Additional reporting by Emma Townsend
Three professional boxers – including an unbeaten British heavyweight who could be one fight away from a crack at a world title – and a Premier League player are launching a “unique” new health club in the county.
Club Eight³ will open its doors in Dockside at Chatham Maritime this September where the TruGym once was, next to Starbucks.
Boxer Moses Itauma is among a star-studded team behind the new gym at Chatham Maritime
Described as an “elite performance and lifestyle centre”, membership fees will start at £79 per month and rise to £199.
Facilities include cryotherapy treatments – where extreme cold is used to treat injuries – and hyperbaric oxygen chambers, which see 100% oxygen breathed to aid recovery.
The team behind the gym include Moses Itauma, 21, the hotly-tipped heavyweight who goes head-to-head with Filip Hrgovic in a headline clash at London’s O2 Arena on August 29. A win should ensure he gets a crack at the world title. He has lived in Chatham since he was four.
He’s joined by his brother Karol Itauma – a former light-heavyweight boxer and Youth Olympic gold medalist – who was also raised in Medway.
Anis Mehmeti, who plays for newly-promoted Premier League team Ipswich Town and unbeaten featherweight boxing prospect Frankie Wood, round-off the star-studded team behind the gym.
The gym will bring together “advanced training, recovery therapies, lifestyle medicine and premium hospitality, all under one roof”.
TruGym at Chatham Maritime closed earlier this year
Karol told KentOnline he believes there “isn’t another gym like this” in Kent.
“It’s about creating a unique facility that Medway hasn’t seen yet,” he explained.
“Your longevity amenities, your vitamin protocols, your travel and testing, all under one roof. I think that’s such a unique offer.
“This gym is the gym for the individual that’s truly, truly focused on their health, their well-being, and for their future self”.
An active air filtration system will allow the gym to be one of the cleanest around, combatting the extreme bacteria the fitness enthusiast says is usually found in gyms.
After suffering a heart attack in his early twenties, Karol pivoted from his sporting career, resulting in the start of his journey into his latest entrepreneurial endeavours.
Club Eight will offer a variety of different sports and treatments to membersInside how the changing rooms will look at the Club Eight fitness suite planned for ChathamInside the facilities at the plush Club Eight gym coming to Chatham Dockside
Now 25, he explained: “I’m trying to take the skills I’ve learnt from the world of sport and try to put that it into business”.
Karol believes Chatham Dockside is a perfect location for such a venture with good footfall and being in an area of meaning to both him and his younger brother who were born in Slovakia before moving to Kent.
“I’m still pretty much in town,” Karol added. “And that’s kind of why, well, probably one of the reasons why we wanted to start at Chatham.
“It kind of had an impact on how we were brought up and has kind of been a natural progression. So for us to give back to Chatham as well, it’s great.”
After suffering a heart attack in his early twenties, Karol pivoted from his sporting career, resulting in the start of his journey into entrepreneurial endeavours.
Karol Itauma, pictured from when he won his gold medal at the Youth Olympics. Picture: Andy Jones.
He explained: “I’m trying to take the skills I’ve learnt from the world of sport and try to put that it into business”.
“This gym is the gym for the individual that’s truly, truly focused on their health, their well-being, and for their future self”.
Brother Moses said: “We’re hugely excited to be giving back to the area that moulded us through Club Eight³.
“Chatham has always been home, and we wanted to create something that raises standards for health fitness and recovery in Kent.
“The aim is to give people access to the same quality of facilities that elite athletes use.”
Facilities include a strength gym, cardio zone, functional training, pilates studio, sauna and outdoor spa.