Rumble with the Champs

It was an old dilapidated edifice at the 5th floor in a known village in Makati. No signage. No air-conditioning units. Abaft. The place was not even on the main road. This was just a gym only being passed by people from across the building.

Then, people started walking, drifting, and dropping by accident. And through word of mouth, it became known to many. Inside the gym, people strive to learn punching. Assisting you is a trainer, who just wears maong shorts. Everything was just fitness in a box.

This was the scene six years ago. Now, it has blossomed into one of the well-known fitness gyms in the Philippines. This is RED CORNER FITNESS AND BOXING GYM.


Round 1 - The Protagonists

Red Corner opened its doors to people its first branch in Salcedo Village in Makati sometime December 1999, and started offering professional boxing training as an alternative fitness and routine program. Howbeit, boxing is more popular than any other martial arts and is just a fighting second behind basketball in the country. Thanks to the exploits of Filipino ring sensation Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao, whom we all know tormented two of the best [pound-for- pound] Mexican gladiators in the present era - Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales, the widespread influx of boxing as a training and fitness routine, sprouted like mushrooms.

Vincent Edward Nievera Barreto (DLSU Batch ‘88, Bachelor of Science in Business Management), Joseph Fuentes Pagulayan (DLSU Batch ‘88, Business Management), and Randolph Ignacio Nonato (DLSU Batch ‘90, Accountancy) are behind the name Red Corner Fitness and Boxing Gym. Red Corner was taken from one of the corners [blue corner, red corner and two white corners] of the boxing ring. The animus of the Red Corner is stereotypically known as the champion’s corner, whereas the blue corner is the challenger's corner. So, it is an automatic symbol in relation to boxing.

"Basically, we just want to give a systematic program wherein a person who's really a fanatic would really learn the sports. I would also use the analogy of Oscar de la Hoya who doesn't have enough fitness shaping body but he found somebody else - the ring. It's actually the same training he undergoes. So by using that particular analogy, we'd always see this significance on how boxing has an effect on a person's metabolism [somebody's fitness] and use that as a platform to elevate the sports," Pagulayan relates at length.


Round 2 - Crisp Blows

Red Corner was the first boxing gym in Makati. Currently, there are six gyms available to a certain sector of society to bring fitness closer to the boxing enthusiasts. The main branch is situated in Hotel Intercontinental Manila. To help you locate the different branches of Red Corner Fitness and Boxing Gym, you may walk off CLUB650 Sports Complex, - Libis Quezon City, 2/F DnK Gym BF HOMES Village Paranaque City, Panay Ave Quezon City, 5/F, Holiday Inn Galleria Ortigas St. Pasig City, or Waterfront Hotel, Lahug Cebu City.

Red Corner houses the training of URCC [Universal Reality Combat Chambionship] fighters. It offers boxing as the core program headed by 1992 Barcelona Olympics bronze medalist and National Mens' and Womens' Boxing Team coach Roel Velasco.

"Well, I personally wanted boxing. And at that time, there was no available gym. I found out to a friend of mine that boxing was very popular in houses, instructors going to houses, and punching bags are really hot selling items in sports," shares Nonato.

The type of market that the boxing gym is bringing are those of influential society - Boy Martires of Smart, former senator Orly Mercado, Studio 23 “Kabarkada Mo” host Chinggay Andrada, and some of the celebrities. In the same way, these entreps are attracting new prospects – the women, as they comprise 85% of the general public. Women have to be invited because it leads to a more intimidating action when they blast “Oh! He can do it, I can do it well.” Besides, they want to be of equal power or to be superior to men. Everybody wanted the challenge and so these females started shifting from taebo to actual boxing.

Through the years, people [competitors] are flinging to imitate Red Corner that's why they started bringing haven for mixed martial arts. Wrestling program was another type of competitive activities introduced by another La Salle alumnus - Alvin Aguilar. It was sometime in 2001 crossing over 2002 when Red Corner offered services [classes] that include Punchbag Aerobics, Copoeira, Brazilian Jiujitsu, Arnis, Muay Thai Kick Boxing, and Sports Conditioning. Plus, other boxing gyms, particularly Fitness First, once held on their niche. They ordered equipment from Red Corner because they recognize the importance of having boxing as a service when it started to gain popularity.


Round 3 - Green Counters

Aside from managing one of the country's top sports arena - Red Corner, these multi-skilled Lasallians are such a fanatic of UAAP games. They don't recognize any other schools. "It’s more of what you want, the values that you want. A lot here in Red Corner are very much related to what we have in La Salle, but for being in business, you have to win yourself for everybody else," Pagulayan enthuses.

Pagulayan attended high school in La Salle Green Hills and graduated from De La Salle University with a degree in Accountancy. There, he was able to share his expertise as a team leader [President] of any club which was carried until his college years. He's pretty much involved in sports such as karate, soccer and basketball to vary his day-to-day routine. But when he reached college, all he wanted to pursue was sports. At present, he is training with the Taekwondo National Team.

A thoroughbred La Sallian from elementary to college, Barreto may be considered an artist and athlete by heart. But he is no newbie to sports and theater arts. Barreto was a member of the Harlequin Theatre Guild and was part of the training team of football varsity while in high school in La Salle Green Hills (1984) and college in De La Salle University, where he graduated in 1988. This chap played every bit of sports in this world. Name it. Track and Field. High Jump Relay. Basketball. Badminton…”I get away from ROTC. That was basically because I’m not interested,” he confesses. Luckily, he qualified for the DLSU Shooting Team [college]. Barreto was into stage plays and hard ball until he heard the sound of the punching bag poking and was immediately drawn into it. Now, he is the President and CEO of Red Corner Fitness and Boxing Gym.

Meanwhile, Nonato is a sports buff himself. He used to be a varsity [volleyball] player for La Salle in grade school and played basketball in high school. On top, he brings with him a wealth of experience in the whole range of communications work and sales, including, but not limited to, public relations, advertising, and special events and risk management. The forever smiling and dynamic green-blooded entrepreneur, who was teased “Mr. La Salle” had gained popularity when he headed and reinvented the DLSU Cheering Sqaud from 1988 to 1992, is now focusing on the general management of Red Corner Fitness and Boxing Club. When he got inclined to Red Corner, he makes it a point to maintain a healthy lifestyle [fitness body building].

Pagulayan's loyalty to the school remains strong. "When I was already in high school, I found out that you could be a good athlete, yet, you could be a very intelligent person. Academics and sports make up well," he shoots back.

He expounded that he [Pagulayan] aspired to be exactly well-rounded physically, emotionally, and spiritually. "In La Salle kase bata pa lang kami, tinuturuan na kaming maging well-rounded. We were taught how to stretch... to run... being gentleman... opening the door... a hanky in your pocket...," he humbly explains.

It was only after college when he started acting differently. Academics and athletics are still searching for common ground. But one message is beginning to emerge loudly and clearly - Academics and responsibility are different hence it was not easy for him to be smart and athletic at the same time. He needed to step down from athletics in order to focus on his thesis.

Speaking from experience, he found out that the real world needs you to learn things fast and achieve things faster. "People don't wait for you in the real world and don't take a snap in order to gain this knowledge. That is what I believe would been a good training for me in La Salle. Also, the system of not even having summer because when you graduate, there is no summer," he says more seriously.


Round 4 - Going for the Kill

People used to think that Red Corner is a multi-national company. Well in fact, it's a purely, and proudly, Filipino company. The clandestine of Red Companies is that it could look excellent, and at one fell swoop, it could perform at a certain level. That's why these green fellows want to become the "Jollibee of Fitness" than to become Burger King and Mc Donalds. Their goal is to be able to establish a mode of excellence in this particular field in the fitness industry and to provide venue for par excellence amateur boxers.

In the future, Barreto, Pagulayan, and Nonato want to realize their dream of becoming the first group to establish the brand [Red Corner] in other countries and to champion everything that is Red Corner and everything that is very Filipino as well. In fact, plans of going international are already on their heads. Currently, they plan to have a franchise especially in Japan and Singapore thus, introducing a new culture to jive with Filipino pride. They wanted to upgrade from level one boxing which would help the franchise's expansion. According to them, this would take a little bit longer because they want it right.

Pagulayan stressed that he used to save everything that he's learned in La Salle. For him, value is actually the most important in the survival of the business because it's their training in La Salle that pushes them forward. What will drive these green fellows for tomorrow is what they believe and that has a lot to do with where they came from.

To conclude, Pagulayan emphasized that it is all about coping, learning the ropes, and learning things that will bring them to the goal they want to achieve. One is to reestablish Red Corner in more hotels and in the future to be global product, which is another program that they want to achieve.


Red Corner Gym's main branch is located in Hotel Intercontinental Manila, Ayala Ave. corner EDSA, Makati City. Tel No.: (02) 867-8059. For more details, log on to http://www.redcornerboxing.net/