DETROIT • When LaTonya King enters the Kronk boxing gym, she almost looks out of place.

She's 5 feet 3, about 125 pounds, and looks like most other 21-year-old women.

Then she puts down her gym bag.

One of the trainers announces her arrival, as if she were a dignitary or royalty.

She climbs into the ring.

There, she becomes a larger figure, more formidable than her male boxing counterparts who dominated the long history of the Kronk Gym.

King is a two-time world champion and nine-time national champion, and has set her sights on another world title as she competes in the 10th annual Ringside World Championships this week in Kansas City. Younger sister Monayah Patterson, 15, returns after winning a world championship in the 13-14 age group last year.

After a two-year hiatus, King is making her return to boxing and has set a loftier goal — winning a gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics, which will feature women's boxing for the first time.

King started boxing 11 years ago, but that wasn't her first fight.

When she was 11, her younger brother, who was 9 , was being beaten by two older boys, so King jumped into the fray to save her brother. She was holding her own, but one of the bullies got a big stick and hit her in the head, leaving a huge gash, and the boys beat and kicked her.

"It was brutal," King recalled. "Blood was everywhere and it scratched my face pretty good."

She said police officers arrived to break up the fight, but in an ironic twist, the bullies were related to the officers.

"(The officers) were mean and treated us really bad," King said.

King and her brother survived the attack, but that led her parents to get them started in boxing. She started training at Kronk Gym a week after the brawl.

"I haven't lost a fight since," King joked.

She started working with Javan Hill, nephew of legendary Kronk trainer Emanuel Steward.

King was one of the first female boxers at Kronk and has boxed against boys on her way to becoming one of the best female boxers in the world.

"She's one of the star boxers at our program," Steward said. "She's made it on a national and international scale ."

But King said Steward didn't take it easy on her because she was a girl.

"When you're training with him, you'd better get it right or he will yell," King said.

More than a boxer

King excels not only in the ring but in the classroom, studying accounting at Baker College.

She has a 4.0 grade-point average and is in her final year of earning her associate's degree. She was valedictorian and class president at Eaton Academy in Eastpointe, Mich.

To help make ends meet, King works two jobs — at Buffalo Wild Wings and a hair salon.

"It's very hard," she said. "I don't know how I do it all. I pray a lot, and God helps me through it all."

Patterson is in high school, but the sisters still find time to fit in training at Kronk four days a week.

Patterson is confident about her chances to win a second straight world title.

"I feel prepared, but I have to do more to win because I'm going up a group (ages 15-16)," said Patterson, who won her first bout in the 125-pound weight class Thursday. "But I can't wait."

King's opponents won't be the only challenge — she hasn't had a bout in two years.

"It's been so long since I had a fight, so I'm a little nervous," King said. "It's been awhile because nobody would fight me."

Now, she's back to her training regimen and is competing in the open division.

King earned world titles in 2004 and 2005 at the Ringside championships. Those title belts were stolen from King's car in 2006, but Kwame Kilpatrick, then the mayor of Detroit, had replicas made and presented them to her.

She had hoped women's boxing would be approved for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and when it wasn't, she thought her time had passed. She continued her studies and tried to move on with her life. But when the International Olympic Committee approved women's boxing for 2012, King and Patterson knew they had their chance.

With her studies and hectic work schedule, King has to make time again to fit in training, giving Patterson a good model for balancing boxing and books.

Scoring a sponsor

In preparing for the Ringside World Championships last year, King and Patterson struggled to raise enough money to travel and compete.

"We had to do fundraisers, and it took a lot," Patterson said. "We were doing it up to the last day to make sure that we had enough to pay for registration, rides and things. Last year, we were all by ourselves."

That led Mike Patterson — Monayah's father and King's stepfather — to seek out a sponsor.

After several fruitless attempts with local business owners, Mike Patterson approached Brian Elias, president of Hansons Windows in Troy, Mich.

"(LaTonya) and her dad walked in my office and told me her story. She said no one would help her and she needed a sponsor," Elias said. "I told her, 'If you can win, you've got yourself a sponsor.' "

Elias is covering all the costs for King and her family to travel and compete in Kansas City, and also has committed to help financially in the quest for the 2012 Olympics.

"It was a shot in the dark," Mike Patterson said of the idea to approach Elias. "It's not an endorsement deal, but a sponsorship deal with LaTonya and Monayah for a chance to win a world championship."

King has had endorsement deals in the past but was fortunate enough to find Elias, who saw her determination and was willing to lend his support.

"(LaTonya) only needs help with what she can't cover (herself). She's not beating me out of cash," Elias said. "It was not an easy sell. This girl is a fighter and a winner — when she looked me in the eyes and said she would win, I believed her."

Elias is helping not only with the training and tournament costs, but also with King's rent, cell phone bill, car payment and other expenses.

With that financial backing and security, King can focus on training — not fundraising.

"It's a big stress relief. Now, it's not as many headaches and I don't have to look up or depend on other people," King said. "It's a lot of pressure and stress off."

To qualify for the Olympics, the sisters first must win a major tournament, such as the Police Athletic League national championship, held in October, or the USA championships, which is in June. That would lead to an invitation to compete at the Olympic trials — and hopefully a spot on the team.

"She would be the first ever to win any medal of any kind (for women's boxing) in the Olympics. That would be very special." Mike Patterson said. "I can't see anybody in the world in her weight class beating her."