
Per Month — Unlimited Access
Unlimited floor access. Participation in scheduled bag and technique sessions. Access to the speed bag and heavy bag rooms.
Managed Fighter
By
Arrangement
For Serious Competitors Only
Personal instruction from Cus D'Amato. Full management and corner services. Sparring with the gym's stable of fighters. Not for the faint of heart.

Note: Admission prices reflect the historical rates of the Gramercy Gym era. The gym operated on the principle that no serious fighter should be turned away for lack of funds.

Find the Gym
The Address

116 East 14th Street

◆

The Gramercy Gym

Street Address 116 East 14th Street
Between Irving Place & Third Avenue
New York City, New York The Entrance Pass the candy stand at street level.
Take the stairs to the second floor.
Knock twice. Wait. Hours of Operation Monday through Saturday
6:00 AM to 10:00 PM
Sunday: Closed Telephone GRamercy 5-1933

Getting There

By Subway IRT Lexington Avenue Line — 14th Street Station
BMT Broadway Line — 14th Street–Union Square By Foot Two blocks east of Union Square.
One block north of the Academy of Music site.
Look for the candy stand. You will know it. Historical Note The Gramercy Gym operated at this address from 1933 until its demolition in 1993. The block is now designated "Cus D'Amato Way" by the City of New York.
✦ 116 East 14th Street New York City