Canton woman gearing up for charity boxing match

This story originally appeared in the Sept. 19 issue of the Citizen.

In boxing, a haymaker is a powerful punch. Its name comes from the use of a scythe to cut hay in a field. The farmhand swings the scythe with a strong, wide stroke in order to cut as much hay as possible with a single forceful movement. A boxer delivers a haymaker to an opponent in the same fashion, taking a wide swing and delivering a strong blow and possibly knocking out the other boxer.

Kim Dadasis

Kim Dadasis, who took up boxing a few years ago, has spent the past several months preparing to step into a ring on October 9 at the House of Blues on Lansdowne Street in Boston as a participant in Haymakers for Hope: Belles of the Brawl VII. Dadasis will face two opponents. One is a female boxer similar to her in age and weight. The other is cancer.

Two New York City Golden Gloves boxers founded Haymakers for Hope (H4H) in 2009 as a way to raise money for cancer research. H4H is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that sets up charity boxing events in Boston and other cities. People who are interested apply for one of the spots. Dadasis heard about Haymakers for Hope and applied a few times, but was not selected. That changed last spring when H4H contacted her about an opening.

Dadasis has always loved sports and was an avid runner for many years, participating in both the Boston and New York City marathons, always for charity. She also took part in Run to Home Base at Fenway Park, a charity race that raises funds to support veterans, service members, and their families. She was the top civilian fundraiser the first year of Run to Home Base.

Boxing was something new and very different for her. One of her cousins was a boxer and as a child, Dadasis watched the fights, but felt bad because people were being hit. But now that she has learned to box, she has an entirely new outlook.

“I love the sport of boxing,” she said. “It’s challenging to me. I love to learn. Every day you just learn something new. It’s very humbling.”

Dadasis boxes at TMX gym in Quincy, where she thinks of her sparring partners and friends as family. To prepare for her upcoming fight, she has been spending as much as three hours a day at the gym doing bag work, running, learning to keep her hands up, going through cardio workouts, and aiming punches at covered paddles. “The training is grueling,” she said.

Haymakers for Hope uses the money raised through ticket sales for cancer research. Fighters select a charity of their choice and raise money to donate to that organization. Dadasis is boxing to support Family Reach, a national organization that works to help with expenses for families in which someone has been diagnosed with cancer. Specifically, she is raising money for a woman who, like Dadasis, has four children. The mother was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Family Reach stepped in to help with mortgage payments for the family.

“I hate nothing and I hate cancer,” Dadasis said. “To see the financial part, to go through that and the other part, everything about it is just awful. It happens to too many people. I didn’t realize how devastating the financial burden can be until I was educated. The support has been overwhelming.”

Her husband, Billy, other family members, and friends have contributed to the fundraising; Dadasis is hoping to raise as much money as possible.

H4H pairs boxers who are similar in weight and are within 10 years of age of each other. Dadasis’ opponent in the upcoming bout is Debra Willard out of BoxSmith gym in West Roxbury.

Each fight consists of three two-minute rounds with a one-minute rest period in between, for a total of eight minutes in the ring. Judges will be present to declare the winner of each fight. It will be the first amateur fight for Dadasis; H4H allows only boxers who have never fought before to participate.

“I love the fact that I can only do this once,” she said. “It’s kind of cool.”

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