Robert Corman; Will Hart
Michael Olajide
When he gets hit in business, Michael Olajide takes it like the pro boxer he used to be. “You might get burned, but you just come right back,” says the 44-year-old Liverpool native. He started boxing in 1981, winning the World Athletic Assn.'s middleweight title four years later. But after too many blows to the head, Olajide developed problems in his right eye, ending his career in 1991. “I was getting caught by punches from guys that I should have been able to beat,” he says. “I retired early and I wasn't prepared.”
Olajide landed on his feet. After working as a personal trainer and a consultant, Olajide and business partner Leila Fazel came up with an idea for a new kind of gym: an equipment-free facility for boxing, jumping rope, and strength-building. In 1998, the pair took the concept to hotelier Ian Schrager, who didn't bite. In 2005, they opened the Aerospace High Performance Center in Manhattan on their own.
Last year, Schrager, who doesn't recall why the idea didn't fly earlier, hired Olajide and Fazel's $2.5 million, 18-employee company, Aerofox, to create a spa and gym for his Gramercy Park Hotel. “This was something new,” says Schrager. “They really rethought the genre.” Olajide has no doubt his toughest hits are behind him.