"The Baddest Man in Bloomsburg"

I've wanted to try boxing since I first saw Mike Tyson's fights when I was a teenager. I never really took the dream seriously until 2017, when I started trying to train myself. Naturally, life got in the way and training fell to the side.

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In 2022, my health hit rock bottom. At 245 lbs, I was grossly overweight with high cholesterol and prediabetes. I decided it was time to get into shape. After dropping 70 pounds in one year, I had achieved an incredible 10% body fat and developed a physique ideal for combat sports.

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In August of 2023, I walked into Rocky Boxing Club in Berwick, PA. Within minutes, I realized my previous attempt to"self-train" as a boxer was of little practical use. The coaches there started training me in the fundamentals, helping me unlearn my many bad habits.

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To prepare for my first fight in 2024, I stepped up my training by spending a month with the professional boxers and coaches at Corner Boxing Club in São Paulo, Brazil. Their level of intensity was something I had never experienced before. With world-class sparring partners and two-hour daily training sessions in 90+ degree heat, I had no other option but to become a better boxer. My weight also dropped to an all-time low of 168 lbs.

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It was difficult to find an opponent for my first fight in May 2024, but Ed Mara stepped up and agreed to fight me, on the condition it was a developmental (a non-scored fight). We went two good rounds before the official stopped the fight when Ed appeared outclassed after I landed a few nice punches.

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Over the next year, I continued pushing myself even harder than before, training beside the MMA fighters at Bloomsburg Martial Arts Academy in Bloomsburg, PA. I also had an opportunity to start training with pro fighters and coaches at the world-famous Gleason's Gym in Brooklyn, NY.

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For my second fight, I faced off against MacKenzie Boyer, a fellow amatuer boxer from Bloomsburg. Because there are no official titles in amatuer boxing, it was decided whoever won this fight would get the unofficial title "Baddest Man in Bloomsburg" as a fun extra incentive to win. The fight went three tough rounds, with the official calling it a "slugfest." Although it was a tough match, when the winner was announced, the official raised my hand.

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Instead of staying focused, I decided to take some time off from training. This was not the right mindset to have when I returned to Gleason's Gym to compete in their International Masters Tournament in August 2025. My opponent, JJ Robles, was officially a novice boxer like me. But during his 25 years of training, he had racked up more than 20 unofficial fights. Despite going the full three rounds, I took a hard beating and at the very end of the third round, my legs wobbled from a left hook and the ref stopped the fight while I sat on the canvas.

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For my comeback fight in November 2025, MacKenzie Boyer had asked my coach for a rematch and we ended up being the main event. The final fight of the night. Luckily, I had trained hard to overcome what I thought were my weaknesses from our first fight. Also, being humbled by a loss lit a fire in my belly that fueled me to a second victory even more definitive than the first.

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Shortly afterward, in December 2025, I had the incredible opportunity to meet Mike Tyson in person. It was an honor to tell him about my boxing journey and joke about watching old VHS tapes of his fights when I was a teenager. He listened to my story, then shook my hand and quietly said "thank you." It felt like my journey had come full circle: from a boxing fan, to a competitor in the ring.

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The next step of my journey is to begin coaching others. In early 2025, I helped coach two boxers for their Golden Gloves matches, and while I'll keep competing as an athlete as long as I can, it's incredibly rewarding to also pass on my energy and knowledge to the next generation of young boxers.