Some need lesson after lesson, but Alex Brenes used the hardscrabble streets of Costa Rica to polish his boxing skills. It sounds trite, and it's the same thing most fighters say, but hanging out with the wrong crowd made him take up the sport. Sixteen years ago he took his street-fighting skills from the asphalt into the ring, and he hasn't stopped swinging since. He has trained with legend Angelo Dundee, held the Florida Golden Gloves title, and has been a member of the pre-Olympic Costa Rican boxing squad. When he's not beating up on your favorite light welterweight, you can catch Brenes at the South Florida Boxing Gym on South Beach, teaching a class or embarrassing everyone with his awesome glove game. His skills and good looks have landed him a starring role in a fitness DVD called Boxing Fitness, in which he translates the fun of fisticuffs to the art of body-shaping. But Brenes doesn't forget the place that made him so damn good. "Everything I do," he says, "I do it for my country. I always represent Costa Rica."