WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 19: Eugene Hughes sits in his electr

WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 19: Eugene Hughes sits in his electric scooter as he teaches young D.C. boxer, Fayid Ishaq, 18, who was training at Midtown Youth Academy on December 19, 2013 in Washington, DC. Whether he will creek to the front gate using a cane or scoot on over in his motorized wheelchair, Eugene Hughes still relishes unlocking the gates to the Midtown Youth Academy along the 14th Street corridor. Hughes is 76 years old. He grew up in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, learning to fight on the streets in the District. So swift was his punch that he boxed in the Golden Gloves as a teenager. The way he tells it, Hughes moved to California, got into some trouble, and ended up spending 27 months in jail. By the early 1970s, he was back home in DC and eager to help young people lead productive lives. So he started the Midtown Youth Academy and dedicated the rest of his life to helping troubled youth discover the keys for their own success. He gave boxing lessons; he found tutors; he installed computers so they could learn. The remnants of more vibrant days at the youth academy are still there. Framed photos of his old students, proud and strong, crowd the walls. Square-shaped computer monitors sit next to the processors that used to power them, alongside tangles of wires. The lights are dim; the ceilings is missing some tiles. But sometime, past his spare wheel chairs and behind a curtain, there are young people still from the neighborhood, ready to learn how to box. They will soak in any lesson they could from the white-haired man in the wheelchair, his commands strong although his voice is weathered with age. Outside these walls, theres a different Washington. Popping up on a street once ravaged by riots are condos and CrossFit gyms and spinning studios. The academy is now sandwiched between a gay bar that hosts a bocce league and a pizza place that tops its pies with argula and shaved grana padano. But the idea of a developer buying the youth academy makes Hughes want to clench his fists. This is still his place, and he still believes in his mission. Over the past few months, Hughes has been in and out of hospitals and nursing homes. He says hes eager to come back to his building on 14th street and continue working for the community. He is still a boxer; and boxers never go down without a fight.(Photo by Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty Images)