Summary
Ex-boxing champ punching above extremism in Belgium
He was one of the best middleweight boxers of his time and is now a Belgian lawmaker, but Bea Diallo says he understands what turns youngsters to the dark side. Diallo, a Liberian-born Muslim, says he is using the lessons he learned in the school of hard knocks to motivate young Belgians and even steer some away from Islamist extremism.
Diallo, the child of a Guinean diplomat father and a Senegalese mother, was caught up in violence in his own youth.
Since those dark days, Diallo has turned his life around.
Hassan Bousetta, a socialist politician and university professor, said Diallo is a role model for many young Muslims from Belgium's large Moroccan minority.
Diallo said he feels "very close" to young Belgians of Moroccan origin, sharing an African Muslim heritage and a legacy of colonialism, as well as the experience of being outsiders.
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