DETROIT, MI -- No matter what happens to the Downtown Boxing Gym, the relationships between the youth and adults will never be lost.

The relationships fostered by Carlo Sweeney's efforts to keep the fighting space open run so deep that many of the members view each other as family. Sweeney invites fathers to come help coach the children everyday.

"I was raised in a home where I was not related to anyone there," Sweeney said. "To see these guys to come in and work with their fathers – to see fathers in touch with their sons, to see mothers bring their sons and daughters here everyday – I feel good to see that. It's what I always wanted in life."

Two of the many youth that show up to the gym each day have a chance to test their skills in the ring.

Growing up with his father coming in and out of his life, Sweeney can see and feel the impact of how having family involved in the growing process can impact a child's life.

"It's hard to put that into words," Sweeney said. "I'm overwhelmed. Whenever I talk about that – to see fathers and mothers working with their kids – it touches a spot in me. People never see or hear that. When I'm home, I really think about that."

For the members, the gym is very much like an oasis, a source of relief from the hazards of the outside world.

Anthony Flagg feels like the gym kept him on the straight and narrow and – like what Sweeney was looking for in his youth as well – gave him a new direction in life and kept him out of trouble.

"I missed a lot of bad things out on the streets," Flagg said. "The gym is a lifesaver ... It's teaching me how to be a man and stay focused on goals. School's important. You realize the important things in life."

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For Flagg, now an 18-year-old and recent graduate of Detroit Martin Luther King High School, the gym is not only an escape from the perils of the world, but also a place where he can fit in. Everyone in the program is willing to go the distance to keep the kids on the straight-and-narrow road of life.

As far as Flagg is concerned, he knows where he will always belong.

"These are my friends," he said. "Nobody else. They all come here and they are all my friends. Our kids from our high school try to come here and be a part of it. They know that if they aren't a part of something like this, they aren't friends with me."

Just as Sweeney supported his family growing up, Sweeney goes the extra mile to take care of his family at the boxing gym. Whether it is giving a kid a ride home or finding some extra equipment for the kids, he'll do it. Both Davis and Flagg are no strangers to Sweeney's willingness to go above and beyond.

"If I need to be picked up from somewhere, he'll pick me up," Davis said about Sweeney. "It makes me feel special and important because I know he believes in me."

When Flagg had holes in his shoes and they were falling apart, Sweeney showed up the next day after he asked for new boxing shoes with replacements. Flagg also praises how far Sweeney goes for the kids and the families to help keep motivation and spirits high.

"He would do anything for the kids," Flagg said. "Pay the bills, keep the lights on, gas. He pays all the bills. He would do stuff for all of the kids to keep a roof over our heads. We've all been around, tethered for long. So I guess he doesn't want to break that family up."

Doing what he can for the kids is simply in Sweeney's nature; although he'll be the first to pass on the credit though he is well deserved of it.

"In order for me to give kids rides or in order for me to buy kids equipment and shoes, I have to have the help of somebody else," he said. "What I do is, if I have the money, I'll just give it to them, that makes no difference to me."

"Somebody may say, 'OK Khali, come train me today out here at my house or at another gym somewhere,'" Sweeney said. "I would train those people. Probably not making the money that I should be making as a trainer, but I'll do it. Then, I'll donate the money back to the program. I know the people that I'm training, they're doing it just so I can help other people."

With all of the obstacles, equipment, training, tutoring and money issues, Sweeney knows that the greatest accomplishment of his gym transcends the sport of boxing.

"I don't care if they box or not," Sweeney said. "That's not important to me. I want them to graduate from school. I want them to be self-sufficient. I want them to be able to, in any situation, make the best decision without being a follower. I want to create more leaders."

In an even more humbling act of teaching, Sweeney isn't afraid to use his own failures in life as an example to make sure that the kids find their way to reach any goals that they have waiting front of them.

"I went through a lot of pitfalls," Sweeney said. "And I stumbled over them. So when (the kids) say I talk to them, I talk to them about life. Never glorifying anything negative so they'll know to not go down that road."

As the kids continue to move in and out of the program, people like Sweeney will be there to help kids realize their potential in life. Just don't expect Sweeney to take all of the credit.

"I think about it," Sweeney said. "This is bigger than me. It's not just me. It's like, everybody had a part in that. Everybody was in on that. It was something that was deep down inside that was going to succeed anyway. You just needed to focus them in the right direction. I think it was always in the kid from the beginning."

Detroit's Carlo Sweeney has run the Downtown Boxing Gym for youth boxers for the past seven years. MLive reporter Jared Purcell recently visited the gym and found an inspiring program that needs community support. He wrote a series of stories about Sweeney and his boxers, and is asking the community to make a contribution to keep the gym open for years to come.

To make a donation to the club or to find out more information, visit downtownyouthboxing.org