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EUTAWVILLE - Some of the most famous athletes in the world have emerged from the ranks of United States Amateur Boxing and Olympic competition - Ali, Foreman, Holyfield. Only time will tell if the name "Sellers" joins that list.

"Motivated. Dedicated. Focused." Those are the words Coach Dexter Ladson of Eutawville's FML Boxing Club uses to describe local lightweight boxer Jeremy Sellers, 18.

Sellers recently won the state title in his 132-pound lightweight class, along with entry into the USA Boxing Southeast Coast Regional Championships this weekend, Feb. 22-23, in Augusta, Ga. Winning there would advance Sellers to the National USA Boxing Championships March 9-16 at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. And, that is where the next boxers will be chosen to represent the U.S. in the Olympics.

If he advances that far, Sellers would be Eutawville's FML Boxing Club's first boxer to qualify for the Olympics.

"But that's not what it's all about for me," Sellers says. He's been boxing for three years and says it's really turned his life around.

"I started boxing because I was watching TV and I admired the boxers I saw," he said. "But I didn't take it that seriously at first. I took about a year off after my first match, because I wasn't ready to give it the effort.

"But then one day, I thought, 'This is something I could do,'" he continued. "I got into it. I set my mind to it. I got focused."

Sellers said he found himself getting into shape in many areas of his life. "I got fit. I have more energy. I got my homework done. And it k.jpg me out of the streets," he said.

"This is a good place to be," Sellers said of the FML Boxing Club. "You get a lot of support, and if you need something, they're there for you."



Video info: FML's Timothy Ott battles Lonnie's Coy Lambert and Palmetto's James Steen stops Rock Hill's Lorenzo Crawford. Also, FML Boxing's Dexter Ladson speaks about the Saturday, June 9 fights.

Sellers said he now devotes about three to four hours a day practicing and working out and completes two sessions a day on the weekends.

"He's hungry for it," Ladson said.

Ladson, holder of the South Carolina Amateur Boxing Masters Division Super Heavyweight Championship and a captain in the Orangeburg County Sheriff's Office, opened the doors of the FML Boxing Club in 1995 with a sole purpose in mind. "It's all about the kids," he says.

The club provides "a safe haven for these kids," he says, "and a place where they learn not only boxing technique but discipline, teamwork, mentoring and leadership skills."

Ladson named his club in honor of his grandparents, Frank and Maggie Ladson, who he says gave him the same kind of mentoring and guidance he's now dedicated to passing on.

"I've been blessed to have worked with at least 100 kids in this program," Ladson said, "and once you get them hooked on this program, they develop a kind of confidence that will take them anywhere in life. They learn what they can do, and then they turn around and pass that on to the next one coming up. 'Lead by Example,' we call it."

Ladson said he sees too many of youth incarcerated, or picked up in body bags.

"Our motto here is that you can't pull a trigger with boxing gloves on," the coach said. "These ropes are a two-way street and give way to let you enter and exit again when you're ready - but cell bars do not."

Ladson said many people are surprised to learn that amateur boxing ranks as the safest contact sport.

"Our whole organization, including timekeepers, judges, referees, clerks, tournament chairs, registration chairs and other organization office holders on up to our president, and even the physician on hand ... are all volunteers who are here for the love of the sport, to give back to it and to help the next boxer pursue his or her dream," he said.

That's right -- "her" dream.

Angela Gladney, 20, has been boxing for two years now. "I played sports all through high school, and then my four years were up, and I didn't know what to do," Gladney says. "Then my dad introduced me to boxing. People look at me now and ask me why I wasn't doing this long ago. They tell me I have a lot of heart, a lot of potential. All I know is, I stepped into that ring, and it became my dream. I'm going to keep following it."

Marge Hammond, secretary of the S.C. Association of USA Boxing, said having women in boxing is "really quite remarkable when you consider USA Boxing has governed men's amateur boxing in the United States since 1888 but only lifted its ban on women's boxing in October 1993."

She added, "It's been 32 years since I became involved in this sport, and it's gratifying to see the change. I can remember being told that 'Ladies should stay in the kitchen,' while working the 1978 Nationals ... But this year I'm being given the tremendous honor of being the first woman inducted into The Carolina's Boxing Hall of Fame."

The Hall of Fame, located at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., honors amateur boxers and boxing supporters from North and South Carolina.

"I'm thrilled and honored to be included in that group," Hammond said.

The formal induction and dinner will be held Friday night, April 4, in the Speedway Club's Grand Ballroom.

T&D Correspondent Diane Gainer can be reached by e-mail at bcdthinktank@yahoo.com.

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