Ann
Believe it or not, I have more male, black males look at me and go, "I do not believe a woman can do that."

And that catches their eye right there.

They be like, that's a girl.

And then they have a whole total respect for women cuz they're like, that's a woman.

And then I have guys that go out and go, "You let a woman train you?"

But then when they bring their friends to see who I am, they be like, "God damn, I see why."

I'm laying the foundation for female boxing.

I'm giving my life for that.

So I think that says something about me, that I'm giving my life for what I believe in.

Cuz I'm not gonna make a lot of money.

But I'm in this gym; I go train at six o'clock.

I'm in this gym from nine to nine, training children.

And people say, "How can you do that and not make money?"

Because money don't make who you are.

The lives you change and the people who know you-people are gonna know me, forever.

[Music in background]

[Hard punches and grunts]

[Whistle blows]

Male (OS)
Come on baby.

[Heavy breathing]

Pops
When I first met Ann, she was about 210 pounds, and she was very evil, out on the streets.

She was a street girl, and she was so mean, I called her the Louisiana swamp thing.

Ann
I was fucking mean.

Because so much had happened to me.

I never had a good childhood, both my parents died.

I was just pissed off.

Mad, knowing that I never got no break at all.  None.

You know, some people just so lucky?

I was the one that was just so unlucky.

Everybody picked on me cuz I was so big.

I was tall, I got picked at all the time.

I never went to a movie as a child, I never went to a baseball game, I never went out to eat; we didn't have the money to do that.

I had a good mother, but I never knew what life was to go to school, and go to ninth grade, tenth grade.

I never learned that much of social skills because I wasn't around nobody.

I never learned how to love nobody cuz it seemed as soon as I loved somebody, then they go away.

So it took me a time when my baby was just, you know-that's the only reason I had that baby.

Is cuz I needed that, and when I had it, I mean.

I had Jennifer and I was like going, how am I supposed to love this baby?

What if she dies, what if she goes away, what if something happened?

And I told myself, I'm gonna love this baby.

Cuz I didn't want to at first, even though that was my daughter.

I just thought if I loved her, cuz everything I loved would go away.

So I had to teach myself how to love my child.

I took care of her, I didn't abuse her ever.

But I had to teach myself how to have that unconditional love for my child, and not be scared that she might die.

And then I had Latonya, and I felt the same way.

And then when I met Pops, I felt the same way.

I never loved a man in my life.

I was like, how can I have unconditional love for this man, and not be scared that something's gonna happen to him?

That's what I have for boxing.

I have unconditional love for boxing, because it allowed me to open my eyes and see.

Because when I would come into the gym and spoil somebody, if they hit me, I would fucking punch them, throw them out the ring, try to kick them, head-butt them, hit them in the nuts, whatever I had to do.

And Pops would say, "Ann, I want you to go home, calm down, and come back tomorrow."

He never said go home, get out of here, and don't come back.

That's why I don't send a kid out of here and tell them, don't come back.

When I met Pops, I had a shotgun on my lap, beer in my hand, hat on backwards, and a cigar in my mouth.

And I said, "What the fuck do you want?"

That's how I was, that aggressive.

"I don't wanna talk to you."

And the way he talked to me; even after I said that, he still talked to me like I was a human being.

I was like, why do you wanna talk to me?

Pops
And it turned into a fine relationship because I loved her.

And she wouldn't listen to nobody, but I could handle her because, she could tell that I loved her.

Ann
I trained for this.

This is who I am.

This is how I pay for my food, my clothes.

I love the feeling; it's a high.

Because it puts you in a battle.

And when you get through, there's no drug, no drink, no nothing that gives you that feeling to know, I was in there, I destroyed someone.

And to know that I trained for six weeks and I prepared myself.

And I mentally, physically-I cut out everything to go to war with that person.

And I look at them like; I don't see the crowd, I don't hear nobody, I don't see nothing.

All I see is in there.

I don't see on the outside.

I'm totally that focused because this is the hardest thing I've ever done in my life.

Ever.  And it's not being brutal, you know.

It's just the hardest thing I ever did.

You can't miss nothing when you box.

Pops
How you feel?

Ann
Pops, when you call time, somebody be standing by for at least a five count.

Box!

Men (OS)
Keep your hands up.

There you go, there you go.

[Punches and grunts]

Men (OS)

Don't go back!  Don't go back!

Pops
Time.

[Clapping]

Ann
I opened this gym a month ago, and I've got a hundred kids in here already.

And I've had parents, business people, people in the community saying they're glad because they been waiting on something like this for a long time.

Because Austin is one of the only cities I ever been in, and I've been all over everywhere, that on the east side or whatever side it is, didn't have a boxing gym that was totally set aside for boxing.

Man
There you go!  There you go!

[Cheering]

Pops
The people that come in here, they have responded good to Ann.

I know this was her third year, everybody say, but, Ann and I get along cuz we know where we come from.

[Hard punches]

Girl
Some kids supposed to go to college, and get a job, and be a lawyer.

And then the kids over in county park are supposed to work at HEBs and Sonics.

Yeah, I'm supposed to be living all that life.

I'm not supposed to be here, and I'm not supposed to be turning pro, and I'm not supposed to be who I am today.

And who I am today is because of Ann and Pops.

[Music and hard punches]

Pops
Right up side the head.

Ann
This is some of the hardest training they ever done in their life.

Some of them be like, "Jesus Christ!"

Most of the older kids, I make them run to 51st street.

That's 3 miles here and back.

Then, they do a hundred push ups, three-hundred sit ups.

I'm trying to teach them more just than boxing.

Anything you do, there is no way to go around it.

You have to put in all this work to be a boxer or you don't wanna be a boxer.

So, most of the time, when you find somebody's willing to put in that amount of work, that let's other people-I can tell their parents, they're willing to work for other things, if you give them a way to work for it.

[Music and hard punches]

Ann
When you have aggresive children; they're aggressive, they're hyper, they want something to do, they want something to get into...

They love to do this kind of stuff.

They wanna be active, they want some hands on, you know what I'm saying?

Then they don't have to go out there to do it.

Men
Last thirty seconds!  Get it up baby!

Girl
This in here, is what they do on the streets.

This is how they prove themselves, but now they don't have to prove themselves anymore.

Ann
I come to the gym and get out all my aggressions.

I try to teach these kids, you can put a pair of gloves on and you can beat the hell out of that bag for ten rounds.

And get all the aggressions; anybody made you mad, anything you're thinking about-you can take it all out on the bag.

Nobody got hurt, nobody died tonight.

[Hard punches and grunts]

[Shouts]

[Crowd laughing]

Pops
It's a special type of person that it takes to be a fighter.

Really, they're really mean people on the street.

But if you channel that energy in a correct way, they get in the ring, and fight, and then get out and shake each other's hand, and then be normal again.

[Laughing]

[Crowd talking]

[Hard punches]

Pops
Time!

Ann
Time!

Crowd
Time!

[Laughing]

Ann
A lot of the kids, you know, they just want somebody to talk to.

And sometimes you have twenty, thirty-five of them, just sitting in the middle of the floor talking.

[Rap music]

[Crowd talking]

Ann
Sometimes, I'm these kids' mother, father, leader, sister, brother; I'm everything.

And sometimes a friend needs to be that to another friend.

More than anything, I'm their friend.

[Rap music]

Ann
I learn things at thirty-two from ten year-olds!

And not just when it comes to boxing.

It comes with, you know, sometimes I might get upset about something.

And I'll have a seven year-old go, "Oh, well, you just blow it off."

And a lot of people look at it and go, "Well, that's just him being seven."

No, he knows.

He sees life different than we do.

And a lot of them, they can see something inside that I'm not doing right from what I'm teaching.

And that's the same way I am.

When I'm on the outside, I can see things that they're not doing right.

So now, I tell myself, how am I gonna cope without boxing?

So I said, I ain't gonna be able to box when I turn forty-five, but I can still be in the gym teaching other children, or teaching people.

If I wouldn't have started boxing, if something wouldn't have settle me down, so I could see what life is all about.

Life might be hard sometimes, and then life might go back hard this time, but I know I know how to survive it.

Pops
Now get another combination on that girl!

[Crowd talking]

Man on mat
She asked me if I was alright!

That's the baddest woman in the world.

[Clapping]

Man on mat
Baddest woman in the world!

[Louder clapping]

[Rap music]