Boxing Club provides outlet in NNews

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) - Lately WAVY.com has reported on the high amount of crime in Newport News. It’s a problem city leaders and the community want to change.

Some residents truly want to turn their lives around and they’re doing it by literally fighting off the temptation of the streets.

Anyone who knows Newport News will say there’s a constant fight that’s not only confined to the center of the ring. Lloyd Jones opened the Newport News Boxing Club two years ago.

His goal is to train a world champion and he hasn’t lost sight of that dream. He realized his training is so much more than just throwing punches.

“I got a sign on the wall that says ‘natural talent means nothing without desire and discipline,’” Jones told WAVY.com “There’s not a lot for these kinds to get their aggression out. There’s nothing to do, a lot of times when I drive downtown, you see a lot of young men standing around. You’re standing around, idle time, you’re going to get in trouble.”

In the boxing club, you’ll find doctors, lawyers, shipyard workers and then some who are just trying to fight off the East End’s temptation.

“It’s a little Bagdad, it’s all about survival down here,” Ricardo Broward said. “I am from the East End. I was born at Newport News General.”

He knows better than anyone about its reputation.

“It’s like a trap,” he said. “It’s crazy because you want to reach out to everybody and you want to help everybody, but you can only reach out to those that want to help themselves and not everybody wants to be helped.”

He fell into the trap and so did his brothers.

“I lost my brothers to the streets,” Broward recalled.

His brothers Andy and Randy are in prison. Police say they were major players in the City’s Bloods. Randy is serving 237 years for various charges.

“This is how I’m moving forward right here.”

Broward says all that street stuff is behind him. It’s become his passion and he wishes others would follow suit.

“If Newport News had more places like this, it would be a decrease on gang violence, drug dealings, all types of things,” Broward added.

“I was involved with some drugs with a friend and we both got into trouble,” Marlon Lawson told WAVY.com. That trouble landed him in jail for five years. He, too, has a new direction of life.

“My drive now is to be a good role model and to be a good coach for somebody that’s traveling the same road that I’ve been down,” Lawson added.

“That future world champion is one in a million, that kid that needs help is dozens upon dozens that come in,” Jones said.

Everyone knows what the real opponent looks like and unfortunately it’s a never-ending battle.

“I think they should have more constructive activities for the young men,” Jones added. “Something they will like to do, something that will encourage them, something that they can see light at the end of the tunnel.”