Boxing’s popularity may have been slowly declining in recent years, but that hasn’t stopped Al “Hollywood” Meggett, who has been the head of the Charleston Police Boxing Club for 27 years. 
On Feb. 27, the Club held an 11-fight showcase at the Gaillard Auditorium to celebrate Meggett’s 79th birthday.
The three major players of the club are Hollywood, his son Allah and Darren “Broadway” Whitaker. Both Allah and Broadway grew up in the program and were affected by Hollywood so greatly that they went into the business with him.
Meggett has been in boxing since his early 20s and has trained and managed hundreds of amateur and pro boxers throughout his career.  When he moved to Charleston in the early 1980s, he was motivated to start a boxing program in a city that lacked one completely. He brought professional boxing to Charleston, but soon he saw the need for a youth program in the Charleston area and his motives changed. His inspiration and motivation came from working with the people who walk through his doors, Meggett said.
In the 1980s and 90s, boxing was in high demand, and Hollywood’s club put Charleston on the map in the pro boxing circuit for the first time. Through the years huge names have walked through the club’s doors, including both Muhammed Ali and Joe Frazier.  Hollywood even trained actor Forest Whitaker for his role in the movie “North and South.” He has trained boxers who have contended all over the world and won countless trophies and tournaments.  As the years went by, the popularity of boxing slowly dropped, but the club still competes in tournaments in other states today. 
This club manifested into something bigger than a boxing program.  Hollywood, Allah and Whitaker consider the club to be more than just a training facility for the sport, but also a place to train kids for their futures.
“The program is a way of life that promotes good morals and respect for yourself and your community,” Meggett said.
Meggett wanted to create an environment that helps children.
“Kids can be productive outside of school and responsibilities at home and work hard for something they want,” Meggett said.
He teaches respect above all else, and it was obvious that there was a great deal of it shared amongst the people in the gym.
Many alumni of the program now have children training at CPBC.  All of them hold Meggett in the highest regard. Meggett’s life has revolved around teaching the boys who come to his gym how to become productive adults, and many of those people testified that if it weren’t for him they would not be where they are today.  His program has been nationally recognized, and he has won the NAACP award twice for his service to the community. 
The show had boxers from North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, and the CPBC had four fighters contending.  As the event was a party in honor of Meggett’s birthday, he ate at a large banquet table with his family and friends, but when his fighters were in the ring, everyone in the gym could hear him coaching from his seat above all the other noise. 
Many of Meggett’s previous and current boxers appreciated his influence in their lives.
An 18-year-old fighter who has been with Meggett for 10 years said that as a trainer, Meggett puts different priorities on top.
“Hollywood was concerned with your personal life first and boxing second,” he said. 
Darrell Singleton, an ex-pro boxer, has known Meggett for over 20 years and called him a “godsend” who changed his life. 
When Singleton was 13 years old, Meggett was his trainer. Meggett promised Singleton that he would take him to Madison Square Garden to fight one day, and 10 years later Singleton was the first pro boxer from Charleston to ever fight in that arena.  He said that the discipline and life lessons he learned from Meggett over the years helped him become the man he is today.
 “Hollywood taught us how to be young men, not just boxers,” Singleton said.
Meggett, a self-made boxing legend who has been in the game for over 50 years, said people wouldn’t expect him to be hanging around Charleston “wasting time” training kids, when he could be a pro manager making much more money.  However, he said he is the richest man in the world. 
“It’s God’s work when you help children, and that’s what my life is all about,” Meggett said.