B.B. King Blues Club & Grill
237 West 42nd St. between Seventh & Eighth Aves.
Thursday, January 20, $25, 7:30
212-997-4144
www.bbkingblues.com
www.nydailynews.com
For eighty-four years, the Daily News Golden Gloves tournament has featured amateur boxers looking for a chance to better their lot in life or simply enjoying the pure glory of the sweet science. Things get under way on January 20 with opening night at B.B. King’s in Times Square, where 152- and 162-pounders will be battling it out in their Gloves debuts, joined by some of boxing’s elite, including Micky Ward, Mark Breland, Paulie Malignaggi, Teddy Atlas, and Bert Sugar. Many of the fighters bring their own hometown rooting section, either from their training gym or their place of employment; it’s always fascinating to see what many of the participants do in their so-called real life, where they’re students, teachers, city employees, and practitioners of other professions, some looking to make the Olympics, others just needing to let loose and do some pounding. Matches continue through April at such locations as the Yonkers PAL, Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Williamsburg, Holy Cross High School in Flushing, Hempstead Kennedy Memorial Park on Long Island, the Justice Sotomayor Center in the Bronx, the Brooklyn Masonic Temple in Park Slope, the Atlas Foundation on Staten Island, and, for the finals, the Theater at Madison Square Garden.