Trained by a
Legend.
Forged in the U.P.
Al’s Boxing Club is led by Coach Al Mitchell. Head coach of the 1996 USA Olympic Boxing Team, USA Boxing Hall of Famer, and the man who has turned out more than 800 national champions from the Upper Peninsula.
Trained by a Legend
Forged in the U.P.
Led by Coach Al Mitchell, head coach of the 1996 USA Olympic Boxing Team and the man who has turned out more than 800 national champions from the Upper Peninsula.
A life spent
in the corner
Born in North Philadelphia in 1943, the oldest of seven, Al Mitchell learned the sport at the radio, listening to Joe Louis fights with his father. He boxed his way to a 43 and 1 amateur record, then found his real calling working corners.
His first world champion, Charlie “Choo Choo” Brown, arrived in 1984. By 1989 he had driven his team nine hours to Marquette for the Junior Olympics, and never left. More than 35 years later, the Upper Peninsula is home.
At Northern Michigan University’s Olympic Education Center he built one of the most decorated programs in American boxing history. Vernon Forrest, David Reid, Andre Ward, Claressa Shields, Floyd Mayweather Jr., and Mikaela Mayer all passed through his corner.
“I always think there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. That is how I’ve been successful in life.”
The names that came through Marquette read like a Hall of Fame roll call
Mike Tyson and Jermain Taylor are among the national champions Mitchell has worked with across his career. USA Boxing won gold at every Olympics he was part of.
The thing I love is taking a piece of coal and turning it into a diamond.
Mikaela
Mayer
She arrived in Marquette in January 2010. UGG boots, a foot of snow, and a coach who figured she wouldn’t last a week. Fourteen years later she is a three division world champion and Sports Illustrated’s 2025 Female Fighter of the Year. Next: a unification bout with Chantelle Cameron.
“She listens, she trains hard, and with each fight I see her getting better and better.” Coach Al Mitchell
A real boxing gym
with a national pedigree
In a converted warehouse on Furnace Street, the room runs every day after school and Saturday mornings. It’s open to youth and adults, all levels, and it’s overrun with kids who all know Mikaela Mayer’s name. Coach Al works the floor with old soul records playing, right there with every fighter, round after round.
“I train a lot of kids in Marquette. I play old 60s and 70s music in the gym. Those hours are some of the happiest of my day.”
Train where champions were made
Coach Al, on film
Earned, not advertised
Come
train
with us
No appointment, no signup fee, no pressure. Walk in during open hours, meet Coach Al, and find out what real boxing feels like.
Marquette, MI