The One That Got Away

A win at the Trials meant more to Hatley than a chance at the Olympics. A win at the Trials meant perhaps the Oak Cliff Boxing Club would stay open for another year.

The Todd Wagner Foundation quit funding the club at the start of the year. Hatley says the foundation wanted "numbers, numbers, numbers," wanted more kids at the club, all the time, more than he and Lavonne Williams, his assistant, the only full-time employees there, could handle. Even if he could handle them all, would that leave time for the four potential Olympians he had? For about a year and a half, Hatley says, he and the foundation argued about the direction of the Oak Cliff Boxing Club.

But a win at the Western Trials, and then another at the Olympic Trials, would raise the club's exposure. Who knew what backers might come calling then?

As it turned out, no backers would call. Dominic lost in the first round to Vicente Escobedo, the No. 1-ranked 132-pounder; Dominic led after the first round, stayed with Escobedo in the second but then tired. In the fourth and final round, the referee stopped the fight. Dominic, in protest, threw down his mouthpiece, blew a stream of blood out of his nose and left the ring without shaking Escobedo's hand. It was a temper tantrum worthy of his former self.

Greg Jr. lost in the semifinals. Big Greg Corbin thought he got robbed in the championship bout--and perhaps he did. But Charlie didn't. Dominic Chavez outboxed him in their championship duel.

"C'mon, shut it off," Greg Hatley said to Howell's camerman after Charlie's loss.

Howell spent a year shooting The Sweet Science; he has more than 300 hours of raw footage. "And that was the only time that coach told me to shut the camera off," Howell says.

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Dominic called Hatley last December, 10 months after the Western Trials. Dominic had drifted again. He stopped by the gym now only on rare occasions, carrying 20 pounds more than his fighting weight. But he called Hatley to say the drifting days were behind him. He'd be back.

He was 19 and still on track to graduate in May 2005.

According to a police report, on December 20, 2004, Dominic and three others, who aren't identified, drove to a grocery store. On the way there, Dominic pulled out a handgun, put it to his head, said he was a "gangster" and, one witness claimed, pulled the trigger.

But nothing happened.

That night, at 10:42, at Dominic's apartment in the Pinks, the three witnesses said Dominic was in his room, alone, when they heard a gun blast. They found Dominic on his bed, a yawning gap where his left temple used to be.

No way, everyone thought. No way would a kid as street-smart as Dominic do that. No way would a boxer, with a way out of the Pinks before him, do that. No way would a soon-to-be high school graduate, the unlikeliest of high school graduates, take his own life.

Theories of cover-ups, of white cops not investigating black crimes, started immediately. For one, Dominic's fatal wound was to the left temple, and Dominic was right-handed. So if he killed himself, he did it with his weak hand. Second, Dominic fought often with two of the witnesses, whom nearby residents have identified as twins roughly Dominic's age. Last, there were more than three witnesses at the scene, and not all were contacted.

Homicide Sergeant Gary Kirkpatrick oversaw the DPD investigation. He's aware of Dominic's past and says the investigation looked into claims of murder. The gunshot wound to the left temple gave Kirkpatrick pause. "But that one fact didn't change the case," he says.

The crime lab ran a test called a "hand washing," Kirkpatrick says. It measures microscopic gunshot residue left on one's hand after firing a gun. Dominic and the three witnesses were tested. The residue "was present on [Dominic]...and wasn't on any of the witnesses," Kirkpatrick says.

There's no substantial evidence of a fourth or fifth witness at the scene, Kirkpatrick says. And at the time of death, there was a "significant amount" of marijuana and alcohol in Dominic's system.

Whatever happened the night Dominic died, the police report makes no mention of a suicide note.

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"I still catch myself asking, 'Y'all seen Dominic?'" Greg Hatley says. It's six months later, late June on a Tuesday at dusk, and Hatley's driving from the gym to the Pinks to drop off fliers for this year's Black Gloves tournament, still three weeks out.

Charlie quit the sport after Dominic's death. Said it was too painful, too many memories at the gym. A month passed, and then his father asked if he would return; Hatley believed that Charlie's boxing was the best way to honor Dominic's life. "It's like, as bad as I wanted to give it up, that's how bad I want it now," Charlie says. He trains three times a day. He runs in the morning, lifts weights in the afternoon, heads to the gym at night.

In Puerto Rico three weeks ago, Charlie won the gold at an international tournament, The Cheo Aponte. Pinned to his chest as the national anthem played was a commemorative patch for Dominic.