April 16, 2008 - 12:00am
By Cory Bennett
A man strides through the door. His broad shoulders and pencil-thin waist seem out of place together — true of many good boxers. He has a bag of rice cakes slung over his shoulder and is hungrily munching down on one with his other hand.
“Gotta cut weight,” he says with a grin in response to a quizzical look.
The man is Willie Monroe Jr. He is the one professional boxer who trains at the Greater Ithaca Activities Center. He’s already finished his workouts — yes, more than one — for the day, but has still chosen to spend his afternoon hanging out in a room packed with grunts, sweat, odor and the thuds of punches hitting bags.
