The New York Daily News Golden Gloves, the nation's largest amateur boxing tournament that has called Madison Square Garden home for decades, is moving next year.
The two-day finals will take place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., beginning in April 2013, the arena announced Tuesday.
"The Golden Gloves will be the lynchpin of our grass-roots boxing program at Barclays Center," Barclays Center CEO Brett Yormark said in a statement.
The Barclays Center is scheduled to open in September 2012 and will be the new home arena of the NBA's Nets. It also has an exclusive deal with Los Angeles-based Golden Boy Promotions to put on monthly professional boxing events beginning in October.
"While Golden Boy Promotions will bring the best of professional boxing back to Brooklyn, we are excited to host such a New York institution as the Daily News Golden Gloves," Yormark said. "There's a rich heritage of boxing in Brooklyn and we are thrilled to make the sport a major part of our new arena."
Numerous future professional world champions and stars have participated in the 85-year-old Daily News Golden Gloves, including International Boxing Hall of Famers Emile Griffith, Jose Torres and Floyd Paterson. Others who have participated include Brooklyn natives Riddick Bowe, the former heavyweight world champion, Mark Breland, who won five Golden Gloves titles, a 1984 Olympic gold medal and was a two-time professional welterweight titleholder, and 1976 Olympic gold medalist Howard Davis.
"The Daily News is excited to announce that the iconic Golden Gloves finals will take place at the new Barclays Center in 2013, beginning an exciting new chapter in the rich history of the tournament," Daily News CEO Bill Holiber said in a statement. "The Barclays Center will bring a new excitement to the sport of boxing and as a true partner of the Golden Gloves, will help the Daily News continue our strong tradition of supporting amateur boxing in New York."
The tournament will hold several weeks of elimination bouts throughout the New York metropolitan area beginning in January and culminating with the Barclays Center hosting the finals for the male and female divisions.