Ironically, at one time, Matt was the one with his finger on the trigger. He was just 11 or 12 years old when he was first arrested. "As time went on, the crimes got a little bit more serious, and there came a point when I actually pulled out a gun on somebody," he says. "I had the gun, it was loaded—one in the chamber—but for some reason, the gun jammed on me."

Matt was just 17. He was arrested and taken into custody. He says it was the look in his mother's eyes at the police station that turned his life around. "I put her through so much," Matt says. "She was disappointed in me, and I figured out I will never put her through that again. That day—that was the last time I got into any type of trouble."

He not only stayed out of trouble, since then, Matt has opened his own successful business where after-hours he runs a boxing program for disadvantaged kids. "From 8 to 5 p.m. it's office space but from 6 to 8 it's a full blown gym in the basement," Matt says. "I donate the space and the coach donates all his time. This gives kids a sanctuary—a place to go where they learn the payoff of working hard."