The bell still rings at the 5th Street Gym. Every three minutes, with a one-minute break in between.

At the old 5th Street Gym, the one opened by Angelo and Chris Dundee in 1950, a Pacer bell mounted to a half-inch of plywood tolled every three minutes. Sometimes to signal the end of a training session, but mostly to provide the incessant soundtrack to Miami Beach’s boxing Mecca.

At the new 5th Street Gym, the one opened by Matt Baiamonte, Dino Spencer and Tom Tsatas with Angelo Dundee’s blessing in 2010, an automated Rival bell sits on a stool next to the ring.

There are several symbols that remain from the original 5th Street Gym, such as the bell and the copious fight posters on the wall, but there is no denying that the original gym and its aura are gone.

In the 16 months since it opened, though, the current incarnation of the 5th Street Gym is quickly gaining a reputation reminiscent of its predecessor, where world champion boxers, celebrities and the public coalesced.

Through a slumping economy and a rapidly changing boxing landscape, the owners have established 5th Street Gym as a landmark in its own right.

The secret, Baiamonte said, is in the spirit.

“A lot of gyms are so money-hungry, that all they care about is, ‘OK, this is what you have to pay, and that’s it,’ ’’ Baiamonte said. “Here, we won’t do that. Here, it’s just being friendly. That’s the one thing Angelo always did: He was friendly with everybody.”

Baiamonte is one of several “Dundee disciples,” a group of trainers who honed their craft under the late Angelo Dundee. A self-described gym rat, Baiamonte began working with Dundee in 2000, and in 2009 he decided he wanted to reopen the 5th Street Gym. As he looked into different options, he joined forces with the Chicago duo of Spencer — also a trainer — and Tsatas —a businessman and boxing enthusiast.

All that’s left of the original location is a plaque, and so Baiamonte, Spencer and Tsatas bought a space one block north, at 555 Washington Ave.

Now, the 5th Street Gym’s legacy is displayed on the walls of the new location with fight posters dating to Muhammad Ali’s storied 1964 upset victory over Sonny Liston. Baiamonte even brought in a window from the original gym and the sign that welcomed visitors from 5th Street.

Still, the owners know they’ve got to pave a legacy of their own.

“Don’t try to copy,” Dundee told the trio. “You’ve got to create.”

Boxing isn’t nearly as popular as it was during the 5th Street Gym’s heyday, and with the rise of other professional and collegiate sports leagues, it might never return to that prominence.

Famous clients

As a result, the 5th Street Gym offers group lessons in addition to training boxers. Everything from cardio boxing to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Baiamonte and Spencer also give private lessons, and they’ve attracted some noteworthy clients, including Matt Damon, Desmond Howard, BenJarvus Green-Ellis, Adriana Lima and the Miami Heat’s Big 3.

“You gotta adapt,” Baiamonte said. “It’s kinda like Angelo always said, ‘You can’t treat every fighter the same way, everybody’s different. You have to adapt.’ If you can adapt to the changing of fighters, than you can adapt to the changing of times.”

For the athletes especially, boxing can provide a much-needed change of pace to their normal workouts.

“It’s always cool to see what other guys do,” Heat forward Chris Bosh said. “You have a newfound respect for other sports. We’re all fans, we watch [boxing] on TV. You can say, ‘He shoulda gave him the left hook not the right,’ but until you go through the workouts, you can never really respect what other people do.”

Like the original

The gym is slowly but surely acquiring the sensation that comes with that celebrity feel. One morning pedestrians might walk by and see comedian Dave Chappelle training, and the next Kimbo Slice. It’s a sensation that distinguished the original 5th Street Gym, where The Beatles, Frank Sinatra and Jackie Gleason all made appearances.

Both literally, the building was bulldozed in 2002 to create a parking lot, and figuratively, Angelo Dundee died on Feb. 2, the original 5th Street Gym is now a fading memory. But the owners can take a certain amount of pride in the fact that Dundee’s legacy lives on.

“I think [the new gym] meant the world to him,” Baiamonte said. “It was it like, ‘Finally, somebody reopened the gym.’ ’’