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The Boxers' Trail Gateway, a pergola transformed by a design team led by Irving Navarro, invites people to take the same challenge that such legends as Joe Frazier and Bernard Hopkins embraced on their way to earning their respective title belts.
“There’s Joe Frazier, myself, Mathew Franklin Saad Muhammed, Bennie Brisco," he said. "You have Philadelphia’s own, and we’ve all been on that trail.”
Joe Frazier Jr. says his dad would routinely attract a crowd while sweating through his run, a scenario that may sound familiar.
“They’ll follow you, they’ll run with you, as a lot of people ran with him. Just like the 'Rocky' movie, that’s essentially where they got it from."
What about the trail has made so many champions?
"It can be challenging, particularly the unpaved parts. As you go out to the overlooks, you get more of an incline," Fairmount Park Conservancy Executive Director Maura McMarthy said.
She believes the new monument, combined with the trails’ rich history, will beckon a broader crowd.
“I heard Jimmy Young used be out here all the time in his sky-blue Lincoln. Take his bag out of his trunk, put it on the tree and work out right then and there," Hopkins said. "There’s a lot of DNA history in the trails and the park itself."
The trail will be now be a lot easier to find, thanks to the new monument. Just look for the pergola topped with a boxer's silhouette at the corner of Dauphin and Greenland drives.