Victory Charity Ball 2018 Recap - What I learned

The 2018 Victory Charity ball was an incredible success. This was my third time competing, and I am proud to announce that our event raised over $345,000 for the Pinball Clemons Foundation. While the decision of my bout ended in a split, I personally grew in many ways and am incredibly thankful for my team around me who helped me to raise $7,390 for the cause.

For those who aren't quite sure what a split decision is, i'm going to talk about that in another post. Basically though, it means it was a close fight but in this case my opponent edged me out by a narrow margin.

This event for me was quite humbling. I have had the opportunity to meet a number of the students who have benefitted from the Ambassador Program.  There was a student I sat down with at the event who let me know that without the program, he would be essentially lost for life. This is a high school equivalent course for kids who for whatever reason didn't quite fit in during normal high school. Some kids get caught up in drugs or alcohol abuse. Some kids are simply born into situations where the parents are unable to help them grow into their full potential. Some kids just don't learn the same way and need the support of a program like Ambassador to develop into members of society.

After three years of being involved with this cause, and working closely with Michael "Pinball" Clemons himself, I have learned that character builds champions. Mike has shown me through his actions that we can't always understand exactly what others are going through, but we can always give a hand up (rather than a hand out). What inspires me the most about meeting students who have been in the ambassador program and have graduated and then gone on to college is that no matter how rough it's been, they can still see light in what was a dark place.

I think we need more programs like this and it just feels good to be able to lend a hand for my community. While the boxing scorecard didn't show a W for Joshua Frazer that evening, I can honestly say that the entire event was an incredible win for everyone involved including myself and for that I would like to personally thank everyone who contributed and raised funds along side me. We are together helping kids go from the "Margins to the Mainstream"

All Photos courtesy Owais Rafique at Photo-Holic