Looking for a proper boxing gym in San Francisco? We’ve done the research for you and uncovered some of the best, authentic boxing gyms in town.
Let’s take a look:
My preference is always for those rare, pure, old school boxing gyms, free of ego, and full of passion for the sport. But sometimes I include the odd boxercise place because I know that not everyone wants the nitty gritty of actual combat.
Why listen to me: I’ve been boxing as an amateur for 6 years and trained in countless boxing gyms around the world from Seattle to Spain. I’ve learnt that picking the right gym can literally change your life and want to help you do the same. Learn more about me here.
PLEASE leave your own opinions and experiences about San Francisco boxing gyms in the comments at the bottom and I’ll continuously update this page to make it as useful as possible!
The 7 Best Boxing Gyms in San Francisco🥊
1️⃣ 3rd Street Boxing Gym
- Summary: San Francisco’s last real boxing gym has a true community vibe
- Address: 2576 3rd St
- Google rating: 4.9
- Opening hours: M – F: 6am – 12pm & 4pm – 8pm, S-S: 8am-12pm
- Pricing: $200 / month or $30 a class
- Best for: beginners, pros, and everyone in between
- Online: website, Facebook, Instagram
3rd Street Boxing Gym calls itself San Francisco’s last real boxing gym, and with over 200 5* reviews on Google, it’s also one of the most loved boxing gyms in San Francisco.
It’s been operating for 20 years and since then founder and owner Paul has been building it from the ground up.
Members rave about the welcoming atmosphere for people of all genders, sizes, ages, and abilities, as well as instructors of the highest quality: take Israel’s class if you’re looking to work on boxing fundamentals or Wlad’s if you want a damn hard workout.
This is a pure boxing gym, no boxercise here, where you’ll be taught by the best and soak up the energy of a place that really means business. Get a monthly membership for $200 to go to unlimited classes or pay as you go at $30 a class.
Their 60-minute classes, running 4 or 5 times a day, offer a range of cardio drills, boxing technique, partner and mitt work, body weight exercises, strength and conditioning, and more.
Or sign up to their famous Boxing Bootcamps, an intense four week program to get you in the shape of your life and hone your boxing skills.
3rd Street is our top pick for boxing gyms in San Francisco – definitely check it out!
2️⃣ Rise Combat Sports
- Summary: Mixed combat sport gym with bags of experience
- Address: 123 S Van Ness Ave
- Google rating: 4.8
- Opening hours: M, W, F: 7am-1pm & 3:30-9pm, T, T: 12 – 1pm & 3:30 – 9pm, Sa: 9am – 2:30pm
- Pricing: $200 / month or $30 a class
- Best for: those looking for varied combat training
- Online: website, Facebook, Instagram
Rise Combat Sports, formerly known as Fight & Fitness, is a family owned martial arts gym with a iron strong community and nearly two decades of experience.
As the name suggests, this gym trains in a multitude of combat sports, including boxing, Muay Thai, and Jiu Jitsu.
The gym itself, set in a light, open, warehouse-like space looks awesome and is well equipped. You can join as a member a for $200 to go to unlimited classes or you can drop in and join classes at $30 a class.
Given Rise Combat Sports doesn’t focus exclusively on boxing, there are limited boxing classes to chose from (on average just one per day). Seems like a great place and definitely worth trying out – the first class is free!
3️⃣ El Nino Training Center
- Summary: Mixed martial arts taught with passion
- Address: 1 S Linden Ave #7
- Google rating: 4.8
- Opening hours: M-T: 4-9pm, F: 5-8pm, S: 10am-2pm
- Pricing: $200 / month
- Best for: those looking for varied combat training
- Online: website, Facebook, Instagram
El Nino is a training and fitness facility in mixed martial arts. It caters to all levels, whether new to the sport, or training for a professional competition.
Its members talk of the strong community feel, the lack of egos, and comradery within the gym to help each other improve. Open to all ages and abilities.
The gym has recently moved to a brand new home on Linden Ave and is sparkling clean with high quality equipment.
One downside is that it only has classes in the afternoon so if you prefer to train in the mornings then this may not be the right place for you.
As with Rise Combat Sports, because this is an MMA gym, class options are limited if you just want boxing training.
4️⃣ The Park Gym
- Summary: Pricey but high quality, clean gym
- Address: 1823 Divisadero St
- Google rating: 4.4
- Opening hours: M-F: 8am-8pm, S: 9am-7pm, S: 9am-9pm
- Pricing: $275 / month
- Best for: those with deep pockets looking for high end
- Online: website, Facebook, Instagram
The Park Gym focuses on boxing classes and fitness classes (kettlebells, metabolic conditioning, and weight training) and coach Dave is praised as helpful, motivating and knowledgeable. The gym itself also looks great: it is clean, light, and open.
I love how this place is open from early morning to late evening 7 days a week – that is commitment to the cause. And probably helps explain why, at $275 / month, it’s more expensive than some of the other options in the city.
Bear in mind, as with most boxing gyms, the monthly membership includes unlimited classes and access to the gym’s other equipment like weights and cardio machines.
Read a few complaints about less than perfect customer service when people arrived late for a class so make sure you’re on time. After all, boxing is all about discipline.
5️⃣ Solis Boxing
- Summary: Low key, good value pure boxing gym
- Address: 387 Grand Avenue
- Google rating: n.a.
- Opening hours: M-F: 5am-9pm, S-S: 9am-3pm
- Pricing: $160/month
- Best for: all boxers!
- Online: website, Facebook, Instagram
Solis Boxing gym is a humble but passionate place to train in the Sweet Science.
Coach Fernando, with decades of boxing experiences, focuses on teaching boxing in small groups to ensure quality training. All ages and abilities are very welcome and at $160/month for adults, it feels like great value.
Most weekdays have between 3 and 4 classes to choose from, either very early morning at 5am or in the afternoon from 5pm-8pm.
The gym is open otherwise outside of those times for you to train on the equipment and personal training classes are also available.
Solis is a great place to train, especially if you’re in the South San Francisco area.
6️⃣ HitFit
- Summary: Much loved fitness / boxing gym with two locations
- Address: 2345 Harrison St & 1150 Sutter St
- Google rating: 5.0
- Opening hours: Morning & evenings 6 days a week, times vary between locations. See website for more details.
- Pricing: $200 / month
- Best for: fitness fanatics
- Online: website, Instagram
HitFit is predominantly a fitness gym based around boxing and is non-contact, but it does teach authentic boxing technique from current and former fighters.
Its Boxing Academy sessions, which run alongside its more fitness-orientated sessions, are designed to help you work on your technique, start sparring, and progress towards contact boxing.
HitFit has two locations in San Francisco (Nobhill and Mission, although the Boxing Academy classes only take place in its Nob Hill gym). A membership gives you access to both locations. They also offer drop in classes for $30 each.
The several hundred 5* reviews for HitFit are testament to how popular these places are. Members rave about the amazing atmosphere, friendly instructors, and great work out.
I’m usually a bit skeptical of boxercise-type places but HitFit feels like its a lot more than that and definitely worth checking out.
7️⃣ Rumble Boxing
- Summary: Great workout but not really boxing
- Address: 3060 Fillmore St Suite (Marina), 180 Sansome St Suite 100 (FiDi)
- Google rating: 4.6 & 4.9
- Opening hours: M-F: 5:30am-8:30pm, S: 7am-5pm, S: 7am-6pm
- Pricing: ~$25/class
- Best for: fitness fanatics with deep pockers
- Online: website, Instagram
Rumble Boxing is a large boxercise franchise with gyms all over the USA. There are two in San Francisco (Marina and FiDi), and both are popular with their members.
If you want a great workout, eardrum-busting music, flashing lights, and instructors shouting motivational lines at you, then Rumble will hit the spot. But the classes are non-contact, and not very focused on actual boxing technique.
They have a full schedule of classes, often 9 classes every day of the week, morning till night, so you shouldn’t have any trouble finding a time that suits your schedule.
Related links:
How to pick a San Francisco boxing gym❓
- Coaches – an experienced, motivating coach makes all the difference. Not just when it comes to improving your technique but also in encouraging you to keep coming back time and time again. Becoming a good boxer takes a long time and so it’s important you find a coach that you click with if this is something you want to do for many years. Reviews will often focus on coaches so try looking for those for some insights.
- Convenience of location and class timings – for me this is so important. My boxing gym is on the same block as my home so I have no excuse not to go almost everyday, even if I’m not feeling up to it. Finding a gym that’s close to home or work will make your life much easier and help to make going to boxing training a habit. The same applies to class timings, if you have to massively disrupt your day to get to a class because it doesn’t fit your schedule then you’re going to be less likely to go.
- Gym focus – I don’t have a problem with boxercise classes, but make sure you know what you’re signing up for if you join one of these. Boxercise is very different than actually learning how to fight and getting sparring experience. If you truly want to learn how to box then you need to box. That involves punching other people and getting punched yourself.
- Trial class – most boxing gyms will allow you to have a free trial class so you can get a feel for the place before you sign up. This is a great way of evaluating whether you like the coach, the energy, and the focus of the gym. Always worth asking for a free trial class if you’re not sure whether it’s offered.
How much do boxing gyms in San Francisco cost? 💰
- Monthly memberships: ~$200 per month. Most places offer unlimited classes to their members. Be sure to check for this.
- One-on-one personal training: This can vary a lot but expect to pay around $100 per hour as a minimum.
- Drop-in boxing classes for non-members: ~$15-$30 per class
- Initiation fee: not all places make you pay one of these (and I’m not a fan of it) but those that do usually charge a one-off fee of $50-$100
12th Round 🔔
You’re not spoiled for choice here in San Francisco when it comes to boxing gyms but there are some great options like 3rd Street and Rise Combat Sports. I guess we need some of those start-up bros to quit working on ride-hailing apps and to start boxing so we can fire up the fight culture in the City by the Bay.
Happy fighting!🥊🥊
“It’s like someone jammed an electric light bulb in your face, and busted it. I thought half my head was blowed off…When he knocked me down I could have stayed there for three weeks.” — James J Braddock
Sorry, but I’ve tried every so-called ‘boxing’ gym in San Francisco and none of them are anywhere near the old-school boxing gyms that I grew up with. In my experience, the only true old-school boxing gym remaining (that’s anywhere near San Francisco) is King’s Boxing Gym in Oakland.
That said, I’ve yet to check out B Street Boxing Gym in San Mateo. Considering that former pro Eddie Croft is there, he would surely possess the kind of experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities to train those who either merely want to spar and maybe have some smokers — or take it all the way up to the amateur and professional levels.
But back to San Francisco: there’s nothing here for serious boxers, much less those who want to learn real boxing, spar, and maybe get some experience with smokers/inter-club competitions.