Second in a series

Charles Conwell spent more than his share of time riding back and forth on the Ohio Turnpike going from Cleveland to Toledo the past couple of years.

The United States Olympic boxing team member believes it was the proper route to take to find his way to the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

“That’s my second home, Toledo,” said Conwell, a 5-foot-9, 165-pound 18-year-old, who is the youngest member of the U.S. boxing team. “If I’m not at home [in Cleveland] training, I’m in Toledo. I’ve got friends here now that treat me like family.”

Conwell became acquainted with Toledo a few years ago when a friendship was established with Soul City Boxing gym owners/​coaches Otha Jones and his son, Roshawn Jones.

Looking for a gym that could provide him the right kind of environment to hone his boxing skills, they offered him a chance to work out at their gym in the heart of Toledo at 801 Junction Ave.

Training in a gym tucked away in a tough neighborhood where only 37 percent of the parents are high school graduates and 70 percent of the children live in single parent households, Conwell saw Soul City as a hidden gem.

He witnessed plenty of boxers there — some younger and some older than him — training and sparring almost to the point of puking. The smell of perspiration permeates the gym that routinely is packed with young individuals putting in the effort with dreams of becoming an Olympian or world champion.

Conwell, who graduated from Cleveland Heights earlier this year, had done much of his training at the Thurgood Marshall Recreation Center in Cleveland.

“My dad could no longer train me the way I needed to be trained and ever since then I felt like [Soul City] was the place,” Conwell said. “The love they showed at Soul City and the work they put in, it was just a different atmosphere.

“It felt like home every time I would go there.”

Otha and Roshawn Jones have been at the center of making Conwell feel at home in Toledo, a city he previously had visited only a few times before meeting the Joneses. They took him in and made their homes his home to rest and relax.

When it came time for workouts, they didn’t hold back on pushing him to the limit of exhaustion.

“I just have a mental connection with them, and there’s no place in Cleveland like that,” Conwell said.

It’s been roughly two months since Conwell worked out at Soul City gym or the Thurgood Marshall Recreation Center.

He spent that time training at the United States Olympic Training Facility in Colorado Springs, Colo., until the U.S. boxing team flew to Rio, where they will remain until the Olympic Games from Aug. 5-21.

Conwell’s time in Colorado meant working out at least five days a week at a minimum of four hours each day. There was plenty of time focusing on work in the ring, as well as time allotted for training and conditioning.

Working out in the higher altitude was good for Conwell’s overall health. Training in the thin air has improved his stamina and endurance heading into the Rio Games. He’s also been sparring regularly with Olympic fighters from Cuba, Columbia, France, and Morocco.

Roshawn Jones, who also traveled to Colorado Springs and Rio, said the experience Conwell received by working out with potentially some of the fighters he’ll face in the Olympics has been good for building confidence.

Conwell held his own during rounds or sparring with older and more seasoned fighters.

“With his youth, his energy level is great,” Jones said. “With his power, he’s very gifted, one of a kind.

“After sparring with the other guys, they don’t believe he’s 18.”

Conwell considers age as nothing but a number, particularly when it’s time to step in the ring to go toe-to-toe with an opponent.

“You have to be on the top of your game,” he said. “I believe if you do good in sparring, you can do good in the fights.

“I’m out here on a mission, so I don’t really get distracted. We all see each other as equals.”

Conwell, who was 17 when he earned a spot on the U.S. Olympic team, graduated in the spring. He qualified for the Summer Olympics by defeating Columbia’s Jorge Luis Viva Palacios in a semifinal match at the 2016 Americas Qualifier in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in early spring. He won the title, though he only needed a semifinal victory at the qualifier to earn a spot on the team.

“I had all the confidence in the world,” he said of his performance at the qualifier. “I felt like I could beat anybody, and that’s what I went out and did there.”

Jones said Conwell’s youth and relative anonymity makes him an underdog entering the Olympics. Boxers representing Cuba and Ireland in his weight class are considered the favorites.

“Him being from Ohio, it’s not like he’s from New York or California,” Jones said.

“We just have to keep winning.”

Conwell is set to give it his all.

“I’m ready for this to begin,” he said. “I’ve been training for a long time now. I’m ready to showcase my skills to the world.”

Contact Donald Emmons at: demmons@theblade.com, 419-724-6302 or on Twitter @DemmonsBlade.

First Published July 24, 2016, 4:42 a.m.