In Kansas City, boxing is very much alive.

“I want to practice so I can get much better and I can get more fights,” 11-year-old Sajad Mandelawi said as he warmed up outside the ring.

At the Garrison Community Center in Kansas City, children and teens are rolling with the punches. While some kids sparred, others jumped rope and pushed through sit ups.

“We just kind of put the stuff here and people started showing up,” Craig Cummings said.

Cummings is a boxing coach who volunteers his time with the Kansas City Golden Gloves.

About 20 boxers train in the gym each night, learning the fundamentals and how to spar and be successful – even outside of the ring.

“It’s self-discipline. It makes you humble. It can teach a bad kid to be good, and a kid that’s too nice to have confidence in themselves. It fits everybody,” Cummings said.

They are also knocking out the notion that boxing is dead.

Missy Fitzwater is currently ranked number three in the country. She’s at the gym six nights a week, both training and coaching younger boxers.

“Stepping in the ring takes courage – but winning… that’s where everything pays off,” she said.

None of this would be possible if the Kansas City Golden Gloves did not team up with the Kansas City Parks and Recreation Center.Together, the two entities opened two additional boxing gyms around the city. Any youth can go there to practice, learn and train for free.

“Amateur boxing is coming back. It’s getting more popular and more popular,” said Cummings. “I think kids are getting more drawn to it again.”