Controversy grows around closing of Joe Frazier’s Gym

Joe Frazier has developed a reputation for business failings that rival his status as a boxing legend. That much is confirmed by those closest to him.

But debate over the recent closure of Joe Frazier’s Gym, the North Philadelphia landmark at North Broad Street and Glenwood Avenue, has pitted a British boxer and her fiancé-manager against the 20th century sports icon’s business manager.

CLOSING OR RENOVATING

A March 30 press release announcing the boxing club’s permanent closure was refuted by Les Wolff, Frazier’s business manager. He said the recent shuttering of the gym at 2917 North Broad Street was for renovations only.

“The building is at least a century old. It’s easier to close down, clean out what could politely be called junk, and see what kind of renovations we need,” Wolff told The Temple News last week.

For the last five years, Wolff has been charged with reviving the staid condition of Frazier’s finances. At least one pair, whose relationship to the gym has come under question, has characterized Wolff as another in a line of Frazier abusers.British boxer Marianne Martson relocated from London to Philadelphia in February to train under Frazier and his son Marvis, a heavyweight contender who managed the daily operations of the gym.

“Marvis Frazier made it quite clear to me – and other fighters – that Frazier’s Gym would not be reopening at all,” Martson wrote The Temple News last week.

Gianluca “Rio” Di Caro, a self-proclaimed former music executive from the United Kingdom who is Marston’s manager and fiancé, said he has made it his mission to make profitable again. Joe Frazier’s Gym, a former dance hall that was first made a training facility for Frazier in 1968, under the name Cloverlay Gym.

BUSINESS FAILINGS

Frazier has long been considered the fiscal failure from the top tier of the golden age of boxing. The biggest names in boxing history are Frazier contemporaries, George Foreman, Larry Holmes and his longtime rival Muhammad Ali, all of whom are millionaires. Up until recent months, Frazier had been living in a rundown, one-room apartment over his gym in central North Philadelphia.

“He chooses the wrong people all the time. He really just doesn’t realize it,” Di Caro said. “As long as he has a bit of money in his pocket, he doesn’t seem to care beyond that.”

Wolff acknowledges Frazier has been taken advantage of financially before, but says he is trying to right the ship. Di Caro maintains that Wolff is another in the long line of “leeches.”

“Les is dead honest about his motivation: money,” Di Caro said. “But, with all the things he talks about, the man seems incapable of creating wealth for Joe.”

For his part, Wolff had been announcing Joe Frazier would revive his R&B career on an April 29 episode of the new CBS celebrity-reality show Secret Talents of the Stars. The show was canceled last week after one episode. Frazier is being featured in two documentaries and is reviewing an offer from director Penny Marshall and other lucrative sponsorships, Wolff said.

They are all negotiations that either Di Caro calls complete fabrications or for which he takes credit.

At least one of the appearances Wolff mentioned – a stop on the Howard Stern radio show next week – could be confirmed. He’ll appear Tuesday, Wolff said, as part of the first travel Frazier has done in months, after recent surgery and subsequent recovery.

One voice that has remained silent on the issue is Joe Frazier himself.

He underwent nearly seven hours of surgery on Feb. 20, the sixth surgery related to a 2002 car accident that happened in front of his gym, and is still suffering the effects, Wolff said. The accident was never reported to Philadelphia Police, according to a 2006 inquiry by the New York Times.

Marvis Frazier, too, is quick to defer questions to Wolff.

“It’s business. I have nothing but good things to say about Les Wolff,” the younger Frazier said. “Of course I would love to see the gym stay open, but it’s not mine. It’s my father’s place. It’s Joe Frazier’s Gym, not Marvis Frazier’s Gym.”

“I don’t really understand Joe and Marvis’s relationship,” Di Caro said.

So the fight ensues, at least on one side.

“Mr. Di Caro is a non-entity to me,” Wolff said.

SELLING THE GYM

The gym has been put up for sale, as both Marvis Frazier and Wolff have confirmed.

Rumors that a potential buyer could be interested in developing student housing for Temple’s nearby medical school have also surfaced.

But, Di Caro said it’s a ploy by Wolff to scam more money out of Frazier. Of any deal Wolff negotiates for Frazier, he gets just 40 percent, Di Caro said. Wolff gets 20 percent and others who Di Caro say are taking advantage of Frazier get similar cuts, Di Caro said.

“Les bullies him for some reason,” he said.

“I don’t know who Mr. Di Caro is or where he comes from,” Wolff said. “I would assume he has his own agenda.”

Claims of Joe Frazier’s Gym financial struggles are exaggerated, Wolff said.

In November, lawyers representing the City of Philadelphia announced their intentions to sue the gym for $127,000 in owed taxes, labeling it one of the city’s biggest tax delinquents, as first reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer.

But now all of the gym’s federal, state and municipal taxes are being adequately managed, Wolff said.

“Everything is either paid or on a payment plan,” he said. “It’s being handled.”

Wolff is quick to say they are exploring many options, but selling the gym might be the most sensible, Wolff said.

“The renovations would cost at least $6 million,” Wolff said. “Joe should be worth $100 million. He’s not.”

“Money has seemed to have gone missing,” Di Caro said.

On March 29, Di Caro said he was in a meeting about the financial stability of the gym with Marvis Frazier, other staff and Wolff, Di Caro said. The next day Di Caro received a call from Joe Frazier, saying Di Caro’s services wouldn’t be needed any more, he said. Di Caro had been offering publicity and promotional services to the gym since moving to Philadelphia indefinitely late last year, Di Caro said, though that role has been disputed by Wolff. Marvis declined to comment on the relationship Di Caro had with the gym.

Frazier, who didn’t return a call made by The Temple News, is a supporter of Di Caro’s work, Di Caro said.

“Joe has been a big supporter of saving the gym,” Di Caro said.

Still, the day after that meeting – Sunday, March 31 – the gym was closed, Wolff says for renovations, Di Caro says forever.

“Selling the gym is not closing the gym. Joe Frazier’s Gym will not close. Joe Frazier is that gym,” Wolff said. “I know people put a lot of emotional attachment on buildings, but my attachments are to people.”

Those running Joe Frazier’s Gym should be pushing to make it a historic landmark, Di Caro said.

“That doesn’t fit Les’s plan, though,” Di Caro said.Di Caro, a newcomer to the gym, maintains that his motives in the dispute aren’t for anything more than to right a wrong for friends he says he has made.

“Marvis is a genuine person, and Joe is loveable rogue,” Di Caro said.

But he’s finding it difficult.“I won’t drop this,” he said. “I will not drop this.”

Christopher Wink can be reached at cwink@temple.edu.

Take a walk through North Philly history

Whether you drive, walk or bike to campus, you may unknowingly share one thing with your fellow students and neighborhood residents – the vast history that encompasses North Philadelphia.

That history of struggle and poverty has become the focus of venues in the area – such as Joe Frazier’s Gym, the Freedom Theater and Progress Plaza – that ensure a positive future for the neighborhood.

The Legendary Blue Horizon
Rows of black-framed photos of famous faces hung on the wall behind her. She pushed herself up from her cluttered desk, extended her hand and said, “Touch it.” After a brief pause, I obeyed.

“Now you have touched a piece of history,” said Vernoca L. Michael, boxing promoter and CEO of the Legendary Blue Horizon.
History is exactly what Michael represents. She has spent the last 15 years of her life working for the venue, well known for hosting championship boxing matches throughout the past 80 years.

Located in the heart of historical North Philly at 1314 N. Broad St., the Legendary Blue Horizon has opened its doors and ring to plentiful talent, and has remained a thriving entity within the Philadelphia community. Michael, who became the first black woman to acquire the title of boxing promoter in 1998, uses her local celebrity to help make changes in Philadelphia and around the world.

“Here at the Legendary Blue Horizon, we’re more than just the No. 1 boxing venue in the world,” Michael said. “We are here in North Philadelphia trying to reach out to the people. We are right in the people’s backyard, something they can be proud of.”

“We are a history they can touch and experience,” she added, while pointing out some of her famous acquaintances, boxing champions George Benton, Harold Johnson and Tim Witherspoon, and celebrities like Busta Rhymes and Nas in her framed photos.

Michael and her staff at the Legendary Blue Horizon are all about helping the people in and out of the boxing ring. NIA KUUMBA is a learning and organization center run from within the boxing venue’s walls, which offers opportunities to students in areas of sports management, law, journalism, marketing and other fields.

“The Legendary Blue Horizon stands as a beacon for the people,” Michael said. “They come here when they have needs and we welcome all. We are here to help prepare the youth for the future and to do that, we need to prepare them for the working world. They can receive preparation here.”

The Village of Arts and Humanities
The need to reach out and guide the Philadelphia youth can be seen as a widespread theme of the North Philadelphia venues that are striving for change.

The Village of Arts and Humanities is one of those places. Resting at 2544 Germantown Ave., the Village, also known as “The House of Love,” has been serving students of low-income families for 20 years – offering them a place to enhance their artistic skills in the forms of modern dance, spoken word, comic book design and video editing. Students, between the ages of 13 and 19, and who are from the immediate neighborhood, have shown a keen interest in participating in the program and have progressed outside of the Village as well.

“The students that come here really use their involvement in art as a catalyst to get involved in so many other things,” said Kenny Jones, the arts and education manager. “Some are apprehensive at first to devote their time into coming and working on their projects, but the exposure to new things really changes them. They are motivated to work hard and finish school and even think about continuing to college.”

While the push to get Philadelphia youths to college may be an important, yet difficult challenge, art isn’t the only form of motivation of these concerned advocates.

Joe Frazier’s Gym
Marvis Frazier and his father, the legendary boxer Joe Frazier, offer boxing as a preparatory method to encourage students to excel in school and in life.

“We here at Joe Frazier’s Gym aren’t a big organization,” Marvis Frazier said. “We’re more like a mom-and-pop place, but we know the ground rules for obtaining success. We teach basic boxing skills, but we also teach kids discipline and respect – two things important for improvement.”

With open doors since the ‘70s, Joe Frazier’s Gym, located at 2917 N. Broad St., serves men, women and children who have the desire to work with a legend and gain more than just fighting skills.

“Our main goal is to steer the youth in the right direction,” Frazier said. “There are so many paths they could take, but we try to teach that education is most important. We have to guide and show good leadership, and that is what we are trying to do.”

Progress Plaza
Another beacon of North Philadelphia that serves the community is Progress Plaza, the strip mall at 1501 N. Broad St. Home to community friendly stores like Payless ShoeSource, RadioShack and the dollar store, Progress Plaza is making headway in the community by introducing its newest addition, the Fresh Grocer, set to open its doors by June 2008.

“Progress Plaza is an integral part of this community,” Benjamin Gilbert, the executive director of the shopping center, said. “We have a variety of stores that serve the people’s needs. With the building of the new supermarket we are hoping to serve many more.”

Freedom Theatre
Whether you’re in the mood to enjoy a play, musical or just immerse yourself in art and history, you can walk down to 1346 N. Broad St., where Freedom Theater sits. Founded in 1968, Freedom Theatre is Pennsylvania’s oldest black theater. And it does more than just produce great shows – the dedicated staff works to uplift and mold youths into great artists.

The Performing Arts Training Program has been around for 30 years, and since its birth, has given children in the region a chance to put their energy toward something constructive and useful. Classes in which students learn to dance, sing and act serve as more that just extracurricular activities for the kids – they serve as stepping stones to the future.

“I really love coming here. I dance, act and sing, so that means I’m a triple-threat,” said Madiyah, a seventh grader who attends the Performing Arts Training Program. “I have been coming here for two months, and it makes me really happy being able to do what I like to do and have fun.”

While many kids may be most concerned with having fun, they don’t realize how much that fun helps them to succeed. According to the statistics posted on the Freedom Theatre Web site, 98 percent of the students participating in the Performing Arts Training Program or other extracurricular programs graduate from high school.

“I am glad for Freedom Theatre because after coming here I know that I love to sing and act and just be on stage,” Madiyah said. “I know I want to do this when I go to high school and even when I go to college.”

Kendra Howard can be reached at kendra.howard@temple.edu.

Joe Frazier’s Gym is closing, not renovating

Editor:

[In response to [“Joe Frazier’s Gym closes for renovations,” Christopher Wink, April 3, 2008]
Speaking as boxer Marianne Marston, I can personally confirm I am not returning to London, whatever Mr. Leslie Wolff says (or might wish).

He might still be Joe Frazier’s manager, but he is most certainly not mine and does not have the authority to speak for me. Marvis Frazier made it quite clear to me – and other fighters – that Frazier’s Gym would not be reopening at all.

If they did intend to reopen and refocus on working with professional fighters, then it is extremely foolish of them to cut all ties with the talent they have already invested so much time in, many of whom are about to turn professional and had extremely lucrative sponsorship deals already in place that were prepared to help pay for the gyms “supposed “ refurbishment.

Speaking for the fighters that were at my apartment this evening who have not yet found alternate gyms to train at, we shall be looking at raising funding to set up our own gym, and intend to use our sponsorship to bring in some of the United States’ and United Kingdom’s finest trainers.

In the event that Mr. Wolff feels the need to act as my press officer in the future, please rest assured he does not have my permission to do so, I have someone who is actually capable of doing the job properly.

Regards,

Marianne Marston

Joe Frazier’s Gym closes for renovations

Joe Frazier’s Gym, a North Philadelphia landmark at 2917 N. Broad St. above Glenwood Avenue for more than 40 years, has been closed for renovations.

The closure will last at least three months, said Leslie Wolff, Joe Frazier’s business manager.

“The building is at least a century old,” Wolff said. “It’s easier to close down, clean out what could politely be called junk, and see what kind of renovations we need.”

No exact date has been placed on the building being reopened, but the hope is three months from now, Wolff said. Currently contractors are evaluating the historic building, which was a dance hall before Frazier made it a gym in 1969.

There were fears of the gym permanent closing, including a falsified press release originally used by the popular blog Philebrity.com and The Temple News. It didn’t come from Joe Frazier’s Gym, said Wolff, who quickly dispelled the rumor.

“There will always be a Joe Frazier’s Gym,” he said.

Frazier, the former heavyweight champion of the world and longtime rival of Muhammad Ali, lived in a small apartment above the gym, while he toured throughout the country, but has since made a permanent home elsewhere in the region, Wolff said.

“He had been living there off and on, more off,” Wolff said. “But in the last, say, four months, he has lived elsewhere.”

The gym opened in 1969, a few years after Joe turned professional in August 1965. Joe was born the youngest of 12 children on Jan. 12, 1944 in Beaufort, S.C., but made Philadelphia his home. He won a gold medal at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, before beginning one of the most celebrated careers in boxing history, earning a 32-4-1 career record and winning 27 of his victories by knockout. His three matches against Ali in the 1970s are often considered among the best in sports history.

His son Marvis, also a former boxer, handled the daily operations of the gym, which served as much a community center and outreach program as a training facility.

“It’s not always about boxing,” Marvis told The Temple News last October. “We’re trying to change young men.”

Marvis trained at the now closed gym, also, launching his career there in 1975 and returning to serve as general manager after he retired in 1990. Despite success as an amateur, his professional boxing career was less memorable. Aside from his responsibilities at the gym, Marvis doubled as a Delaware reverend, as The Temple News reported.

“This is the ministry God has given me,” Marvis said of the gym and working with young aspiring boxers.

In retirement, the Fraziers were a draw for top young boxing talent even beyond the region. In February, British featherweight Marianne Marston moved from London to Philadelphia in order that she might train under Joe. Another top female boxer that has been forced to find a new boxing home is Diane Moses, originally from Jacksonville, Fla. Jayson Sia, mentioned in the release, moved from Los Angeles to train.

Marston is returning to London and the others have found different boxing homes, Wolff said. When the gym reopens, there are plans for it to refocus on training professional fighters.

“Joe is one of a few real scientists of the sport,” Wolff said. “Joe Frazier’s Gym can be anywhere in the world. It isn’t the building, it’s Joe.”

Christopher Wink can be reached at cwink@temple.edu.

Joe Frazier’s Gym closes its doors

This article was updated here.

Joe Frazier’s Gym has been closed, likely forever, according to a press release from the boxing and training facility in North Philadelphia.

Frazier, the former heavyweight champion of the world and longtime rival of Muhammad Ali, lived in a small apartment above the gym, while he toured throughout the country. His son Marvis, also a former boxer, handled the daily operations of the gym, which served as much a community center and outreach program as a training facility.

“It’s not always about boxing,” Marvis told The Temple News last October. “We’re trying to change young men.”

The gym opened at 2917 N. Broad St., above Glenwood Avenue, in 1969, a few years after Joe turned professional in August 1965. Joe was born the youngest of 12 children on Jan. 12, 1944 in Beaufort, S.C., but made Philadelphia his home. He won a gold medal at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, before beginning one of the most celebrated careers in boxing history, earning a 32-4-1 career record and winning 27 of his victories by knockout. His three matches against Ali in the 1970s are often considered among the best in sports history.

“Joe Frazier’s name means something to people,” Marvis said last fall.

Marvis trained at the now closed gym, also, launching his career there in 1975 and returning to serve as general manager after he retired in 1990. Despite success as an amateur, his professional boxing career was less memorable. Aside from his responsibilities at the gym, Marvis doubled as a Delaware reverend, as The Temple News reported.

“This is the ministry God has given me,” Marvis said.

In retirement, the Frazier’s were a draw for top young boxing talent even beyond the region. In February, British featherweight Marianne Marston moved from London to Philadelphia in order that she might train under Joe. Another top female boxer that has been forced to find a new boxing home is Diane Moses, originally from Jacksonville, Fla. Jayson Sia, mentioned in the release, moved from Los Angeles to train.

“The gym is closed, it’s over.” said Marvis Frazier, Joe’s son, in the release.

The official date the gym was shut down was March 30, according to the release. Calls to the gym by The Temple News were not returned.

Christopher Wink can be reached at cwink@temple.edu.

Boxing legend and son fight different type of foe

Marvis Frazier has always had to live up to expectations.

He was the boxing son of a boxing legend. Names carry a lot of weight. Sometimes even enough to crush a heavyweight boxer with big hands and big plans. It might have been nothing more than God and a humble self-awareness that has allowed him to thrive in a different mission.

THE LEGEND OF SMOKIN’ JOE

“Joe Frazier’s name means something to people,” Marvis said of his father and former heavyweight champion.

Indeed, it is a name everyone knows, though perhaps not everyone can place. Joe Frazier once formed what is easily one of the greatest rivalries in the history of sport. The three bouts Frazier had with Muhammad Ali in the 1970s are regularly touted as some of the finest in boxing history.

A SON FALLS SHORT IN GROWTH

Marvis, now 47, was a celebrated young fighter in the late 1970s. Despite success as an amateur, his professional boxing career is largely defined by two losses. He was pummeled by Larry Holmes in 1983 and was dropped in 1986 by an upcoming 19-year-old fighter named Mike Tyson. Yet, as with most people defined by moments, he is so much more than that.

He is barrel-chested but deceptively so. There is a hesitance in his speech, so characteristic of boxers, but his appears to be rooted less in those right hooks he got from Holmes 15 years ago and more in humility. Like how could any wisdom come from an old Philly boxer holed up in an office in central North Philadelphia. It comes, though. It comes.
IT’S NOT ALWAYS ABOUT BOXING

Marvis holds the Bible close to his heart. He splits his time between Philadelphia boxing icon and Delaware reverend. There is a stripe of white that he wears as an accessory in his black hair. He works in a building that bears his father’s name and sits in an office cluttered with his father’s memorabilia. He shapes lives.

Marvis began managing Joe Frazier’s Gym not long after he retired from the ring in 1990, the same gym in which he started his own boxing career in 1975. The gym, which opened at 2917 N. Broad St. in 1969, is as much a community center as any YMCA or church rectory could ever be.

“We’re trying to change young men,” Marvis said last week. The thin and twitchy boy who wore a black hood over his face one cold morning last week before being let into the gym might agree. He shadowboxed with great concentration, as if his being alone in the ring was no reason to think he had nothing to fight at that particular moment in his life. Joe and Marvis Frazier taught him how.

“It’s not always about boxing,” he said. “We’ve had guys become accountants, computer programmers.”

Some are desperate, others are just looking for something, but they all come out different, he explained.

While Joe Frazier tours, Marvis handles the daily operations of a gym that is perhaps more community outreach than gloves and headgear.

Joe Frazier’s Gym is nothing Marvis takes lightly.

“This,” he said with a wave of his hand and a nod of his head, “is the ministry God has given me.”

Christopher Wink can be reached at cwink@temple.edu