New York, NY (August 6, 2012) – Junior Middleweight Captain Boyd “Rainmaker” Melson earned his ninth professional win last Thursday evening after outboxing game foe Khalik Memminger at the Roseland Ballroom.
Backed by large group of supporters, including a special ringside group with 20 members from the New York chapter of the National Spinal Cord Injury Association (NYCSCIA), the southpaw Melson carefully boxed for the majority of the fight. The West Point graduate and Army Reserve Officer landed well-placed straight left hands along with stiff jabs.
After controlling five straight stanzas, Melson faced a bit of adversity in the sixth and final round when Memminger buzzed him with a few hard shots to the head. Although his loyal fans were briefly at the edge of their seats, Melson regained his composure and battled back, earning a clear-cut decision.
All three judges scored the bout 59-55.
Following the match, Melson spoke to the crowd about donating his entire fight purse to Justadollarplease.org, which supports bringing the first ever trial to America to help cure Chronic Spinal Cord Injuries. He also notified everybody on hand about gracious donations towards the trial from the World Boxing Council Cares program and the Brooklyn FDNY Fire House nicknamed “The Castle on the Hill” that his best friend Thomas Balukas works for. However, he was visibly disappointed with his performance inside the squared circle.
“The crowd was wonderful but I felt like I let them down,” said Melson, who returned to work at Johnson&Johnson less than 12 hours after his victory and reported for Army Reserve duty the following day. “I had tremendous adversity to overcome for this fight specifically. I had not sparred since fracturing my orbital socket in June because I was nervous that I’d reinjure it. I also came down with pink eye the weekend leading up to this fight, which made me sick and kept me out of the gym for 4 days. As a result, my weight ballooned back up and I had to drop 13 pounds from Tuesday to Wednesday for the weigh-ins. My body and especially me lgs were shot before the fight, but fighters fight and that’s what I made the choice to do, so I blame myself for my performance. Memminger was also gamer than I expected but I’ll take an ugly win over a pretty loss any day.”
Even with what he calls an unimpressive showing, Melson left the ring as a winner on multiple levels.
“Boyd has a big heart and him being on my side makes my life much better,” stated Christan Zaccagnino, who suffered a serious Spinal Cord Injury when she dove into a pool during her childhood and is Melson’s inspiration to box. “He is a great person and I knew that (the overall awareness) would reach its current level in due time.”
Melson’s next bout is tentatively scheduled for September 22 in Queens, NY. More information will be available shortly.
In association with the 501 (C) 3 nonprofit Justadollarplease.org, Melson and his best friend Christan Zaccagnino created Team Fight to Walk, whose mission is to raise awareness within the boxing community as well as the entire nation about the importance of bringing Clinical Trials to the United States to help cure Spinal Cord Injuries. Team Fight to Walk is comprised of Melson, Zaccagnino, former Rutgers football player/ESPY honoree Eric LeGrand, two-time cruiserweight champion Steve “USS” Cunningham, title contender DeAndre “The Bull” Latimore, Edgar “El Chamaco” Santana, Hector “Machito” Camacho Jr., 2008 US Olympians Demetrius “Boo” Andrade and Shawn Estrada along with prospects Sid “The Messenger” El Harrak, Jeff “TNT” Spencer, Denis “Da Momma’s Boy” Douglin, Will “Power” Rosinsky, Floriano “Italiano” Pagliara, Danny “Little Mac” McDermott, Vinny “The Lion” O’Brien, Ahmed “Prince of Egypt” Samir and Delen “Sniper” Parsley.
For more information or to make a donation, go to teamfighttowalk.com or Justadollarplease.org. All specific questions about the nature of the Clinical Trial to cure Spinal Cord Injury can be sent to [email protected].
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