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Valarie Ward's future is, in many ways, uncertain. The 26-year-old holds no job, no driver's license, no property to speak of.

But Ward's life, for so long a downward-spiraling ride that eventually landed her in prison, is suddenly rich with the prospect of a second chance. She owes that second chance, she said, in part to her dedication to boxing.

These days, removed from a lifestyle of anger, alcohol and drugs, Ward is looking for a fight in a ring instead of on the streets.

But in her early 20s, the Virginia native says she lost stability.

"I was an alcoholic with anger issues," Ward said. "I was selling drugs, just doing everything. I had no direction."

In August 2004, in what Ward describes as "a night of heavy drinking and anger," the 21-year-old found herself in an altercation that would ultimately change her life.

"I almost took someone's life," Ward said. "And it was nothing but a second's difference between me taking that person's life and me still being locked up right now. And thank God it went a different way."

Ward was charged with malicious wounding, a Class 3 felony in Virginia, for which she served two years in Fluvanna Correctional Facility.

But upon her release, Ward continued to struggle, feeling confined while living with her mother and unable to find a job with a felony charge in her background. Last year, a phone call from her sister, Carla James, gave Ward a glimmer of hope.

"I think I've had one job since (getting out of prison)," Ward said. "I was struggling to get money. Then my sister called and said, 'I've been thinking about you lately. Do you want to come live down here and be close to our family?' "

Ward came to Fayetteville in August 2008.

One day, a social worker appeared at Ward's door. The visit turned out to be in error, but while sorting the matter out, Ward started talking about boxing with the worker, who was a boxer herself. The social worker passed Ward's name on to her own trainer.

"I'd always loved boxing," Ward said. "To me, it's just a beautiful sport. And it's something that I'd been wanting to do myself for a long time.

"I couldn't find a job. School had never really held my interest. I needed something. I was looking for something to just grab me."

Eventually, Ward was given the number of Khalil Shakeel, a former All-Army boxer at Fort Bragg and World Boxing Federation intercontinental champion. Shakeel has worked as a trainer for four years, starting his own gym, A.B.C. Boxing Academy, in January 2008.

"The day I got his number, I called that day to talk to him," Ward said. "And I told him, 'I don't have the money to pay you. I don't even have money for myself. But I promise you, I will do whatever you say.' "

Ward remembers the date she walked into A.B.C. Boxing, March 3, like an anniversary.

"I was still drinking and smoking before I started training," Ward said. "Since I walked in here, I haven't had one drink. I haven't smoked."

For Shakeel, a chance to train Ward was an opportunity to show someone else the benefits of boxing, a sport that rewards discipline and dedication, just as Shakeel had learned himself as a youth growing up in Philadelphia.

"I think of myself as someone who likes to give back," said Shakeel, who works as a dropout-prevention counselor at E.E. Smith High School. "And this was a way of giving back and giving someone a second chance. And it was her willingness to say that she didn't have the money and that she needed some help that made me say OK."

Since Ward's training began eight months ago, Shakeel said she has indeed held up her end of the bargain.

"She hasn't shown any signs of going back to her old lifestyle," he said. "I expect big things from her because of her desire."

Ward is a startling physical presence. With close-cropped hair and tattoos marking her face, neck and forearms, Ward carries with her an ability to intimidate that outsizes even her 5-foot-10, 205-pound frame. It's an appearance somewhat at odds with her loquacious, joking personality.

And while Ward admits the tattoos probably have done her no favors in her job hunt, it's her size that's presenting the biggest challenge to the start of her boxing career.

"I haven't fought yet," Ward said. "We just haven't found anybody to match up against yet. But I can't even describe the feeling of how much I can't wait for that first fight."

Shakeel said there's a limited number of female boxers in the state.

"And for heavyweight females, that pool is especially small," he said. "But her name's out there."

Ward has been scheduled to fight twice, but both bouts have been canceled by either the opponent or the host gym, leaving Ward still waiting for her first taste of competition. But Ward has little doubt that her day will come in the ring, and that whatever else may happen, boxing will be there to anchor her.

"I don't know what's going to happen," Ward said. "I don't know where I'll be working or what I'll be doing, but I know I'll be in here training until I decide to retire. I know I'll be boxing."