This episode features Ray Tomsick, a fighter training with coach DeVarryl “touch of sleep” Williamson at TOS Boxing in Denver for the upcoming Haymakers for Hope event, Rumble in the Rockies on June 13th. Ray shares how he got involved with Haymakers through his friend Chase, who fought the previous year. He discusses the impact of cancer and other illnesses on his loved ones, including his mother's battle with multiple sclerosis, which motivated him to embrace this challenging opportunity. 

Ray vividly describes the transformative experience of training, the supportive team environment at TOS, and how boxing has become a positive outlet amidst personal tragedy. He expresses gratitude for finding purpose, discipline, and a daily "vacation from the mind" through the grueling workouts. The interview highlights the mental and physical growth that occurs during the four-month training camp, as well as the life lessons and sense of fulfillment gained from pushing oneself to new limits.

Quotes

(00:00:21) "And it's just like them being debilitated. Right. And me being a capable human being, I need to be doing stuff and do it in a positive light. Right. So that's what drew me to haymakers for hope. Cause it's like, it is a fight, right? Like all these people are fighting all these things and why shouldn't I be fighting"

(00:30:49) "I have no doubt that you're going to make her very proud on event night." - Julie in reference to Ray’s mom.

(00:32:18) "Finding out things that you didn't know about yourself, finding out things that you might not know you needed in life, like mine, one of those main things, needing that daily interaction with a team, showing yourself just truly how strong you can be."

(00:34:00): "The biggest advice is show up to me. It was show up every day. Every day is a new day. Every single day. It doesn't matter what you did yesterday in the gym, whether it was good or bad. Pack it away, put it away. It's over. Today's a day. Don't think about tomorrow. Don't think, just think about what you have to do today and give it everything you got."

Resource Links:

Donate to Ray Tomsick's Page

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. Our producers are former fighters Jordan McMillan and Julian A Lewis II.

[00:00:21] Todd: from haymakers for hope?

This is not every fight ends at the bell.

[00:00:32] Todd: Thanks to generous supporters and more than 1, 200 ass kicking do gooders, Haymakers has raised over 25 million for cancer research, care, awareness, and survivorship.

But the march towards a cure continues long after the last bell of each event.

[00:00:52] Todd: I'm Todd Buster Paris.

[00:00:58] Todd: on this [00:01:00] podcast. We will highlight the stories of fighters, survivors, organizations, and supporters. Not every fight ends at the bell

Welcome Ray. Hello. So Ray, tell us a little bit about yourself, how you found yourself boxing.

So we were talking a lot, hanging out a lot. I talked to him after [00:02:00] training and he started it for haymakers for hope. He did not train boxing before he started like his four and a half month journey. So it was interesting with that. Um, he told me a lot. I'm glad he didn't tell me everything. Someone I need to experience myself, such as I swear I'm getting good.

Like, you know, I did break my nose in sparring two days ago, but Hey, it was actually fun. Like, I don't know, you know, it was interesting, but, um, I did it with chase. He was like, I'm going to nominate you next year. Blah, blah, blah. I was like, all right, well, let's see when we get there. Christmas time comes, we have a few beers and you know, Few more beers and I was like, let's do it.

Do all the things that she can't and it was in my mind for a couple of years. Chase did this. It was in my mind even more. And then I jumped into it after I told chase and then started training January 26th.

[00:03:26] Ray: Correct. The first time I was ever in a boxing gym in my life was a TOS boxing on January 26th.

[00:03:34] Ray: That's who Chase trained with, and we had, uh, one of our buddies just, he never fought for Haymakers. Jake Salazar trained with him years ago, just for the fitness side and everything like that. And then Chase trained with them and just, yeah. And I didn't, I didn't meet DeVerell until my first day at TOS, but Chase talked about him a lot.

[00:04:00] Julie: Yeah, you can't really describe DeVarel until you meet him in person and, uh, for our listeners who don't know. So DeVarel Williamson is a coach and the owner of TOS Boxing, I believe in Englewood, Colorado. TOS or touch of sleep was DeVarel's nickname when he was a boxer.

And still is his nickname, but he was a very well decorated amateur athlete and a pro who actually fought a clitch. Go. He has been a long, a longtime supporter of haymakers since year one in Denver. He's unbelievable. He trains a ton of people for this event. He's kind of just like a hype person. He's a huge supporter and he is just an absolute character.

So, um, I can only imagine how training is going.

Uh, the first one being Jack Dempsey in 1965. which I just learned today. Now I knew he was in the Colorado hall of fame, but the Jack Dempsey thing, I just learned today, which is pretty amazing. But he is, I learned something new about him every day, but not from him. Like I'll pick it up from one of the other boxers,

I want to touch a little bit about your connection to haymakers for hope. As everybody listening knows. And as you know, it's a charity event that raises money to help literally fight cancer. How has cancer affected your life?

[00:05:46] Todd: I'm, sorry

Like media day was amazing. And the people that were in there are all people that are close to me that have it and had it. Thank God out of that whole photo, only one person passed away, but just the amount of different stories that there are involved with that, right? Like everything from my best friend's mother, April, her husband, Steve, who I'm really good friends with.

You know, but he's better right from the chemotherapy stuff. April gets it in 2017 and it's gone in 2018. So she lived that whole thing with him. They live that together think okay, we're over the hump and then You know so you have a long battle and then a just a [00:07:00] very short relatively short when you compare those right and then My i'm blessed.

I have two moms. So my other mother she just uh She's uh Went through breast cancer surgeries. She came outta that good just this past December, thank God. But that's interesting 'cause she's very open with me and you know, I'll keep those conversations probably between her and I, but just her journey through that of what it is that she just went through, you know what I'm saying?

And just things that trials and tribulations like to go through after you went through life to this. Now a whole nother set of things to deal with. Right. One of my good friends, I'm 47, 1 of my good friends, red Eric Dahlstrom, he went through like during the pandemic. He went through a colon cancer. So, and he told me I could share a story, but he told me to tell everybody, like, get that checked.

But just all 3, like, well, all 5 all 5 of those people on the cancer side are just such unique, different stories, but all of them dealt with it very strongly, like, I, it was pretty amazing. Or is pretty amazing, I should say, because they're all still going through it, right?

How does that connect to Haymakers? So, I'm just trying, like, I understand part of that. I'm just saying it's interesting.

S. where that got diagnosed in the early nineties, and then for the last, I'm bad at time because I don't have kids for life. So, you know, like, sometimes I just [00:09:00] kind of judge things by how tall my nieces and nephews are, but, you know, my mom was in a wheelchair for well over a decade and just being. Not being able to live your fullest life, right?

Like whether it be cancer, whether it be MS, whether it be kids that are going through kidney dialysis stuff, you know, like the charity I'm doing is bags for fun. And that's one of the things that they do outside of cancer is that too. And it's just like them being debilitated, right. And me being a capable human being, I need to be doing stuff and do it in a positive light.

Right. So that's what drew me to haymakers for hope. Cause it's like, It is a fight, right? Like all these people are fighting all these things and why shouldn't I be fighting like I'm capable of doing it where they can't,

She is, you know, an old Irish woman who's very stubborn, who she actually takes boxing [00:10:00] two times a week. Yeah. Which is incredible. And it has been very helpful for her. But, um, while it's not cancer, it's still an illness and it's still extremely debilitating. I love that your mother and her struggle. I love that.

Was really a motivator to get you into this. I feel like people who come into this with that motivation for someone else, especially the other people, it drives them even harder in the gym because Ray, you can tell us you're in the thick of it right now. I'm way removed from training for a fight, but you're in the thick of it.

org round two. Great. I can't imagine what it must've been like. To be, you know, having just started training. What were you like just a few weeks in and to have your mother pass away? My question there is, do you think that it was helpful for you to have taken on this? Because it's a massive responsibility.

Not only are you Learning how to box in four short months, but you're also fundraising. So just talk to us, I guess, about it.

I kind of knew in my head, I wasn't going to start doing the fundraising really until after I got past the sparring, my, you know, media day, sparring my opponent, and that was just because I wanted to show I have a wide network of people and I wanted to show that when I started this thing, I was two 27 this morning.

It could happen. Jennifer, who's amazing. Deverell's wife, you know, she came to the funeral, but cause you know, coach, like, that's what people don't realize. Cause Todd, you're a coach as well. Right. Like you guys are at the gym every day. If that thing's, if you're not there, there's a lot of people that aren't training.

Right. So like Jennifer came to the funeral, Deverell couldn't be there, but yeah, it is still just so supportive. And, um, the thing that the unintended, there's so many things that I didn't know that Chase didn't tell me, which I'm glad he did not, which was. How much of a family that environment is, right?

So that was good just to not even have but I didn't even want to like, you know, it wasn't like oh That was a tough day. I want to have a glass of whiskey Like I was like, I want to go to the gym. I want to go to the gym I'm eating right i'm and one of the good things usually when tragedy happens, right?

You just can't sleep and all that jazz. Well I mean, it was a little harder to sleep, but not too much harder, right? Cause like, uh, I mean, I wake up at 3 25 AM and I'm at the gym at five. Cause DeVaro, Matt, there's six of us fighting, but Matt Runyon and I were two of the guys that just joined for Haymakers, right?

Jump in the truck, get there, do that. And the beautiful thing about boxing that I again learned that I did not know is that for the hour and 15 or two hours that I'm there, just depending on the day, right? It's a vacation from my mind. You don't have time to think about anything else. I'm weightlifting. I can think about all this other stuff Right, like don't get it twisted when i'm hitting a heavy bag when after my mom went down Of course that's in there, right?

Part of it was, you know,

I still went there to have lunch. I didn't really know what else to do. You know, I, it was boxing, boxing, boxing, and that was my family. You have a bad day, whether in the ring or at work and somebody's gonna lift you up or somebody's gonna, you know, snap you out of your, your bad mood by going a few rounds with you.

They just, it gives you, gives you a focus and there are other people encouraging you to be your best self, to be your best version. And it's, it's really challenging and you're, you're, you're fighting, you're fighting for purpose. You're fighting for a reason and you're fundraising to make a difference. So it's.

It's amazing to hear that And I love that you're at TOS because DeVerell is, he's great and he definitely has, his gym is very community driven.

Yeah. He's a black gentleman but has these cool blue eyes. So like, he's like a human scoreboard. You know if you did good because the eyes just get a little bit brighter. And he gets all like, yeah, right. And the eyes get a little bit brighter and you're like, all right,

You just want to make them happy. I tell people all the time, the only [00:17:00] way people will always reach out, Oh, I have, you know, my coach, she did so much for me. She did so much for me. What can I buy them to pay them back? And I say, honestly, the only way you can pay back a coach is by going in the ring on event night.

and doing what they have taught you to do over the last couple of months. That is the best way, whether it's you get the W or not. If you go in there and you say, Hey, look it, you showed me this. I'm doing what you showed me to do. That is the best way you can pay back a coach. There is nothing like getting a huge hug or a big smile after a fight because They know you, you trained your ass off and you, you listened, you absorbed it.

That is the only way you can pay them back.

And Mike's not training for a fight, but he's like, I have like essentially six assistive coaches, you know what I'm saying? Throughout the time. But Mike trains [00:18:00] with Matt and I every day. So DeVerell's coaching, but Matt Mike's with us doing suicides, tire flips, you know, all this stuff, all the things, but he's also coaching me too and coaching Matt, it's just, It's some of the most effective coaching I've also ever had in my life.

[00:18:17] Ray: Ray.

[00:18:24] Ray: fellas, I'm Ray Ray. So it's just Ray. Hands up. It could be Ray hands up. Ray hands up or Ray breathe. Or Ray pushups. Cause you know, when you miss up the combos, right?

[00:18:41] Ray: few.

[00:18:46] Ray: He just sees that we're committed. You know what I'm saying? I think he likes that. He sees that that I'm committed. My, my main training partners, like I said, there's six of us out of TOS that are fighting, but my main 5 a. m. guy is Matt. And he sees [00:19:00] that we're, we're ride or die for. This and now for TOS.

It's like I said, man, I mean, I hate makers for hope anybody. It's like I said, just with the tragedy I went through with my mom. I mean, I just can't tell people through, you know, and don't get it twisted. I was 227. Part of the reason I jumped into this thing was for myself as well. When I first jumped in, right?

But I jumped in the ocean without knowing how to swim. And if you have the right coaching, like it's there, I could barely do step ups. Like, just cause I thought my knees were bad. Well, my, my, I thought my left knee was bad. No, that was a lot of inflammation and whiskey in there. You know what I'm saying?

Now I did Tuesday night. I was doing, I did 30 box jumps, you know, like the, the tall box jumps. I was like, who's what? I have the answers to the test now. It's only my fault if I go backwards as far as like, Yeah,

You're going to change that way. What people underestimate is the mental aspect and how you start to. Look through parts of yourself that maybe you didn't either either know were there or didn't know how to confront them. And you really have to confront a lot of things when you're in the ring and somebody's beating the shit out of you or trying to beat the shit out of you and you have to give yourself a chance to be your best you and to cut out all that bad stuff.

It's the best thing you can do for yourself because then, you know, on fight night when you're getting in there, You're not getting in there thinking, I shouldn't have been going to the bar once a week, or I should, you know, I really should have done those long runs that DeVerell told me to do. You're like, I gave myself the highest advantage I possibly can.

[00:21:05] Ray: whiskey knees.

[00:21:21] Ray: But did she, cause she was throwing, like, she was like doing the drunken monkey or what?

She had a great fight. I think she's gone on to compete more. She's like Caitlin Fazio. What's up, Whiskey Fists. She's got four sons, all I think under the age of 10. She's just amazing. But that's one of the best nicknames of all time.

[00:21:41] Julie: Not Every Fight Ends at the Bell is presented by Haymakers for Hope.

[00:22:05] Todd: Ray, what difference do you want this boxing match to make for you personally?

And what do you want big picture wise to sort of happen after this?

And I see, but I was kind of like, oh, well, how am I going to do this then? You know? Cause like I have a wide group of friends and we like to have a good time. You know what I'm saying? It's not like we're fricking crackheads or something, but we like to have a good time. You know? I mean, you're going to the lake, you're going to this thing.

And it's like, you find this thing at 47, right? I'm like, yeah, we'll see. And I'm like, dude, why did it like, you can't go backwards, but I mean, 100 percent it's in my mind. Like Heidi, one of the other fighters and I, her and I were texting and she's like, I wish I would've started younger. Not because we want to be better for our fight, right?

Because it's just so. Impactful and powerful. And the other thing that I learned that I did not know before this. So I was like, yeah, let's get in shape, shock the body, blah, blah, blah. And we'll see where things go before I start. Now that I've started, I'm like this, not the 5 a. m. thing. That's after the fight, the 5 a.

Like I said, I believe I have the answers to the test. So it's only my own fault if I don't. Right. But sweet. One of the guys at the gym, he's 51 and he fights masters. He's fighting in Michigan in July and fighting in Vegas in August. You know, Matt Runyon, who I, like my buddy, who, like I said earlier, he's hate makers for hope, but he's doing another charity thing for some commercial real estate.

Like you have to be in commercial real estate here in Denver to fight it. He's just did his interview. So hopefully he'll get that fight and be fighting again in October. And then how am I going to, we went through it. How am I going to let him train by himself? You know what I'm saying? So what I got out of it is these things that I learned that I believe it's going to be in my life.

What is all about? Like I could fight at 51. Hell yes. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, I didn't know that about boxing. I didn't know boxing could be like soccer where I could just keep going. Right? You can't play football the rest of your life. Like, I just, that was kind of my main thing back in the day.

And now it's To know that this can be a thing right is pretty awesome

[00:25:49] Ray: 100 percent for a living. I'm a realtor and mortgage broker, right? And it's not really like a place where you're going to the corporate headquarters every day. Anyways, right? Then pandemic happened. You even went [00:26:00] into office less, right? I didn't realize, and this is even before my mom passed and then even that much more afterwards that, like I said, like, I see my friends, my family, you know, like, good amount right on the weekends when you can, but.

Not a consistent daily interaction with people unless it was like the Amazon delivery dude or going to show a client a house, right? And that interaction just for the, yeah, it's just, I can't, it's hard to describe, but it's just like community. But just like, Hey bro, all right, let's go suck it up for two hours together, an hour and a half, whatever it might be, and

Now, if you could tell someone, someone who's about to embark on this four month journey, you can tell them just one thing, what would you tell them?

Right. So, and I think no matter what happens on the 13th, I think anybody will probably [00:27:00] still say, I wish I would, I wish I could. But if you keep the main thing, the main thing is just embrace the suck and know that by embracing the suck, you're going to feel so fulfilled. And the other thing is as much as you want to embrace the suck, uh, like I had a level two lab strain and that was my fault that I let it get there.

Because you get addicted and you just want to go and when you have a good coach like DeVera wasn't forcing me to do nothing. Right? He said, you know, advocate for yourself. Let me know what's going on. But you get that thing where you just want to be there and doing it. Right? But I would say definitely watch your body as well.

And if you make the main thing, the main thing you're going to be so fulfilled when you go from thinking you're going to push in a sled. I never even did that in high school. Yeah. Like, you know what I'm saying? And like three times, like our first day, DeVerell's telling Jennifer, he's like, these guys ain't coming back.

Don't even give them a mouthpiece. You know, you know, and, uh, and you know, today it's five times on the sled. And it's like, I mean, yes, challenging, but it ain't no, I didn't think I was going to die. I wasn't thinking about like, oh my God, am I going to make it through this? Just the fulfillment. When you walk out of the boxing gym in the morning or evening, you know, I've only done a few late day sessions, but in the morning, you're like, I found myself driving after like driving back home to get ready.

But as the, when you have an effective coach, as it gets better, it's still going to suck because you know, you're going to be sucking wind the whole time. Cause it's going to keep going forward and going forward. But then it's just like, you know, you can overcome it. And then what else can you take that outside of the ring and outside of the boxing gym?

Like what else can I overcome? Right.

I just walked into a gym one day and was like, Oh, let's give this a shot. This looks kind of fun. So I can really identify with that. [00:30:00] And to embrace the suck really is, it's great advice because it's, once you embrace it and you're not afraid of it, it's, Every day you walk in there stronger, physically stronger, mentally stronger.

You know, I've, I went through that yesterday. I can go through anything. And that's part of building a strong boxer is you kind of get broken down in the beginning and, uh, you get broken down because you're going to get, you're going to get rebuilt. And that's the power of the sport. And it sounds like you're doing just that.

So I'm really, I'm really, really, really excited to see you on, on event night, um, just do your thing, just have fun and sitting here and you sharing your story with us really shows me how far you've come just in the last few months, a, since you started training and B, you know, since your mom passed away and I have no doubt that you're going to make her very proud on event night.

[00:30:49] Ray: you.

[00:30:56] Ray: Well, believe it or not, even though this just happened [00:31:00]

[00:31:02] Ray: Yeah. And Brian Grove, my opponent. Turn this off,

but, um, keeping my hands up better, you know, like in the spot, the video that they took of us getting that was very eyeopening because the coaches can tell you everything you need to do, but seeing it for yourself, right? So like coming in, I was keeping my hands up, keep my hands up good, but when I was coming in for a tax.

They drop. Or charge like both. Yep. Yep. So every time Brian got me, yeah, he was doing a good job, but like, it was a lot of me not doing my fundamentals, right?

[00:31:46] Ray: Finding out things that you didn't know about yourself, finding out things that you might not know you needed in life, like mine, one of those main things, needing that daily interaction with a team, showing [00:32:00] yourself just truly how strong you can be.

Cause like, I mean, when I first started, like there was never any, you know, I've always, I'm not a quitter, you know what I'm saying? So like, I'm, I know I was going to do it. Right. But I mean, it was an MF or that, you know, I ain't gonna lie, but that's what made it so much more fulfilling. Right. Like it's the greatest gift that Chase sent me on this journey that I decided, but you, I still had to decide to sign up for it.

And I'm excited about that part, right? Like that's the things it's like, you don't know what you don't know until you know it, right? It's not your second day until after it's your first day. And to [00:33:00] where it keeps progressing is just amazing, right? You know, it's just, it's one of the most fulfilling things I've ever done in my life.

And I still, I wish I had 96 days to work on this and all the other stuff, right? But this has been the best it's been in a long time.

[00:33:22] Ray: When you were 56 days out, Julie, or, you know, two months, we'll just say it. When you look back, what, like, give me some advice.

Like, what's one of those things if you were to, like, be like, hey, Julie, what could you give a dude who's at his halfway mark? It's a great question. In the

So it's kind of hard. I mean, the biggest advice is show up to me. It was show up every day. Every day is a new day. Every single day. It doesn't matter what you did yesterday in the gym, whether it was good or bad. Pack it away, put it away. It's [00:34:00] over. Today's a day. Don't think about tomorrow. Don't think, just think about what you have to do today and give it everything you got.

Some days are going to be good. Some days are going to suck. There are high highs and low lows in boxing. So every day, just compartmentalize it and just make sure that you are ready. Show the fuck up and do your best every single day. And with that said, sometimes doing your best that day, if you need it, is taking a rest.

If you, it's, sometimes a day off in the gym is just as effective as going for a three mile run. Sometimes you just need to rest your body and you need to rest your mind. And it's just, just show up. Just do your work, be kind, listen to people. The only time don't be kind is when you're punching someone in the face.

I mean, you're not doing your friend any favors by being kind to them. Yeah. Be kind, always be a student, be willing to learn. No one knows everything and just do your best. That would be my advice.

[00:34:57] Julie: Yep. Just be present and show up. [00:35:00]

m. session. So it was like, you know, we got done with this media day or whatever, you know, it's a long day, right? So we get done with that. I'm there. And coach is like, put the, put on your hat. Where's your mouthpiece? I was like, freaking sparring today. What the? Like in my head, because I don't, you know, I'm yes, sir.

And I'm, you know, I don't, I don't give him no jibber jabber. You know, I just say yes, sir. And keep it moving. Right. But then I was like, afterwards, I was like, Oh my God, that was like the most effective probably sparring session I had because it was in my head about how I got punched in the face pretty effectively the day before and I needed to keep up my hands.

Right. I was hearing even better. It was amazing.

[00:35:43] Ray: Yeah.

13th, please visit haymakersforhope. org and you can search Ray Tomczyk in the search bar. You can also visit the Rumble in the Rockies 6 event page. You can also find links to both of those pages, or you can find a link to Ray's fighter page. in the show notes.

We're grateful for your support.

[00:36:37] Todd: 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 Lewis.

[00:36:51] Todd: And I'm Todd Buster Parris.