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MANSFIELD - David Keefe mows lawns by day and imagines his proteges mowing down Russians, Cubans, Thais and South Koreans by night.

Keefe, 29, a former amateur fighter, will strain his damaged eyes to watch TV and his glorious charge, 2007 amateur world champion Demetrius "Boo Boo" Andrade, 20, who is favored to win an Olympic medal at the Beijing Games this week.

Keefe, a 1997 Mansfield High grad, has owned Keefe Landscape in Mansfield for 10 years - the same decade he has coached Boo Boo, the dynamic Providence welterweight - who will represent the United States in the 152-pound weight class in Beijing.

The 2002 Rhode Island College grad has watched Andrade grow from a thin 10-year-old, pounding his mitts at the 401 Boxing Gym in Cranston, R.I., to a man who just might bring home a gold medal.

Under Keefe and co-trainer Paul Andrade, Boo Boo's father, Andrade won the U.S. Amateur Boxing Championship in 2005, and repeated in 2006. He also won the National Golden Gloves in 2006 and 2007. He won the silver medal at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, losing controversially in the gold medal match to Brazilian hometown favorite Pedro Lima by a narrow 7-6 margin. With Keefe and Andrade in the corner, Boo Boo won gold at the 2007 World Amateur Boxing Championships, where he beat Kakhaber Zhvania, Dmitrijs Sostaks, 2005 silver medalist Magomed Nurutdinov, Jack Culcay-Keth and Adem Kiliçci in the semifinal round, and then battered Non Boonjumnong of Thailand in the finals, forcing him to retire with an arm injury.

Boo Boo immediately qualified for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, but under Olympic rules, he must be coached only by Olympic trainers, forcing Keefe to watch, wait, hope, pray and dream through a TV image telecast a world away.

SUN CHRONICLE: Exciting times for you. Your fighter is boxing for an Olympic gold medal. How does that make you feel?

DAVID KEEFE: I'm extremely proud. I have been training him since he was 10, so I have seen him literally grow up in the ring.

SC: Per Olympic rules, Olympic coaches have taken over his training. How do you feel not working his corner?

KEEFE: It's tough watching him compete, with me not in the ring. I know him like the back of my hand.

But it would be impossible for every single personal coach to be in the Olympics, as there are a couple hundred athletes competing, just in boxing.

SC: Where will you watch the Games?

KEEFE: I will be at home (in Pawtucket), but, the last week, I'm seriously thinking of flying to Beijing.

SC: How did you first meet Demetrius Andrade? KEEFE: I met him and his dad at the Barton Street Community Center in 1998. I stopped competing in 1999, due to my poor eyesight.

His dad asked me to train his three sons. Now, Demetrius is boxing in the Olympics! His other two brothers are out of the sport.

SC: How many other fighters do you have? Is Andrade the top prospect?

KEEFE: Demetrius is the top prospect, but Daniel O'Connor isn't far behind. He won the U.S. Future Stars Nationals and National Golden Gloves this year, and is the (Olympic) alternate at 141 pounds.

I also train Hector Colon, who is a stud at 15, and will have a great chance at making the Olympic Team in 2012. He beats up grown men all the time!

SC: Tell me about your own amateur career as a boxer.

KEEFE: I boxed as a featherweight. (I was) runner up in the Southern New England Golden Gloves. I wasn't very good, compared to Demetrius or Daniel O'Connor. It ended due to my poor eyesight.

SC: You are the first landscaper I've ever heard of who trains fighters. How do you juggle both worlds? Have they ever crossed?

KEEFE: I never intended to own a landscape business. It's just something I started doing in college, and the business grew. I originally wanted to go to law school then enter the F.B.I. or C.I.A.

However, I started coaching and really having fun. Had I entered law school, my boxing career would have never gotten going. The careers have never crossed, although the down time I have has allowed me to travel with my fighters. I've basically taken this month off.

SC: Do you think Demetrius really has a chance to medal? What would that mean to you? To him?

KEEFE: He is the reigning world champion, favored to win gold. I think he will medal, as long as the judging is fair.

I would be ecstatic. It's been a long time coming. We have worked so hard for so long. This is everything to him. It's his whole life.

SC: Who will be his toughest competition in the Games? Does his southpaw (left-handed) style give him an advantage or a disadvantage in your eyes?

KEEFE: Being a southpaw is only an advantage if the other coaches can't prepare their fighter to face a southpaw; so, at this level, I don't think there is an advantage.

His toughest competion will be: Hanati Silamu of China, Carlos Banteaux of Cuba, Non Boonjumnong of Thailand, Magomed Nurutdinov of Belarus, Bakhyt Sarsekbayev of Kazakhstan, Kim Jung-Joo of South Korea and Andrey Balanov of Russia.

SC: If he does medal, how will you avoid the sharks and predators who have been known to swoop down to try to sign him to a pro contract? There are the Bob Arums, the Don Kings, the Duvas, and then every guy with an expensive suit, flashing thousand dollar bills at the kid.

KEEFE: I have been around the sport for almost 15 years. I have trained pros, managed fighters, booked fights, etc. I have met with Don King, been in the gym with the heavyweight champion of the world and surround myself with the right people, so I have done everything I can to learn the business.

SC: If Demetrius becomes a national sports hero with a medal, how do you think your life will change immediately? Long term?

KEEFE: I'm doing boxing fulltime now and running my landscape company. My life has changed a bit, already. People notice me now in public with the publicity surrounding my fighters.

This is just a start, but if Demetrius wins a gold medal it's going to be crazy. His dad and me used to joke about this stuff, but it's coming true now.

Editors note: Andrade beat Georgia's Kakhaber Juania 11-9 in his opening round at the Beijing Olympics yesterday.