Hunter said that might have been a blessing in disguise. Manigan was trying to balance boxing and the street life when he got arrested. He says his parents were drug addicts and his grandmother, who raised him, died at an early age.
I ain’t have nobody to teach me, nobody to take the time,” Manigan said. Five years ago, both Peanut and Quincey were missing father figures, something Manigan could relate to. I want to raise them from boys to men.”Īnd Manigan is in the perfect position to reach the boys. “So that’s where I come in, being a role model, teaching them about life, about being respectful. There’s just some things they missing in their lives that they can’t control,” Manigan said. Ragahleak "Peanut" Bartee leads members of the boxing team up bleachers at the Washington Highland Recreation Center. The three young fighters, the founding members of the Lyfe Style boxing team, have been together ever since. So one day, I put him out the gym.”īut three days later, Quincey was back, telling Manigan he wouldn’t cry anymore. It didn’t come as easily for Quincey, who was 8 years old when he met Peanut and “Coach Walt.” As Manigan recalls, “Peanut and my son beat him up so bad, he’d go in the corner, he’d cry. In a few months, my son was in trouble,” Manigan said. “Even though Peanut wasn’t skillful at first, he just had it in him. The two are the same age, and though Rashad had more experience, the coach was struck by Peanut’s tenacity. Peanut began by sparring with Manigan’s son, Rashad.
In 2016, his training partner and best friend Quincey Williams, 12, won the 90-pound championship at junior nationals. Peanut, now 14, won the 75-pound intermediate division Junior Olympic national championship in 2015. “I just looked at him, and I said, ‘There’s something special about this kid.’ ” There, he spotted Ragahleak “Peanut” Bartee, 9 years old, in the corner wrapping his hands. About a year after he got out of Jessup, Manigan walked into a gym set up at the former Gibbs School off Benning Road. Manigan did not, however, quit on boxing. Manigan trains the young boxers five days a week and has been with some of the kids for several years. Lyfe Style Boxing Team coach Walter Manigan talks to his young boxers during a training session at the Washington Highland Recreation Center.
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