The Gym

As we mentioned before, a large motivating factor for us is to show that we can come from our pink, all-women's suburban gym and represent against the classic "boys' club" boxing gyms.  We have an amazing support system at Striking Beauties from the trainers to our fellow members and we couldn't be doing this without them!

First, let's give a shout-out to our trainer, Zach Reay:

Don't recognize Zach? Probably because he's

not wearing his all-white sweatsuit....

Zach kicks our butt and entertains us all at the same time.  Classes with Zach have almost become too full because the ladies are so drawn to his charm.  The hardest part of our training so far may just be working to resist the allure of Big Z.  Ok, no, it's getting punched in the face by 4x World Champion Jaime Clampitt...that's the hardest part.  But resisting Zach's charm is a close second.

For the past month or so we've also been training alongside Striking Beauties' owner Dena Paolino and member Shelly who are both participating in their first fights in April and fellow members Val and Margie who aren't fighting, but are just awesome!  We've also had lots of amazing sparring partners helping us so far including Haymakers' own Julie Kelly, Southern New England Golden Gloves finalists Amanda and Mel, and World Champion Jaime Clampitt!!  We basically hang out with boxing celebrities, no big deal.

Jess and Nora with Striking Beauties Magen and Tina.