On Friday night, Red Owl Boxing returns with another event in Houston, TX, which will be streamed live on DAZN. The promotion has been busy, and with the DAZN platform to distribute the stream, fighters get the opportunity to showcase their skills to a larger audience, which is more than your traditional club show. One of those young fighters who will be showcased is 19-year-old Troy Nash Jr. (2-0), who will be facing Martel Washpun (1-0) in a scheduled four-round fight. Nash comes from some very humble beginnings and one that has molded him into the strong-willed person he is today.
Nash, from Colorado Springs, CO, is a 15-time national champion trained by his father Troy Nash Sr. It is the latest father-son duo to hit the boxing scene, but although he is with him now, that wasn’t always the case. To take it a step further, his mother wasn’t in the picture for quite a while as well. Both of Nash’s parents were incarcerated when he was between ages 8 and 13. A hard time for Nash but he had a great support system that helped him through it all.
“I definitely seen a lot growing up in Colorado Springs,” said Nash. “She (his mother) was incarcerated from when I was eight years old to 13. My father was incarcerated as well, so they were kinda locked up at the same time, so my grandmother, uncle, and coach Jose Santiago were taking care of me. They were the ones taking me to tournaments while my dad was away. Both of them (his parents) being locked up was tough on me, but my grandmother is a strong woman and kept me in the gym. Without her, I wouldn’t be here today.” Unfortunately, according to Nash, this is the norm amongst the people he knows in Southeast Colorado Springs, CO. Together, though, his family made the best out of the situation with his parents calling him every day and him going to visit them frequently.
Nash’s introduction to boxing was slightly different than others, as he states the desire came at the age of three when he was frequently taken to a gym. Nash believes he was “born into it,” and it was more so destiny rather than coincidence. “A lot of people say they choose boxing, but I feel like boxing chose me. When I was six years old, that’s when I got back into it as I was fighting at home so my family wanted me to go to the gym. Around that time, Adrian Broner was training in Colorado Springs along with Jamel Herring, Robert Easter, and all of the top guys. On Saturday night, I was watching TV and said to myself, ‘Damn, I can be in that position one day.’ At six, that’s when I fell in love with boxing and said, ‘This is what I want to do.’
Nash would make his debut in March against Erion Johnson, and even though nerves were going into his debut as any other fighter would have at that moment, it was a fight that almost didn’t happen. “It was wild,” said Nash. “The day before the fight, I thought it was going to get canceled as my opponent was supposed to come in at 130 pounds and instead weighed in at 135 and I’m weighing 129. The commission wasn’t going to let the fight happen, so I had to hurry up and drink a whole bunch of water and rehydrate. On fight night, I thought, ‘Man, he’s way bigger than me,’ but as an amateur, I fought at 140, so I was used to fighting bigger opponents. I was thinking about the weight a lot as he was bigger than me, but then I was just ready to perform.”
Now Nash approaches his third fight against Washpun on Friday and hasn’t put too much pressure on himself while being appreciative of the experience he has already earned in those first two fights. “I have two fights under my belt and went the distance on both. I’m glad I didn’t have two guys that were easy and just to get them out of there because it gave me a lot of experience. Expect a spectacular performance and definitely let off some fireworks.” If all goes well on Friday, how many fights does Nash think he has before finishing the year? “My ultimate goal is to be 5-0 by December. I want to be right back in the ring after this fight.”
Nash is still you and has his whole career ahead of him. How he looks at these Red Owl Boxing cards will determine how fast he is moved. With the featherweight division being one of the more exciting ones, Nash has a lot to look forward to, and where he fits into that picture will be determined by his performances starting on Friday night in Houston.
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