A supporter's fight, marathon, plunge to live up to the motto, "Don't be a Pussy" with Jenna Taylor

Not Every Fight Ends at the Bell

Jenna Taylor recounts her experience fighting for Haymakers for Hope, a charity that raises money for cancer research, care, awareness, and survivorship through charity boxing events. Jenna originally got involved after attending a co-worker's fight in 2017. Inspired by his fundraising effort and the spectator experience, she signed up for the next event to honor her grandfather who battled cancer.

Throughout her Haymakers journey, Jenna has participated in multiple boxing bouts, marathons, and Polar Plunges. She even took a fight on 24 hours' notice to allow another fighter to still compete after a last minute cancellation. Through it all, Jenna has evolved mentally and emotionally. She credits Haymakers for instilling discipline, self-control, empowerment and changing her outlook to be more positive.

Jenna cherishes the community she’s found through Haymakers. Some of her closest friendships started at events, evident by a group trip to volunteer at the debut Philly fight. She tries to recruit new fighters and spread awareness, eager to contribute to the mission of “knocking out cancer” in any way possible. For anyone hesitant to sign up, her advice is simple: “Don’t be a pussy.”

Quotes:

(00:02:34)"There's something about it. I was like, let's go. Let's do it. I talked to him after and I'd been present for his journey when he signed up to when he got in to media day through all of it. And it was just the whole experience. I was just like, I need that. Like every I saw the impact that he made and I wanted to do the same."

(00:04:43) "I put one of those little billboards in my room with like the little letters and put ‘don't be a pussy’ because there's days that I just did not want to go."

(00:14:00) “The last point two of the marathon was walking up to Julie's fridge in her garage, grabbing a beer and walking back down to the end of the driveway and that hit our 26.”

Resource Links:

Donate to Jenna

Donate to Haymakers for Hope

Follow Haymakers on Instagram

Haymakers for Hope is an official 501(c)(3) charity organization that gives you the opportunity to fight back against cancer. They also have charity bibs for races all across the country and host charity golf tournaments.

Not Every Fight Ends at the Bell is presented and produced by Haymakers for Hope, in partnership with StudioPod Media. Our producers are former fighters Jordan McMillan and Julian A Lewis II.