He's Fighting, for His Life

"At least 12 [sacks] a year," Thompson said. "I'd be all-around defensive end, not just sacks. Five INTs. Great run defender, all that."

That was the plan discussed at his grandmother Catherine Thompson's kitchen table when he was a child. Although aunts joked about how "clumsy" Thompson was growing up, he learned to be tough. Ellis Houston, his cousin, remarked that Thompson's first boxing experience came in back-alley fights on Ames Street, off of Minnesota Avenue NE.

"He was always the headliner," said Houston, 32. "He whupped everybody. If there was a problem in the family, he took care of it."

"He was always a fighter," said Thompson's brother, Keith, 36. "He just became a boxer."

Thompson never aspired to become a boxer. He and Catherine had other plans. His grandmother provided stability, insisting he set goals and follow them. She died when Thompson was 11.

"I didn't realize how much I needed her at the time," he said.

Without his grandmother's influence, Thompson lost his focus. He knew his parents, but they were never fixtures in his life. Tony's mother, Regina Yates, died of HIV infection when he was 27. His father is in jail in Virginia and still writes asking for money.

"I send my man money," Thompson said. "He had no role. I love him, I know him and I'm sure if he didn't get caught up in the life he did with drugs, he probably would have been a great man. He's a great guy to know, he's just not worth anything as a father."

Thompson's closest friend remained Keith, a staff sergeant in the Army currently stationed in Tokyo. Ten months younger than Tony, Keith and his brother were inseparable as kids. They had the same parents -- the only two with those parents among Tony's five brothers and five sisters -- and shuffled from home to home together before moving in with Catherine when they were in elementary school.

Despite having little money, Keith never felt poor because Tony cooked and scrapped to provide for him. To this day, Keith's three children eat pancakes because that's what Tony fed him.

"If it wasn't for my brother, I'd probably be in jail myself," Tony said. "I wanted him to look up to me."

At 17, Tony's life changed when he fathered his first son. He dropped out of Spingarn High, joined the Job Corps and earned his GED so he could support the child. When Keith enlisted in the reserves, family members thought Tony would enlist, too. But Tony the father won out over Tony the brother. The brothers split for the first time.