Ngo Okafor

Within 3 years of beginning his career in 2005, Ngoli Onyeka Okafor, became a two-time heavyweight champion, winning back-to-back Golden Gloves, amateur boxing's highest distinction. His accomplishments are even more impressive when one considers Ngo's background. Raised in the Ibo speaking region of Nigeria, the second child of a Harvard academic and a teacher, sports were frowned upon in his house; brains were always valued over brawn. He attended the University of Connecticut in the US and studied computer science, eventually landing a job with the Connecticut Department of Transportation, where he taught engineers and architects how to draw using computers. He accidentally stumbled into boxing five years ago, at the ripe old age of 31 (around the time when most fighters hang up their gloves).