BOSTON — One Swampscott High School graduate will try to knock out cancer when she gets into the ring in October.
“It is with great pleasure and a little bit of terror that I am undertaking the grueling challenge of participating in Haymakers for Hope’s 5th annual Belles of the Brawl event at Boston’s House of Blues on Oct. 5,” said Leigh Cassidy, a 29-year-old Swampscott native.
Cassidy, a Boston resident, said Haymakers for Hope is a nonprofit organization that puts together amateur charity boxing events to raise money and awareness for cancer research, care, awareness and survivorship.
She said the Belles of the Brawl charity event will feature 32 women and 16 boxing matches. More than 300 women applied. The women are matched up by their weight classes. Cassidy, an international marketing manager for a startup company in Boston, said her goal is to raise $10,000 for cancer research. Participants are required to raise $5,000.
Cassidy said she will be fighting in honor of her mother, Nancy, a three-time cancer survivor, who lives in Lynn and teaches in Lynn Public Schools. She will also be sparring in memory of her friend, Rita Gutman, a former Lynn and Swampscott resident, who lost her battle with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia last summer at age 28.
Having a mother as a cancer survivor means the cause is near and dear to her heart, Cassidy said. She said she was just 12 years old her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Her mother is OK now, but Cassidy remembers how sick she was — she needed chemotherapy and radiation and lost all of her hair. Treatment has come a long way since then, she said.
About 10 years ago, Cassidy said her mother had breast cancer again, but it was a less advanced form and she didn’t require any radiation treatment. She said it didn’t hit her how scary her mother’s cancer was until the second time — when she was 12, she knew it was frightening, but her mindset was that her mom would get better and she did.
Nancy, 57, said her cancer came back for a third time in 2015, but it was more easily treated.
Cassidy said she is a member of George Foreman III’s gym, EverybodyFights, and has been taking boxing classes there for three years. She started training for the event in June. She said her experience when she started prepping was pretty limited, and her trainer basically told her that her stance was all wrong and they should start from scratch.
“Over the next few months, I will continue an intense training regimen to prepare me to step in the ring in front of 2,000 people and literally fight for a cure of cancer,” Cassidy said.
She trains intensely six days a week for at least two hours a day. She takes Sundays off and walks her dog. Her regimen includes strength and conditioning, running, shadow boxing and sparring.
For her upcoming match, Cassidy is paired up with Alice Liao, a high school history teacher. She said she is petrified to get into the ring in October — the first time she sparred was a little over three weeks ago, and Cassidy said she got punched in the face and went home and cried for three hours. But she said she sparred with Liao last Sunday and thought it went well.
Her Belles of the Brawl match will consist of three, two-minute rounds, with 30-second breaks in between.
“While I feel confident in my training so far, I still have a long way to go,” Cassidy said. “She’s (Liao is) only going to get better in these next two months too.”
To make a donation toward Cassidy’s goal, check out her Haymakers for Hope profile page at https://www.haymakersforhope.org/profiles/leigh-cassidy.
