Savoy Howe founded the Toronto Newsgirls Boxing Club in 1996. Savoy started boxing at the Toronto Newsboys Boxing Club at Broadview and Eastern in 1992. At that time there were few females in the boxing gym. After training for a year Savoy participated in the first sanctioned bout for women organized by Toronto in 1993. Wearing the Toronto Newsboys t-shirt in competition, Savoy decided that one day she would fight wearing a Toronto Newsgirls t-shirt. In 1996 when the Toronto Newsboys moved to the corner of Queen and Greenwood and became the Unitas Boxing Club, named after the Newsboys founder, Tony Unitas, Savoy started teaching as a way of supplementing income so she could keep training. She put up posters weekly to advertise the women’s boxing program and within a short time 40 women signed up. Thus began the Toronto Newsgirls Boxing Club. Sharing the club with the boys was an important part of the herstory, however, at some point, it became apparent that for women to truly feel comfortable and to be able to focus on themselves, a women-only space was required. In 1998, Savoy approached Sully’s Boxing Gym in hopes of renting space and time for a women-only class. Sully’s happened to be closed on the weekends and the owner agreed to rent the gym to the women’s boxing program. The Newsgirls operated out of Sully's for 8 years until Sully’s closed this location in July 2006. While searching out a new home, the Newsgirls trained in Toronto parks for three months before opening their new and permanent home in the east end on November 1, 2006. Their new gym is located at 388 Carlaw, Unit #108. In 2002 the Newsgirls were visited by members of Wildheart Sports Gym, the only all-female boxing gym in Tokyo. Wildheart was preparing for their first Japanese Provincial level competition and came to check out the Newsgirls training technique. A year later, in 2003 three members of the Newsgirls visited Tokyo and spent a week training with the gals at Wildheart. It was during this visit that our two boxing gyms became sister gyms, making a commitment to each other to work together to promote and enhance the sport of female boxing. It is our hope that our two gyms continue to visit each other once a year to share and learn.
	Check out the photos from our trip to Tokyo.
	The mission of the Toronto Newsgirls Boxing Club is to provide a safe and positive space for women to explore the sport of boxing. The women’s program is tailored to members. Individuals come into the program with their own goals, it may be to get into better shape with no desire to get into the ring or it may be to become the next Laila Ali. We work with members to help them achieve their goals. For all members, the program offers a cardiovascular workout with technique in all areas of boxing- grounding, offense, defense, footwork and strategy.
	388 Carlaw, Unit #108 • ©2006 Toronto Newsgirls • Website created by Heart Wolven • Logo by Johanna Reynolds