Why I’m Building JabNGo

JabNGo is a boxer-first directory for finding and comparing boxing gyms, starting in Playa del Carmen.

Finding a nearby boxing gym takes seconds. Figuring out whether you can actually train there can take hours.

While traveling throughout the United States, Mexico, and Latin America, I repeatedly found myself looking for somewhere to train. Google Maps could tell me which gyms were nearby, but it couldn’t answer many of the questions that determined where I would go.

Was the gym still open? What was the training schedule? How much did it cost? Did it accept drop-ins? What languages did the coaches speak? Did it train competitive fighters, or was it primarily fitness-focused?

Most importantly, how did one gym compare with the other options in the area?

Even when that information existed, it was often scattered across websites, Google reviews, Instagram pages, and WhatsApp conversations. Sometimes it was outdated. Other times, it wasn’t available at all.

That might be a minor inconvenience when you live somewhere. When you’re only visiting for a few days or weeks, it can be the difference between finding a place to train and giving up on the search.

That’s the problem JabNGo is solving first.

Where the Idea Started

JabNGo didn’t begin as a gym directory.

When I trained in Charleston, Wednesday night was sparring night. It was supposed to be the highlight of the week, but too often, I would arrive with my hands wrapped and gloves ready without having a good matchup.

Some fighters only wanted to spar people they already knew. Others treated every round like an all-out war. Sometimes the difference in size or experience was simply too great.

After enough frustrating nights, I started wondering whether there was a better way for boxers to find suitable sparring partners outside their immediate gyms. That became the original idea for JabNGo: a sparring marketplace.

But conversations with fighters and coaches kept pointing toward a harder problem. Matching two people by weight and experience wasn’t enough. Before putting someone in the ring, coaches needed confidence in the fighter, the coach, and the gym on the other side of the connection.

A good sparring matchup isn’t just a collection of numbers on two profiles. It depends on judgment, relationships, and trust.

An app might help create those connections, but it can’t manufacture the trust behind them.

That changed the order in which I believed JabNGo needed to be built.

Starting With Discovery

Before boxers can form trusted relationships outside their own gyms, they need to know which gyms exist, what kind of training they offer, and whether those gyms are a good fit.

So JabNGo’s first job isn’t arranging sparring. It’s making boxing gyms easier to discover and understand.

At the time I’m publishing this, JabNGo features 3 boxing gyms in Playa del Carmen. Visitors can search and filter that list, then open profiles containing details such as prices, drop-in policies, training focus, amenities, opening status, and contact information. Hours are published only where I could confirm them, and a gym with unknown hours says so. Class schedules are the piece I can’t confirm yet, so every published profile currently shows the schedule as not verified and points you to the gym for this week’s class times.

I designed and built this first version as a working product—not simply a concept—and I’m deliberately starting with one city so I can make it genuinely useful before expanding.

Keeping the Information Honest

A directory is only useful if people know whether they can trust what they’re reading.

JabNGo compiles information from available sources, beginning with the gym’s own channels. Each profile shows when its information was last checked. When something cannot be confirmed, I label it as “not verified” or “ask the gym” instead of filling the gap with a guess.

That doesn’t guarantee a price or schedule won’t change after it has been checked. The goal is to be transparent about what is known, what remains uncertain, and when the information was last reviewed. Boxers and gym owners can also submit corrections when something changes.

The longer-term vision is still there. I believe JabNGo may eventually help create stronger connections between fighters, coaches, and gyms. But first, it has to earn trust by solving a simpler problem well.

JabNGo is live now. Explore the boxing gyms in Playa del Carmen, and if a gym is missing or something needs to be updated, send me a correction.

Trust isn’t something JabNGo can manufacture. It has to be earned—one accurate gym profile at a time.