Champs Page #2

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because I didn't wanna

get my ass kicked.

One day, these guys

came around me.

Three or four guys.

They pinned me up against

the wall and they say, hey.

Yo.

Got any money?

I said, no.

So the guy says this.

He said, uh, do you

wanna fly with us?

And I didn't know him.

It's a kid, 10 or nine.

I'm saying, OK.

So I'm helping these

guys to this building.

This is like an

abandoned building.

And I see a box,

and it's pigeons.

And pigeons are flying.

I said, what the hell.

Now I know there's

a place to hang

out with birds and these guys.

So I said, OK.

I'd rather be there than be

in school and get bullied.

So I went back to the coop.

I said, need me to

do anything for you.

They said, yeah.

And he took me robbing houses.

And... Whoa.

And he didn't give

me much money,

but he bought me clothes.

He bought me clothes.

There are a

number of reasons, I think,

why he kind of

embraced the thug life.

One of which is, if you have

a community of people who

are watching your back, then

you're going to be protected.

And now he's buying the

coolest velour sweatsuits,

and he's buying ski goggles even

though he's never been anywhere

near a ski slope, and he's

buying the greatest kicks.

So now, status in

that environment

is who looks the coolest.

The role models that I've seen

was the people in the street.

The pimps, the number

writers, the hustlers.

They had the cars,

they had the jewelry,

they had all the things

that shine in your face.

As you grow up and

you grow up fast,

you get to know what they're

doing is not right, but got

them a lot of things and made

them live different or better

than every working class

person in the streets.

That's the situation

for a lot of young

people out there.

They could step off the

porch with all the values

in the world their mom gave

them and dad can give them.

When they step off that

porch into that den,

they've got to deal

with it accordingly.

You can go out there and turn

the other cheek if you want to.

All they're gonna do

is hit you in the head

and take that earring too.

So you had to adapt.

Those that adapt well become

predators out there themselves.

To me, it wasn't a hard choice.

I was the type of guy had no

conscience of value of my life

and repercussions of what I do.

When you think that

the value of your life

it's not that much

concern on your actions,

then that is a time

bomb waiting to blow.

Ain't no rules.

You don't get

disqualified for busting

a nigga over the

head with something.

When you get hurt

back, either your fear

consumes you or you

become a bit insensitive.

Either you gonna

be a punk, or you

gonna start to harden up a

little bit following that.

However you handle yourself,

you make it clear to people

that you don't have

a problem with it.

Matter of fact, make them

feel like you want the sh*t.

In an environment that I

grew up in, which was animal,

which was survival of the

fittest, which was do or die,

you have to be strategic.

Very few of us

grow up in fear,

because we live in this,

and we're taught early

we can't be afraid of it.

Whenever we're confronted with

an obstacle in the streets

of a physical nature, the

first thing we think of

is how to dissect the obstacle.

My dream started

off with a coach

told me I could be the

heavyweight champion

of the world.

And I asked him, what was it.

And he said, Muhammad Ali.

He said, do you

know Muhammad Ali.

I said, yeah.

And he said, you could

be just like that.

First goal was to be

the Boys Club champ.

I wanted to be great, because

I already know how it feels not

to be great, because

I grew up in it.

In one fight, I became

the Boys Club champ.

Every year, I would

win the tournament.

Boxing's

interesting in that it's

an escape from the

violence and poverty

of many American

neighborhoods, but you're

escaping through

violence itself.

People who fight

fight their way out

of something, whether it's

poverty, whether it's jail.

Rich kids don't fight.

Why the f*** would

a rich kid fight?

Poor kids fight.

You want to fight your

way to a different place.

Boxing gives you a chance

to literally fight

your way through it.

Boxers succeed based

on their own work.

If you keep winning, and you

keep succeeding, chances are,

eventually, you're going

to get an opportunity.

Boxing is

the ultimate representation

of the American dream.

It allows someone who came from

nothing to achieve greatness.

It's about his

talent, his own skill,

and his own determination.

Boxing is such a special sport.

I think most people

don't choose boxing.

I think boxing chooses them.

Disadvantaged childhood,

less fortunate kids

in tough communities.

And we grew up boxing

at the Boys Club.

We were able to go there

and we had somebody

who cared about us, who wanted

to take us off the streets

and give us something to do.

If you look at the history

of boxing over time,

you'll see some of the

cultures and ethnicities that

have suffered the

most have always

produced the greatest champions.

Boxing both attracts and preys

upon talent from

disadvantaged communities.

And it's almost like you

can read a chart of history

of disadvantage, in the United

States, at least, of which

groups are struggling to make it

and then which groups have made

it when they disappear,

really, from the boxing scene.

Especially in America where

you had the immigrants.

You had the Jewish

boxers, the Irish boxers,

the Italian American boxers,

African American boxers.

Now it's, I would

say, predominantly

Hispanic boxers now.

There's a certain generation

with Mike, and

Evander, and Bernard.

Black kids who

were disadvantaged

and saw boxing as a way out.

I lived

in an all black neighborhood

and everybody said white

boys couldn't fight.

And that's my first time

experiencing that people tell

you lies, because that kid was

white and he beat me twice.

I told the coach that I quit.

Told him I didn't want to fight

anymore, because I didn't think

you could actually be

a champion if you lost.

So I went home told my momma

I lost, and I told her I quit.

And she told me something that

has impacted my life even now.

She said, son.

Everything is not gonna

always go your way.

If you quit, you'll never

reach your destination.

She said, what is

your destination.

I said, be the heavyweight

champion of the world.

Of course, I went back

and I finally beat him,

and that fight kind of changed

my whole aspect about winning.

I kept getting

in trouble with the law.

One particular time,

I got in trouble

and I went upstate New York.

I had a reputation as

a troublemaker there.

I had to be locked

down most of the time.

I couldn't go outside

with the rest of the kids.

Weekends, I would see

guys go on the other side.

And I would say,

what's going on,

because I would see

guys coming back,

swollen eyes, busted

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