I’ve never been into sports. And I’ve certainly never been into boxing. A too-tall string bean of a child with terrible hand-eye coordination and zero competitive drive, my parents still tried to engage me in various athletic activities: AYSO soccer and softball as a child, track and field as a teenager—but even as a child on the big grassy field I would end every lost match consoling my teammates and reminding them that it was “only a game.”

My coaches hated me. One even shouted back “it’s NOT just a game! You’re supposed to want to win!!” after a particularly crushing defeat. But I was already picking dandelions off the side of the field or sticking my nose back into one of Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern novels.