Midtown Youth Academy Founder, Eugene R. Hughes

Walking under its peeling sign and into 14th Street’s Midtown Youth Academy feels like walking into a museum. The well-traversed wood floors give the room a musty odor and decades worth of photographs and posters adorn the faded walls. Shelves of books line one wall while a row of personal computers line the other. But the institutional feeling goes away as soon as one sees the boxing gym in the back of the room, with young fighters hard at training. While Midtown has nearly 40 years of history behind it, there is nothing anachronistic about this space or the people in it.

At the center of all this, literally and figuratively, and usually sitting at his paper littered desk, is Eugene R. Hughes, the distinguished 75-year old gentleman whose spirit is embodied in Midtown. He uses boxing as a way to draw kids in so that he can affect true change in their lives.

“Number one, boxing is a vehicle,” he declared. “It’s a vehicle to get you somewhere you have never been.”

As he sat down for an interview with DCist, Hughes was hard at work planning the 23rd annual Mayor’s Cup Invitational Amateur Boxing Tournament. The competition takes place this Friday and Saturday at the Kennedy Recreation Center. Sixteen teams from the region will compete, and Hughes expects Mayor Fenty to make an appearance to open the tournament.