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Drawing from its five boroughs, New York City has always had a deep pool of boxing talent. And the amateur boxing system in New York has always found a way to tap into those reservoirs of talent.

Neighborhood boxing gyms once flourished in lower Manhattan, Harlem, the Bronx and various Brooklyn neighborhoods. And the young men who wanted to test themselves in the ring could always find a place close to home.

In the past 20 years, though, there has been a decrease in the number of boxing gyms in New York, going from a high of 150 in the five boroughs in the mid-1980s to about 50 today.

But those involved in boxing say the sport remains viable as a road to success for young people.

"I get more and more calls from school counselors, mothers with troubled sons, the penal system and priests about our programs," said Bruce Silverglade, the owner of Gleason's Gym in Brooklyn for the past 27 years.

"It's still the sport of the lower socio-economic level of New York because it helps kids become disciplined and productive. My gym is full of kids who don't become successful professional boxers but become successful in other walks of life."

If the numbers in the New York Daily News Golden Gloves tournament this year are any indication, amateur boxing in New York is making a resurgence.

More than 1,000 participants registered to compete in the tournament this year, compared with just 600 last year, according to Brian Adams, a former Brooklyn lightweight contender who runs the tournament. Most of the increase is in the novice division.

"I'm not a big fan of the show, but I think 'The Contender' has helped to make people more interested in boxing," Adams said. "The '24/7' shows on HBO have [also] put boxing back on the map on a larger scale."

Corporate sponsorship of amateur boxing also is increasing, according to Adams. However, some of the gyms once operated by the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation have been shuttered, leaving young people looking for gyms outside their neighborhoods.

Pat Russo, who runs seven Police Athletic League gyms in New York, said the city recently closed the Sunset Park gym in Brooklyn after 20 years. He moved the operation to Red Hook in Brooklyn because he still sees a need for amateur boxing in the city.

"It attracts 'at-risk' kids, kids that get into trouble," said Russo, who took up the sport when he was a 22-year-old New York Police Department rookie.

"It's a way to get their aggression level down in a positive way."

Russo comes from an era when beat cops would grab a misbehaving kid and toss him into a boxing gym rather than a jail cell.

"It's all about discipline and physical fitness," he said. "There's no better place than a boxing gym to get that kind of training. It teaches kids a work ethic. They learn quickly that there are no short cuts. If you cheated yourself in doing your exercises and training, it will tell in the ring. You just can't do it."

Russo has started a pilot program at the Monsignor Farrell High School on Staten Island, hoping to get amateur boxing into the public schools in New York.

"We had 60 kids sign up the first day," Russo said.

In the spirit of giving back, Gary Stark Jr., a featherweight contender from Staten Island, is running the pilot program at Monsignor Farrell. His father runs the Park Hill Boxing Club on Staten Island.

When Jimmy O'Pharrow opened the Starrett City Gym in Brooklyn 30 years ago, he was a rarity.

"I was a black man in charge of a black organization in a black neighborhood," O'Pharrow said.

But things have changed since 1978, and that is reflected in the types of kids who are working out at Starrett City.

Dmitriy Salita, an orthodox Jewish junior welterweight contender, is one of O'Pharrow's success stories.

"A lot of African-American boys are going to college, so I don't see a lot of them coming through like I used to," O'Pharrow said. "My philosophy is that if more black kids are going to college and getting a good education and being successful that way, then that's just as satisfying."

O'Pharrow estimates that approximately 5,000 young men and women have come through the Starrett City Gym, but only 15 have turned pro.

Many of his first pupils at the gym were cops from the 75th Precinct.

"They were going upside some guys head and breaking their wrists and their hands," O'Pharrow said. "They wanted to learn how to throw a punch without breaking their hands. After a while, the cops would bring kids down to the gym. I'd throw them in the ring with no gloves and no headgear and let them go at it for a minute or a minute-and-a-half. Some would come back, and some I'd never hear from again."

"Jewish kids, black kids, Spanish kids, white kids. I had them all down here."

O'Pharrow said he has had to amend his rules over the years, but he has always maintained that the kids must be well-groomed.

"You can't wear bling, and you can't wear your pants down [way below your waist]," he said. "You go in the ring with your trunks down there and a guy hits you, your mother ain't going to have no grandkids."

One area in which the New York amateur boxing system has failed in the past two decades is placing boxers on the U.S. Olympic boxing team.

The last U.S. Olympic boxing gold medalist from New York was Mark Breland in 1984. Riddick Bowe, who was on the 1988 team in Seoul, South Korea, and won a silver medal, is the last New York amateur to participate in the Olympics.

Lightweight Sadam Ali of the Havoc Boxing Club could break that 20-year Olympic drought. Ali, who was born in 1988 about the time Bowe was returning from the Olympics, earned a spot on the 2008 U.S. Olympic boxing team by going undefeated in the trials in August. But he still has to qualify for a trip to Beijing.

Oddly enough, Ali got his start at the Bed-Stuy Boxing Center in Brooklyn, the same gym that produced Breland and Bowe.

Silverglade of Gleason's Gym believes the crackdown on amateur boxing shows at area gyms has decreased the number of opportunities for amateurs to hone their skills to succeed on the national and international levels.

"There were these little hole-in-the-wall gyms that would run amateur shows almost every weekend, and guys would get good competition at these shows," Silverglade said. "Teddy Atlas would bring Mike Tyson down from the Catskills for those shows at gyms in the Bronx. It always allowed boxing to flourish on an amateur level, and the boxers always did well on the Olympic level and the national level."

Although he can't recall anyone ever getting seriously injured, Silverglade said the state instituted several rules and regulations regarding amateur boxing shows for safety reasons 20 years ago, and that crackdown curbed a majority of those weekend amateur shows.

Adams, a product of the New York amateurs, said that regardless whether a kid wants to go to the Olympics, become a fireman or become a doctor, boxing is the way to go.

"You get a chance to learn discipline, to hone your skills the right way, to see the world beyond your neighborhood," Adams said. "I decided that I wanted to see the other side of the fence, and boxing helped me do that. I've made friends with so many people, like Lennox Lewis, that I never would have met if I didn't get involved with boxing."

Tim Smith is the boxing columnist for the New York Daily News.