Daniel Moses was preparing for his first fight in the California Golden Gloves last month and I asked him if he was ready.

“I was born ready,” he said without hesitation.

That’s something you want to hear from any budding boxer, that tone of confidence, not cockiness, and the 26-year-old Moses has it. Not bad for someone who just had his first official amateur bout two months ago. Daniel “Boone” won that one, and now he was hungry for more to get moving on his ultimate goal in the ring.

“My goal as an amateur is to get as many fights as I can because I want the experience,” he said. “I want to be able to have the experience of at least 20 amateur fights. And the ultimate goal is to become boxing’s first autistic world champion in the professional ranks. There's never been a world champion in professional boxing with autism. If nobody's done it yet, then I will.”

Yeah, you’ve never met anyone like Moses. In a world where people with autism are constantly told what they can’t do, the Californian is chasing dreams as big as the heart he shows in the hardest game. It’s something his mother, Ita, wasn’t exactly expecting when Daniel, and his twin brother, Evan, were non-verbal children going to 30 hours a week of therapy.

“Boxing has given him a place of belonging,” said Ita. “They really embraced him. He's just one of the guys at the gym. He's really funny and sometimes he blurts things out that maybe not everyone would say, but he's going to say it. He's very literal, too, so sometimes he's very gullible and they make him laugh because they're pulling his leg and it's just good for him to be around people his age. When he and his twin brother were younger, they were always around lots of adults because of the therapies.”

Daniel and Evan began talking around the age of five, and while Evan found his home as a music photographer focusing on the punk and heavy metal scenes, Daniel gravitated to the boxing gym, where he’s been since the age of 11. Over the years, he’s worked with the likes of Javier Diaz, former heavyweight contender Stan Ward, former world champ Buddy McGirt, Charles “Chillie” Wilson, and these days, Deon Elam at New Era Boxing Club in Reseda. It’s been a physical journey, for sure, but also an educational one.

And Moses has learned his lessons well, as a chat with him doubles as a lesson in boxing history. No, not a history that begins and ends with Floyd Mayweather, Canelo Alvarez and Mike Tyson, but something a lot deeper. How deep? Moses’ favorite boxer of all-time is George Benton.

“He was one of the very few fighters who knew how to use the shoulder roll defense in a way that he's always in position to counter, roll, shot, counter. He's never out of position,” Moses said of the Philly wizard, both a middleweight contender in the 1960s and a renowned trainer of champions such as Pernell Whitaker, Evander Holyfield, Mike McCallum and Meldrick Taylor. But I don’t need to tell Daniel “Boone” any of that. He’s the one educating me about Benton, Ward, Jersey Joe Walcott and Jack Blackburn. It’s no wonder that he’s a popular fixture in the gym.

“It's always fun going with Daniel because he ends up knowing lots of people when we go,” said Ita. “Other trainers especially, he loves talking shop with them, historical things, and he loves picking their brain. He always has millions of questions and he's always very curious.”

Moses takes all this knowledge in and tries to apply it between the ropes, and if you look at his first amateur match in February of this year, he does have some slick defense that led him to victory, as he smoothly dodged the rushes of his opponent and easily got out of trouble. He looked like a seasoned vet in there, even if the first-time jitters were hitting hard before the opening bell.

“When I was getting my hands wrapped, my hands were shaking as if I was going out on the first date with a girl I liked,” he said. “Then once the bell rang, I turned everything off and let my boxing do the talking.”

And box he did. It was an impressive showing for someone who initially thought that his power would be his ticket to success.

“I realized that one thing I did have when I started was a heck of a wallop of a punch,” Moses recalls. “And my punching power was my biggest asset when I was younger. My first coach was Javier Diaz out of Gaucho's Boxing Club in Pasadena. He gave me the nickname ‘Mr. Power,’ and I knew I had a puncher’s chance early on. Starting boxing, I thought I could knock everybody out. George Foreman could do it. If Mike Tyson could do it and Joe Louis can do it, I can do it, too. But then I started realizing that my skills weren't up to par, so I was getting a little pieced up. A lot of great punchers were not the most skilled guys. And a lot of the best punchers also did not have the best chin.”

So around three to four years into his training, he began adding new wrinkles to his game as he adhered to the old adage that skills pay the bills. He soaked in the knowledge from the trainers around him, “Mr. Power” became Daniel “Boone,” courtesy of McGirt, and the proof was in the end result as he picked up his first win with his gym mates (and mom) cheering him on.

“I've been to amateur shows before, but that was his first time fighting and we were both nervous,” said Ita. “He was definitely nervous, and I was a little nervous, but because I was doing a video, I was behind my phone. So it sort of acts like a little barrier. I'm there, but I'm not there. I'm watching it through my screen. So that helped. But his friends from the gym were there and you could hear them cheering for him. It was definitely a great experience.”

So great that Moses did it again a week later against the same opponent, with the same result. This time, the nerves were under control, and he started bringing some more offense to the table.

“When I was getting my hands wrapped, it was a lot better,” Moses said of fight number two. “I felt I wasn't shaking as much. And I realized that now I've already been in there and I know what I could be able to do. So the first fight, I was more of a boxer / counterpuncher. The second fight, I was more of a boxer / puncher. I put some oomph into those shots, and I was starting to let my power go. And the second fight, I really started to put heavy hands on him.”

Talking to Moses after a fight is like talking to any fighter. There’s the desire to improve, the perfectionist’s tendency to pick apart the negatives as opposed to celebrating the positives, and there’s always the look ahead at the future. In other words, autism isn’t holding him back. He holds a job in a gym as a trainer, he’s in his other gym boxing, and he could be a heck of an analyst if someone wants to give him a shot. I hate to use the word lucky, because it took a lot of work to get to this point in his life, but there are people with autism who aren’t as fortunate.

“The autism spectrum is quite wide,” Ita explains. “Over the years, I've been involved in the autism community with an organization called Autism Alliance Southern California, and through them, we feel like we're in this boat, but it's a big boat and Evan and Daniel are more towards the right. There are some that have what’s called profound autism, where the ones that I am friends with, the parents’ adult children, are non-verbal or have very little verbal ability and some have self-interest behavior. Evan and Daniel had self-interest behavior when they were young. They were diagnosed when they were two-and-a-half, and they've come a long way.

“The doctors, they didn't want to say if it was high functioning or low functioning,” she continues. “They said, ‘Well, first of all, if you have autism, that's a lifelong thing. It's not like it's going to go away. There's no cure, but through therapy and just how the way it impacts each individual differently, we'll see how it goes.’ And we did tons of therapies, and over the years, they really have blossomed. But not everyone has that same trajectory, even though they're going through lots of therapies, and everyone's impacted in different ways. And I just really feel for those with profound autism that are excluded from a lot of life or there's the light that doesn't get to shine on them because it's always the more high functioning kids that you hear stories about. I don't know, I guess it's my little plug to not forget that there are others that want to participate or be involved in some way in the community and not get overlooked.”

That’s a mom talking, and she’s a fighter, too, there every step of the way for Daniel and Evan. That’s not easy, and it’s even harder when one of her boys is trying to do his job in a mosh pit while the other one is taking punches in a boxing ring.

“He has good defense,” laughs Ita. “But yeah, sometimes it's hard to watch when I see him sparring. I'm giving him pointers, and he’s like, ‘Mom, you're not my coach.’ Yeah, you're right. Sorry. Put your hands up. (Laughs) I used to go to the gym more often with him, but yeah, I videotape him when he's sparring and it's just something that he loves. It's not like I really know the sport, but because he enjoys it so much, it makes me happy to see him happy and to see his dream. He's living his dream right now.”

What does his doctors have to say about this, though?

“Well, he did get hit in the eye last year and there was something with his orbital bone, but we went to the doctor and luckily it was just a little hairline fracture which healed on his own. He didn't need surgery or anything, but that was a big scare. Then Daniel asked him, and he's like, ‘Would I want you to not do this? Of course, I'm a doctor, I'm not going to lie to you, but there's no reason you can't. You got to protect yourself and be careful.’”

And there you go.

Daniel Moses lost his Golden Gloves bout to Elijah Villalpando via decision. It happens. And if Moses knows one thing, it’s that one loss doesn’t define a career, especially one that’s just getting started. So you know he’s going to be back and that he’s not going to stop going to the gym. Canelo Alvarez has adopted the phrase “Boxing is Life” as his brand. Moses is living it.

“I’d go completely insane without boxing,” he laughs. “I pace up and down my kitchen, I pace up and down my house. I shadow box in the kitchen. When my mom's cooking dinner for me and my twin brother, my mom says, ‘Hey, not in the kitchen. I need you to stop it right now. Go to the other room.’ Without boxing, I'd be a shell of myself.”

It’s probably not what Ita expected when she brought her boys into the world 26 years ago, but it is a blessing that she’s now able to see them chase their dreams while she gets to experience typical mom things.

“Absolutely,” she said. “I feel very fortunate that I'm able to experience that. And, at the same time, there are things that Evan and Daniel, they're typical in certain areas, but there are other areas where they're impacted. And I think with support, they'll be able to do lots of things, but they're very delayed. They're both 26 years old. I still go to their doctor's appointments with them and just things that maybe other 26-year-olds do, I'm kind of still there with them.”

Well, Daniel will be the first to tell you that any great fighter needs a great corner. And no matter where his boxing journey leads him, he’s already made his mark as a role model for his peers.

“I was in their shoes once,” Moses said. “I still have challenges every day. I'm not perfect. I struggle with ADHD, sometimes I struggle with social anxiety. Sometimes I'll struggle with certain social cues and certain social situations. Sometimes I struggle getting my words out because being autistic, I have a little bit of speech impairment with it. I've been in the autism community for my whole life and I’ve got friends on the autism spectrum who struggle with being autistic. Not all autism is the same. I’ve got friends who are non-verbal who struggle, who can't speak. And behavioral wise, they don't have the ability to be able to socialize and talk to people. That's why they need help. That's why they need support. And they're trying to not just be part of society but be human like everybody else and be treated with respect like everybody else. I want to highlight that. They're still good people and I want to highlight that they're human just like you and I.”