Boxing gym owner leaving Lakeland to train Parkinson’s patients

By James Bennett Jr.
Ledger correspondent

Published: Saturday, April 2, 2016 at 11:06 p.m.

Jamale King, left, and Dan Bolden train outside of D&B Boxing and Fitness in Lakeland. Bolden is leaving his gym to teach Parkinson's patients boxing skills in Jeffersonville, Ind.

Dan Bolden, owner of D&B Boxing and Fitness in Lakeland, is leaving this weekend for Jeffersonville, Ind. He’s received a job to train Parkinson’s patients in boxing.

Bolden has partnered with Jeremy Voyles, Wing Chun sensei at Full Moon Mixed Martial Arts, to head the gym’s boxing program.

“They recently found that fundamental boxing helps correct the motor skills of athletes with Parkinson’s disease,” Bolden said. "It’s a three-day class that I have to take, and from that point, I’ll be training 250 students with Parkinson’s disease, carrying on the D&B Boxing and Fitness legacy.”

Voyles was a regular viewer of the D&B Boxing and Fitness “ghost page,” a closed page on social media where boxers can view film of their training and sparring. Voyles said that he saw Bolden as a good candidate for his gym’s boxing programs.

“He thought I could take his program to new heights,” Bolden said. “I decided to make the move instantly.”

Jamale King, an amateur fighter under Bolden, said that he is thankful to Bolden for helping him start his boxing career.

"He does the best he can with the resources he has," King said. "He really got me into this boxing thing with the passion he's got for it."

Bolden said that his constant struggle to keep the doors of D&B Boxing and Fitness open influenced him to leave his gym under the leadership of Byron “Berlue" McKenzie, a "captain" at D&B. He said he received help from many Lakeland residents, but the burden of running and maintaining a gym without financial support became too much to handle alone.

“People didn’t realize what I had to go through to do it,” Bolden said. “I had a lot of individuals contribute to keep the doors open.

"I have a legacy I’m leaving behind, they’re going to continue it.”

http://www.theledger.com/article/20160402/NEWS/160409871