00:00Tell me a little bit about your boxing background. When did you start fighting?
00:03I grew up fighting. So, you know, always just fighting in school, slap boxing.
00:08But it wasn't until I got back from my first diploma in 2017, I actually came down to Westbury
00:15Boxing Club, my home gym, and I just was sparring with my cousin. And my current coach, Scott Lopak,
00:22was at the gym, and he saw me sparring with my cousin and was asking questions to everyone around,
00:27like, who is this kid? Like, has he ever boxed before? Does he have fights? And afterwards,
00:32he told me, like, hey, man, like, you're pretty good. Without having any training or any fights,
00:36I think that when you get out of the military, you should come back to Westbury, and we can
00:40start a career for you. And literally, I mean, the last two years of my military service, all
00:45I did was think about boxing, and I just wanted to come back to Westbury and just continue
00:49that. As far as, like, education or employment, I didn't really see anything else going on.
00:55I didn't know I wanted to work with veterans until two years ago, but all I wanted to do
01:00was just box. I just wanted to become a boxer. So I had my first amateur fight in February
01:06of 2020, and then I fought again in February of 2020. So I had two fights. The COVID pandemic
01:11happened. I went into the New York City Golden Gloves, New York State Boxing Tournaments,
01:17the New York Metros. I went to a national tournament in Colorado. From 2020 to 2024,
01:25I had about 26 amateur fights. I had to get shoulder surgery, hand surgery, breast surgery.
01:31But yeah, I got a lot of good experience. I placed, I was in the finals of five different
01:36New York State tournaments, including the Golden Gloves, and then went pro August of 2024.
01:43I've had six fights so far, six wins all by knockout. I'm currently ranked top 30 in the
01:50United States and top 100 in the world right now. I think that boxing, like combat sports
01:56in general, it emulates the feeling of the military, of being in a heightened state, of being scared,
02:06and having to make critical thinking actions while you're scared. It's really just like,
02:14it's performing under pressure. And I think that when your life is at risk, it either makes or breaks
02:22you, and I'm just meant to perform under that kind of pressure. And I think that I just,
02:28I have the ability to find a home with my fists, and there's not much I was good at growing
02:35up.
02:35And like I, we were talking earlier, I've played football for 13 years, never had someone tell
02:40me like, hey, man, you could be pretty good at football. I just always knew, you know,
02:43I went to like a Rutgers camp in like 2013. And I was like, yeah, I'm not playing college football.
02:49So, you know, with boxing, you know, there's weight classes. So it's like, you know, I don't have to
02:54worry about being big enough or being fast enough, right? Because it's really just about how hard you
03:01work. And if you're in good shape, and you utilize the skills that you practice, and they are
03:06reinforced in training, then you could find a way to win. So how often do you find yourself in the
03:10ring kind of mentally resorting to something you learned in your training in the military?
03:15All the time, all the time. I mean, from from getting hit with a good shot, having a poker face
03:20and being like, well, you know, I can't show them that I'm hurt. Or even landing a good shot on
03:25someone and also being like, got to keep a poker face. I can't let them know that, you know,
03:30that I'm excited, you know, so it's really just, you know, staying composed. The mental aspect is
03:37everything. Boxing is like 99% mental. And, you know, just being resilient, and really just trusting
03:45yourself that everything you've done to bring you to that moment, if you trust in yourself, then,
03:51you know, it's really just you versus you. There's just another person in front of you that's having
03:56that same battle. So
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