HOUSTON – After two Houston teenagers were shot and killed near their high schools, 4 Corners Boxing Gym on the north side of the city, is stepping up to offer free youth boxing programming aimed at steering kids away from violence.
The deaths of 15-year-old Royce Witchet and 17-year-old LePaul Warren Jr. rocked the Houston community. Warren’s family held a remembrance walk and called for active mentorship and expanded youth programming — a call that 4 Corners Boxing Gym answered.
Their goal? To teach kids the importance of their actions while helping them recognize how much they can contribute to society.
Boxing as a path to discipline
For some, boxing has already proven to be life-changing. Levar Adams Jr. says the sport reshaped his entire outlook.
“Boxing definitely changed my whole perspective on life. It helped me with discipline. It helped me be a better person. You know, learn how to control myself. Most importantly, once I started boxing, it helped me a lot, and I distanced myself from the trouble.”
That kind of transformation is exactly what gym part-owner Gee Githoro and Adams Jr.’s father, Levar Adams Sr., hope to replicate for Houston’s youth.
A father’s fight
For Adams Sr., the stakes are deeply personal. As a single father, he has seen firsthand how quickly a young person can head down the wrong path without proper guidance — even his own son was not immune.
Adams Sr. described the challenges his son faced at a young age, and how he very easily could have ended up down the wrong path.
“One bad decision is over with, you know. He’d been through a lot, real young. He’d been through a house being shot up. He’d been through, you know, police raids.”
Adams Sr. says the absence of a positive role model creates a dangerous void.
“If you’re not in their life, they’re going to go to the street to get motivated. And somebody that’s on the street is going to be that mentor, but it’s going to be in a bad situation.”
Why boxing works
It may seem counterintuitive to use a combat sport to address community violence — but Adams Sr. says the discipline learned in the ring is exactly the point.
“When they boxing in the ring, you know they talk trash to each other… I’m gonna do this to your mom. I’m gonna do this to your dad. That’s not gonna faze him,” Adams Sr. said. “But to a kid on the street, you say that to them, and they don’t have that discipline. What you think they’re gonna do? They’re gonna run to gun violence and try to hurt you.”
Adams Sr. also notes that coaches are uniquely positioned to spot kids who may be struggling emotionally.
“Because when you’re a coach, you can actually see certain things like that. You know, you could look at a kid and like, okay, he’s kind of disturbed.”
And the earlier that mentorship begins, the better.
“Once you start that at an early age, like it basically sticks with you.”
A renovated space, a long-term mission
Githoro says a renovated space will be ready by November 1, where youth will have access to several months of free programming in a safe, structured environment. But Githoro is clear that solving youth gun violence requires more than a temporary fix.
“We’re working with these council members, we’re working with these congressmen to be able to have these funds, to be able to have these resources, to be able to have the community come together, so we can have that opportunity for these kids, you know, to be able to train for free.”
For Githoro and Adams Sr., the message is simple: investing in young people today is the only way to build a safer future for everyone.
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