By Thomas Gerbasi

Semajay Thomas admits that he’s being dramatic, but he continues anyway.

“My last day of sparring was Saturday, and it felt like it was 200 degrees in the boxing gym. While I’m sparring. Three guys.”

He laughs.

“I never felt anything like it. After all the rounds, I had to pour a big bucket of water over me. It was flaming hot. That’s what I can’t get used to.”

That’s not surprising. Born and raised in Chicago, the 23-year-old junior welterweight now spends much of his time away from the Windy City in Texas, where he says, “There’s not one lick of wind here.”

But he’s not complaining. In fact, it’s not being dramatic to say that his decision to train in Texas not only boosted a promising pro career that sees him fighting fellow unbeaten Darwin Price this Saturday in San Antonio, but could have saved his life.

“That’s when the professional and the ‘I have a dream’ things come in play,” he said. “Growing up in Chicago, it was really rough. I’ve seen a lot of my friends go to jail, I’ve seen a lot of my close friends get killed due to gun violence, and right now, Chicago has an extremely high gun violence problem. And knowing that I have a dream, I have to make it in life. I have that ambition to go out and go get it, and in order for me to make it and do what I do, I have to separate myself and surround myself with good people. And I said I gotta get out of here. I can’t do it in Chicago. And that’s when I made that move to Texas.”

Who knows how things might have gone for Thomas if he stayed in Chicago. A stellar amateur, the teenage Thomas spent over a year in a juvenile corrections facility as he awaited trial on first-degree murder charges. During the 2010 trial, three eyewitnesses recanted their testimony, and with no DNA evidence either, he was acquitted of the charges. Able to resume his career, he eventually turned pro in 2013, winning all seven of his bouts, four by knockout.

Now everything is looking up. He’s engaged to be married, he and his fiancée have a year-old daughter, and it’s all about the future, not the past.

“It (life) changed in a variety of ways,” Thomas said of life as a father. “I’m working harder, and I’m not saying I didn’t value life, but I value life a lot more. And I want to do better as a person, as a man, and as a father. I want to be able to pay my daughter’s way through college, so I’ve got to continue to perfect my craft and stay on top of my game.”

And Texas, where he trains with Derrick James, has been a Godsend for him.

“I just go to the gym and go back home,” he said of life in Dallas. “While my fiancée and my daughter are back in Chicago, I’m in Dallas by myself and if I’m not on the phone with them, I’m not on the phone. So all I’m thinking about is boxing and working out.”

He’s also not shy about revealing the role the sweet science has played in a life that could have ended up with Thomas as a statistic and not a potential world champion.

“Boxing has changed my life and it’s changing my life,” he said. “It’s opened up so many doors and so many opportunities for me. I get kids from different countries inboxing me on my media pages to say how much I inspired them to do better and do great things, and it motivates me to keep going. It’s a pleasure to receive things like that.”

Thomas isn’t satisfied yet. But at the same time, he’s not impatient either. That’s rare in a 23-year-old in any field.

“Value what you have at that moment,” he said. “You can’t miss what you never had. All you have to do is continue to work hard and just wait your turn.”

Don’t mistake patience for a lack of ambition though. He’s aiming high, and reminding himself of that every day.

“I’ve got a goal in my phone that I’m still working towards that I wrote three or four years ago on my iCloud,” Thomas said. “Those things are very important to me and I believe everybody will have their turn and I feel like mine is really, really coming up.”

So what’s the goal?

“I can’t tell you,” he laughs. “It’s for me to know and you to find out.”