MILLBRAE, California – Before the bright lights of professional fights, many of Thursday night’s prospects had contests in humble locations. The settings were schools, neighborhoods, or wherever someone might hassle them. For them, boxing isn’t just about the technique of a jab – boxing taught them to survive tough circumstances.

 

Thursday’s promotion at the Fox Theater in Redwood City, co-promoted by Westside Promotions and Mayweather Promotions, will fittingly support the Fam 1st Family Foundation, a non-profit based in Oakland, California co-founded by Marshawn Lynch, Josh Johnson, and Marcus Peters to help underserved communities. Currently, budget cuts are threatening to take away programs like Fam 1st Family Foundation. A silent auction will take place, with the proceeds benefiting the foundation.

 

“Their mission and ours are the same – supporting the youth in our communities is paramount to both our mission and our success,” Patrick Ragan of Westside Promotions told BoxingScene.

 

"We are aligned in purpose to empower and elevate underserved youth through sports, economics, and education,” Johnson said. “This partnership will begin to create change, starting with one kid at a time."

 

Julian Bridges, 6-0 (2 KOs) is one side of the night’s co-feature. As a child, he was bullied. This is something he remembers distinctly.

 

“In the fourth grade, I got slapped by a kid at the lunch table who said I took his spot,” Bridges told BoxingScene. “I told the teacher, but they didn’t do anything. I told my dad about it and he put me in martial arts.”

 

Bridges, a 23 year old from Antioch, California, has taken the tough road as a pro. On his professional debut he took a fight on a week’s notice. He knocked out Allen Medina in exactly one minute. He had been the underdog. In May, Bridges recorded the second upset of his career when defeating Jabin Chollet on the non-televised undercard of Saul “Canelo” Alvarez-Jaime Munguia. Bridges next fights Mexico’s Jose Esquivel, 10-9 (2 KOs) and 38 years old. He is a healthy favorite. He, regardless, hasn’t forgotten how the lessons of that lunchtime experience in fourth grade motivated him.

 

“A lot of people have doubted me, like that bully that day that saw a skinny, scrawny kid,” Bridges said. “I had a chip on my shoulder and I still have it.”

 

The heavyweight Jett Blackwell’s origin story in boxing is not dissimilar. Blackwell, 4-0-1 (1 KO), started to nox because of a neighborhood bully. Blackwell, a 23 year old from Fresno, California, would get picked on weekly from the ages of four to seven. That changed when he went to the gym.

 

“I trained for less than a week and I was able to have him stop bullying me,“ Blackwell told BoxingScene. “I whooped him.”

 

The boxing gym led to self-confidence for Blackwell.

 

Blackwell stopped boxing three years later, but returned when he was 15. Upon his return, he got in the ring, and his coach Frank Aleman told him he would be fighting a month later. Blackwell originally returned to the gym to lose weight. That amateur fight led to him attending many national tournaments. Blackwell has since turned professional, and fights Mario Jaquez, 3-1 ( 2 KOs). Jaquez sparred with Stephan Shaw and Alexander Flores in preparation for Blackwell. Despite fending off a bully so early on in his life, Blackwell revealed that fighting never came easy for him.

 

“I wasn’t a natural fighter,” Blackwell said. “I had a lot of fights as an amateur that got me ready for this point in my career. I just knew once I could throw punches and land them.”

 

The featherweight Sachery Sam finds himself in what could be termed a “step your game up” fight. Sam, 3-0 (2 KOs), is from Stockton, California. So far, the 24 year old’s career has moved slowly. He has fought once a year dating back to 2023. Sam fights the veteran Diuhl Olguin, 17-44-7 (10 KOs). Olguin, the 36-year-old from Oak Hills, California, is a veteran known for pulling off upsets on undercards and regional shows. Sam, who is looking to enter into a different tier of development after Thursday night, recalled being tested early in life for his mentality in the ring.

 

“I always stood up for myself. I didn’t know how to talk crap back, so I talked with my hands. It carried on to my boxing career,” Sam told BoxingScene. “That’s why I always say I am a fighter at heart.”