Madame Bey’s Training Camp*

Madame Bey’s Training Camp

Bey’s Training Camp, founded by Madame Hranoush Sidky Bey in 1923, was a renowned boxing training facility in Chatham Township, New Jersey. Originally managing a health farm for world lightweight champion Freddie Welsh, Madame Bey transformed it into a premier boxing camp after Welsh’s departure. She provided a disciplined yet nurturing environment, enforcing strict rules such as curfews and prohibitions on drinking and swearing.

The camp attracted world champions like Gene Tunney, Max Schmeling, Sugar Ray Robinson, and Floyd Patterson, becoming a key part of boxing history. Madame Bey, a multilingual Turkish immigrant and former opera singer, was widely respected as a maternal figure to the fighters. She never watched her fighters compete professionally, as she found it too painful to see them get hurt.

After her death in 1942, the camp continued under her assistant, Ehsan Karadag, but closed in 1969 as modern hotels began offering training facilities. Though the site has since been redeveloped, Madame Bey’s legacy as a pioneering woman in boxing endures, commemorated by historical markers and biographies.