The boys stalk each other around the sparring ring, looking for an opening in their opponents' defense, their gloves heavy and cumbersome, their headgear adding awkward weight to their small shoulders.
Outside the ring, coaches and trainers yell encouragement and advice: "Pop that jab! ... Move around. ... Keep your hands up. Keep your hands up, boy! ... Get out of there. Get out of there!"
Some in the cramped, West Baltimore boxing gym stop to watch the match. Others get on with training of their own. A 4-year-old boy waits to put on a pair of gloves. A 21-year-old heavyweight nicknamed "Beast" drops in to do some training. Three teen-age girls shuffle back and forth, shadow boxing and working on basic footwork. Another guy whips his jump rope.
This is the world of the Umar Boxing Program, run out of an old, converted rowhouse in the 1500 block of Fulton Ave. In three years, it has gone from a dream for its founder, Marvin McDowell, to a bastion for academic growth and a factory for state Silver Glove champions. Last night, McDowell took nine of his fighters - ages 10 to 15 - to Augusta, Ga., for the Eastern Regional Silver Glove Championship, the tournament for younger boxers.
More than 200 young men and women are enrolled in Umar's program, which stresses discipline, hard work and schoolwork. The club's motto is "No Hooks before Books." City officials are considering ways to copy the program's success.
"We should have more of these around, because these knucklehead kids need help," said McDowell, a former state amateur champion. "They need to know they're not as bad as they think they are."
McDowell was once one of those knuckleheads with a full share of street fights under his belt growing up six blocks from Umar at North Avenue and Monroe Street.
In the ring, he found an identity. He won all but 18 of his 160 amateur fights. During the 1970s, he took home six South Atlantic Amateur titles, five of them in successive years as he grew from a featherweight at age 15 to a 19-year-old welterweight. He is in the state's boxing Hall of Fame.
Now, he looks around for young talent that could benefit from time in the ring and extra time with the books. Rashad Dendy, 11, is one of those street-fighting kids who find their way to Umar - the Arabic word for life. Rashad, a champion in the 75-pound category, was on the Augusta-bound team.
