INDIANAPOLIS — On Thursday afternoon, Anthony Sims visited George Washington High School.
“I’m here to talk to you, to tell you don’t let your location dictate where you go,” Sims told the students.
He's also talking to them about the ongoing gun violence in the community and introducing them to boxing.
“Boxing’s cool, boxing’s fun. You can get a scholarship for boxing. You win or lose, you can come back the next day,” Sims said. “But here’s the thing, once you kill someone – once you smoke somebody, you go to prison. The rest is history.”
Sims grew up on the west side of Indianapolis and started boxing at the age of six.
“I took it seriously and ended up moving to Vegas with the Mayweathers,” Sims said.
Sims’ career has taken him all over the world. In 2012, he was an alternate on the U.S. Olympic team and as a professional, he’s 23-2 with 20 knockouts.
"Boxing is the only place where it’s 50-50. In day-to-day life, anything can happen to you, but at least in boxing it’s right in front of you," Sims said.
Sims wants kids in Indy to learn lessons to from boxing. He's hosting his first event on Saturday called Naptown Rumble.
“Right now, kids in Indy don’t respect authority. They don’t want to listen, they’re hardheaded and they think they’re tough,” Sims said. “Boxing will teach you on a scale of how tough you are when you hop in that ring.”
The event also features Indianapolis boxers. Sims wants to help put Indianapolis on the map for the sport.
“It comes around all 360. My dream was to go to LA and now my dream is to come back home and do the same things I was doing there, back here. It feels great to be back home,” Sims said.
Naptown Rumble is on Saturday at Arsenal Tech High School. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., with the first fight starting at 7:30 p.m.
Click here to purchase tickets. Use the discount code ‘Naptownrumble.’
