OCBC began in 1998 in the garage of the Hatley family home where Greg Hatley Sr. trained kids from around the neighborhood. Hatley felt that boxing was a great vehicle for helping these at-risk youths; the structure and discipline of the sport could provide them with guidance unavailable in the poor and broken homes from which many of the kids came.
As Hatley saw the positive impact on his neighborhood, he quit his fourteen-year career as a firefighter to devote all his attention to his gym, working full-time as a boxing coach. "I was traveling to other neighborhoods to put out their fires while my own community burned," Hatley said. "This is my calling."
The gym now boasts an enrollment of 50 and provides local inner-city boys and girls amateur boxing training, educational assistance, and counseling for the boxers and their families. Membership fees are nominal, and if a family qualifies for state assistance, membership is free.
Oak Cliff Boxing Club gives youths a healthy, competitive environment where high levels of discipline, respect and good sportsmanship are the standard. These fundamental principals have produced four National Champions, who have won fourteen National Championships, and two International Champions. OCBC is the founder of the National Invitational Black Gloves tournament, now entering its tenth year.
A documentary film focused on the gym has been in production since 2002. Titled, Sweet Science – a Boxing Documentary, the film will be released in the spring of 2008.
