[gentle guitar music]
- Mark Antonio Daniels Jr.: Boxing.
It's been a tradition.
It's been around for a really long time
and a lot of Natives, we've always been in it.
It's just what we're known for.
We're fighters, we're warriors.
We're not quitters.
[Mark hitting punching bag]
We've been in this since we were kids,
so we are family here.
[gentle string music]
The one thing that my dad tries to establish is that
when you come here, you don't have to be scared,
you don't have to be nervous.
He wants everybody to see their potential
and to be well-minded and good-spirited.
We don't take anything away from anybody.
Everybody has their own style, we're all made differently.
I like to be quick, nimble, and elusive.
Whereas our heavyweight, William Alloway,
he has a lot of speed for a big dude,
and he's very good at blocking.
My brother, Marcus, he's come a very long way.
He stayed in it.
He's had every opportunity
to take a break or go do what he wants to do,
but he wants to come back here.
I think he's got something to prove.
That's Richard.
He comes from Flambeau.
He has the same potential as me.
It's just, he's around different people than I am.
He doesn't have that constant support to keep telling him
to keep going, to keep doing what's right.
- Mark Sr.: Go!
- But we try to be there to help each other, push each other.
You know, if somebody's struggling,
we'll come back and help them.
[hip-hop music]
When it starts, it's like, "Okay, here we go.
"This is what I've been training for."
It's time to put everything into use.
Go in there, feel him out, see what he's gonna do.
[crowd cheering]
- Stand your guard, boom, boom, boom.
Stay in the pocket.
There you go, there you go!
[crowd cheering]
- It's always about survival, it's about being disciplined,
and you have to take those ways
and bring them into your lifestyle too.
So, when you become a smarter fighter,
you start thinking about life,
and it makes you more disciplined, more relaxed.
I can usually just brush things off.
Where if a guy, he gets in my face or something
it's easy for me to just walk away
and say, "Hey, it's not worth it."
You know, you lose your temper, you lose.
My goal is to show all of my people what we're capable of.
We may not be the warriors that were back then,
but we're still warriors in our own way.
We're still fighters.
I box for my people.
Not only Potawatomis, all Natives,
I fight for them.
I fight for my kids.
I fight for my dream.
I fight for a reason to get up every day.