Tag Archives: Boyd

Posted on 02/06/2020

Whenever a professional boxer decides to hang up the gloves, he normally leaves his fight inside of the ring. In the case of former professional boxer Boyd Melson, he’s learned how to take his fight with him outside of the squared circle. 

Boyd Melson was simply born to fight. That statement isn’t entirely surprising once you find out that he grew up in Brooklyn. A neighborhood in New York that isn’t exactly known for its friendliness. 

Before Melson decided to put the boxing gloves on, he was a bright student with an even brighter future. He just so happened to have a penchant for punching people in the face. 

To list the accomplishments of Melson, quite frankly, wouldn’t do it enough justice. He attended West Point Academy where he would go on to major in Psychology while minoring in Nuclear Engineering. While there, Melson was a four time United States army champion and picked up the Colonel Marcus award amongst his long list of other honors. 

After taking home gold in the World Military Boxing Championships, Melson was ready to take his talents to the professional scene. 

It didn’t take long for Melson to make an impact as he won his first eight fights before suffering his first set back at the hands of Delen Parsley. Melson would go on to win seven more fights and capture WBC United States Super Welterweight before losing his final contest against Courtney Pennington, and calling it a career. 

The boxing career of Melson may have been over, but if you believed he would fade into the shadows then you were mistaken. His real fight was only just beginning. 

Becoming both a professional boxer and a champion would be enough for most people, but Melson has a different thought process in that regard. His reign in the pro ranks was fun but his true passion is giving back, and that’s exactly what he plans on doing as he hosts a pair fundraisers for two very different, but important causes. 

“On April 10th at the Ping Pong nightclub called Spin on 48th, east 23rd street in Manhattan New York, we’re going to hold a fundraiser,” said Melson on Boxing Insider Radio. “This one is going to be for my West Point classmates that lost their lives serving this country. We created a foundation and were titling it protectors of the free. It is 100 percent a nonprofit that.”

If you’ve ever met Melson, then you’ll soon find out that he is one of the nicest people around who enjoys a good laugh. But when discussing the reasoning behind this fundraiser, he’ll turn his smiling face into a serious one as this topic touches close to home for him.

“This foundation was created to raise money for the family of my fallen classmates. We’ve had seven that we lost. So this is hopefully money for their children when they are ready to go to college one day.”

The origins surrounding the fundraiser is nothing to joke about, but that doesn’t mean that the event in itself won’t be one that every and anyone won’t enjoy. The now retired fighter plans on bringing the fun and excitement to this event, even if it comes at his own expense.

“We’re going to set up these four pillars from Mendez boxing gym. They’ve also let us borrow mats and we have two ropes to go around the four pillars to make a ring. People will donate $50 to get inside and throw punches at me. We did it for half an hour last time and raised $500. It was a long line so we’ll do it for an hour this time. I’ll get myself into some shape,” said Melson while chuckling. 

“Last time the hot dog eating champion Takeru Kobayashi, got in the ring with me. Kenny Anderson from the Nets also came by last year and worked the corner. We also had Alicia Napoleon show up and Big Baby Miller. I reached out to my good friend Demetrius Andrade and he told me he would come by provided that he’s available. So it should be a really good turnout. This year we’re also having a celebrity ping pong match available. You pay $50 and you get a bracelet for two hours of open bar.”

For Melson, this fundraiser isn’t just an attempt to raise money for his fallen classmates. That in itself would be a worthy cause, but no, it’s much deeper than that.

“I Just pack the place with veterans and pay tribute to the lives that volunteers and lost themselves while they were out serving. Hopefully everyone has a great time.”

If we took a look at the entire landscape of all sports, we would notice that they all have one thing in common with its participants. 

Money. 

They try to make as much of it as possible. 

In a sport as barbaric and unforgiving as boxing, who could really blame them? If you are going to risk your life every single time you step foot inside of the ring, then at the very least, you should profit considerably from it. 

Yet, for Boyd Melson, he was never completely fixated on what boxing could do for him financially. Instead, he wanted to use his platform to help someone who, at the time, was the love of his life.

“I was in love one time with a woman that was paralyzed once upon a time and I promised her that I would never give up on helping her walk again. So when I turned pro I donated everything that I earned to help fund a specific clinical trial that one of Christopher Reeves former doctors is working on. They will be injecting umbilical cord cells and they just need the funding for it.” 

Yes, you read that right. During a career that spanned six years, Melson never pocketed a dime. Instead, he fought for the woman that he loved. Now, even in retirement, he is still fighting, but not just for her, but for everyone affected by paralysis.

“Were having our first annual one love music festival June 6th at the Montgomery County agricultural fairgrounds in Maryland. We’re trying to pack it with the spinal cord community. I’ll be a speaker there and we’ll have a few performers. We’re looking to get Sean Paul to perform but we’re still in the process of getting our sponsors and investors to come and help fund it. But so far everything looks like it’s on track so it should be a great event.”

Retirement for professional boxers is usually a time where a fighter can relax. After all, he or she has been fighting for the majority of their lifetime. But for Boyd Melson, it doesn’t seem that he’ll ever stop fighting. Even if he’s doing it in a different way now.

Posted on 01/04/2018

Army Public Affairs Officer and retired pro boxer Boyd Melson announced his withdrawal from the New York District 11 Congressional election to serve the United States in the fight against ISIS in Operation Inherent Resolve.

Melson is currently serving in the Army Reserve in the rank of Major. Recently, a member of Melson’s Army Reserve unit scheduled for deployment in early 2018 received an opportunity for an assignment in an Active Guard Reserve (AGR) position.

The soldier wanted this assignment for a long period of time and it was an opportunity that would not be offered again if initially turned down. The soldier is married with children and the opportunity would be extremely beneficial to the soldier and her family. Melson, a Brooklyn resident, previously volunteered, without success, to serve abroad on three different deployments. He was adamant that this is his time to fight terrorism at its forefront.

“I am proud of many things that have taken place in my life and lives of those around me,” said Melson, a 2003 West Point graduate. “The most important to me without question is being a great American that stands behind his responsibilities as a member of the Army Reserve.”

Melson, who helped raise more than $400,000 for Spinal Cord Injury research by donating every penny earned in his boxing career and helping host multiple charity galas, has been chronicled by many high profile media outlets for his selflessness. However, the 36-year-old believes this next journey is his responsibility as an American.

“I have never deployed. Wholeheartedly, I believe that it is my ultimate duty to serve this great country in our fight against ISIS in the Middle East. For this reason, I have decided to withdraw from the 2018 District 11 Congressional election. While there’s no doubt in my mind I was the right man to lead Staten Island and South Brooklyn, America needs me overseas. I was doing well in my campaign run. I was singled out by the New York times as one of a handful of up and coming Democratic candidates for United States Congress. I was one of six candidates asked to speak out in front of the White House to address Russia’s cyber-interference with our elections. Then I received a phone call. A fellow soldier was scheduled to deploy. She asked me if I would switch with her because of various circumstances that would greatly benefit her family’s life to include her. I immediately said yes.”

“I thought to myself, I have never been deployed and I don’t want to look back on my life thinking how I had my chance to do my part fighting ISIS but shied away from it. That would have gone against everything I stand for. I believe in sacrificing myself to help others. This time, the sacrifice is not only to help combat the terror in the Middle East, but to also help out a fellow soldier. If I said no, I would have lied to myself about who I think I am and what I think I am about.”

I have spent a great amount of time over the years traveling to schools and speaking to students from pre-k through college. I always stated that you must make sure that your decisions are in alignment with your heart’s values. Me not being there when called upon would have meant I would have lied to these children all of these years. I finally am getting my chance to join my brothers and sisters in arms with this experience. Only my inner-circle knew about the other three deployments I tried to get on. I finally get to join all those throughout our nation’s history that have made this choice. I believe in my choice, albeit it will be costing me my chance at being elected into office. Serving my nation, the United States of America, in uniform while in harm’s way, to help fight.”

Posted on 12/12/2016

Boyd Melson Interview with Boxing Insider
By: John Freund

On November 19, 2016, former WBC USNBC Super Welterweight champ Boyd Melson returned to the ring after an 18-month long retirement. Boyd, who turned professional to raise awareness for spinal cord research, and who donated all of his boxing proceeds towards researching a cure for paralysis, was inspired to return to the ring for one last fight to raise awareness for the growing heroin problem in Staten Island, New York.

Boyd brought a 15-1 record into the fight, his only loss coming against Delen Parsley in a somewhat controversial decision. Boyd struggled to make weight, however, and was injured in the opening round. He lost the fight by KO to opponent Courtney Pennington.

We spoke with Boyd about what happened during the fight, what it’s like to get back into the ring after such a long layoff, and what he accomplished with his latest endeavor.

What happened during the fight?

I went in completely flat. Weigh-ins ended up running later than I thought they would, and that small window made all the difference. I had sweat out about 8 pounds the night before, and I was doing well that morning, but by the time I had to go into the weigh in I had nothing left. I tried to go on the pads, and I had nothing. For the weigh-in I had to put the sauna suit on, I put on a long sleeve shirt underneath the top, wrapped two towels around my torso, put the pads on and had the hat on. Went from the steam room to the sauna back to the steam room. I almost died. I was exhausted. I had to take a cold shower because I started getting nauseous. And the last round I did in the steam room I started burning my hands because the wraps from the gloves were cutting into my skin. So I actually started praying to God, I said “God please give me the strength to go through this, because I have to make this weight or I won’t be able to fight, and it’s for the cause of bringing awareness to heroin on Staten Island and I have to do my part.”

Tell me about the injury you sustained in the opening round.

I went in there and got tagged in my left eye. Turns out I got a small hole in the retina and they have to close it with surgery. I couldn’t even see, because blood was pouring into it. I wanted to quit that first round because I kept getting scared I was going blind, that my retina was detached. And I kept pawing at it and pawing at it, and when I went in the corner I asked coach, “Am I bleeding, am I bleeding?” And he was like, ‘No, there’s nothing there. What are you pawing at?’

I wanted to quit because I was scared about losing my vision, but I thought to myself, ‘It’s only the first round, I can’t quit, I have to fight for this cause. I can’t give up now.’

The worst part was being scared, not knowing what had happened. After that, my reaction time was off, I couldn’t move, couldn’t get out of the way. I couldn’t generate any power. It’s what happens when you get dehydrated. I couldn’t get any spacing and I couldn’t hit hard.

It was scheduled for 8 and the fight went until 20 seconds left in the 7th. Courtney is a great boxer. I wanted to say to him, ‘Can you carry me please?’ but I wasn’t going to do that (laughs).

At what point did you realize the fight wasn’t going your way?

Everyone always says, ‘You never start fighting until you get hit hard.’ And I always feel The Hulk come out when I do get hit hard. And I remember after getting knocked down in the 2nd round, I stood up with no emotion, no Hulk no nothing, the well was completely empty, and I thought to myself, ‘This is not good.’

When Steve Farwood interviewed me after, the first thing he said was, ‘We know this is not the normal Boyd Melson.’ And I said, ‘Thank you for acknowledging it, because I had nothing.’

You retired last year, and this was your one-time coming out of retirement fight. Why now? Why this fight?

The whole purpose of turning professional was to raise money and awareness for this clinical trial that one of Christopher Reeves’ doctors is trying to conduct here in the U.S. to cure paralysis, injecting umbilical cord stem cells where they are matching 6 out of 6 HLAs. After about 6 years and around $400k raised, at age 33 I told family I’m done.

But now I see Staten Island – the second burough of my childhood – I see what’s going on there, 40 Vets ODing on heroin, and now maybe the number is even higher, like some have said 74. So I hooked up with Abe Goldberg, the founder of Big Vision (bigvision.nyc), they do events all the time to raise money and awareness. So I said let’s do a boxing match.

It turns out there was an event at Foxwoods for Veteran’s Appreciation day, and they said, ‘Would you like to fight?’ And it was perfect timing, I’m on track to make Major, God willing (Boyd is an Army vet). So I decided to fight to raise money and awareness for Staten Island. I believed that by doing this the Universe would open up and inspire the media to come, and I’ll be able to use that as a platform to talk about heroin addiction on Staten Island. And whatever I earn I’m going to donate to Big Vision, so we can help Staten Island.

I know it sucks to lose a fight, but how do you feel now that it’s over?

I remember I told my family, for this fight, I wanted it to be a war so everyone would be inspired by how hard I was willing to fight for this cause, it doesn’t even matter if I win or lose. And it was a war.

Was the training more difficult this time around, cause you’ve been off for a year?

The first 2 weeks was tough on my body. I had some knee issues that never happened before. I started needing shots of Cortisone. I also started having radial issues with both arms, so they put me on Pretasone for 5 days. I had all these challenges but I was in shape. I was in shape like a dog. But it was having to get on that scale and lose all that weight… I prayed, I prayed like I never prayed before in my life. When I got on the scale, I was 1/10th of a pound heavy, and I started crying, because I wasn’t going to fight, and I was embarrassing myself. I started jogging in place and flinging my arms, and just trying to get every bead of sweat out. And that did it. The scale flickered between 63 and 62.9 and 63 and 62.9, and it held. I was dejected and dehydrated, with no food in my body.

That was about 24 hours before the fight. And I probably put on 15-20 pounds in that 24 hours. I was so bloated.

What advice do you have for boxers considering coming out of a long layoff or retirement?

Get yourself a weighted vest. And don’t worry about running in the beginning because you’re probably going to be a little heavier, and that extra weight will be hitting your knees. Put on the vest, wear it for your shadowing, wear it on the bag, just to start getting your joints loose again. Don’t worry about footwork so much. Get on that elliptical with the vest on, and do some sprints on the elliptical – 30 seconds. Give yourself about 6-10 minutes, 30 seconds easy, 30 seconds hard. Just to get your metabolism up. Keep doing that for a week or two before you start running. You’ll lose some weight pretty quick with that. You need to get your body loose.

Can you give me an update on spinal cord injury research? How is that going?

By early fall of next year we should have clearance to conduct a study here in the U.S. – it was originally published in the May 2016 issue of ‘Cell Transplantation,’ a prestigious scientific journal. 15 of 20 paralyzed individuals can now walk with a walker, and 12 out of 20 had their bladder and bowel functions return. So God willing we’ll get FDA approval to continue that study next year.

What’s next for you in your career?

I want people in Staten Island to know, I have shown by example now – outside of many things I have on my resume in regard to philanthropy – what I’m willing to do to help that borough with its most grave problem. And my hope is, come 2018, I get elected in some official capacity to a leadership position so I can help serve the people of Staten Island. I risked my life for that.

Are you planning on running for an official position?

Yes, I would like to run for Congress in 2018. I fought this fight to bring awareness to a growing problem in the borough I love, that I grew up in, and even after barely making weight and nearly going blind in the first round, I kept fighting for 6 more rounds. It was a blood and guts fight, and I fought it for the people of Staten Island. I look forward to continuing to fight for them.