By Thomas Gerbasi

Antoine Douglas has already won. No matter what the final result reads after his November 6 ShoBox bout in Las Vegas against Les Sherrington, the 23-year-old middleweight prospect has won a fight no one expected him to in life.

That’s usually the prelude to a tale common in boxing, of not having enough money, attention or help growing up and finding solace and a new start in the ring. Douglas was a premature baby born to a mother who was addicted to drugs. If he lived, he was going into a world no child should have to wade through. But he wasn’t expected to live at first, and when he started showing signs that he was going to make it, walking or talking wasn’t going to be part of the deal.

He lived. And he walks, he talks, and punches people better than most, making him the kind of young athletes that could one day wear a world championship belt and have a life no one ever dreamed he would have.

“This goes back to our ancestry,” Douglas said. “We come from a family of fighters. My mother suffered from addiction, but when she ran in the street, she tussled with almost everybody. And her great-grandmother before her, she knocked out someone before. The talent and everything, we learned that, but we were fighters to begin with. That’s in our blood.”

Douglas’ sister Tyrieshia is one of the top female fighters in the world, one who, like Antoine, competed in the 2012 Olympic trials. Both survived the foster care system, physical abuse, hunger, and every other bad thing you can think of that those born into their situation, but you don’t hear any complaints. Douglas, who has removed the “0” from the records of Thomas “Cornflake” Lamanna and Istvan Szili by knockout in his two most recent bouts, can talk about boxing and his place in the division all day. But if you do ask him about his life before the sport entered his life when he was ten, he is more than willing to share his journey, probably because he knows the potential is there to reach someone who is going through everything he once did.

“You call it hard, I call it life,” he said. “I’m not big on making excuses or taking the easy route out or anything like that. I’m also big on striving to be different. Satisfaction is for suckers. You can easily satisfy yourself. So be different and surprise yourself. Not many people challenge themselves to do that.”

Douglas found his way out in boxing, but once his life outside the ring settled into a more pleasing groove, he was eventually forced to decide whether to pursue the sport or go to college, with his grades in high school ensuring that this was a legitimate tug of war for his future. He chose the ring, correctly surmising that while college will always be there, the window for a pro athlete to succeed is a lot smaller. His subsequent goals were clear.

“I’m working for something that’s bigger than me,” he said. “I do this for myself, but also for a better future. I want to have a family, I want to have kids, and based on what I’ve been through, I know that I don’t want them to have to live that lifestyle.”

He’s on the verge of big things. Another win on the ShoBox platform puts him in the living room of Showtime subscribers once more, and with his entertaining style, charisma and compelling story, he’s a natural to make that leap to the next level in 2016. Douglas is ready too.

“I do believe it,” he said. “And it’s exciting because this is what you work for. I’ve been boxing for over ten years, including my amateur career, and when you work for it, you get here and it’s like ‘now is the time.’ The hard work has been done, and there’s plenty more of it to do, but you got here, so keep going. Why stop now? You got to where you wanted to go, now go get it.”

He’s in one of the sport’s hottest divisions, one that can eat up a young prospect if they’re not moved correctly. Douglas appears to be on the right track so far, and when you throw in a maturity few 23-year-old athletes can muster, he’s as much of a can’t miss as you can get in this unpredictable game.

“Since the age of 14, when I was an amateur, I knew the consistency and the perseverance and the determination and will that I needed in order to make this thing happen. I understood it for a long time, so now it’s just to stay consistent with it.”

Given his past history, that shouldn’t be an issue, and it’s a lesson in perseverance that he wants to share with those who need it. And he knows he’s already reaching youngsters in his community.

 

“I know there’s an impact,” Douglas said. “I’ve got an older brother who works at a boarding school for troubled kids in Baltimore, and he was telling me that he shared my story with the boys there. He said one kid, his family didn’t support him and he felt like he had nothing to live for. He was on the verge of wanting to commit suicide. Then he said ‘Mr. Douglas, when you shared your brother’s story with us, it made me decide that there was something better for me.’ I was a living testament for him. It doesn’t matter what you go through or what you’ve been through, there is something on the other end if you just work and be patient and stay consistent.”

Having that kind of effect on just one child may be worth even more than the world championship “Action” is pursuing.

“That’s a big thing for me, being able to put a smile on a child’s face,” he said. “I’ve been through it, I know what it’s like. So I understand, while higher-ups may not understand why this kid is troubled. You can’t be some rich, blue-chip guy who tries to talk to these kids and think they’ll understand you or take heed to what you’re saying, because you haven’t been where they’ve been and you haven’t experienced the pain. To them, you’re talking out the side of your neck, and you’re basically there because it’s part of your job. You don’t really care for them. So when I have a story I can share with them and I can give them hard evidence that I’ve been there and hard evidence that I’ve made it out, they can understand and maybe believe in me and believe that they can be just like me or better.”

Yeah, Antoine Douglas is already a winner.

“I wake up every day smiling,” he said. “I’ve had a hard life, but there are plenty of people who still haven’t found their thing or found their way out. And there are people who have had a harder life than mine, so don’t take pity on me.”