Sweetchuck’s Word: The Fight of My Life

By Charles “Sweetchuck” Presnell


In a few hours I will go to the airport to fly into Salt Lake City. There I will be meeting up with Nonito Donaire. Like a true friend, he agreed to fly in for my fight and work my corner. We will meet up with another friend of mine who will drive us into Ogden, UT and drop us off at our hotel. And due to the lack of sleep I am getting tonight, I imagine I will take a nap before the weigh in and medical exam. After those festivities we will probably go eat dinner and then go back to the hotel and discuss strategy or whatever. Like tonight, I do not anticipate getting a lot of sleep until I just pass out. Fight week is finally here. Something I have been waiting for over a decade to come…My first professional prizefight.

For years I have been identifying myself with the sport of boxing, however, the last few years people would not be able to tell that I had much more interest in the sport other than being an educated fan. You see, a few years ago I had a doctor diagnose me with type 2 diabetes and he then proceeded to tell me that I would never box again. This sent me into a depression that spun out of control at times leaving myself to not care about anything. About a year and three months ago I finally hit bottom. I partially lived in my car, the other times I would sleep in a one room apartment that I shared with two other guys. I was failing as an insurance agent and had my agent’s contract cancelled three weeks before Christmas making it impossible for me to buy presents for the loved ones I was growing apart from due to my own neglect for my life. Needing identity and a fresh start I swallowed my pride and moved back with my mother. I started watching boxing religiously again as cable TV had eluded me through the times I thought other things were more important. For a while I had read Boxingtalk and so one night I started writing into Greg Leon’s Mailbag.

For the next month I wrote into the mailbag and I continually saw my emails show up with an agreeing response. Finally I decided to pen an article and send it in to see if Greg would post it. He wrote back the next day saying that it was a very good article and that he would post it at the end of the weekend since it was not time sensitive. And so began my boxing journalism career. Something that would take me places I never knew it would.

Around last May I made the decision that being a boxing journalist was not going to be enough. I summoned the NSAC to see if it would be possible for me to fight even though I had diabetes. This was after the Peter-Sykes fight was announced to be in Reno. I thought it would be cool to try to get on that undercard. Ironically, the name I saw going to be fighting on the card I was going to volunteer to be the body for was Michael Marrone (after seeing Marrone fight, I’m glad I did not volunteer). As it would come to pass, Margaret Goodman responded to my inquiry saying that I would be able to be licensed to fight given certain tests were done. No problem, but I wanted to make sure I was a little more ready before I fought.

Behind my renewed love of boxing, life started taking off as well. Swallowing pride for sake of affording to go to fights was well worth so I went back to hard blue collar labor. I told everyone that would listen, like I had before, that I was going to be a pro boxer. I started going to fights and this is where I met my good friend Nonito Donaire.

Not really knowing who he was I didn’t remember him too much from the first time I met him. You’ve got to remember, I worked for Boxingtalk, and through them I had access guys like Chris Byrd, Hasim Rahman, Shane Mosley, Sam Peter, and others. It was at the Peter-Sykes fight that I met up with Nonito again. After interviewing Sam Peter, I was walking back to my seat and I saw Nonito getting ready to hit the ring. Realizing the opportunity I asked him for a quick interview before the fight. He agreed and then agreed to an interview after the fight as well. After the interviews he reminded me that we had met before at a Jose Ceyala fight in California. Something I did not remember right away.

Two days after the Peter-Sykes fight and handing out business cards to several people there, Gus Curren called me and thanked me for interviewing Michael Marrone and thus began a friendship there. Truthfully, Marrone was the first fighter I ever interviewed. And I’m happy to say that the first person I ever interviewed will be heavyweight champion of the world! Nonetheless, Curren and Nonito helped me see that it’s not all big names in boxing. However, it looks as though the beginning of the year this two young men have made a name for themselves.

Nonito’s next two fights were in Reno and Tahoe and over time we grew to become good friends. After the Tahoe fight with Illido Julio, Nonito, Justin Hughes and I talked well into the morning. I remember calling him asking him how his preparations were going and he always asking how mine were. When I got a doctor approval to fight again, I sent out an email to all my friends. He called me that night to congratulate me.

The reason why I bring Nonito so much into this is because it was through conversations with him that I really pushed myself to working harder in the gym. Especially after being ringside for his title winning effort. Standing in the hotel room with him after his fight and holding his belt for a brief moment, I promised myself that I would win one of my own.

When I first signed for my fight with Danny McGarry, Gus Curren and Nonito both congratulated me. Curren emailed me some pointers on how to fight someone with a huge height advantage and when asked Nonito agreed to work my corner. People around me are excited, some taking time off of work and driving several miles to attend my fight...A refreshing change from people asking me if I was ever really a boxer.

So here I am, up way later than I wanted to be, all packed up and counting the hours until I’m on the plane. By the time you read this I will probably be in Utah getting ready to fight on a card that few even know about. Ironically, it has been about a year since I started writing for boxing, and now with Boxing2006/Pound4pound.com, the best boxing website out there. With Nonito Donaire in my corner, several prominent boxing figures and most of all, the fans of the sport, I will take on the 6’7 Danny McGarry, and no matter the outcome of the fight, stepping in that ring I will have realized my dream and already won the fight of my life.



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