About Us
Eastside Boxing Club (ESB) is a not-for-profit gym located in the heart of Chinatown in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside that trains competitive amateur and recreational boxers. Founded in 2012 after the closure of the Astoria Boxing Club.
In the beginning, ESB was faced with the financial struggles of finding a new space, purchasing equipment and having the capital to run a successful community gym. From this hardship, the Aprons for Gloves Boxing Association (AFGBA) created the fundraising event, Restaurant Rumble – an annual fundraising event to help support ESB and their community initiatives.
Two successful years of Restaurant Rumble allowed for the opening of a new gym above the Woodland Smoke House in Spring 2013. In November of that year the gym suffered a fire that would devastate the building and once again leave ESB without a space to continue the involvement they built in the community.
From the ashes in 2014, the AFGBA & ESB communities held their most successful fundraising event to date and secured a new space in Chinatown. The set-backs only tested the strength of those connected and further inspired those around them.
Now ESB is committed to continuing to facilitate free exercise programs for at risk youth and frontline workers, while forging new relationships and building initiatives for the local community.
Believing that everyone deserves accessibility to exercise, the ESB mission is to be an inclusive community focused gym that delivers high quality boxing training.
Our mission is to improve lives and build community through the sport of boxing. We believe that everyone deserves access to exercise, and strive to foster a safe and inclusive gym environment while delivering high-quality boxing training.