Middleboro native to 'knock out' cancer in boxing competition

Middleboro — Middleboro local Courtney Grey is about to take what it means to fight for a cure to a whole new level. 

On Thursday, Oct. 10, Grey will participate in the Haymakers for Hope Belles of the Brawl XI boxing competition at MGM Music Hall at Fenway, a fundraiser for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. 

Grey, along with 29 other female fighters, will take on opponents in the ring where they will be, literally, fighting for a cure for cancer. 

Haymakers for Hope raises funds for cancer research through a variety of competitive challenges. 

Grey grew up in Middleboro and five years ago, her father was diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer. 

Thanks to the treatment he has received, his cancer is not progressing, according to Grey. 

After her dad was diagnosed, Grey tried boxing for the first time and the sport became a way for her to cope with her father’s devastating diagnosis. 

Boxing has helped her put into perspective “the absolute roller coaster” of emotions that accompany a cancer diagnosis, she said. It’s helped her understand, to some degree, what cancer patients must face. 

She described boxing as “a metaphor for getting a cancer diagnosis.” Hearing that news is “like someone punching you in the face… you have to figure out what you’re going to do,” she said. 

It’s like being in the ring when nothing goes according to plan, she noted. 

For Grey, this competition will be about much more than winning or losing a fight. 

It’s about fighting for people and against life’s “demons” that push you down, she said. 

As she fights against those demons, her father will be at her side. He’ll be in the ring holding up the signs that call out the rounds, she said. 

During the fight, Grey plans to visualize her dad and her fiancé, who was her original boxing coach and will also be in the ring with her, she said. 

Grey’s opponent is a cancer survivor. 

“Whatever the outcome, it’s going to be a success,” she said.  

For her, success is “seeing my opponent in the ring with me, and my dad there witnessing all of it.”