Sarasota Boxing Club, Florida

The photographs in this series are of the boxing matches which take place on the outskirts of a small American town. Mostly Blacks, but also Hispanics and Whites, spend their free time here, fighting in the ring. The sense of determination, enthusiasm, and courage, not to mention the continual striving for excellence, is strong and highly palpable when you spend time here. Boxing in this place becomes a sport in the right sense of the word; a place where losing does not mean a defeat but just another opportunity to train intensively and fight again. The best ones, the ones to survive these rounds, go to the next level: a place outside this provincial club where it is no longer about a friendly match, but about a hard professional fight.