COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Michael Bennett has turned his "wasted years" in prison into a career as one of the country's best amateur heavyweight boxers.

After seven years behind bars for armed robbery, Bennett has become the top-ranked U.S. heavyweight and reigning world amateur champion.

He is competing this week at the U.S. Championships, and hopes to be a contender on the Olympic team.

"I think about the years I wasted with a stupid mistake," Bennett said. "But at the same time, if I hadn't made that mistake, I would have never been boxing."

A former high school wrestling champ and football player, Bennett was on summer break after his freshman year at North Park College in Chicago when he found himself standing alongside a friend from high school, holding up a toy store.

Bennett was convicted and sent to a maximum-security prison in Menard, Ill., where he enrolled in classes that earned him an associate's degree in general education. He worked in the prison gym and returned to church.

Bennett didn't try boxing until his fourth year in prison. He said he wasn't serious about it but started as a way to stay fit.

After he was released in July 1998, Bennett embarked on an aggressive schedule of bouts.

With what Olympic head coach Tom Mustin calls a "devastating body punch," the 6-foot, 201-pound Bennett has accomplished much that belies his inexperience.

"A lot of these guys, it's like talking to youngsters. This is like talking to a grown-up," Mustin said. "He knows what direction he wants to go in his life."

In February, with only nine bouts on his amateur record, Bennett won a silver medal at the U.S. Championships, stopped only by DaVarryl Williamson, who also knocked him out at the 1999 Golden Gloves.

In June, Bennett won gold at the U.S. Challenge, which earned him the Olympic trials berth and a spot on the U.S. world championships team.

In September, he reached the heavyweight final at the world championships, winning after his opponent, six-time world champion Felix Savon of Cuba, refused to fight in protest of another decision.

Bennett firmly believes he will make the Olympic team that goes to Sydney, Australia, in September.

"This is definitely my shot, so I'm taking advantage of it," he said. "And I don't want anybody to steal it from me. If they earn it, then that's different. But as far as stealing? You've definitely got to earn it. You've got to be that better man for the day."