They Fight (2018) Movie Script
1
-Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen.
Sparring people like Mo Wilson,
Melvin Foster.
Couldn't nobody knock me out.
The only thing knocked me out
was selling drugs...
living my crazy world.
And I regret it to this day,
and that's why it's my job
to keep the little guys
in this gym
so they won't end up like me.
If it wasn't for this gym
right here,
it'd be more -- more young men
dead out there.
- You ugly!
- Hey, hey, hey. Wop Wop.
Wop Wop.
Wop Wop.
Take you to McDonald's,
get you a Big Mac, okay?
You better act like it, then.
- Hello.
- How you doing?
- Hey, babe.
- Give me a kiss.
- Hey, I'm gonna
keep him with me.
I'll bring him back
when I go to work.
I'll drop him off.
- Oh, you're gonna
bring him to me? Okay.
- If you leave before I get out
of the gym, just come get him.
- Okay. Give me a kiss.
I love you.
-All right.
- How was school?
- Good.
- It's time to go underground,
y'all.
It's time to get ready
for these qualifiers, all right?
I don't want to hear nothing.
We about to get dead-ass serious
around here, man.
Peanut, your first time losing.
How does it feel?
You don't want to experience
that feeling no more, do you?
Me, I don't like losing.
I don't like losing, all right?
This is the first time
we went to the nationals
and we came back empty-handed.
This has never happened to us.
I'm feeling a certain way
right now.
That's why we back in here
Monday morning.
I don't want to hear no crying,
no complaining.
We got that understanding?
All right. Let's get to work.
All right. Y'all ready? Come on,
y'all. Let's spread out.
I don't want no loafing.
- Y'all got to come out.
- Less than a month to the J.O.s,
y'all.
It's work time, baby.
- I ain't with
the back and forth
I ain't back and forth
Don't know
what you asking for
But just back up off me like
Pretty sure your man
still black, a homey
Ain't that important, like
You ain't really seen it
like that before
Not like that before,
you're like
When you put it like that
Like that, like that,
like that, you right
If you think he got it
like that
When I act like that,
all right
I'm about to have
the backtrack
Backtrack, back on track
You right
You right, you right,
you right, you right, girl
When you put it like that
Like that, like that,
like that, you right
If you think he got it
like that
When I act like that,
all right
I'm about to have
the backtrack, backtrack
Back on track, you right
You right, you right,
you right, you right, girl
When you put it like that
Like that, like that,
like that, you right
If you think
he got it like that
When I act like that,
all right
I'm about to have
the backtrack, backtrack
You right
You right, you right,
you right, you right, girl
- Lyfe Style!
- Yeah!
Good work, y'all!
- My name is Ragahleak
"Peanut" Bartee,
and I got "Peanut" by my coach.
He said I had a peanut head,
so that's why my name is Peanut.
Coach Walt is a father figure,
but also as a father figure,
he's strict.
He want everything to be on top.
Coach Walt and Quincey,
they're like family.
The whole Lyfe Style Gym,
they're like family, basically.
- My name is Quincey Williams,
and I'm 13 years old,
and they call me
"Body Snatcher."
We was fighting in the ring,
and so...
I had got
punished by both of them,
so I started crying,
and Coach Walt
put me out the gym.
Two, three days later,
I came back and I told him
that I wasn't gonna cry
or nothing no more.
And after that,
it's been successful with me.
- This gym,
Ferebee Hope Recreation Center,
it's not the best gym.
We use what we can use.
The neighborhood,
it's not very good.
There's a lot of drama outside,
so the gym, for us,
is our safe haven.
-One time I was at the pool.
I was just swimming,
and out of nowhere,
there was a shootout,
and I had to get out the pool
and run inside
of the recreation center.
- I see the whole
Lyfe Style team --
me, Peanut, Quincey,
everybody --
fighting one day on the
MGM Grand, all of us headlining.
All of us --
Well, I'm gonna be headlining,
but all of them
gonna be on undercard,
all of us fighting that night,
matching uniform,
matching sweatsuits.
We'll be undefeated.
All of us gonna be
world champions
in different weight classes.
Our future's bright.
- I see myself in, like,
the next five, four years,
you know, having my first
professional fight.
Then after that, I'll get my mom
out of these little apartments
and houses
and take her somewhere better.
And then -- No, after all,
all, all, all that,
probably have my first child.
Then... I think that's it, 'cause
I ain't having too much kids.
-No, that not nice.
- I fight to get my mom
and my sister and my siblings
out of where we at now.
And, you know,
that's why I push so hard.
- That's so sweet. That's sweet.
I told you that before,
when you said that before.
I told you that was sweet.
- That's so sweet.
- It makes me feel like
a proud mother, him saying
that he want to look out for me
as much as I look out for him.
-That's so sweet.
- Yeah.
- Okay.
- I'm proud that he's doing
so well in it
and he loves it, the sport.
But as a mom, I'm also like,
"My baby might get hurt."
So that's the only mixed
emotions I have about it.
- It's a really tough
neighborhood to grow up in.
We just had a homicide
this morning.
Right here in Ward 8, we have
82% single-parent households,
ran predominantly
by African-American women
and grandmothers and aunts.
So we pretty much
have been missing the presence
of a black man.
So I think that the coaches
is pivotal to what we need.
They've been through
the challenges,
the incarceration, coming back
through getting in trouble,
coming back, and I think
the kids need to see, you know,
that you don't have to go down
that same path,
and that's what we provide.
You know, we got a new
president, Donald Trump,
and we don't know what's
gonna happen down the line
with this new administration.
They sit right
across the street.
So I think we have to
incentivize those
by paying them, you know?
People get paid to do
all types of stuff in D.C.
Why not pay people
to be mentors,
to be activists for young people
and for the community
to do the work they love to do?
We have a lot of money we're
just giving out to big business
and developers --
billions of dollars.
So we have to incentivize those
who are really doing
the sweat equity and
the human-capital development.
- I'd love to be coaching
full time, man.
If I keep on doing
this construction,
I ain't gonna be no good
to the kids.
'Cause eventually, my back
gonna go all the way out.
It's crazy.
I'd rather be working
at nighttime.
'Cause the daytime,
they be killing me,
and I got that slipped disc
in my back.
I be on the machines.
The machines get to rocking.
Hi. This is Walter Manigan
calling again
for the D.C. Department of Recs
to check on the status
of my application
to go from youth volunteer
to full-time employee.
I'm hoping to one day...
...build this empire
when it come
to the Lyfe Style program.
I want to make a difference
in not just Peanut
and Quincey's lives,
but I want to make a difference
in a lot of kids' lives.
- Fighting out
of the blue corner,
with head trainer Barry Hunter,
from Washington, D.C., USA,
the number-one-ranked challenger
in the world,
Lamont "Havoc" Peterson!
- When I was coaching with the
HeadBangers, I had went to jail.
And I looked up and I seen
Lamont Peterson fighting on TV,
and I kind of felt bad
'cause I knew I wasn't there
to share that moment.
So I told myself once I get out,
that, you know, I'm gonna give
this boxing thing my all.
- ...to the winner
by majority decision...
and new light welterweight
champion of the world...
Lamont "Havoc" Peterson!
- Using drugs
was my biggest downfall.
And that's
one of the main reasons
why I cannot go back
to the streets.
I wasn't expecting none of this.
I didn't know they was gonna win
all them national titles.
I didn't know that.
I just knew whatever we did,
we had to work hard at it.
Look at Peanut, man. That's his
first nationals right here.
Boom.
Good brick.
- Good jab.
- Both sides of the body.
Good jab?
It was a good jab?
Now, come on, Peanut.
- ...boxing out
of the blue corner...
...Ragahleak Bartee.
- Go, blue!
Yeah!
- There was just something about
Peanut when I first seen him.
You know what I'm saying?
He held up to those
expectations, you know?
So it all started with me,
Peanut, and Quincey.
When I first met Peanut
and Quincey,
there was no male,
there was no role model.
You know, my father sold drugs,
used drugs.
He stayed in jail
the majority --
I don't remember no time
with my father.
I don't remember no --
me spending no time with him,
no Christmas with him.
I don't remember none of that.
And it was the same thing
with my mother.
So to be a part of Quincey
and Peanut's life,
it means the world to me.
This is my heart.
This is gonna be the one
right here.
That's why we give him
the name Wop Wop.
That's gonna be his two-piece.
Wop Wop.
That's right, big guy.
-Twelve-, thirteen-year-olds
might got their guns on them
around here.
And I'm talking about --
When I say "got it on them," and
they will shoot them
When I say shoot it,
and when they shoot,
ain't nobody gonna tell.
Nobody.
Ain't nobody gonna say nothing.
This is where I became...
what you call
the bad little boy.
Lot of murder went down
right here.
This is where all the --
And you wanted your drugs,
you came right here.
Everything was here.
I was the cause of it.
I brung trouble
to the neighborhood.
My little partner right --
He got killed right here.
I believe he was hit, like,
at least 20, 30 times
leaving my house.
So we saw a lot of stuff
when we was young.
We ain't never get no help
for it, though.
So people say,
well, why we so angry?
We saw a lot of killing.
- Don't you ever let your mother
come to me again
telling me how disrespectful
you is.
'Cause you know
what I'm gonna do?
I'm gonna put you in that ring
and see what you made of.
- For real.
- Let Ma get into it.
Are you satisfied
with the apology
or do you want him
to get in that ring?
- Get in the ring.
- Let's go. Get in the ring.
If he don't want to put
the gloves on, go to his body.
Go to his body.
- Don't run.
- You want to run,
but you don't respect your mama.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Whenever you talk to your mother
like that,
you should never be scared
to box no guy.
Hey, look at me.
I don't even have my mama.
I don't even have my mother,
young man.
And she raised me
with no father.
I do this to save y'all, man,
and you out here
acting like this.
Once your mother go, she gone.
That voice you hear
in the morning,
"Get up and go to school" --
That's gone.
Do you hear me?
Get your ass over there.
- He didn't want to hit you
in your stomach.
-Just put him in the ring.
-If he did, that would hurt.
It would hurt.
- I take the pain
- There you go!
- Put it away
- Saving that...
for another day
I got my daughter lookin'
at me for advice
- There you go!
That's it!
- So now I'm thinkin' twice
Might think thrice
Now I roll the dice
Now I'm on the vice
-Oh! Oh! Oh!
- Putting words together
like surgery
I know you heard me
If you didn't,
you're gonna find out
- There you go!
- Got it with your time out
Ain't me...
Age great like a wine house
Take a sip, ain't...
...placement, got it down
Facelift in the last year
I slept on the couch
in the past year
- It's fight time, baby.
Fight time.
- Fight time, baby. Let's get it.
- Time to go.
All the hard work over with.
Hey. Hey. Right here, y'all.
On three.
One, two, three.
- Lyfe Style heavyweights!
- I love to make it
and to come as that support,
'cause I know Mom
couldn't make it
or I know Dad couldn't make it,
you know,
Auntie couldn't make it,
so Ms. Ketta's here, you know,
and I'm gonna root for you.
I'm gonna be screaming
on the side of the ring
like I am your mother,
your grandmother,
your aunt, your uncle,
and your cousin, too.
Let's go, Peanut!
Say "Excuse me."
- I'm looking for extremely fast
hands, man, from you.
Let everybody see you're back.
They think that last loss
kind of took an affect
on you mentally.
And I feel like you're back,
so now you just got to show
the world, all right?
Lyfe Style in the house.
Let's go, baby.
We come to work, baby.
We come to work.
- Winners here will go on
to Charleston, West Virginia,
where they'll fight
in the national tournament.
It's a pretty big deal
for these kids.
Some of these kids are doing it
because they enjoy the sport
and they love amateur boxing,
but then you've got other kids
that aspire to be professionals
and turn professional.
Most of them are not looking
just to be a professional boxer.
These guys are wanting
to move up the line
and become world champions,
so there is a lot on the line.
Obviously a great pedigree
in the amateurs
means a lot in the pros.
- Everything's speed, okay?
Listen.
- No toe-to-toe banging at all.
- Yeah.
Don't loop with your punches.
Once you get your money,
be gone, okay?
All right? Still give me some
feints and though, okay?
Let's settle this down.
Now let's go.
Man, time for the dog
to come out.
Time for the dog to come out,
baby.
Daytrip took it to 10
Bad lil'...
And she mixed, she a mutt
Smokin' stuffed crust
with the windows up
This a fire watch
when you ask your gut
...been mad since
I got my bands up
Nails done, hair done,
everything did
I call you my son
'cause you actin' like...
- Okay. Breathe again.
Let it out slow.
Breathe again.
Let it out slow.
There. Listen.
We going right back at his ass.
When you touch him here,
come back,
and then come back upstairs
with the hook again
and then shoot the brick.
Let's get his ass
behind the jab.
Listen.
He's drained.
The body shots crushing him,
okay?
We got to get up on this
Shorty, you got to push
this
I don't care if you feel like
you about to fall
on this
Push it!
Push it!
- Why you so vexed?
Why you so stressed?
With you... everyone step
Money in the middle,
split in the middle
- Fight back!
Fight back!
- Why you so vexed?
Why you so stressed?
- Touch him again!
Give it to him! There you go!
Is he gang? Is he gang?
Money in the middle
...in the middle
Split in the middle
Why you upset?
Why you so vexed?
Why you upset?
Why you so vexed?
Why you so stressed?
D.C.! D.C.!
D.C.! D.C.!
D.C.! D.C.!
D.C.! D.C.!
D.C.! D.C.!
- ...fighting out
of the red corner,
Ragahleak Bartee.
Bartee.
- Oh! The boxer!
- Yes, sir.
- Hey!
- Hey!
- Peanut! A celebrity!
- Yes, sir.
- Hey!
- Look! The champ is here!
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
-Peanut!
- Champ.
- The champ!
- Peanut, you plan
on going to college?
- Yeah.
- How you doing in school, man?
- I'm doing okay.
- What them grades looking like?
-They're okay.
- How far you gonna take
this boxing thing, Nut?
- Taking it far.
What you talking about?
- Going all the way?
- Yeah.
- You got a backup plan,
though, man.
What's the backup plan?
- I don't know yet.
- You don't know?
Fourteen.
Got to figure it out, man.
You go to college,
what you gonna take up?
- I don't know.
- You're in high school, man.
You got to know that.
You got to have a plan.
I mean, boxing's cool.
Got to have something
to fall back on
just in case that don't cut it.
Got to have a plan B, man.
You're young, man.
Got a lot of time.
That's on your side -- time.
- You know, just dealing
with these kids, man, it just...
it just keep me focused,
'cause I know that their dreams,
their dreams is based around me,
whatever decision I make.
So I can't afford to make,
like, no bad decisions,
not just in my family,
my wife, and my kids.
I got so many people
depending on me.
I got friends
ain't never coming home,
and I lost a lot of friends
to the street.
You know, I lost --
I lost my grandmother
when I first went to jail.
I lost my father the second time
I went to jail.
I lost my mother the third time
I went to jail.
And when I came home from jail,
my oldest son got killed.
- I understand.
Hold on. Hold on.
Yeah, you did real good, though.
You always do good.
I'm glad you showed me
my little gadget, though.
'Cause you probably would've
got away with that.
Yeah.
You all right, baby.
- I don't like that!
- Oh, boy. You all right.
- Yes, you do.
You know you love that hair.
- No. He don't like hair on him.
- I know.
I know how he respond to hair.
He'll stare at his hand
for like an hour.
- Almost finished, big guy.
- Hold on for one minute.
- Lyfe Style, right?
Ain't you Lyfe Style?
- That Mohawk gonna be
all the way...
- Okay. Hold still.
Don't move.
-Don't move, Wop Wop.
If you don't move, I'm gonna
take you to McDonald's,
get you a Big Mac.
-You're 9 years old, son.
There's no way in the world
your father's supposed to be
calling me,
telling me at 9 years old
that he having a problem
with you in school.
It's no way in the world.
And you know what's crazy?
'Cause I look at kids today and
I realize how fortunate they are
to have, you know,
a father figure in their life,
which was something
that I didn't have.
When I was in junior
high school, a guy told me --
I had some Chuck Taylors on,
and they had holes in them,
and he joned on my shoes.
And that led me to the streets.
You don't have that problem.
And I always wonder
what my life would be like
if I had a father like yours
to provide for me,
to shelter me,
to put food on the table,
to guide me,
to give me directions,
to teach me the morals
and principles of life.
No telling where I'd have been.
I probably would've never
had experienced jail.
I probably would've never
had experienced drugs.
Y'all kids today are so blessed.
Y'all got
all these tennis shoes,
TVs on the wall
of your own bedroom.
I had to kick on the wall
before I'd go in the kitchen
so the rats can get out of there
before I went in there!
You could make life
so much easier for yourself.
Do you understand me?
- Yes.
- Okay? We love you, man.
We only want the best for you,
okay?
- Mm-hmm.
- My man.
There you go. One time.
Here it comes.
Let's go. No pain, no gain.
No pain, no gain, baby.
No pain, no gain.
No pain, no gain, baby.
Let's go.
Get on that.
- I figured out there's too much
negative people around here.
I just got to keep myself inside
before I get in trouble
or something bad happens to me.
But, like, I got to be real
in this situation.
A lot of kids around here,
like, they mad childish.
They do mad, like, dumb things
in here,
and, like, that's why
a lot of kids be like --
They be messed up in the streets
'cause they, like,
they do dumb stuff in here.
Like, they just do stuff
just to do it.
They don't think.
And I just sit there like,
"It ain't my fault.
I'm just here.
Y'all just do
what y'all want to do.
Y'all go over there with that.
I'm gonna stay here
and just chill and just do me."
I'm not about to go off
that negative stuff.
- You don't want to live
like that.
You don't want to live
like that.
Why would you want to sell
drugs?
Why you want to do that?
-I feel like it's the only,
like, fast way to get money,
like, on your own.
- Fast.
And it's a fast way to die.
There's no win.
- Because none of my --
- There's no win.
- Yeah, you right.
- There's no win.
I don't care how you put it.
There's no icing
to put on that cake.
You will die.
You will die, young man.
I'm right here.
I'm right here.
'Cause you know why --
And you know why I said
you can talk to me?
'Cause I was you.
And guess what.
Right now,
you might got some rumble.
Back in the day,
you ain't want to see me.
I'd punish you.
I'm talking about punish you.
If you couldn't body punch --
- I don't even fight.
That's the problem.
- 'Cause you gonna go
get your gun, right?
- Yeah.
- See? Your gun.
Why you got to get your gun?
That's the problem we're having
to this day.
'Cause people scared
to get knocked out.
If you gonna get your gun, that
means you cold sucka already
'cause you scared --
you scared to take an L.
'Cause you ain't confident
in your hands.
So guess what.
That's what this all about.
Man, we right here, man.
On Yuma Street, man.
Lyfe Style, man.
That's what I do, man.
I teach that boxing.
We got some young 'uns right now
that would line up with you
and be like --
knock your headgear off.
So why don't you come on
and give yourself a chance
at learning it?
That gun gonna get you
in trouble, man.
That gun don't make you --
That gun don't make you,
you know, that man, man.
- All right.
You got everything you need?
- Yeah.
- All right.
- Bye.
- Bye!
- Bye.
- Say bye-bye.
- Bye-bye!
- Say "See you later."
- See you later!
- Bye.
- Make sure you pack
all your stuff.
-All right, baby.
-Bye.
-Bye-bye.
-Bye.
- All right! Bye-bye!
- Bye!
- Bye!
- Have fun!
Enjoy yourself!
- Good luck!
All the luck.
- We make all these preparations
together, me and the kids,
leading up to these fights,
and they depend on me
as a coach.
So it's imperative that,
you know what I'm saying,
that I be there,
but on the flip side of that,
I'm not able to make it,
so it's kind of like a crunch
to me and for the kids.
Just the other day,
Peanut asked me
was I gonna be able to make it
out of town to West Virginia.
And I told him no,
and it kind of affected me
in a way just telling him that,
knowing that I'm not gonna
be able to be there for him.
- When you're not doing this
full time,
when you still have to go
to work
and provide for your family
or provide for yourself,
it's very hard.
If Walt never had to go to work
at 5:00 p.m.
and come home at 5:00
in the morning
or never had to work on
a construction site ever again,
that would be...
that would be awesome.
That would be wonderful.
That would be so appreciated.
That would be...
That would be the light.
Like, I don't
even see my husband sometimes
because of our schedules
and everything.
So it's like...
That'd make me feel good.
That'd make his son feel good,
his daughter.
That'd make his family
feel good.
-You would think that, you know,
having someone like myself
giving back to the community
and trying to make a difference
in the kids' life,
you would think that,
your boss would support you.
But that's not the case.
That's not the case.
- It's crazy that Coach Walt
not coming, bro.
-Yeah, 'cause of his job.
Like, they won't let him off.
And I know you're gonna be
nervous a little bit
'cause he not there.
- I'm gonna be nervous
a little bit,
but I already dealt with it,
so...
- Yeah.
- ...I'm gonna be used to it.
- What's up, man?
Hey. Hey, man.
-This man brought a pillow, bro.
- She said,
"But I live in the hills"
...that's just the way
I sleep
Stop that madness,
I'm a savage
In traffic with MAC-11s
Baddest... and she Spanish
I'll fly her to...
- I hate poopin' in woods
and stuff,
'cause these mountains, you
know, these the ones you get --
you get kidnapped in
'cause you're trespassing.
They got trip wires everywhere.
Like you hunting.
And Jason live out here, too.
There he go.
And they be --
All the raccoons and all.
These where the wild animals --
They just let wild animals sleep
on top of their roof.
They bring them in.
They got beds in their backyard.
Can't be out here.
And nowhere to eat
in all these broke,
burnt-down towns and stuff.
We gonna come out here.
They gonna have us --
They gonna have us working
for them.
But I ain't scared, though.
Yes, I am.
I'm lying.
If I told you I wasn't scared,
I'd be lying.
- First day.
Want to sleep on the bed?
-Get work in.
-Ring four, bout two.
-Oh, yeah, Peanut!
Oh, yeah!
-Let's go, Peanut.
-Put the jab out.
There you go.
Keep it right there.
Back on him! Come on!
Get back on him!
There you go!
- Whoo!
- There you go, Peanut!
- Gracious.
I didn't like that first round.
-Come on, Peanut!
- All right.
There they go.
-Stop going back to the corner!
One, two, three!
Get back on him!
-Two, man!
-Get back on him!
-Come on, man!
What you jumping up for?
- Come on. Work!
Stop holding him!
- Come on, Peanut!
- Hold your ground!
- There you go!
- Come on, man.
-I told him to eat.
Work!
- He just swinging
just to be swinging, man.
Oh, my God.
This is terrible.
That's terrible.
That's terrible.
-Ring four, bout two.
Your winner, out of the
red corner, Ragahleak Bartee.
-Was you satisfied with that?!
'Cause I sure ain't satisfied
with that, man!
I gave you instructions
on what I wanted you to do.
So listen to me
and listen to me clear.
You a counterpuncher!
I want you to counterpunch!
That's not your fight!
That was so disgusting,
I couldn't even watch it!
You are a highly decorated
amateur.
You want to tie
and you gonna fall like that?!
I specifically told you
before you go in that ring,
Peanut, be patient!
You got in there and grabbed
for three rounds?
Who taught you that?!
Don't give me that
tomorrow, man.
- Peanut's fight yesterday,
I felt disappointed
because I know he can do better
than that.
Like, he didn't give his all
yesterday.
I think he was tired and stuff
because he didn't really eat
the night before he made weight.
Having brothers is important
to me because before the fights,
we dap each other up,
we motivate each other.
You can say they're my family
because they're here for me.
My real brother, like, he lives
in Florida, I think, or Georgia.
And he's not there for me
like Twin and Peanut are.
I think our relationship
is bigger than boxing
because we, like,
we love each other.
But at the same time,
we love the sport.
- Hi. This is Walter Manigan
calling again
for the D.C. Department of Rec.
Anybody that give up
their free time,
anybody give up their finances,
anybody that sacrifice
as much as I sacrifice,
I feel like that they
deserve it, you know?
I deserve my own gym.
You know what I'm saying?
I done paved the way.
This program has been
successful.
I came out of nowhere
with kids from ground zero
and won national champion.
You got some coaches
been coaching
for the last 15, 20 years
and never won a nationals.
You know, my rsum,
it speaks for itself.
So do I feel like I'm deserving
of my own gym?
Yeah, sure.
I done sacrificed
seven years of my life...
voluntary seven years
of my life,
going through situations with
my wife about this boxing stuff,
and, you know,
we ain't always on the same page
and we ain't always in agreement
when it comes to the --
'Cause she want her time, too.
You know, so we go through
our little ups and downs.
You know, I sacrifice a lot.
And for the most part...
I'm patient,
'cause I know God gonna bless me
in due time.
So, you know,
people are all like,
"When you gonna get your gym?
When you gonna get your..."
When God want me to have it,
He gonna make sure I have it.
Believe that.
Believe that.
- Uh-huh
Workin' on my rules
- Let's go, baby.
Work time.
- Am I asking for too much?
Like all my vouchers
are all used up
Like, do you really want
a new love?
Feel like you're out here
trying to choose up
Look, I've been out here
doing backflips
Like I was training
for the Olympics
-Oh, beautiful boxing, man.
Working on my rules
Working on my rules
Rule number one
- Boom.
There you go.
Good fight.
Oh, man.
Peanut looked good.
He looked real good.
- And your 101-pound
Junior Olympic champion,
out of the blue corner,
Fernando Vasquez!
- Hey, Peanut, man.
This is Coach Walt, man.
I just wanted to let you know,
man, that I love you, man.
You know what I'm saying?
I'm not worried
about the results.
Let's just get back to the gym,
man, work on a few things, man,
see if we can get back
to square one.
-So, another game it is.
Come on.
What game y'all want to play?
- Man, we got $40.
So what game y'all want to play?
- We gonna start at that one
first.
- Oh!
Come on!
You look clean, Quincey.
Who the best shooter?
- Me!
- Let's be honest
Am I...
Am I in the move?
Can I still improve?
I got no time
I got things to lose,
I got life to choose
- It's not the drop.
It's the height.
- Don't you fight?
- Huh?
- Don't you fight?
- Yeah.
- It's better than doing this.
It's better than doing this.
- If you kiss him
right on the cheek --
- I'm not doing that.
That was slick, though.
That was smooth.
- I was just trying to see
what y'all gonna do.
Boy, I'm not scared of this.
I'm built for this, man.
Peanut.
- Look at his face.
Look at his face.
Oh, my God.
We really about to do this.
-Straight face the whole time.
- Close your eyes!
- Hey, Peanut, close your eyes!
- I'm about to on myself.
- I still can't go!
Hey, bro, I'm --
- Hey, man, get me out.
Get me out.
-Hey.
-Man, you a punk, for real.
Yo, you screamed
like a girl, dawg.
- I mean, we'll see when the --
Yeah.
- You know a lot of these people
traveled to they come here?
You hear me?
-They trippin'.
- I ain't gonna travel
all the way to, like, Scotland
just to come here.
- I got no time
I got... to prove
I got things to lose
I got life to choose
Let's be honest
Am I really schooled?
Am I still a fool?
If I keep it cool?
I got no signs
Tell me what to do
Show me somethin' new
Show me somethin' true
Let's be honest
Am I...
Am I in the move?
Can I still improve?
I got no time
I got... to prove
I got things to lose
I got life to choose
Let's be honest
Am I really schooled?
Am I still a fool?
If I keep it cool
I got no signs
Tell me what to do
Show me somethin' new
Show me somethin' true
Show me a sign
-Quiet down, y'all.
Um, I just wanted to
bring to y'all attention
that I had to go to Quincey's
school the other day
'cause of his behavior.
He didn't know I was coming.
I'll always teach y'all
about character,
about leadership, about morals,
and about principles.
And out of everybody,
I was totally surprised
that it was Quincey.
As quiet as he is
around here in this gym,
he in school
making all this noise.
That's not a reflection
of what I'm teaching.
Whenever you do something,
it's a reflection of me.
I done messed up so much
in my life.
I got to give back, man.
I don't want y'all to see --
I don't want y'all to go though
my life experiences.
I don't want y'all to have to
experience jail.
I don't want y'all to have to
experience using drugs.
That's not what I want
for y'all.
I spent half of my life in jail.
This is the longest I've been
on the street.
I've been on the street
going on seven years.
I have never been on the street
this long.
Y'all keep me strivin'.
Y'all keep me pushin'.
Y'all motivate me.
You know why?
I know y'all depending on me.
This is where I'm depending
on y'all.
So I need y'all
just as much as y'all need me.
I get up every morning.
I go to work. I'm tired.
For some odd reason,
when I get to the gym,
I got all the energy
in the world because of y'all.
I just want to make
a difference, man.
Peanut, Quincey, uh...
I love all y'all.
But Peanut and Quincey,
I guess 'cause since we've been
together so long
and me not being the father
figure in my own kids' life,
and I actually get --
I got to watch y'all grow.
See, I stayed in and out
of jail.
I didn't get to watch
my boys grow every day.
I watch y'all grow every day,
man.
That means so much to me, man.
It's like -- It's like --
I feel like y'all are my sons
for real.
I love y'all,
man, for -- for real.
Y'all don't know how much y'all
made a difference in my life.
I talked to you this weekend,
Peanut.
I told you.
I know you're getting older.
If there's anything you need
or I can assist you with,
let me know, man.
It's a blessing for me, man,
to be a part of y'all life.
That's a blessing to me, man.
God blessed me with y'all.
He knew something had to keep me
on the right path.
-Head up.
Head up.
Want some water?
-Yeah.
I fell back, man.
I fell back in the cracks.
Fell into the cracks, man.
So in order for me to get up
the next day to go to work,
I had to take a Percocet.
The first time that I took it --
I had took it,
and made me feel like
I was on some PCP or something.
So I told myself
I wasn't gonna take them again,
which I started back --
That was the only way
I was able to go to work.
And gradually, gradually,
I started taking more
to the point where I was taking
20, 25 Percocets a day.
You know, that's almost
$2,800 a month.
So it led me back to my drug
of choice, which is --
which is cocaine.
And, you know, that's where I'm
at today, struggling with that.
Wop Wop was gonna be the one
that I get to watch grow
every day, and...
I seen Wop Wop --
I did see Wop Wop last week.
There's no --
There's no communication,
you know, on my part.
I don't see him, you know?
Wop Wop used to be with me
every day.
Go to the gym every day.
You know?
That was my little man.
I probably see
Wop Wop probably --
might be four times a month,
man.
And the crazy part about it,
whenever he see me,
he still want to go with me.
You know, he don't know
what's going on.
I fell back, man.
I fell back in the cracks.
Fell back in the cracks, man.
- Why you always act like you got
attitude?
What's wrong?
Lift your head up.
Walt is a good man.
I know this is a dark --
He's in a dark place right now.
Like, if you asked my kid
where his father at right now,
like... he think he out of town
or something like that,
like, boxing out of town.
How do you explain that to them?
Like, I don't try to put
a lot of pressure on him,
but I do tell him
that he play a big part
in a lot of people's life.
He's been striving for years,
like, even before we've met,
so this is what I know.
This is while he's been wanting
his own gym
and things like that.
And he's like,
"Yeah, I'm gonna do this.
You know,
I'm doing all the right things
that I can possibly do
as far as everything, you know?
My family, my household,
the gym,
the kids, the community,
and it's like it's not happening
for me.
So when am I gonna get
my break?"
And I just feel like he came
to a point where he felt like
that he wasn't gonna get it.
Or I don't know if it was taking
too long for him or what,
but he just...
I don't know.
He just probably gave up.
- Hand me a white V-neck --
a white V-neck T-shirt.
Large.
Large.
- We had some fights
on the 14th of this month.
No Peanut.
No Quincey.
Everybody's looking for Peanut
and Quincey.
We didn't know
what to tell them, but, um...
I was very frightened.
But we knew when Walt
wasn't showing up at the gym,
we knew something was going on.
We knew something wasn't right.
So if one coach is falling,
I must rescue them.
That's -- I guess that's
what God saved me for.
I just --
I can't watch them go to waste.
Coach sick right now.
He don't mean to let y'all down.
The street got him.
You know --
You know what I mean, right?
You want to tell me what
you think I'm talking about?
-Like, drugs and stuff.
-Yeah.
Selling or using?
-Using.
-Yeah.
- Like, I don't know
what to decide.
- Your mind spinning, right?
- Yeah. Like, I don't know --
- Confused.
And it can confuse you.
Before you know it,
it can make you say, "I quit."
'Cause what it's doing,
it can take the fun out of it.
You know what I'm saying?
I know it seemed strange when
we went to the fights this week
and nobody see y'all.
- Yeah.
- I mean, y'all the baddest
fighters in there.
Everybody worried about y'all,
man.
Everybody.
We miss y'all.
And y'all aren't supposed to be
at home.
Y'all supposed to be in there
tapping bodies, man.
Something happened to y'all,
I'd lose my mind.
I don't want to see y'all
mess up.
'Cause in Southeast,
y'all can easy get off track.
And you know what's out there.
Look at Coach.
We need y'all back, man.
I miss gloving y'all up...
putting on that body bag.
I miss y'all.
We're going back home.
We going back to Ferebee Hope.
-I'll just get back with people
I really, like, mess with,
to be honest.
Get back with Twin.
-Y'all need to be in that gym.
Can't nobody stop y'all.
Can't nobody beat y'all, man.
I know there's a lot of people
right now...
...watching this saying,
"I done the same mistake."
Them drugs, selling drugs
don't get you nowhere.
I love them little kids.
- Unh
What if all this
was a little lie?
Ooh
What if all my sins
never met a god?
Oh
Would you be prepared?
Would you be surprised?
- Oh
- Only then would you realize
Oh
- Hi, y'all.
I heard y'all box.
How y'all about to come
through all that
Who y'all box for?
Who y'all box for?
Yeah, that's small.
That ain't nothing, boy.
You messing with me.
- I ain't mess nothing up.
I'm a ladies' man.
I bring attention
everywhere I go.
I ain't mess nothing up.
I ain't mess nothing up.
It ain't on me.
- I just feel like we in this,
like, small, like --
This is like a... I don't know.
Like this is a --
We're in a position right now,
like, we're stuck right now,
but we got to find a way out
right now.
And, um, I see myself --
Well, I still see myself,
like, in the future,
still probably being a champion,
the pros, and --
Yeah.
Nobody can tell me that.
What you talking about?
What you laughing for?
You ain't saying nothing.
What you talking about?
-We're so tough out there.
And when you're tough,
don't nothing stop you.
We seen a lot of fighters
get tricked in the streets
'cause they think the street
is what's really happening.
But I tell them it's nothing
but a --
It's a dream.
Ain't nothing good out there.
And I let them know
they can be somebody.
Just believe in their self.
- Oh
- Stay in the gym...
and you'll be all right.
See you at the Olympics, baby.
Can't nobody stop you.
Lyfe Style.
- Oh
Look up, look up, look up
The sky is falling
She's falling
For you
Look up, look up, look up
The sky is falling
She's falling
For you
Take her hand
Brother
Ooh
Here's your chance
- Ooh, oh
- Unh
What if all this
Was a little lie?
Ooh
What if all -- all --
all my sins
Never met a god?
Unh
Oh
Would you --
Would you be prepared?
Would you be surprised?
Oh
Only then would you realize
Oh
Look up, look up, look up
The sky is falling
She's falling
For you
Unh
Look up, look up, look up
The sky is falling
She's falling
For...
-Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen.
Sparring people like Mo Wilson,
Melvin Foster.
Couldn't nobody knock me out.
The only thing knocked me out
was selling drugs...
living my crazy world.
And I regret it to this day,
and that's why it's my job
to keep the little guys
in this gym
so they won't end up like me.
If it wasn't for this gym
right here,
it'd be more -- more young men
dead out there.
- You ugly!
- Hey, hey, hey. Wop Wop.
Wop Wop.
Wop Wop.
Take you to McDonald's,
get you a Big Mac, okay?
You better act like it, then.
- Hello.
- How you doing?
- Hey, babe.
- Give me a kiss.
- Hey, I'm gonna
keep him with me.
I'll bring him back
when I go to work.
I'll drop him off.
- Oh, you're gonna
bring him to me? Okay.
- If you leave before I get out
of the gym, just come get him.
- Okay. Give me a kiss.
I love you.
-All right.
- How was school?
- Good.
- It's time to go underground,
y'all.
It's time to get ready
for these qualifiers, all right?
I don't want to hear nothing.
We about to get dead-ass serious
around here, man.
Peanut, your first time losing.
How does it feel?
You don't want to experience
that feeling no more, do you?
Me, I don't like losing.
I don't like losing, all right?
This is the first time
we went to the nationals
and we came back empty-handed.
This has never happened to us.
I'm feeling a certain way
right now.
That's why we back in here
Monday morning.
I don't want to hear no crying,
no complaining.
We got that understanding?
All right. Let's get to work.
All right. Y'all ready? Come on,
y'all. Let's spread out.
I don't want no loafing.
- Y'all got to come out.
- Less than a month to the J.O.s,
y'all.
It's work time, baby.
- I ain't with
the back and forth
I ain't back and forth
Don't know
what you asking for
But just back up off me like
Pretty sure your man
still black, a homey
Ain't that important, like
You ain't really seen it
like that before
Not like that before,
you're like
When you put it like that
Like that, like that,
like that, you right
If you think he got it
like that
When I act like that,
all right
I'm about to have
the backtrack
Backtrack, back on track
You right
You right, you right,
you right, you right, girl
When you put it like that
Like that, like that,
like that, you right
If you think he got it
like that
When I act like that,
all right
I'm about to have
the backtrack, backtrack
Back on track, you right
You right, you right,
you right, you right, girl
When you put it like that
Like that, like that,
like that, you right
If you think
he got it like that
When I act like that,
all right
I'm about to have
the backtrack, backtrack
You right
You right, you right,
you right, you right, girl
- Lyfe Style!
- Yeah!
Good work, y'all!
- My name is Ragahleak
"Peanut" Bartee,
and I got "Peanut" by my coach.
He said I had a peanut head,
so that's why my name is Peanut.
Coach Walt is a father figure,
but also as a father figure,
he's strict.
He want everything to be on top.
Coach Walt and Quincey,
they're like family.
The whole Lyfe Style Gym,
they're like family, basically.
- My name is Quincey Williams,
and I'm 13 years old,
and they call me
"Body Snatcher."
We was fighting in the ring,
and so...
I had got
punished by both of them,
so I started crying,
and Coach Walt
put me out the gym.
Two, three days later,
I came back and I told him
that I wasn't gonna cry
or nothing no more.
And after that,
it's been successful with me.
- This gym,
Ferebee Hope Recreation Center,
it's not the best gym.
We use what we can use.
The neighborhood,
it's not very good.
There's a lot of drama outside,
so the gym, for us,
is our safe haven.
-One time I was at the pool.
I was just swimming,
and out of nowhere,
there was a shootout,
and I had to get out the pool
and run inside
of the recreation center.
- I see the whole
Lyfe Style team --
me, Peanut, Quincey,
everybody --
fighting one day on the
MGM Grand, all of us headlining.
All of us --
Well, I'm gonna be headlining,
but all of them
gonna be on undercard,
all of us fighting that night,
matching uniform,
matching sweatsuits.
We'll be undefeated.
All of us gonna be
world champions
in different weight classes.
Our future's bright.
- I see myself in, like,
the next five, four years,
you know, having my first
professional fight.
Then after that, I'll get my mom
out of these little apartments
and houses
and take her somewhere better.
And then -- No, after all,
all, all, all that,
probably have my first child.
Then... I think that's it, 'cause
I ain't having too much kids.
-No, that not nice.
- I fight to get my mom
and my sister and my siblings
out of where we at now.
And, you know,
that's why I push so hard.
- That's so sweet. That's sweet.
I told you that before,
when you said that before.
I told you that was sweet.
- That's so sweet.
- It makes me feel like
a proud mother, him saying
that he want to look out for me
as much as I look out for him.
-That's so sweet.
- Yeah.
- Okay.
- I'm proud that he's doing
so well in it
and he loves it, the sport.
But as a mom, I'm also like,
"My baby might get hurt."
So that's the only mixed
emotions I have about it.
- It's a really tough
neighborhood to grow up in.
We just had a homicide
this morning.
Right here in Ward 8, we have
82% single-parent households,
ran predominantly
by African-American women
and grandmothers and aunts.
So we pretty much
have been missing the presence
of a black man.
So I think that the coaches
is pivotal to what we need.
They've been through
the challenges,
the incarceration, coming back
through getting in trouble,
coming back, and I think
the kids need to see, you know,
that you don't have to go down
that same path,
and that's what we provide.
You know, we got a new
president, Donald Trump,
and we don't know what's
gonna happen down the line
with this new administration.
They sit right
across the street.
So I think we have to
incentivize those
by paying them, you know?
People get paid to do
all types of stuff in D.C.
Why not pay people
to be mentors,
to be activists for young people
and for the community
to do the work they love to do?
We have a lot of money we're
just giving out to big business
and developers --
billions of dollars.
So we have to incentivize those
who are really doing
the sweat equity and
the human-capital development.
- I'd love to be coaching
full time, man.
If I keep on doing
this construction,
I ain't gonna be no good
to the kids.
'Cause eventually, my back
gonna go all the way out.
It's crazy.
I'd rather be working
at nighttime.
'Cause the daytime,
they be killing me,
and I got that slipped disc
in my back.
I be on the machines.
The machines get to rocking.
Hi. This is Walter Manigan
calling again
for the D.C. Department of Recs
to check on the status
of my application
to go from youth volunteer
to full-time employee.
I'm hoping to one day...
...build this empire
when it come
to the Lyfe Style program.
I want to make a difference
in not just Peanut
and Quincey's lives,
but I want to make a difference
in a lot of kids' lives.
- Fighting out
of the blue corner,
with head trainer Barry Hunter,
from Washington, D.C., USA,
the number-one-ranked challenger
in the world,
Lamont "Havoc" Peterson!
- When I was coaching with the
HeadBangers, I had went to jail.
And I looked up and I seen
Lamont Peterson fighting on TV,
and I kind of felt bad
'cause I knew I wasn't there
to share that moment.
So I told myself once I get out,
that, you know, I'm gonna give
this boxing thing my all.
- ...to the winner
by majority decision...
and new light welterweight
champion of the world...
Lamont "Havoc" Peterson!
- Using drugs
was my biggest downfall.
And that's
one of the main reasons
why I cannot go back
to the streets.
I wasn't expecting none of this.
I didn't know they was gonna win
all them national titles.
I didn't know that.
I just knew whatever we did,
we had to work hard at it.
Look at Peanut, man. That's his
first nationals right here.
Boom.
Good brick.
- Good jab.
- Both sides of the body.
Good jab?
It was a good jab?
Now, come on, Peanut.
- ...boxing out
of the blue corner...
...Ragahleak Bartee.
- Go, blue!
Yeah!
- There was just something about
Peanut when I first seen him.
You know what I'm saying?
He held up to those
expectations, you know?
So it all started with me,
Peanut, and Quincey.
When I first met Peanut
and Quincey,
there was no male,
there was no role model.
You know, my father sold drugs,
used drugs.
He stayed in jail
the majority --
I don't remember no time
with my father.
I don't remember no --
me spending no time with him,
no Christmas with him.
I don't remember none of that.
And it was the same thing
with my mother.
So to be a part of Quincey
and Peanut's life,
it means the world to me.
This is my heart.
This is gonna be the one
right here.
That's why we give him
the name Wop Wop.
That's gonna be his two-piece.
Wop Wop.
That's right, big guy.
-Twelve-, thirteen-year-olds
might got their guns on them
around here.
And I'm talking about --
When I say "got it on them," and
they will shoot them
When I say shoot it,
and when they shoot,
ain't nobody gonna tell.
Nobody.
Ain't nobody gonna say nothing.
This is where I became...
what you call
the bad little boy.
Lot of murder went down
right here.
This is where all the --
And you wanted your drugs,
you came right here.
Everything was here.
I was the cause of it.
I brung trouble
to the neighborhood.
My little partner right --
He got killed right here.
I believe he was hit, like,
at least 20, 30 times
leaving my house.
So we saw a lot of stuff
when we was young.
We ain't never get no help
for it, though.
So people say,
well, why we so angry?
We saw a lot of killing.
- Don't you ever let your mother
come to me again
telling me how disrespectful
you is.
'Cause you know
what I'm gonna do?
I'm gonna put you in that ring
and see what you made of.
- For real.
- Let Ma get into it.
Are you satisfied
with the apology
or do you want him
to get in that ring?
- Get in the ring.
- Let's go. Get in the ring.
If he don't want to put
the gloves on, go to his body.
Go to his body.
- Don't run.
- You want to run,
but you don't respect your mama.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Whenever you talk to your mother
like that,
you should never be scared
to box no guy.
Hey, look at me.
I don't even have my mama.
I don't even have my mother,
young man.
And she raised me
with no father.
I do this to save y'all, man,
and you out here
acting like this.
Once your mother go, she gone.
That voice you hear
in the morning,
"Get up and go to school" --
That's gone.
Do you hear me?
Get your ass over there.
- He didn't want to hit you
in your stomach.
-Just put him in the ring.
-If he did, that would hurt.
It would hurt.
- I take the pain
- There you go!
- Put it away
- Saving that...
for another day
I got my daughter lookin'
at me for advice
- There you go!
That's it!
- So now I'm thinkin' twice
Might think thrice
Now I roll the dice
Now I'm on the vice
-Oh! Oh! Oh!
- Putting words together
like surgery
I know you heard me
If you didn't,
you're gonna find out
- There you go!
- Got it with your time out
Ain't me...
Age great like a wine house
Take a sip, ain't...
...placement, got it down
Facelift in the last year
I slept on the couch
in the past year
- It's fight time, baby.
Fight time.
- Fight time, baby. Let's get it.
- Time to go.
All the hard work over with.
Hey. Hey. Right here, y'all.
On three.
One, two, three.
- Lyfe Style heavyweights!
- I love to make it
and to come as that support,
'cause I know Mom
couldn't make it
or I know Dad couldn't make it,
you know,
Auntie couldn't make it,
so Ms. Ketta's here, you know,
and I'm gonna root for you.
I'm gonna be screaming
on the side of the ring
like I am your mother,
your grandmother,
your aunt, your uncle,
and your cousin, too.
Let's go, Peanut!
Say "Excuse me."
- I'm looking for extremely fast
hands, man, from you.
Let everybody see you're back.
They think that last loss
kind of took an affect
on you mentally.
And I feel like you're back,
so now you just got to show
the world, all right?
Lyfe Style in the house.
Let's go, baby.
We come to work, baby.
We come to work.
- Winners here will go on
to Charleston, West Virginia,
where they'll fight
in the national tournament.
It's a pretty big deal
for these kids.
Some of these kids are doing it
because they enjoy the sport
and they love amateur boxing,
but then you've got other kids
that aspire to be professionals
and turn professional.
Most of them are not looking
just to be a professional boxer.
These guys are wanting
to move up the line
and become world champions,
so there is a lot on the line.
Obviously a great pedigree
in the amateurs
means a lot in the pros.
- Everything's speed, okay?
Listen.
- No toe-to-toe banging at all.
- Yeah.
Don't loop with your punches.
Once you get your money,
be gone, okay?
All right? Still give me some
feints and though, okay?
Let's settle this down.
Now let's go.
Man, time for the dog
to come out.
Time for the dog to come out,
baby.
Daytrip took it to 10
Bad lil'...
And she mixed, she a mutt
Smokin' stuffed crust
with the windows up
This a fire watch
when you ask your gut
...been mad since
I got my bands up
Nails done, hair done,
everything did
I call you my son
'cause you actin' like...
- Okay. Breathe again.
Let it out slow.
Breathe again.
Let it out slow.
There. Listen.
We going right back at his ass.
When you touch him here,
come back,
and then come back upstairs
with the hook again
and then shoot the brick.
Let's get his ass
behind the jab.
Listen.
He's drained.
The body shots crushing him,
okay?
We got to get up on this
Shorty, you got to push
this
I don't care if you feel like
you about to fall
on this
Push it!
Push it!
- Why you so vexed?
Why you so stressed?
With you... everyone step
Money in the middle,
split in the middle
- Fight back!
Fight back!
- Why you so vexed?
Why you so stressed?
- Touch him again!
Give it to him! There you go!
Is he gang? Is he gang?
Money in the middle
...in the middle
Split in the middle
Why you upset?
Why you so vexed?
Why you upset?
Why you so vexed?
Why you so stressed?
D.C.! D.C.!
D.C.! D.C.!
D.C.! D.C.!
D.C.! D.C.!
D.C.! D.C.!
- ...fighting out
of the red corner,
Ragahleak Bartee.
Bartee.
- Oh! The boxer!
- Yes, sir.
- Hey!
- Hey!
- Peanut! A celebrity!
- Yes, sir.
- Hey!
- Look! The champ is here!
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
-Peanut!
- Champ.
- The champ!
- Peanut, you plan
on going to college?
- Yeah.
- How you doing in school, man?
- I'm doing okay.
- What them grades looking like?
-They're okay.
- How far you gonna take
this boxing thing, Nut?
- Taking it far.
What you talking about?
- Going all the way?
- Yeah.
- You got a backup plan,
though, man.
What's the backup plan?
- I don't know yet.
- You don't know?
Fourteen.
Got to figure it out, man.
You go to college,
what you gonna take up?
- I don't know.
- You're in high school, man.
You got to know that.
You got to have a plan.
I mean, boxing's cool.
Got to have something
to fall back on
just in case that don't cut it.
Got to have a plan B, man.
You're young, man.
Got a lot of time.
That's on your side -- time.
- You know, just dealing
with these kids, man, it just...
it just keep me focused,
'cause I know that their dreams,
their dreams is based around me,
whatever decision I make.
So I can't afford to make,
like, no bad decisions,
not just in my family,
my wife, and my kids.
I got so many people
depending on me.
I got friends
ain't never coming home,
and I lost a lot of friends
to the street.
You know, I lost --
I lost my grandmother
when I first went to jail.
I lost my father the second time
I went to jail.
I lost my mother the third time
I went to jail.
And when I came home from jail,
my oldest son got killed.
- I understand.
Hold on. Hold on.
Yeah, you did real good, though.
You always do good.
I'm glad you showed me
my little gadget, though.
'Cause you probably would've
got away with that.
Yeah.
You all right, baby.
- I don't like that!
- Oh, boy. You all right.
- Yes, you do.
You know you love that hair.
- No. He don't like hair on him.
- I know.
I know how he respond to hair.
He'll stare at his hand
for like an hour.
- Almost finished, big guy.
- Hold on for one minute.
- Lyfe Style, right?
Ain't you Lyfe Style?
- That Mohawk gonna be
all the way...
- Okay. Hold still.
Don't move.
-Don't move, Wop Wop.
If you don't move, I'm gonna
take you to McDonald's,
get you a Big Mac.
-You're 9 years old, son.
There's no way in the world
your father's supposed to be
calling me,
telling me at 9 years old
that he having a problem
with you in school.
It's no way in the world.
And you know what's crazy?
'Cause I look at kids today and
I realize how fortunate they are
to have, you know,
a father figure in their life,
which was something
that I didn't have.
When I was in junior
high school, a guy told me --
I had some Chuck Taylors on,
and they had holes in them,
and he joned on my shoes.
And that led me to the streets.
You don't have that problem.
And I always wonder
what my life would be like
if I had a father like yours
to provide for me,
to shelter me,
to put food on the table,
to guide me,
to give me directions,
to teach me the morals
and principles of life.
No telling where I'd have been.
I probably would've never
had experienced jail.
I probably would've never
had experienced drugs.
Y'all kids today are so blessed.
Y'all got
all these tennis shoes,
TVs on the wall
of your own bedroom.
I had to kick on the wall
before I'd go in the kitchen
so the rats can get out of there
before I went in there!
You could make life
so much easier for yourself.
Do you understand me?
- Yes.
- Okay? We love you, man.
We only want the best for you,
okay?
- Mm-hmm.
- My man.
There you go. One time.
Here it comes.
Let's go. No pain, no gain.
No pain, no gain, baby.
No pain, no gain.
No pain, no gain, baby.
Let's go.
Get on that.
- I figured out there's too much
negative people around here.
I just got to keep myself inside
before I get in trouble
or something bad happens to me.
But, like, I got to be real
in this situation.
A lot of kids around here,
like, they mad childish.
They do mad, like, dumb things
in here,
and, like, that's why
a lot of kids be like --
They be messed up in the streets
'cause they, like,
they do dumb stuff in here.
Like, they just do stuff
just to do it.
They don't think.
And I just sit there like,
"It ain't my fault.
I'm just here.
Y'all just do
what y'all want to do.
Y'all go over there with that.
I'm gonna stay here
and just chill and just do me."
I'm not about to go off
that negative stuff.
- You don't want to live
like that.
You don't want to live
like that.
Why would you want to sell
drugs?
Why you want to do that?
-I feel like it's the only,
like, fast way to get money,
like, on your own.
- Fast.
And it's a fast way to die.
There's no win.
- Because none of my --
- There's no win.
- Yeah, you right.
- There's no win.
I don't care how you put it.
There's no icing
to put on that cake.
You will die.
You will die, young man.
I'm right here.
I'm right here.
'Cause you know why --
And you know why I said
you can talk to me?
'Cause I was you.
And guess what.
Right now,
you might got some rumble.
Back in the day,
you ain't want to see me.
I'd punish you.
I'm talking about punish you.
If you couldn't body punch --
- I don't even fight.
That's the problem.
- 'Cause you gonna go
get your gun, right?
- Yeah.
- See? Your gun.
Why you got to get your gun?
That's the problem we're having
to this day.
'Cause people scared
to get knocked out.
If you gonna get your gun, that
means you cold sucka already
'cause you scared --
you scared to take an L.
'Cause you ain't confident
in your hands.
So guess what.
That's what this all about.
Man, we right here, man.
On Yuma Street, man.
Lyfe Style, man.
That's what I do, man.
I teach that boxing.
We got some young 'uns right now
that would line up with you
and be like --
knock your headgear off.
So why don't you come on
and give yourself a chance
at learning it?
That gun gonna get you
in trouble, man.
That gun don't make you --
That gun don't make you,
you know, that man, man.
- All right.
You got everything you need?
- Yeah.
- All right.
- Bye.
- Bye!
- Bye.
- Say bye-bye.
- Bye-bye!
- Say "See you later."
- See you later!
- Bye.
- Make sure you pack
all your stuff.
-All right, baby.
-Bye.
-Bye-bye.
-Bye.
- All right! Bye-bye!
- Bye!
- Bye!
- Have fun!
Enjoy yourself!
- Good luck!
All the luck.
- We make all these preparations
together, me and the kids,
leading up to these fights,
and they depend on me
as a coach.
So it's imperative that,
you know what I'm saying,
that I be there,
but on the flip side of that,
I'm not able to make it,
so it's kind of like a crunch
to me and for the kids.
Just the other day,
Peanut asked me
was I gonna be able to make it
out of town to West Virginia.
And I told him no,
and it kind of affected me
in a way just telling him that,
knowing that I'm not gonna
be able to be there for him.
- When you're not doing this
full time,
when you still have to go
to work
and provide for your family
or provide for yourself,
it's very hard.
If Walt never had to go to work
at 5:00 p.m.
and come home at 5:00
in the morning
or never had to work on
a construction site ever again,
that would be...
that would be awesome.
That would be wonderful.
That would be so appreciated.
That would be...
That would be the light.
Like, I don't
even see my husband sometimes
because of our schedules
and everything.
So it's like...
That'd make me feel good.
That'd make his son feel good,
his daughter.
That'd make his family
feel good.
-You would think that, you know,
having someone like myself
giving back to the community
and trying to make a difference
in the kids' life,
you would think that,
your boss would support you.
But that's not the case.
That's not the case.
- It's crazy that Coach Walt
not coming, bro.
-Yeah, 'cause of his job.
Like, they won't let him off.
And I know you're gonna be
nervous a little bit
'cause he not there.
- I'm gonna be nervous
a little bit,
but I already dealt with it,
so...
- Yeah.
- ...I'm gonna be used to it.
- What's up, man?
Hey. Hey, man.
-This man brought a pillow, bro.
- She said,
"But I live in the hills"
...that's just the way
I sleep
Stop that madness,
I'm a savage
In traffic with MAC-11s
Baddest... and she Spanish
I'll fly her to...
- I hate poopin' in woods
and stuff,
'cause these mountains, you
know, these the ones you get --
you get kidnapped in
'cause you're trespassing.
They got trip wires everywhere.
Like you hunting.
And Jason live out here, too.
There he go.
And they be --
All the raccoons and all.
These where the wild animals --
They just let wild animals sleep
on top of their roof.
They bring them in.
They got beds in their backyard.
Can't be out here.
And nowhere to eat
in all these broke,
burnt-down towns and stuff.
We gonna come out here.
They gonna have us --
They gonna have us working
for them.
But I ain't scared, though.
Yes, I am.
I'm lying.
If I told you I wasn't scared,
I'd be lying.
- First day.
Want to sleep on the bed?
-Get work in.
-Ring four, bout two.
-Oh, yeah, Peanut!
Oh, yeah!
-Let's go, Peanut.
-Put the jab out.
There you go.
Keep it right there.
Back on him! Come on!
Get back on him!
There you go!
- Whoo!
- There you go, Peanut!
- Gracious.
I didn't like that first round.
-Come on, Peanut!
- All right.
There they go.
-Stop going back to the corner!
One, two, three!
Get back on him!
-Two, man!
-Get back on him!
-Come on, man!
What you jumping up for?
- Come on. Work!
Stop holding him!
- Come on, Peanut!
- Hold your ground!
- There you go!
- Come on, man.
-I told him to eat.
Work!
- He just swinging
just to be swinging, man.
Oh, my God.
This is terrible.
That's terrible.
That's terrible.
-Ring four, bout two.
Your winner, out of the
red corner, Ragahleak Bartee.
-Was you satisfied with that?!
'Cause I sure ain't satisfied
with that, man!
I gave you instructions
on what I wanted you to do.
So listen to me
and listen to me clear.
You a counterpuncher!
I want you to counterpunch!
That's not your fight!
That was so disgusting,
I couldn't even watch it!
You are a highly decorated
amateur.
You want to tie
and you gonna fall like that?!
I specifically told you
before you go in that ring,
Peanut, be patient!
You got in there and grabbed
for three rounds?
Who taught you that?!
Don't give me that
tomorrow, man.
- Peanut's fight yesterday,
I felt disappointed
because I know he can do better
than that.
Like, he didn't give his all
yesterday.
I think he was tired and stuff
because he didn't really eat
the night before he made weight.
Having brothers is important
to me because before the fights,
we dap each other up,
we motivate each other.
You can say they're my family
because they're here for me.
My real brother, like, he lives
in Florida, I think, or Georgia.
And he's not there for me
like Twin and Peanut are.
I think our relationship
is bigger than boxing
because we, like,
we love each other.
But at the same time,
we love the sport.
- Hi. This is Walter Manigan
calling again
for the D.C. Department of Rec.
Anybody that give up
their free time,
anybody give up their finances,
anybody that sacrifice
as much as I sacrifice,
I feel like that they
deserve it, you know?
I deserve my own gym.
You know what I'm saying?
I done paved the way.
This program has been
successful.
I came out of nowhere
with kids from ground zero
and won national champion.
You got some coaches
been coaching
for the last 15, 20 years
and never won a nationals.
You know, my rsum,
it speaks for itself.
So do I feel like I'm deserving
of my own gym?
Yeah, sure.
I done sacrificed
seven years of my life...
voluntary seven years
of my life,
going through situations with
my wife about this boxing stuff,
and, you know,
we ain't always on the same page
and we ain't always in agreement
when it comes to the --
'Cause she want her time, too.
You know, so we go through
our little ups and downs.
You know, I sacrifice a lot.
And for the most part...
I'm patient,
'cause I know God gonna bless me
in due time.
So, you know,
people are all like,
"When you gonna get your gym?
When you gonna get your..."
When God want me to have it,
He gonna make sure I have it.
Believe that.
Believe that.
- Uh-huh
Workin' on my rules
- Let's go, baby.
Work time.
- Am I asking for too much?
Like all my vouchers
are all used up
Like, do you really want
a new love?
Feel like you're out here
trying to choose up
Look, I've been out here
doing backflips
Like I was training
for the Olympics
-Oh, beautiful boxing, man.
Working on my rules
Working on my rules
Rule number one
- Boom.
There you go.
Good fight.
Oh, man.
Peanut looked good.
He looked real good.
- And your 101-pound
Junior Olympic champion,
out of the blue corner,
Fernando Vasquez!
- Hey, Peanut, man.
This is Coach Walt, man.
I just wanted to let you know,
man, that I love you, man.
You know what I'm saying?
I'm not worried
about the results.
Let's just get back to the gym,
man, work on a few things, man,
see if we can get back
to square one.
-So, another game it is.
Come on.
What game y'all want to play?
- Man, we got $40.
So what game y'all want to play?
- We gonna start at that one
first.
- Oh!
Come on!
You look clean, Quincey.
Who the best shooter?
- Me!
- Let's be honest
Am I...
Am I in the move?
Can I still improve?
I got no time
I got things to lose,
I got life to choose
- It's not the drop.
It's the height.
- Don't you fight?
- Huh?
- Don't you fight?
- Yeah.
- It's better than doing this.
It's better than doing this.
- If you kiss him
right on the cheek --
- I'm not doing that.
That was slick, though.
That was smooth.
- I was just trying to see
what y'all gonna do.
Boy, I'm not scared of this.
I'm built for this, man.
Peanut.
- Look at his face.
Look at his face.
Oh, my God.
We really about to do this.
-Straight face the whole time.
- Close your eyes!
- Hey, Peanut, close your eyes!
- I'm about to on myself.
- I still can't go!
Hey, bro, I'm --
- Hey, man, get me out.
Get me out.
-Hey.
-Man, you a punk, for real.
Yo, you screamed
like a girl, dawg.
- I mean, we'll see when the --
Yeah.
- You know a lot of these people
traveled to they come here?
You hear me?
-They trippin'.
- I ain't gonna travel
all the way to, like, Scotland
just to come here.
- I got no time
I got... to prove
I got things to lose
I got life to choose
Let's be honest
Am I really schooled?
Am I still a fool?
If I keep it cool?
I got no signs
Tell me what to do
Show me somethin' new
Show me somethin' true
Let's be honest
Am I...
Am I in the move?
Can I still improve?
I got no time
I got... to prove
I got things to lose
I got life to choose
Let's be honest
Am I really schooled?
Am I still a fool?
If I keep it cool
I got no signs
Tell me what to do
Show me somethin' new
Show me somethin' true
Show me a sign
-Quiet down, y'all.
Um, I just wanted to
bring to y'all attention
that I had to go to Quincey's
school the other day
'cause of his behavior.
He didn't know I was coming.
I'll always teach y'all
about character,
about leadership, about morals,
and about principles.
And out of everybody,
I was totally surprised
that it was Quincey.
As quiet as he is
around here in this gym,
he in school
making all this noise.
That's not a reflection
of what I'm teaching.
Whenever you do something,
it's a reflection of me.
I done messed up so much
in my life.
I got to give back, man.
I don't want y'all to see --
I don't want y'all to go though
my life experiences.
I don't want y'all to have to
experience jail.
I don't want y'all to have to
experience using drugs.
That's not what I want
for y'all.
I spent half of my life in jail.
This is the longest I've been
on the street.
I've been on the street
going on seven years.
I have never been on the street
this long.
Y'all keep me strivin'.
Y'all keep me pushin'.
Y'all motivate me.
You know why?
I know y'all depending on me.
This is where I'm depending
on y'all.
So I need y'all
just as much as y'all need me.
I get up every morning.
I go to work. I'm tired.
For some odd reason,
when I get to the gym,
I got all the energy
in the world because of y'all.
I just want to make
a difference, man.
Peanut, Quincey, uh...
I love all y'all.
But Peanut and Quincey,
I guess 'cause since we've been
together so long
and me not being the father
figure in my own kids' life,
and I actually get --
I got to watch y'all grow.
See, I stayed in and out
of jail.
I didn't get to watch
my boys grow every day.
I watch y'all grow every day,
man.
That means so much to me, man.
It's like -- It's like --
I feel like y'all are my sons
for real.
I love y'all,
man, for -- for real.
Y'all don't know how much y'all
made a difference in my life.
I talked to you this weekend,
Peanut.
I told you.
I know you're getting older.
If there's anything you need
or I can assist you with,
let me know, man.
It's a blessing for me, man,
to be a part of y'all life.
That's a blessing to me, man.
God blessed me with y'all.
He knew something had to keep me
on the right path.
-Head up.
Head up.
Want some water?
-Yeah.
I fell back, man.
I fell back in the cracks.
Fell into the cracks, man.
So in order for me to get up
the next day to go to work,
I had to take a Percocet.
The first time that I took it --
I had took it,
and made me feel like
I was on some PCP or something.
So I told myself
I wasn't gonna take them again,
which I started back --
That was the only way
I was able to go to work.
And gradually, gradually,
I started taking more
to the point where I was taking
20, 25 Percocets a day.
You know, that's almost
$2,800 a month.
So it led me back to my drug
of choice, which is --
which is cocaine.
And, you know, that's where I'm
at today, struggling with that.
Wop Wop was gonna be the one
that I get to watch grow
every day, and...
I seen Wop Wop --
I did see Wop Wop last week.
There's no --
There's no communication,
you know, on my part.
I don't see him, you know?
Wop Wop used to be with me
every day.
Go to the gym every day.
You know?
That was my little man.
I probably see
Wop Wop probably --
might be four times a month,
man.
And the crazy part about it,
whenever he see me,
he still want to go with me.
You know, he don't know
what's going on.
I fell back, man.
I fell back in the cracks.
Fell back in the cracks, man.
- Why you always act like you got
attitude?
What's wrong?
Lift your head up.
Walt is a good man.
I know this is a dark --
He's in a dark place right now.
Like, if you asked my kid
where his father at right now,
like... he think he out of town
or something like that,
like, boxing out of town.
How do you explain that to them?
Like, I don't try to put
a lot of pressure on him,
but I do tell him
that he play a big part
in a lot of people's life.
He's been striving for years,
like, even before we've met,
so this is what I know.
This is while he's been wanting
his own gym
and things like that.
And he's like,
"Yeah, I'm gonna do this.
You know,
I'm doing all the right things
that I can possibly do
as far as everything, you know?
My family, my household,
the gym,
the kids, the community,
and it's like it's not happening
for me.
So when am I gonna get
my break?"
And I just feel like he came
to a point where he felt like
that he wasn't gonna get it.
Or I don't know if it was taking
too long for him or what,
but he just...
I don't know.
He just probably gave up.
- Hand me a white V-neck --
a white V-neck T-shirt.
Large.
Large.
- We had some fights
on the 14th of this month.
No Peanut.
No Quincey.
Everybody's looking for Peanut
and Quincey.
We didn't know
what to tell them, but, um...
I was very frightened.
But we knew when Walt
wasn't showing up at the gym,
we knew something was going on.
We knew something wasn't right.
So if one coach is falling,
I must rescue them.
That's -- I guess that's
what God saved me for.
I just --
I can't watch them go to waste.
Coach sick right now.
He don't mean to let y'all down.
The street got him.
You know --
You know what I mean, right?
You want to tell me what
you think I'm talking about?
-Like, drugs and stuff.
-Yeah.
Selling or using?
-Using.
-Yeah.
- Like, I don't know
what to decide.
- Your mind spinning, right?
- Yeah. Like, I don't know --
- Confused.
And it can confuse you.
Before you know it,
it can make you say, "I quit."
'Cause what it's doing,
it can take the fun out of it.
You know what I'm saying?
I know it seemed strange when
we went to the fights this week
and nobody see y'all.
- Yeah.
- I mean, y'all the baddest
fighters in there.
Everybody worried about y'all,
man.
Everybody.
We miss y'all.
And y'all aren't supposed to be
at home.
Y'all supposed to be in there
tapping bodies, man.
Something happened to y'all,
I'd lose my mind.
I don't want to see y'all
mess up.
'Cause in Southeast,
y'all can easy get off track.
And you know what's out there.
Look at Coach.
We need y'all back, man.
I miss gloving y'all up...
putting on that body bag.
I miss y'all.
We're going back home.
We going back to Ferebee Hope.
-I'll just get back with people
I really, like, mess with,
to be honest.
Get back with Twin.
-Y'all need to be in that gym.
Can't nobody stop y'all.
Can't nobody beat y'all, man.
I know there's a lot of people
right now...
...watching this saying,
"I done the same mistake."
Them drugs, selling drugs
don't get you nowhere.
I love them little kids.
- Unh
What if all this
was a little lie?
Ooh
What if all my sins
never met a god?
Oh
Would you be prepared?
Would you be surprised?
- Oh
- Only then would you realize
Oh
- Hi, y'all.
I heard y'all box.
How y'all about to come
through all that
Who y'all box for?
Who y'all box for?
Yeah, that's small.
That ain't nothing, boy.
You messing with me.
- I ain't mess nothing up.
I'm a ladies' man.
I bring attention
everywhere I go.
I ain't mess nothing up.
I ain't mess nothing up.
It ain't on me.
- I just feel like we in this,
like, small, like --
This is like a... I don't know.
Like this is a --
We're in a position right now,
like, we're stuck right now,
but we got to find a way out
right now.
And, um, I see myself --
Well, I still see myself,
like, in the future,
still probably being a champion,
the pros, and --
Yeah.
Nobody can tell me that.
What you talking about?
What you laughing for?
You ain't saying nothing.
What you talking about?
-We're so tough out there.
And when you're tough,
don't nothing stop you.
We seen a lot of fighters
get tricked in the streets
'cause they think the street
is what's really happening.
But I tell them it's nothing
but a --
It's a dream.
Ain't nothing good out there.
And I let them know
they can be somebody.
Just believe in their self.
- Oh
- Stay in the gym...
and you'll be all right.
See you at the Olympics, baby.
Can't nobody stop you.
Lyfe Style.
- Oh
Look up, look up, look up
The sky is falling
She's falling
For you
Look up, look up, look up
The sky is falling
She's falling
For you
Take her hand
Brother
Ooh
Here's your chance
- Ooh, oh
- Unh
What if all this
Was a little lie?
Ooh
What if all -- all --
all my sins
Never met a god?
Unh
Oh
Would you --
Would you be prepared?
Would you be surprised?
Oh
Only then would you realize
Oh
Look up, look up, look up
The sky is falling
She's falling
For you
Unh
Look up, look up, look up
The sky is falling
She's falling
For...