Reported by Brad Penner, STATEWIDE Correspondent

  [Tony Menefee]" I've been boxing already 20 years, since the age of 5. I'm 25 now. Everybody dreams about fighting for a world title some day and hopefully winning it. I think that is every fighter's dream. If he beats me, he is going to earn it, most definitely. He ain't getting no freebies."
Tough Tony Menefee, junior middle weight, Lincoln, Nebraska, ranked fourth by the World Boxing Association, about to fight Hector "Macho" Camacho. He is fighting for Camacho's International Boxing Council Championship belt, and he is fighting for his future.
[Tony] "If I'm able to beat Camacho, you know, I mean that's just a small stepping stone there. There are things I can really do for myself here in Lincoln and in my career."
Tony Menefee was born to box. His dad is Ray Menefee, a long time fighter and promoter who ran a gym in Lincoln.
[Tony] "It's just something I grew up around. Age four and five I would get bored around the house like my son does sometimes, you know, in the evenings and my dad was always going to the gym so I went to the gym with my dad."
Ray Menefee fought into his early 40's, but at the same time, he guided Tony's blossoming career. When he was 17, Tony turned pro, and Ray watched over every move.
[Tony] "If I hadn't been to the gym that day, then he would want to know what I'm weighing or how many sit ups, if I've been doing my sit ups and stuff like that."
[Melissa Menefee] "What you've been eating."
[Tony]"What have I been eating. You know, he would always call and check on that stuff.
But last year Ray Menefee was seriously injured in a shooting incident. He can't check on Tony all the time. He can't line up the fights and guide his son's career. But that doesn't mean he isn't involved."
[Tony]"He is still very cognitively-minded, and I have been able to look to him for advice on things a lot. He is still progressing. It is slow progress, but he is progressing still. I don't think things will ever be totally the same. But -- and he knows that, too. He is okay. He is happy with where he is at today. He wants to get back home here soon and be able to be around his family."
Family is important to Tony. He and his wife, Melissa, have two young sons of their own. Luke is three months old. Nicholas is almost five.
[Tony] "Half the day that I'm not training, I'm at home with the kids and trying to take care of the newborn here. I think it's good for parents -- to give both parents a chance to spend time with the newborns."
Time is hard to come by at the Menefee house. Tony only recently quit his full-time job as a welder. He also runs his dad's gym and has started managing fighters and promoting fight cards.
[Melissa] "At first it was really difficult I think just because I don't think we knew it would encompass this much time as it did doing the promoting and running the gym and working and everything at the same time."
Family time is still a priority for Tony. Sometimes that means turning road work into an outing with Nick. Whatever it takes to be close.
[Melissa] "Even if it is a 15-minute thing, he will sit down with Nicholas and teach him chess or play checkers or hold the baby while he is on the phone working on the boxing or kind of just try to combine it as much as we can."
[Tony] "Nicholas goes to the gym with me quite a bit. Sometimes he enjoys it and sometimes he doesn't. Sometimes he plays and sometimes he actually works out. It's something I will never force on my kids. If they choose to do it, I want them to give it their 110% and try to do the best they can."
His friends will tell you Tony Menefee always gives his best. Ty Smith has been training at the Menefee gym for close to 20 years.
[Ty Smith] "Tony always demonstrated a lot of heart. You know, he was smaller than a lot of the guys in the gym. A lot of those guys his age was taller and a lot of times he got in a ring with guys maybe two, three times his age. But he would just hang right in there."
That toughness is taking a toll on Tony's body.
[Tony] "My bones are sore a lot. My thumbs are popping. My jaw cracks and pops a little bit. Doesn't hurt. Stuff just moves out of joint once in a while, you know. I don't want to continue fighting forever. My family means too much to me to danger myself, be all beat up and have my wife take care of me for the rest of my life."
Melissa Menefee is a nurse, and she doesn't want her husband to be her patient.
[Melissa] "We talk about it frequently. At this point I mean he doesn't seem any different cognitive-wise or logical-wise than when we were first together I guess, but I do look at the long term effects that boxing might have on his body that maybe aren't showing up at this point, that are going to show up down the road. Those are the things I think I worry about."
[Tony] "If it was easy, we would all be world champions.
But she knows right now Tony has to pursue his dream."
[Tony] "My objective is to do it while I'm young, while I'm in my prime and take a step back. See what I can do while I can. My factory working days could be over. I might not have to work full-time for quite some time if I win this fight."
Never before has Tony Menefee been able to train full-time, not even when he fought Roberto Duran five years ago. It was his first fight against a big-name opponent and he says he wasn't ready to win.
[Tony]" I just was glad to be in the same ring with a former world champion at that time, and I just wanted to go the distance with him. I didn't really go in with a winning instinct. This fight I want to win. This could do a lot for me."
So Tony Menefee is training like never before.
[Tony] "We're both human beings. We're both going to get tired. All I know is I got to keep pushing myself to working harder. More importantly than the title that I'm fighting for is who it is against. He is a very recognized name. If I beat him, I guarantee my next fight, a couple fights down the road will be for world title."
In Tony's dream he will bring those title fights back to Lincoln. Networks will televise those fights around the country. In his dream, these things will happen if he can win a fight he is supposed to lose.
[Tony] "My agent in Indiana has told me that they -- that's why we're perfect for this fight. A month ago when this negotiation started on this fight, he told me they wanted me and I was the perfect candidate, I had the rating, I have the record, and they didn't think I stood a chance of beating him. To beat a guy and take a title away from him, you have to decisively beat him. Even if I decisively beat him, they may not give me the decision."
Tony's built his 59-4 record fighting a lot of unknown club fighters. Few outside of Nebraska even know who Tony Menefee is. On paper the fight with Camacho is a mismatch. But they don't fight on paper.
[Ty] "He's going to beat old "macho." To be honest he really don't have to do nothing to get in shape. He got good boxing ability. And just keep a level head, he win."
[Melissa] "I have a lot of confidence in Tony. He has been groomed for this since he was very young. He knows what he needs to do when he gets in there, and he will do it."
Before she even started dating Tony, Melissa Menefee would go with her dad to watch Tony fight. Now her dad helps coach and train his son-in-law.
[Tom Maas, father-in-law] "You've got the height, reach, you've got the speed, youth. I think you will be able to take the fight. You got to work hard and be in shape."
There's a sense of family at the Menefee gym. When Nick took a shot to the chin from a wasp, everyone stopped to make sure he was okay. They look after Nick the same way they once looked after Tony.
[Ty] "He make me real proud. I love boxing. It's a sentimental thing to me. His dad is the same age, just like that."
Tony Menefee is fighting for his family whether related by blood or by boxing. If he can win, if he can get another big fight with another big payday, he will be able to buy this gym that he and his dad helped build. If not, it may have to be sold to someone else. It's one more reason for Tony to give this fight his best shot, just like his father taught him.
[Tony] "My dad was probably a little more stern on me that the majority of the guys in the gym just because he wanted to see me succeed so much more. He thinks I stand a very good chance with Camacho. He says, you can beat him, just give it your all. I have to give my 100%. That's the only thing he's ever asked."

UPDATE: Menefee fought Hector "Macho" Camacho Tuesday in Miami. He went the distance in the twelve round bout, but Camacho dominated the scoring and won a unanimous decision.

Captioning by Nebraska Captioning Center, Lincoln, Nebraska .