This episode of the Haymakers for Hope podcast features Nikki Joyal. Nikki was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer at age 30 in 2015, shortly after having her first child. She went through intense chemotherapy and a double mastectomy before going into remission. In 2017, Nikki signed up to be a "Belle" for Haymakers for Hope, a charity that raises money for cancer research and survivorship through boxing events. This was a way for her to give back after surviving cancer.

Nikki was paired with coach Todd Parris, also a cancer survivor, who helped train her for 4 months leading up to the big fight night. The training and fighting was a transformative experience for Nikki. Nikki talks about how a cancer diagnosis completely changes your perspective on life.

(00:20:22) "You don’t need to be a fighter. You don’t need to be a cheerleader. You don’t need to tell people you’re okay. You’re not okay. That’s fine."

(00:33:33) "You can’t come out of that kind of treatment and that kind of scare and not be forever changed."

(00:37:01) "I approach everything with, I get to do this... If you can change your mindset to I get to do this versus I have to do this. That’s when it all comes together."

(00:37:59) "Do it and do it 100 percent and... really enjoy every piece of it because it goes by really fast."

Resource Links:

Donate to Nikki Joyal

Donate to Haymakers for Hope

Follow Haymakers on Instagram

Haymakers for Hope is an official 501(c)(3) charity organization that gives you the opportunity to fight back against cancer. They also have charity bibs for races all across the country and host charity golf tournaments.

Not Every Fight Ends at the Bell is presented and produced by Haymakers for Hope, in partnership with StudioPod Media. Our producers are former fighters Jordan McMillan and Julian A Lewis II.

This episode of the Haymakers for Hope podcast features Chris Rohland, a former Haymakers charity boxer. Chris talks about how he first heard about Haymakers through a colleague at the Boston Globe who was preparing to fight. Although skeptical at first, Chris attended the fight and was blown away by the commitment of the fighters and the crowd support. A few years later, Chris decided to sign up to fight after encouragement from Haymakers co-founder Andrew Myerson and an offer to train from George Foreman III. 

Chris faced adversity in training due to injuries from a previous serious car accident. But with dedication and his trainer George's belief in him, he was able to get in fighting shape. On fight night, Chris left it all in the ring. He was filled with emotion after completing the demanding training and fighting for his father, who died of cancer at age 58. Chris says the experience taught him you have to fully commit to get results. He remains involved with Haymakers and says it has become an important part of his life.

Timestamped Quotes:

(00:00:44)  "I always was looking for ways to honor my father, who died, you know, again from cancer when he was 58. And I'm 58 now, so it's kind of surreal for me to think that that was it for him, you know, 58."

(00:20:53) "I remember Rod saying to me, Man, good thing we didn't have another couple rounds because I was getting gassed and you just kept coming."  

(00:21:36) "I sat down in the corner and started on taping myself and just kind of, and I'll admit it, I just kind of cried because you just left everything in that ring and it was, uh, It was amazing."

(00:22:24) "Listen to your trainer and don't go against what he or she tells you what to do. Go all in."

Resource Links:

Donate to Chris Rohland

Donate to Haymakers for Hope

Follow Haymakers on Instagram

Haymakers for Hope is an official 501(c)(3) charity organization that gives you the opportunity to fight back against cancer. They also have charity bibs for races all across the country and host charity golf tournaments.

Not Every Fight Ends at the Bell is presented and produced by Haymakers for Hope, in partnership with StudioPod Media. Our producers are former fighters Jordan McMillan and Julian A Lewis II.

This episode of Not Every Fight Ends at the Bell features Billy Collins. Billy explains how his young son Liam was diagnosed with leukemia at 18 months old during the pandemic. He shares how Liam went through nearly 3 years of treatment with a positive attitude, calling the nurses his best friends and wearing superhero outfits. 

Billy emphasizes the importance of relying on your medical team and communicating openly with your spouse when a child is diagnosed with cancer. He is fighting on behalf of the hospitals that treated Liam as well as Camp Fantastic, which supports kids with cancer. Billy talks about training at Mendez Boxing in Harlem and how it will be an emotional fight night on November 2nd at the Hammerstein Ballroom, marking the gym's return to Haymakers after the passing of Francisco Mendez. He is grateful for the support of his coaches, teammates, friends and family through this journey. Billy encourages listeners to visit the Haymakers website to donate and attend the upcoming fight.

Timestamped quotes:

(00:17:08) "Oh, he was a fighter and I know obviously we're haymakers. Everyone says that, but, but that we said that before we even knew about it, he made sounds weird to say he made the easy, the process so easy on all of us. My wife and I, his nurses, his doctors, he just went in with a, like, every day is a good day attitude."

(00:21:22) "Oh, man. The internet can be a rabbit hole. Careful what you search. I say that because again, we were in this pandemic. We were between our four walls. It was just my wife and I. We just were told the diagnosis. One of us was in the hospital, but we were trying to figure all these things out and you can google anything and it doesn't apply to your situation."

(00:33:00) "Boxing is really not easy. And to, to learn a sport as difficult as boxing on top of your work, on top of your family, fundraising, it's really challenging. And to watch 32 people. Put something extra on their plate and keep going is really inspiring.”

Resource Links:

Donate to Billy Collins

Donate to Haymakers for Hope

Follow Haymakers on Instagram

Haymakers for Hope is an official 501(c)(3) charity organization that gives you the opportunity to fight back against cancer. They also have charity bibs for races all across the country and host charity golf tournaments.

Not Every Fight Ends at the Bell is presented and produced by Haymakers for Hope, in partnership with StudioPod Media. Our producers are former fighters Jordan McMillan and Julian A Lewis II.

This episode of Not Every Fight Ends at the Bell features Cara Goodwin, who is currently training to compete in the Bells of the Brawl 10 charity boxing event on October 12th, 2022. Cara started boxing in 2017 as an outlet during a stressful time in her life. She was originally drawn to Haymakers because it looked challenging and fun. More recently, Cara was inspired to compete after a friend's young daughter was diagnosed with a rare form of pediatric brain cancer.

Cara has been training remotely between North Carolina and Massachusetts. She discusses the ups and downs of training, especially balancing it with work and family obligations, but says having a purpose makes her not want to quit. Her main motivation is raising money for pediatric cancer research, especially for her friend's daughter Emme who is battling choroid plexus carcinoma.

Notable moments:

(11:13) "If you have a cause that gives you purpose. You won't quit.”

(12:19) "The amount of personal growth from it for me has been well worth the journey and then some in terms of just challenging myself to do things that I didn't know I could."

(15:14) "You have an opportunity to make a difference. I think when people find out like you're actually fighting somebody else to raise funds, they're like, oh, you know, wow."

(19:34) "It's you against you most of the time, which is another, another challenging aspect of it."

(23:39) "I work really freaking hard. I do, like, every damn day I'm out there, like, regardless of how I'm feeling."

(27:20) "My hope for Fight Night is just to enjoy it, to take it all in. We've worked so hard and now it's like at the pinnacle, and just trying to remember what I know, what I've learned."

(29:51) "If you have a purpose behind this cause and have been impacted by cancer and you're also not afraid to commit to something that's going to be really challenging, but really, really rewarding. Do it."

Resource Links:

Donate to Cara Goodwin

Donate to Haymakers for Hope

Follow Haymakers on Instagram

Haymakers for Hope is an official 501(c)(3) charity organization that gives you the opportunity to fight back against cancer. They also have charity bibs for races all across the country and host charity golf tournaments.

Not Every Fight Ends at the Bell is presented and produced by Haymakers for Hope, in partnership with StudioPod Media. Our producers are former fighters Jordan McMillan and Julian A Lewis II.

We are back with season two of Not Every Fight Ends at the Bell. This episode serves as a season 1 recap and season 2 preview.

Producers Julian Lewis and Jordan McMillian join Julie Kelly and Todd Buster Paris to reflect on meaningful stories from season 1, including conversations with boxing event participants who shared their journey’s and their connection to the cause. Julia and Todd also discuss how hearing others' stories has impacted them as cancer survivors.

The episode alsoprovides a preview of season 2, which will feature more current fighters looking ahead to their events, beneficiaries of Haymakers' fundraising, and new impactful stories. Overall, the podcast shares inspirational stories about using charity boxing to raise money and awareness to "knock out cancer."

Resource Links:

Donate to Haymakers for Hope

Follow Haymakers on Instagram

Haymakers for Hope is an official 501(c)(3) charity organization that gives you the opportunity to fight back against cancer. They also have charity bibs for races all across the country and host charity golf tournaments.

Not Every Fight Ends at the Bell is presented and produced by Haymakers for Hope, in partnership with StudioPod Media. Our producers are former fighters Jordan McMillan and Julian A Lewis II.

About the episode 

Today’s episode of Not Every Fight Ends At The Bell is a very special one. Julie and Todd talk to Steve and Meg Vaccaro about Meg’s experience with Cancer, which inspired him to sign up and fight for H4H. Tune in and listen to their incredible story. 

JUMP STRAIGHT INTO:

(01:16) - Round 1: How Steve met Meg - “So we hit it off at the parking lot, just talking, and the rest is history.”

(06:39) -Fall of 2020: The beginning of the nightmare - “Yeah, so like it started in the summer actually. I was like not feeling great. Like random, just like, ache, joint pain. I was tired all the time.”

(12:56) - The tip of the iceberg - “For me, it was like, I mean, I knew how she was feeling, to an extent. She doesn’t like to talk when she gets… at times… she naturally wants to tryna keep everything… She is too tough.”

(21:22) - Fighting Cancer - “Yeah, so I did end up having, um, I had a left breast mastectomy. They ended up doing an MRI after they did the biopsy and it came back positive.”

(27:49) - Round two: Getting into boxing - “I draw my inspiration from Megan, you know, so I don’t know maybe I find it a little different experience than a lot of people that maybe just sign up because they think it’s cool, maybe they just want to tryna get to boxing.”

Resource Links:

Donate to Steve

Breast Cancer Research Fund

Leukemia and Lymphoma Society

Not Every Fight Ends at the Bell - Show Page

Haymakers for Hope - Homepage

Haymakers for Hope - Instagram

StudioPod Media

About the episode 

Can Boxing be a meditation?

Steph Kent joins Julie and Todd today to answer this question. In this episode, you will hear three really exciting rounds about why Steph decided to fundraise for cancer research, how she found out about Haymakers and accidentally signed up for a fight. Plus, Steph shares how she confronted her feelings to quit and the amazing idea she had to honor someone in a fight.

JUMP STRAIGHT INTO:

(01:40) - Round 1: Meet Steph, California, Kent - “I don't wanna be reacting to that when it happens. I wanna do everything I can to get rid of this awful disease ahead of time. So, Inspired me to do, um, some sort of fundraising.”

(09:15) - To quit or not to quit - “The temptation of quit is just kind of all around you all the time. But that's the really remarkable thing about Haymakers for Hope they teach you how to sort of channel all these feelings of discomfort and put them onto a cause that's bigger than you.”

(16:27) - Round 2: Fighting for research - “The feeling of being really helpless and feeling like there was nothing to do other than wait is, you know, what sort of initially led me to look for a way to fundraising it for cancer research.”

(22:25) - Round three: Before the bell - “My haymakers fight was wonderful and I didn't have that feeling, that sense of having done everything I could, but it would've been even better if I could just really step out there saying, I gave it absolutely everything I had.”

(26:50) - After the bell: How has boxing continued to be a  part of Steph’s life - “Boxing is just the most, uh, incredible mental training for, I always tell people who are, um, who are surprised that I do boxing that, uh, it's really more like chess or like meditation than it is war.”

Not Every Fight Ends at the Bell is presented and produced by Haymakers for Hope, in partnership with StudioPod Media. Our producers are former fighters Jordan McMillan and Julian Lewis.

Resource Links:

Not Every Fight Ends at the Bell - Show Page

Haymakers for Hope - Homepage

Haymakers for Hope - Instagram

StudioPod Media

View Steph’s Fundraising Page

Watch Steph’s Fight

Connect with Steph Kent on LinkedIn

Follow Steph on Instagram

Follow Mendez Boxing on Instagram

About the episode 

For this episode of Not Every Fight Ends At The Bell Julie and Todd talk to Adam Glenn about his boxing experience, life lessons and the importance of family. Adam grew up in gyms where his dad, legendary Jimmy Glenn, trained boxers. Later in his life, Adam had to take care of his mother who had lung cancer. Tune in and listen about Adam’s really deep connection to boxing and his strong motivation to fight cancer.

JUMP STRAIGHT INTO:

(01:26) - Round 1: Introducing Adam Glenn - “I was like I’d like to have a fight but I’m not gonna turn in for the gloves, I don’t gonna do that, I’d like to have the opportunity to have a fight and, you know, Haymakers seemed the right kind of opportunity for me.”

(05:32) -Fight night: The son of legendary Jimmy Glenn - “I mean that was, for me, that was a huge part of the experience. You know boxing has always connected me and my dad in a lot of ways.”

(11:57) - Round 2: Fighting to honor - “For me, most importantly, I was fighting for my mom. My mom had passed away two years before that from lung cancer. That was a big part of the reason that I wanted to have a fight with Haymakers.”

(15:48) - Having something to fight for - “Just watching my parents always work, and always work so hard. And being the people they are, you know, we don’t go into things sort of to do it halfaway, like if I’m gonna do something, Im gonna do it all the way or I’m not going to do it at all. ”

(18:33) - Round three: After the bell - “Boxing is something, like once it gets inside your system it doesn’t go away, um, and you kinda have to let yourself pass that first month because that first month sucks for everyone.”

Not Every Fight Ends at the Bell is presented and produced by Haymakers for Hope, in partnership with StudioPod Media. Our producers are former fighters Jordan McMillan and Julian Lewis.

Resource Links:

Not Every Fight Ends at the Bell - Show Page

Haymakers for Hope - Homepage

Haymakers for Hope - Instagram

StudioPod Media

Follow Jimmy’s Corner on Instagram and Facebook. 

View Adam’s fundraising page Adam Glenn | Haymakers for Hope

Watch Adam’s Fight

Follow Mendez Boxing Gym on Instagram

About the episode 

It’s time to get back to the ring and talk to a very special member of the Haymakers family, Allison Picott. Allison shares with Todd and Julie about her first experience at the gym, the challenge that it meant to learn a new sport and the unexpected community she found in the boxing world. Tune in and listen to Allison’s inspiring story on how she fought breast cancer and reclaim herself in the ring. 

JUMP STRAIGHT INTO:

(01:13) - Round 1: Give a warm welcome to Allison, one two punch, Picott- “It was like crazy intimidating to me. But I knew I what I was getting myself into. So from there I was just like, basically I needed to figure out how to keep up with.”

(06:46) - Mastering the technique - “I've never had to go from zero to 60 in, you know, four months time. Um, so it was learning the technique, um, learning the rules, you know, just sitting down and reading the rules and understanding what it’s like in a boxing ring.”

(09:29) - The moment of truth: Allison’s match - “I was not feeling my best, but, um, I felt like strong as hell and, um, and I was excited for it.”

(16:05) - Round 2: Fighting breast cancer - “I was fighting largely for myself, as a way to reclaim, myself and my health, even at that point being nine years out from my diagnosis and treatment.”

(24:00) - Round three: Haymaker’s impact on Allison’s life - “ I didn't realize when I signed up, that I would be gaining, not only a new, love of a sport, but a new community.”

Not Every Fight Ends at the Bell is presented and produced by Haymakers for Hope, in partnership with StudioPod Media. Our producers are former fighters Jordan McMillan and Julian Lewis.

Resource Links:

Not Every Fight Ends at the Bell - Show Page

Haymakers for Hope - Homepage

Haymakers for Hope - Instagram

StudioPod Media

Connect with Allison Picott on LinkedIn

Find more about the Lenny Zakim Fund

View Allison’s fundraising page Belles 2019 | Haymakers for Hope

Watch Allison’s Fight

Follow Allison on Instagram

Follow Back Bay Boxing on Instagram

About the episode 

In this episode, Todd and Julie talk to Haymakers Board Member Jon Halvorson about fighting for the cause, his boxing experience, his first match and his passion for what Haymakers is doing. Tune in and listen to Jon’s incredible view of boxing and life, why joining Haymakers is an unforgettable journey and how a phrase changed his perspective on cancer forever.  

JUMP STRAIGHT INTO:

(01:50) - Round 1: Introducing Johnny, on the spot, Halverstone - “When you see someone who has done so many things, talk about his journey and that you can't help but want to do that, to make an impact on this terrible disease and help fight this cause.”

(04:49) - Havo’s first boxing experience - “You just really learn that getting punched isn't that bad. And it's not devastating. It's not crushing, and you push forward. So I think there's that moment.”

(9:25) - The Match - “This is what you've trained for, this is what you've done the pushups for, this is what you've done the cost for. And you remember what you're gonna fight for.”

(12:42) - Round 2 - “Even when someone's gone, cancer isn't a sentence, and there is something that goes so much further in their legacy and in their kids and watching them.”

(16:10) - Haymakers for Hope legacy - “Haymakers been a journey that's been able to continue and being a part of the board. I've just seen it expand to new cities, DC, Denver.”

(19:04) - Round three: Boxing as a lifestyle - “The coaches, are such interesting people and give you skills that don't just help inside a little ring, but I mean, I repeat those quips every single day. It makes me a better leader, a better executive, just a better, more interesting”

Not Every Fight Ends at the Bell is presented and produced by Haymakers for Hope, in partnership with StudioPod Media. Our producers are former fighters Jordan McMillan and Julian Lewis.

Resource Links:

Not Every Fight Ends at the Bell - Show Page

Haymakers for Hope - Homepage

Haymakers for Hope - Instagram

StudioPod Media

Connect with Jon Halvorson on LinkedIn and Twitter.

View Jon’s fundraising page New York City 2016 | Haymakers for Hope

Watch Jon’s Fight

Follow Jon on Instagram

Follow Church Street Boxing Gym on Instagram