Garrido Boxing Academy Favorite 

The odd spaces exiting under bridges and viaducts around the world are often left aside, urban spatial residues mostly abandoned or occupied informally by homeless people drug users etc. The former pro boxer Nilson Garrido saw the space under the Alcantara Machado viaduct (in the Mooca neighborhood of Sao Paulo) as an opportunity to create a Boxing Academy. Garrido adopts primitive training equipment that he developed himself during his years as a coach, in a project whose goal is to take the sport to the poor and marginalized population.
The Garrido Boxing Academy has received extensive media attention, as well as recognition and awards from international institutions. The Garrido Boxing Academy was chosen as a finalist for the Deutsche Bank Urban Age Award at the London School of Economics Urban Age São Paulo Conference. Garrido has been the subject of numerous documentaries, including one by director Eliane Caffé shown on the BBC entitled O Louco dos Viadutos (The Madman of the Viaducts), as well as other publications, including a photograph of the Academy winning the World Express competition.