RED LAKE, Minn. - A boxing brotherhood on a Native American reservation in northern Minnesota is giving young men a place to train intensively and learn how to fight hard.
Minnesota Public Radio reports that the men on the Red Lake Indian Reservation see boxing as a means to come to terms with the past and present.
Antonio Varney is one of the reservation's boxers. The 16-year-old aspires to go to the 2020 Olympics. Dubbed Tony Boy, Pretty Tony and Lightning, Varney has won 20 fights in just a few years.
Varney's uncle, Mike Donnell, brought him to the gym when he was 7 years old. Donnell says the gym is sponsored by the tribe and free for everyone to use. Most of the gym's patrons are young men who stop by after school.