Advent of boxing clubs highlights profit potential of the emerging niche segment
Hidden in a residential complex off the North Third Ring Road in Beijing is a potentially lucrative cottage industry with an attitude.
Its main wall, decorated with vinyl discs, movie posters and images of rock bands, presents the look of a music and movie bar.
But Li Boxing Club pulsates with a different kind of energy. "Since I was very young, I always wanted a boxing club of my own, a small space that all my friends could come and have a good time at," said its owner, who is in his early 30s and prefers to be called A-li, as if in tribute to boxing legend Muhammad Ali.
A-li hails from the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. The front wall of the club has a landscape painted on it, a portrayal of the regional capital's landmark Drum Tower. That's the area where A-li's dream started.
"Back then, we had a very small venue, with a small balcony outside. We had a lot of fun there when we finished training. We used to drink, smoke and chat while looking at this beautiful Drum Tower," A-li said.
"Fun" included mischief and an iota of street vandalism, like stealing posters from the light box at the local bus stop. Fun got extended in another form as a career beckoned. He moved to four different locations, before finally settling down at the current location.
He invested 300,000 yuan ($43,800) to buy the small venue, which has now grown into a very busy club. His personal training class, priced 800 yuan per hour, is always fully booked, he said.
That's because for many club members, who range from city white-collar executives to artists and celebrities, boxing is not just a sport but a part of their life.
"I'm a man, I'm not a coward or a loser. They said boxing is hard. Come on, life is much harder," said Wu Di, the lead vocal artist of a Beijing-based rockabilly band Rolling Bowling.
He's been practising boxing for a few years, but it was only in 2015 that he started to learn seriously at A-Li's club.
"It's like everything else. Hard work will pay off. There is no such thing as genius in this sport," he said. "You need to learn scientifically, learn how to control your muscles, manage your breath and prepare your body for the one accurate and powerful punch.
"You need to stay sharp, focused and brave and always try to push yourself to a higher level. Just like playing music, practice is the core, there is no genius."
After a tour of Guizhou, he and his band were back in Beijing for a short break, before embarking on a fresh tour to Lanzhou city for a music festival.
A musician and an amateur boxer, Wu credits boxing, his hobby, for his enriched life. "Before I met my girlfriend, my life was much simpler－training, working on my music, then training again, until I fell asleep."
Boxing, he said, appears like a violent combat on the surface, but scratch it, and you will see that it is a rational sport that needs a scientific approach, Wu said.
"Before I joined the club, I was learning it by myself. Years ago, when I went to a boxing club in Italy, they didn't even bother to take a look at me." Back then, Wu's frame was more music buff than boxer. But music and boxing share a few features, he said.
"Many think singing is dependent only on one's voice or throat. It's not the case at all. It requires your full body's attention and a singer needs to use the power or energy that is at his or her core. Similarly, boxing requires every muscle to get involved.
"Boxing is not as popular as before, because it takes too long to cultivate a champion. Sometimes, it takes over 30 years of training. Boxing is a foreign sport. It lacks the tradition in China. So this sport is facing difficulties in its development because it's too hard. Anyone from a wealthy family is not likely to make much effort to learn the art."
He said boxing is like his favorite music genre. "Vintage American-style rock-n-roll is an awesome style, but people don't recognize it."
He said more and more people like him have turned to boxing. Recreation sports are emerging as a viable, even lucrative, business segment, he said.
Agreed Cai Jialong, founder of Long FC, a game based on mixed martial arts. "In China, there are over 80 million boxing fans. With such a large crowd of potential fans, combat sports and even players may fare better in the future.
"The major demographic for this market are those aged between 18 and 30 with a relatively strong consumption power and open mind. They tend to accept the culture of combat."
Li Zhipeng, partner of BW Venture Capital, which used to invest in the country's popular workout app Keep, said more games and commercial competitions can encourage more people to take part in recreation sports with a combat element.
"Combat sports are a nascent business. People in this business are approaching it like parents would view an infant－without undue hurry about growth and future. We don't want to talk about profits right now."
But he predicted top combat players in China will be able to earn 100 million yuan annually five years from now.
