ST. LOUIS — Keith Driscoll is at an age when most people would start slowing down their life.
“I’m 61,” he said.
But Driscoll is picking up the pace. He’s been working on his fitness and since the start of the pandemic he has lost 70 pounds.
“My body has never been in better shape,” he told 5 On Your Side. “I run three miles a day. I might train six days a week.”
He is training to be a competitive boxer. He started getting into the ring at the age of 60.
Driscoll isn’t just boxing to take down his opponents, he also boxes in hopes of lifting his community up.
“There’s too many young people doing the wrong thing,” he said.
He wanted to get troubled kids in Centralia, Illinois doing the right thing. So, he opened Driscoll’s Believers Boxing Academy a couple of years ago. He converted an old auto garage into the gym. The facility is complete with a ring and other boxing equipment.
He believes boxing can teach kids real life lessons.
“The discipline of boxing will change your life,” he said.
He believes boxing will give them the opportunity to see what is possible for their lives.
“To the children that I work with, there’s like a ceiling to what they can do like I only can do this much,” he explained.
The effort to get his point across is one reason why Driscoll puts on the gloves and fights.
“Just to let them know they can do it. I just train and try to practice what I preach. Watch myself more because I know young people are looking,” he said.
If they are watching, they’ve seen Driscoll become a champion. He became the oldest person to win a Golden Gloves title in St. Louis this year. He proved something to himself with the accomplishment.
“A person will never know what they can go through till they go through it,” he said.
He has long believed that if a person puts their mind to it, they can get something done. The message is one he gives to his students.
“I’m so interested in changing people’s minds. Helping them change their minds so they can be better people,” he said.
He hopes what he does in and out of the ring makes a difference in his community. He is vowing to lead the way.
“That’s the kind of life I want to live and lead is that if you want to do it, you can do it, no matter what,” he said.