Middle-Aged Money Managers Increasingly Turning To "White-Collar Boxing" To Fight Fat, Feel Good About Themselves, Despite Being Told They're "Old" And Lack "Talent"
On Wednesday nights, money manager John Oden leaves his tailored suit and Hermes tie in the locker room at the New York Athletic Club and climbs into the boxing ring in red Everlast gloves and white high-top sneakers. The dignified principal at AllianceBernstein LP turns into 6-foot-4-inch, 210-pound, sweating, jabbing pugilist for five 3- minute rounds...Scores of bankers, lawyers and industrialists turn to boxing to boost adrenalin, build muscle and battle middle-age blues. At Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn, the 650 white-collar boxers make up more than half the clientele. The proportion in 1982 was 3 out of 400, according to Bruce Silverglade, Gleason’s president. Silverglade coined the term “white-collar boxing” in 1991 to create a niche for people who were too old to become amateur boxers and not talented enough to be professional boxers, he says. [Bloomberg]