STEVE’S SOAPBOX
with good faith.” You often hear Jimmy’s Corner described as a “dive bar,” which for the most part is a compliment. Glenn calls it “a neighborhood bar without a neighborhood.” Much of what made this place special was Jimmy, a boxing lifer who fought, then trained and managed fighters throughout his life, and even ran his own gym. As you walk down the narrow pathway all the way to the back, various fight posters and a pictorial history of Jimmy’s life in the sport (including one of him with Muhammad Ali) are displayed on the walls. “My dad looked at the bar very much as his legacy and the thing he was leaving. And later in life, like his career in boxing, it was something he was proud of,” said his son. “He was proud that he was able to build something and that he was able to touch so many people’s lives.” For Adam, who manages boxers and operates his own streaming service (BXNG TV), returning to Jimmy’s Corner was no burden, but a calling. His return was hastened about a decade ago when his mother, Swietlana (better known to the regulars as “Swanie”) fell ill. “I feel like the bar has always been a part of who I was. My mom and dad built it together. It became a part of their routine and their life, their DNA, and something they were proud of.” Glenn didn’t leave a career in law; he came back home to where he belonged. This is very much a family-run business. His brother, James Jr., and nephew Karriem Mitchell work at Jimmy’s Corner. The staff, in Glenn’s view, is part of the extended family. Even with his busy schedule and outside obligations, at some point he will be at the bar doing such things as taking inventory or taking care of payroll. “Every day involves the bar in some fashion.” Jimmy’s isn’t just a museum of boxing memorabilia, but a place where boxing business was consummated. Carl Moretti, the VP of boxing operations for Top Rank, worked for MSG Boxing (the now-defunct promotional arm of Madison Square Garden) from 1986
Jimmy’s son Adam is determined to keep the bar’s legacy alive.
to 1995. Moretti recalls, “There were no cell phones, there was no internet or anything like that. But I can tell you that I sat with Mike Trainer (adviser to Ray Leonard), and Bobby Goodman (matchmaker) and Johnny Boz (matchmaker and agent) after a show we had at the Felt Forum, from about 12:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. – that’s where the whole Sugar Ray Leonard-Terry Norris fight was made, as well as Leonard-Donny Lalonde. That’s where it got done.” This was the Zoom meeting of that era. Moretti said that after every show at The Garden, about 10 blocks south, everyone would eventually congregate at Jimmy’s Corner, which is basically true to this day. If you go to a fight card at MSG, you will see many of the same people at Jimmy’s afterward – sometimes waiting to get in (they’re pretty strict about adhering to the fire code.) The thought of moving Jimmy’s Corner is depressing, but it’s not entirely without precedent. Madison Square Garden itself isn’t the same arena or at the same location that it was when it was founded way back in the late 1800s. Could this beloved bar be the same with a different address? The reality is that the existing lease ends in 2029, and Jimmy’s Corner may have to relocate. It’s something that Glenn has pondered. He isn’t naive to the reality at hand. But then, does anything ever truly stay the same forever? “When my mom died, it was, ‘How
is Jimmy’s ever going to be Jimmy’s without ‘Swanie’ in it?’ And then when my dad died, it was never the same – but it was still great,” he stated. “People were used to seeing him there, sitting right there by the big boxing glove [sculpture], or at the bar talking. How can you have Jimmy’s Corner without Jimmy?” Glenn admits that reopening post- Covid changed things, but adds “it’s still great; it’s still a wonderful place.” The bottom line is that there is still a fight to be had (“We’re not going to let anyone just bully us and push us out,” Glenn says), but 2029 will be here before you know it. “No court is going to just award me that building,” said Glenn. “So whether it’s six months from now, a year from now or four or five years from now, at some point, unfortunately, Jimmy’s most likely will not be in that location. Now maybe, depending on the developer or someone else, [they] might think that it makes sense to make a space for Jimmy’s Corner – which I think it does – but I’m not going to rely on that. “I also want to take the next step. [What] my dad would really be happy with and proud of is if one day [we went] from being renters to becoming owners so no one can ever take advantage of us.”
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