Like any mother, Karin Baxter watched with a little trepidation as her sons Adam and Jacob performed high school football for Severna Park and college lacrosse — the previous at Towson and the latter at Maryland. But whilst Adam Baxter knowledgeable his mother about 4 months in the past that he was supposed to dip his toe into boxing, her problem understandably reached new heights. “He’s very competitive, and I know he’s worked very hard, and I understand he’ll do thoroughly,” Karin Baxter said. “But he’s my son. So I’m a bit concerned approximately somebody punching him. It’s just the bodily punching wherein I’m concerned that he may get hurt. But I’m proud of him, and I’ll be there, and I’ll add him.” Adam Baxter has attempted to assuage his mom’s fears with a little bravado.
“She says she will belly the idea of me getting punched,” he said. “So I just advised her, ‘I received’t get punched. I’ll do the punching.’ ” Adam Baxter, 39, will make his boxing debut for Haymakers for Hope, an agency that seeks to raise cash and recognition for most cancers research through charity boxing occasions. Baxter can be one among 32 opponents participating in the Beltway Brawl on Sept. 19 at 7:30 p.M. At The Anthem in Washington.
Baxter — who’s dedicating his combat to former Terps faceoff specialist Brian Carroll, who changed into recognized with testicular cancer in advance inside the year — stated he had lost all four grandparents and some aunts and uncles to cancer, which is predicted to contribute in 2019 to 606,880 deaths in the United States, in keeping with the American Cancer Society. But the pervasiveness of the disease struck Baxter when former teammate and Tigers midfielder Brian Myers was recognized with colon cancer in September 2016.
“To see somebody my age undergo colon cancer and see what it did to him, that really had a personal effect on me because if it can manifest to him, it can happen to anybody,” stated Baxter, who lives in Arlington, Virginia., together with his spouse, Katie, 5-year-old daughter, Stella, and 2-year-antique son, Wyatt. “It’s just modified my complete thought manner. It made me need to do something, and it made me need to dedicate that much more to knock out most cancers.”
After four operations and 12 rounds of chemotherapy, Myers, 38, has been most cancers-unfastened for greater than two years. He stated that the bodily and emotional trauma of being diagnosed with cancer was offset by using the love and assistance Baxter and different former teammates verified. “What I went via, I wouldn’t want that on all people,” Myers said. “But what has come of it’s far quite fantastic. And for Adam to be doing something like this, I’m not amazed, but if that motivates human beings in our sphere to move above and beyond, it’s unique.”
Family and buddies say Baxter diving into boxing isn’t unexpected. He relished the physicality related to soccer and lacrosse; however, former Towson lacrosse instructs Tony Seaman, who said Baxter, a defenseman, did no longer instigate trouble with his combatants. “But he’d hit anyone who got here into the protective area,” Seaman stated. “He was never shy approximately punishment. He becomes surely an enforcer on our crew. However, I never saw him fight.
Baxter, who said he grew up looking at Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield’s field, watched former teammate Rich Beecher participate in a Haymakers for Hope event in New York in 2017. And while Beecher called him in April, Baxter did not want a lot of convincing to sign on. “I’ve continually notion approximately boxing, being able to walk all the way down to the ring with music and getting in there and boxing a person one-on-one,” he stated. “I just never idea I would do it. So this venture for me became non-public, but also a project to do something exactly and give again.”
Baxter has made over his agenda to put together for his match towards 37-yr-vintage Mike Dundas. A regular day involves Baxter attending to Urban Boxing in Arlington for a one-hour exercise beginning 6:15 a.M., returning home from his job as an independent standard contractor using four:45 p.M. To squeeze in a forty-five-minute run, and every so often including a one-hour sparring magnificence inside the nighttime.
