Sam Jones (left) of Glouster, Ohio, holds up paddles for Ben Schlater of Lewisburg, Ohio, during an impromptu lesson between sparring bouts in Sam’s Gym on November 28, 2018. Schlater makes the hour trip out to Glouster at least once a week for some training with Sam and sparring with other boxers.
(left to right) Angela Huffman of Delaware, Ohio, Eddie Osborne of Jackson, Ohio, Ben Schlater and Drew Mendenhall of Athens, Ohio, spar in Sam’s gym on November 28, 2018. Sam’s Gym is the oldest gym in Ohio run by Sam Jones and his father before him.
Schlater jokes with Sam Jones as he gets ready to leave the ring for the night on Nov 28, 2018. Schlater got his start at the West Virginia Toughman contest, an amatuer boxing competition, with the goal of competing in one amatuer fight before he died. After losing his first five, Schlater went back for a sixth getting second place. “Then I got runner up and I was like, shoot, now I’ve got to do it till I win, right?”
Schlater (left) wipes away sweat while talking to Jeremy Wray, his cornerman and friend from Gallopolis, Ohio, from after a sparring match against Sam Wildenhaus of Dayton, Ohio. “Just one of those days man, feeling blah.”
Schlater opens up the door of Sam’s Gym in Glouster on Dec 3, 2018.
Schlater asks his class who wants to help pass out jars to house their pet crickets on Dec 3, 2018. Schlater teaches 5th grade math and science at Vinton County Elementary. “I don’t know who’s more surprised: My teaching friends when I tell them I box, or my boxing friends when I tell them I’m a teacher,” Schlater said.
Schlater helps Logan LiAngelo with finding what nutrients are in his “Biosphere” on Dec 3, 2018. Schlater knew he wanted to teach elementary school math and science ever since his first set of observation hours in college. “My first classroom was a 5th grade math and science room so I guess it worked out,” Schlater said.
Schlater fist bumps Damian Harmon as he leaves class on Dec 5, 2018. “I wish we started earlier, because I hate how late we get out,” Schlater said. “We’re out of here at 4:30 and then I’ve got to go right to Sam’s (Gym) by 6.”
Schlater walks out of the storage area under his house outside of Gallipolis on December 4, 2018. Schlater and his wife, Robin, rent the house from Robin’s Uncle. “We’re just saving up for a little while until we can get our own place, neither of us want to move really far.” Schalter said.
Schlater adjusts a magnet on his fridge at his home on December 4, 2018. Him and his wife try and collect a magnet for every place they travel to. When asked what their favorite place was both unanimously answered “Greece.”
Robyn Schlater (left) laughs at something Ben Schlater said while they swap teaching stories from the day before they go to dinner on December 4, 2018. Ben said he knew he was going to marry her after their third date. “I thought she was making stuff up.. She kept saying she liked all the things that I liked,” Ben said. “She said she liked classic rock and I was like alright.” Ben put her to the test by asking her what song was on the radio, when she promptly answered that it was Skidrow’s 18 and Life “that’s when I knew it was for real.”
Robyn and Ben walk through the light show in the Gallipolis City Park where they got engaged four years earlier. Megan, Robin’s best friend, still holds it against Ben that she didn’t know about the engagement before it happened. “I couldn’t tell her because I knew she would snitch,” Ben said.
Schlater does a slip drill with a tear drop bag at a boxing gym in Gallipolis, Ohio on November 26, 2018. Schlater and a few other athletes work out in the converted warehouse owned by Jeremy Wray.
Schlater squares off against Corey Delany of Columbus, Ohio. Schlater’s official weight was 154.0 lbs, a pound and half under the cut off for his weight class. Before the weigh in Schlater hadn’t ate or drank anything in three days. He had little to say before the weigh in as he was “trying to conserve his saliva” due to how dehydrated his body was.
Schlater ties up his glove.
Despite charging $40 for a chair, Express Live in Columbus, Ohio, brims with people during Schlater’s bout, the first fight of seven on the ticket.
Schlater yells out as he grapples with Delany in the fourth round of six during his fight at Express Live in Columbus, Ohio.
Jeremy Wray (right) and Sam Jones (center) coach up Schlater in his corner between rounds on March 2, 2019 during his bout at The Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus, Ohio.
Schlater circles Delany.
Schlater rolls his eyes as the official lifts both his arm and Delany’s signaling the result of the six rounds was a tie after three judges opinions. “I just didn’t do what I needed to do,” Schlater said while biting his lip.
Ben Schlater hugs his wife, Robyn Schlater, as her father Dewey Rhodes, laughs behind them. “I never had any thought in my mind that I would end up going pro at the end of all this but… here I am.”