It’s not often you can find a way to successfully turn a love for a sport into a profession but Ray Vipond appears to have done just that at his store at 23920 Carlysle in Dearborn.
Edsel Ford graduate Ray Vipond opened The Fight Shop in January.
The 29-year-old Dearborn resident opened The Fight Shop in January and has been going strong since. Now, truth be told, it’s not a store for the average Joe.
But if you are an amateur boxer in Metro Detroit looking for equipment or a fan of boxing or amateur mixed martial arts, this is your dream come true. You’ll find every imaginable boxing brand in Vipond’s store, along with the staples of boxing: shoes, handwraps, mouth guards, gloves and heavy bags. Later this summer, the store will be adding a line of karate clothing. He also carries a huge line of T-Shirts for those who love boxing and mixed martial arts.
A 1997 Edsel Ford High School graduate, Vipond is no stranger to boxing as his grandfather was a golden glove champion in Michigan. But he didn’t actually get into the ring as an amateur until 2004. As amateur boxers aren’t allowed to be paid, Vipond worked a 40 hour work week and then went to the Dynamic Boxing Club in Garden City to train.
He fought for three years until in 2007 he realized he was “too old” to be an amateur boxer. Most enter the profession between 16 and 18 years of age. But during his time at the various gyms around Metro Detroit, he did learn a lot about what the sport lacks in Michigan — a dedicated store for boxers to shop.
And so The Fight Shop was born. After months of research and trying to find a location, Vipond went from the ring to behind the register.
“A lot of this came from my experience as an amateur boxer,” Vipond said. “There was no store to visit to try on shoes or gloves so you were mail ordering and it was hit or miss.” So instead of ordering the wrong size boxing shoe or improperly fitting gloves out of a catalog, fighters will now have an alternative way of getting the items they need, he says.
Vipond admits his store serves a narrow band of customers but what he does have is the right product for a group that currently isn’t being served with USA Boxing and AIBA-approved equipment.
Why does Vipond love a sport that seems so violent? He had this to say about that topic in a posting on his blog earlier this year.
“Boxing fans are a different breed, cut from a different cloth. When all is said and done, it’s legalized violence. It requires us to enjoy something most people strive to avoid, hand-to-hand combat. Boxing challenges us to face the natural instinct of fight or flight . . . But why do we love it so much? I for one love the individuality. You have no teammates to turn to, no timeouts, no one coming off the bench. It’s you versus him. Who’s better? Who trained harder? Who wants it more? I like that one punch can change an entire fight. Where a man can be out-boxed for 12 rounds and at the very end, land that one home-run punch . . .”
Vipond appears to be landing the right punches now, doing all the right things to get his store on the radar of the 25 boxing and another 25 mixed martial arts gyms in southeast Michigan. The fact he was once an amateur boxer himself has given him access to many of these gyms. So Vipond and his store are now well known in these circles as the place to go for equipment and to meet with someone who actually understands the sport. In addition, he is a sponsor at nearly every amateur boxing event and gives out plenty of T-shirts with his store’s name.
His hard work appears to be paying off for him.
The Fight Shop is located at 23920 Carlysle (at Telegraph, between Michigan Avenue and Van Born Road) in Dearborn. Contact the store at (313) 278-5770 or visit online by clicking HERE
The weather may not have been perfect in the morning, but it seems a record number of people took part in the 4th annual Mutt Strut on May 16, raising some $65,000 for the Dearborn Animal Shelter in the process.