Cops enter the ring to help kids
Published: May 24, 2007
While a student at Washington State University, Mike Zaro got to spar and train, but an injury kept him out of the boxing ring. Patrick McCurdy has never boxed before but enjoys a good challenge and wants to raise money for children’s charities.
The two are training for “911 Fists n’ Cuffs,” the region’s first boxing match featuring law enforcement officers in the center ring.
More than 22 officers, including seven women, from agencies in Pierce, King and Thurston counties are getting ready for the big fight night, June 2 at the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma.
“I really enjoy it,” McCurdy, a 35-year-old King County sheriff’s deputy, said of his time in the ring. “I have a whole new appreciation for it and the people who go in there and do it.”
Zaro, a 37-year-old Lakewood police patrol sergeant, signed up to participate in the event because it sounded like fun. He’s lost 10 pounds so far as he prepares for the match.
“It’s a good motivation to work out and train,” he said. “It’s kind of cool to be on the ground floor.”
The Bacon Bowl Association is sponsoring and organizing the event. For nearly three decades, the nonprofit association’s primary fundraising event was the annual Bacon Bowl charity football game. That pitted the Tacoma Hogs against the Seattle Badgers, teams comprised of King and Pierce County law enforcement officers.
The pigskin game was scrapped last year because of falling attendance, the risk of career-ending injuries to officers, declining revenues and Seattle’s inability to put together a team.
Since 1979, the football game raised nearly $2.5 million for local children’s charities, including Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital and Health Center, Shop with a Cop and the Law Enforcement Youth Camp in Pierce County.
The association decided to keep the fundraising effort and focus on other athletic events. Last year, it sponsored a 3.1-mile run and walk in Seattle.
This year, the organization added the charity boxing match, said Tacoma police detective Chris Taylor, a member of the association’s board.
Boxers must attend 10 training sessions on their own time and pass a physical the night of the match. They also must become a member of USA Boxing, the national governing body of amateur boxing in the United States, which provides health coverage for the event.
The officers are being trained by experts: Bumble Bee Boxing in Seattle; Tom Mustin, coach for the Tacoma Boxing Club; and Bill Hunt of K.O. Boxing in Pierce County.
On fight night, Taylor hopes to field 10 matches, including at least one pairing of female boxers. Fighters will wear headgear and use 14-ounce gloves. They’ll be fighting under USA Boxing’s amateur rules, with professional referees in the ring, trainers in the corners and doctors on standby.
The boxers will be matched up according to weight, age and gender. They’ll dual over three rounds, each lasting between one and three minutes. Officers from the same department will not fight each other.
The department with the most winning boxers will win a team trophy. In addition, each winner will receive a belt and each loser a medallion.
Proceeds from the event will go to children’s charities supported by the Bacon Bowl Association, the Tacoma Boxing Club and Bumble Bee Boxing.
The Bacon Bowl Association also will sponsor a 5-kilometer walk and run challenge Sept. 23 at the Seattle Center. And a dinner and silent auction is planned at the Space Needle. A date has not been set.
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