Nearly a decade ago, in Miami-Dade County, Florida, 11-year-old Daniel Bailey told his grandmother he wanted to check out a boxing gym one day. That's when he fell in love with the ring.
Bailey kept coming back and just never wanted to leave. When he went home, he made an offer to his best friend -- the friend had an old punching bag sitting in his back yard and Bailey had a bike he was more than willing to part with. The two boys made the trade and Bailey spent every night in his own back yard hitting that bag. When he couldn't sleep in the small hours of the morning -- kept awake by thoughts of his goals for the future -- he'd be outside hitting that bag.
When people would walk by and ask him why he was working so hard, Bailey's answer was simple: "To get my Family into a better situation."
Since the day that 11-year-old became enamored with the sport of boxing, he's had a pretty clear mindset: to do great, make history, be remembered forever and to help the people who showed him love along the way.
Today, Bailey is a private first class in the Army, assigned to 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, at Fort Hood. He was in 9th grade when he started in the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps program at his high school and learning about the Army's World Class Athlete Program, and that's where his dream of joining the Army began.
"This is where the best athletes get to serve our country and also represent the Army and our country at the same time in our respective sports," Bailey said. "So that's been my goal since I was in JROTC."
That 11-year-old kid first dreamed about being an Olympic boxer, and it was that 14-year-old young man who realized he can serve his country while working for and accomplishing his goal to box in the Olympics and that the Army can help him along the way.
During his time in the Army, Bailey has already been selected twice for the All-Army Boxing camp, where he won gold in his weight class both times. In 2016, Bailey went with the rest of the gold medalists from All-Army to compete in the Police Activities League National Championship in Oxnard, California, where he won a bronze medal.
Bailey hasn't yet been accepted into the WCAP, but he's hopeful. Most recently, Bailey competed in the 2016 USA Boxing National Championships in Kansas City in December. Competing in the Elite 123 lbs weight class, Bailey fell in the semifinals in a 4-1 decision against Shon Mondragon from Commerce City, Colorado. Bailey won bronze at the tournament, making him the No. 3-ranked boxer in his weight class, nationally.
"It was a great experience, and it was something to put my name out there, for sure," he said. "Nobody knew who I was before, but now they do."
Time is precious to Bailey. Even though the 2016 Olympics finished just five months ago, time is slowly ticking away to prepare for the 2020 Games. The 21-year-old doesn't have the time to spend on the things 21-year-olds usually spend their time on.
"I don't go out anymore or anything like that," he said. "I've put in my mind that the time I use going out, I could be doing film study, running or hitting a 24-hour gym. I'm just trying to really dedicate all my time to training because when I think about it, all those people -- yeah, they're having fun, but one day they're going to be paying money to see me."
For Bailey, most days start at 4:45 a.m. when he arrives at the Iron Horse Dining Facility, where he works as a cook. His schedule is perfectly crafted, so he has plenty of time to get his work done for the Army in the mornings before he hits the gym in the afternoons.
"My unit supports me 100 percent," he said. "When I have a big competition coming up, they give me the time to train really hard for it and they give me that time off so I can go compete and represent the Army. It's a blessing."
He usually wraps up work around 1 p.m. and he'll head home to iron his cook whites, take a shower and get ready for the gym, where he'll arrive 10 to 15 minutes early to get in that extra time.
Every day, Bailey sets a goal for training.
"When I come into the gym, my main agenda is to give it my all and to work harder than I did the day before," he said.
He was taught that if he's not out of breath by the time he leaves the gym, he's not working hard enough. He tries to "destroy" his body to gain the stamina and endurance he needs to outlast his opponents.
"I know when it's time to get into that ring," he said, "it's basically like war."
Bailey's training is in good hands. He trains at J.R. Boxing Club in downtown Killeen, where every wall is adorned with fight posters, posters of the greats like Muhammad Ali and photos commemorating wins by club boxers. A homemade boxing ring fills half the space and mirrors cover two walls. Emblazoned on one are the words, "I am looking at a champion."
Bailey is coached by Jesse Ravelo, a retired Army sergeant major who owns and runs the gym. Ravelo, affectionately called "uncle Jesse" by the boxers in his gym, was an assistant coach for the 1996 and 2012 U.S. Olympic Boxing teams.
Bailey is a hard worker and doesn't get conceited with wins, Ravelo said.
"He's always willing to listen and to improve, and he came here with a good attitude," Ravelo said. "He's third in the nation right now and, even though he went to the nationals, he's still willing to listen and to improve, and everything that we tell him, he does it."
When he's finished with his training for the day, Bailey will help out with some of the kids learning to box at the gym, Ravelo added.
Ravelo has also been a coach for the WCAP since before he retired from the Army in 1997, and he believes Bailey has what it takes to train at that next level.
"If he continues doing what he's doing, he's got good potential for being in the next Olympics," Ravelo said.
Professional boxer Floyd Mayweather was on the 1996 U.S. Olympic team when Ravelo was one of the coaches, and Ravelo sees a little bit of Mayweather in Bailey.
"[Bailey's] got a lot of good hand speeds. He moves pretty well," he said. "He combines his power with his speed."
Bailey describes his fighting style as "defensive." He focuses on staying in the fight and wearing out his opponent.
"If you can't hit me and I'm hitting you, I'm going to win," he said.
He looks up to boxers like Mayweather, Willie Pep and Tevin Farmer. Most of the time, he's watching defensive fighters. Bailey wants to be the greatest defensive fighter, ever.
"So I try to take small pieces from them and put it all into one boxer to try to see what I can get," he said.
Bailey doesn't like the word "if." It's not "if" he makes it to the 2020 Olympics, it's "when." It's not "if" he wins gold, it's "when."
The only "if" Bailey wonders about is if he'll make a bid to win a second gold in 2024. A U.S. men's boxer hasn't won an Olympic gold medal since Andre Ward won the light heavyweight division in 2004.
"So if I win two gold medals, that will put me in the conversation with greats from Cuba like Guillermo Rigondeaux and Teofilo Stevenson," he said. Rigondeaux has two Olympic gold medals, while Stevenson had three.
Despite his distaste for the word "if," Bailey said that, should he not make the 2020 Olympic team, he thinks he might go into the Reserve component of the Army and turn professional.
"It'll still be great having these years of experience," he said. "That's why I'm going to fight as much as I can every week, so I can get as much experience so when I do turn pro, even if I don't get the big goal I was looking for in the amateurs, I'll still go and compete in the top level in the pros.
"And also, I can still represent the Army, because once you join the Army, I feel like it's just going to be a part of you forever."
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