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Gloves Before Books, a Young Boxer’s Gamble

Nicholas RobinsonBy NICHOLAS ROBINSON

Daniel Martinez, 17, a senior from the Academy for Scholarship and Entrepreneurship in Edenwald, wouldn’t mind dropping out of high school to pursue his sports career as a boxer.

He wants to be the greatest of all time. And so far, on weekdays, he’s invested the time, beginning his training regimen at 4 p.m. until he goes to sleep, and on weekends he trains longer.

As for an alternative plan should things go south, Daniel would rather not think about that. “If I had a backup plan, that means there would be a thought in my mind that I would fail,” he said.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association was unable to provide statistics over how many student boxers make it to a professional level. It did provide data on student athletes transitioning to professional sports. The numbers were low. According to the NCAA, just 0.3 percent of players in men’s basketball, 0.9 percent of football players, 0.5 percent of baseball players and 0.4 percent of men’s ice hockey players go pro.

Steve Leone, a coach at the Academy for Scholarship and Entrepreneurship, prefers student athletes be more realistic about their plans. “They should plan for not being an athlete and go to college,” he said. “High school students can tell when they’re not going to be elite.”

But for Daniel, his boxing career comes first.  “It’s a validation of life and myself. Everything that comes with it in my specific situation, I won’t fail because of it,” he said.

As for college, Daniel intends to stay local for the sake of training. “But if I do go to college, I’d like to go to Fordham so I can stay where I live so I can continue going to the boxing gym I go to,” he said.

Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.

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