By Nick Giongco
The Fifth Street Gym in Miami Beach, Florida, where Muhammad Ali honed his skills under Angelo Dundee in the 1960s, is where Filipino champion John Riel Casimero trains for his April 25 battle with Naoya Inoue in Las Vegas.
“Same site as the old Fifth Street Gym where Ali used to train,” said Casimero’s chief handler Sean Gibbons.
The original gym was torn down in 1993 and a new gym was built and it opened in 2010.
Still, Gibbons said it stands on the same ground as the one that was called home not only by Ali but by George Foreman and Sugar ray Leonard as well.
The gym was also where a string of famous shots of Ali with The Beatles was taken n 1964.
Casimero will remain there until March 15, the day he and his team fly to Las Vegas for the final push of the buildup.
Casimero left the Philippine early last month and has been neck-deep in training the last four weeks.
Meanwhile, Inoue is also about to head to the US from his home in Yokohama on the advice of Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank, which is staging the much-awaited fight at Mandalay Bay.
Owing to the spread of the coronavirus, Top Rank is expediting Inoue’s departure for the US.
