Hit parade

And that was just for training. Nicolas “Nico’’ Gargaro, 25, and his cousin, Nathan Busa, 32, traded shots for three rounds as Gargaro prepared for this fall’s Rocky Marciano Tournament. A middleweight, Gargaro competes at 165 pounds; his cousin, a two-time Golden Gloves winner, looks a bit heavier.

“It gets me to feel the bigger punches,’’ Gargaro, panting for breath moments after leaving the ring, said of the practice session with his cousin. “He’s very slick. He works the body good.’’

Gargaro works as a teacher’s assistant at Newton North High School. But in his off hours, he trains at the Nonantum club, a family enterprise run by his brother and cousins in the heavily Italian neighborhood. The gym has about 100 members, though many are there for its fitness classes, not to train for bouts.

“People like to work their aggressions out on the bags,’’ said Marc Gargaro, Nico’s brother and one of the club’s founders.

It’s that mix of clientele - people interested in getting fit without getting hit, as well as skilled amateur pugilists - that powers boxing gyms in the area, according to Gregory Leschishin, who runs Minuteman Boxing, a two-year-old club in the Hanscom Air Force Base’s fitness center.

“There are a lot of fitness-oriented gyms,’’ Leschishin said. “I don’t have a lot of people who want to commit to competitive boxing.’’ His goal as a boxing teacher is to develop physical fitness and “to prepare you to successfully spar with someone your own size and age, if you want to.’’

Ed LaVache took over Boston Boxing & Fitness three years ago, when it was in Watertown. The club has since moved to Allston. Most of the members use the club for fitness training, the owner said, though he expects 10 to 15 amateur boxers from Boston Boxing to compete in this winter’s Golden Gloves tournament.

Membership has been holding steady, LaVache said, mostly drawing a mix of young professionals and college-age athletes. The club holds in-house “public sparring’’ exhibitions to match members who won’t compete in tournaments but who still want a taste of competition, he said. The trainers won’t allow anyone into the ring until they’re in shape and ready, said LaVache, usually after months of training.

Mike Martino, interim executive director of USA Boxing, the amateur sport’s national governing body, headquartered in Colorado Springs, said the sport depends on neighborhood gyms to develop its next crop of stars.

“A lot of the other Olympic sports are tied to university sports,’’ Martino said. “But our Olympians come from unique situations - from boxing clubs in small cities or major metropolitan areas, and little gyms in the corner of towns. Passionate coaches keep these programs going by running these gyms. They’re not making any money. They do it for the love of the sport.’’ About 30,000 amateur boxers are registered with USA Boxing, he said.

Busa and Marc Gargaro founded the Nonantum Boxing Club, originally in Busa’s basement, out of necessity.

“We didn’t want to drive all over to get to a gym,’’ said Marc, “so we thought we could hit the bag in his basement, hold the mitts for each other, and help train each other because we both knew the sport.

“Next thing we know, another guy comes over and asks, ‘Can I train with you guys?’ And then another and another.’’

They soon ran out of space. “And in the basement you could barely jump rope because your head nearly hit the ceiling,’’ said Nico.

In 2005, they moved to a space inside Esposito’s Karate and Fitness Center in Newton, said Marc Gargaro. The boxing club continued to grow, and last year moved again to larger quarters at 75 Adams St.

The Gargaros run the gym with Busa and two more cousins, Eric Busa and Phil Riffe, said Marc, who works as a welfare fraud examiner at the state auditor’s office. “Our goal is to have a gym that everybody talks about,’’ he said. “One of these days, 20 years in the future when our kids are running the place, that’s what I think of.’’

Not flashy, the Nonantum club is the kind of place that can serve as a touchstone for a neighborhood, said boxing promoter Rich Cappiello, who with brother Mike owns Cappiello Bros. Boxing and Fitness in Brockton.

“A boxing gym get kids off the street,’’ said Cappiello. “The one thing I always tell the fighters is, ‘Look, boxing is great and you can learn confidence and respect for yourself. You can learn to discipline yourself, to train hard, to be successful, and then you take the things you learn in the gym and you go out into the real world and you build a future for yourself.’ ’’

Using his training at the Nonantum club, Nico Gargaro last month won the regional Rocky Marciano title in the novice middleweight class, beating competitors from across New England. Preliminary rounds were held in Pawtucket, R.I., Worcester, and New Hampshire before the Oct. 23 finals in Taunton.

“I got there about 5:30 p.m. and waited, and I didn’t get on until 1:15 in the morning,’’ Nico said of that last bout. “It was a tough night, mentally. The main thing about the fight was to stay relaxed and not to think about it all night.’’

The first two rounds of the three-round fight were pretty even, Nico said. “I went to the corner after the second round, and my brother and my cousin both said, ‘It’s close, you have to win this round.’ I went out in the third and I did very well. That’s what decided it.

“A real good fight,’’ he said. “The crowd loved it. When they put the belt on me, it felt good.’’

Nico played football at Newton North High, but says the game cannot compare to the sweet science, as boxing is known by aficionados.

“I love the physicality of boxing - you’re going to get hit and hit someone, but at the same time you have to keep your cool,’’ he said. “It’s such a smart sport. You use your aggression, but you have to be smart about it, too. And I like the heart you have to put into it. You never give up. It’s such a rush. Even after you get out of the ring it’s an adrenaline rush.’’

Getting punched in the nose is a shock the first few times, he said, “but you get used to it.’’

He’s taking some time off from boxing to rest, and will consider some matches next month, he said. But he’ll skip the Golden Gloves tournament this winter because he’s getting married to Nicole McCarthy in February.

“I told her I wouldn’t do the Gloves, so I won’t have black eyes during the wedding.’’

To see Nico Gargaro’s bout, go to www.nonantumboxingclub.com.