Ulu has worked for eight of the 13 self-storage companies on O'ahu and has managed four of them.

Now he's in charge of the 2-year-old Salt Lake Self Storage on Ahua Street, near Honolulu International Airport, where he gets to work by 3:30 a.m. and leaves no earlier than 6 p.m.

He then goes home to Wai'anae where he monitors the Ahua Street building's security cameras on his laptop computer.

"It's a stress relief to know for sure that everything's normal," he said.

When they opened Salt Lake Self Storage two years ago, MW Group officials hoped to get 92 percent of the 1,600 storage lockers occupied by a deadline that coincides with tomorrow. Under Ulu's guidance and with his focus on customers, occupancy exceeded expectations and reached 95 percent two months ago.

By meeting the occupancy goal, Ulu has become a minority partner.

In the first year of operation, the four-story storage center generated $1.5 million in revenue. This year it's expected to exceed $3 million.

By the time he was a young adult, Ulu's path had him pointed not to management, but toward prison.

He was born in Tripler Army Medical Center and was raised in Wai'anae as the youngest of four boys and two girls. His father, a retired chief petty officer, boxed in the Navy. His brother was an all-Army champion.

Ulu boxed in amateur bouts from 8 to 16 and dropped out of Wai'anae High School after the 10th grade, dreaming of championships and easy money.

"I wasn't really into school," Ulu said quietly.

At the age of 17, Ulu turned professional. He was a 5-foot-10, 147-pound welterweight whose girlfriend was pregnant with their first of five sons.

Three years later, in 1983, Ulu's beloved manager, Douglas J. Tatting, was stabbed to death in a ringside scuffle at the Blaisdell Center Arena.

Ulu continued on his way toward a 28-6 record. But he also developed a police record of thefts and burglaries. The most serious was running up $1,500 on a credit card in 1985 that didn't belong to him.

The crime cost Ulu his job as a landscape maintenance worker and got him 18 months probation. Although he didn't end up in prison, the mere threat got Ulu headed in a new direction.

He quit boxing for a while and took a job as a janitor at a Kaka'ako self-storage center in 1987. During the next 10 years, he made repairs to the lockers, picked up goods that needed to be stored and generally taught himself the business.

Then in 1992 Ulu got his first big break. He was promoted to warehouse manager when a woman in charge had to suddenly go to the hospital when her father suffered a stroke. Ulu took over for the day and ended up running the office part-time, which led to self-storage positions with other companies.

It was the beginning of a career that Wood said makes Ulu "without a doubt the most conscientious, most knowledgeable and best marketing person in self-storage on the island. He's a very exuberant, very pleasant individual who just loves what he does."

As Ulu switched jobs, some of his customers went with him.

"He goes above and beyond," said Alton Fujio, medical specialist for Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals.

There was the time Ulu got a frantic call at home at 1 a.m. from a customer who needed to get his passport out of storage to make a 3 a.m. flight to Germany. Ulu roared over from Wai'anae on his motorcycle, cut the lock at Salt Lake Self Storage, got the passport and re-secured the locker.

Then there was the time he used his laptop computer to record video footage of a fight in the storage building as the violence was monitored by security cameras. Ulu's evidence proved one customer innocent and led to the arrest of the other man.

Fujio had been one of Ulu's customers at another storage business and was one of the first to move over to Salt Lake Self Storage.

Aside from climate-controlled space and assurances that deliveries would be secured until they could be put away, Fujio's company needed three 10-by-20-foot lockers side by side. And it wanted the interior walls removed.

"No problem," Fujio recounted.

Salt Lake Self Storage offers more than lockers. One room gives customers a telephone, fax machine and Internet access. A conference room serves as a meeting place for companies that don't have adequate quarters.

The lobby area has five 19-inch security televisions that constantly monitor other areas.

Ulu lists Salt Lake Self Storage's services on a board in the lobby for customers to compare with other O'ahu storage businesses.

At 245 pounds, Ulu knows his boxing days are over. He attended night school and has since earned his high school equivalenacy degree.

And after bouncing around from one storage company to another, Ulu has no thoughts of leaving.

"I'm staying here for the rest of my life," Ulu said. "I finally found a home."