Olympian Dara Torres, 49, will be making her boxing debut at a charity event for Haymakers for Hope entitled “Belles of the Brawl” this coming Wednesday in Boston. So far Torres has raised $18,000 of her $20,000 charity goal which will be in memory of her father, Edward, who lost a battle to colon cancer.
A few years after making history in 2008 by becoming the oldest swimmer to earn a place on a U.S. Olympic team, the 12-time Olympic medalist turned to boxing as a way to get back in shape after knee surgery.
A sprinter in the pool, Torres has found rounds of sparring to be a new challenge, explaining “two minute rounds are distance events for me. I have to pace myself and not go too fast, too hard, too quickly or I’ll be exhausted.”
Torres will face off with chemical engineer, Sue Bator, in the ring.
In an interview with NBC Sports, Torres explained, “I’m not in my element. My element is in the pool.” While Torres is confident that her charity fight on Wednesday will be her first and last boxing match, she continued by stating “[boxing] is something I don’t particularly like and it’s a hard, hard sport. But it’s something that can bring more awareness and raise money to help fight this fight against cancer.”
Read more from NBC Sports here.
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