Fifteen years of Johnny Pepe's life has been devoted to his boxing club and his students. Over that time, he's taught at least 1,000 fighters and hosted hundreds of fights. However, it was COVID-19 that delivered the harshest knockout.

What You Need To Know

  • The Watertown Area Boxing Club has called Starbuck Arena home for the last six years

  • COVID-19 air filtration requirements cannot be completed and the club now has to move out

  • The club is now hoping someone in the community has a place it can call home

"We started back in 2005. I got these totes," Johnny said as he began cleaning out his gym. "The kids have been helping me tear down. They're going to be here in a little while, so."

It was six years ago when Johnny got a call he'd never imagined would come. His club could move into Watertown's famous Starbuck Arena. It was the very spot a boxing legend got his start. Sugar Ray Robinson is the fighter Johnny Pepe says is the best to ever do it.

"When Mike Mitchell first called me, that was the first thing he showed me, the picture of Sugar Ray Robinson standing there right in that hallway and I thought, what a better place to be than this place," Pepe remembered.

It wasn't if, these walls did indeed talk and in the years since, they told quite the story.

A poster for every major event, every milestone. They all hung here. However, with COVID-19 and the requirements for air filtration systems, it wasn't something tacks or tape could solve. Because of it, these walls are now silent and this club is now homeless.

"The heart of boxing isn't a physical place, it is in our hearts," Pepe said. 

That's the thing about Johnny. He's all heart. He's not just a boxing coach. He's a teacher, a mentor.
This club is something many of his students have never had.

"A lot of people here, a lot of kids here, it's more of like a family feel to them," Pepe said. "Some have father's who've deployed overseas. Some have fathers who aren't there. Some just want to fit in.

Johnny is not about to quit on them now. So while he packs up his gear, he does so with a hopeful heart. The belief is that one day, soon, he'll get another call and a new home.

"It's very real and you know, it's like saying goodbye. Journeys are saying goodbye and saying hello again," Pepe said.

Before he locked the door for the last time, Johnny gave Spectrum News his contact information in hopes someone has an idea for a new home. Anyone with a lead can hell Johnny directly at 315-783-4980 or email him at johnny.pepe1@gmail.com.