Boxing: Bennett’s fight goes beyond ring
Reece Bennett hasn’t boxed much as a pro, yet he fights something on a daily basis.
Bennett said he used to be addicted to heroin.
The fights outside of the ring have been the toughest for Bennett. On Thursday, when Bennett makes his second professional appearance at Fight Club OC, he will have a judge in his corner, the same judge who gave him a chance to turn his life around six years ago.
Judge Matthew Anderson won’t be Bennett’s cornerman, but he will be backing Bennett.
Bennett said Anderson would attend his super middleweight bout, one of nine fights on tap inside the Hangar at the Orange County Fair & Event Center at 7:30 p.m. Anderson made Bennett’s debut two months ago at the same Costa Mesa venue, where family and friends of Bennett purchased 170 tickets to watch him win a unanimous decision.
While the fight took place the day after April Fools Day, the support for Bennett surprised no one.
Bennett, who’s 26, knows he’s old for someone only fighting for the second time in his pro career. But nine years ago, the teenager from San Clemente seemed destined for a promising career. On the day he turned 17, he said he won the California Golden Gloves.
What followed next almost destroyed Bennett’s future.
He threw in the towel for heroin. He said he began to commit burglaries and selling what he stole to feed his addiction. Police eventually caught up to him, arresting him twice, the second time with heroin on him.
Getting caught with the possession of drugs gave him a shot to avoid serious time in jail.
“I can still remember the day, June 1, 2009, when I was in jail and facing a significant amount of my adult life being taken away that I did not want to live that life anymore,” Bennett said. “It isn’t something I am proud of, but I am happy I went through it because it made me the man I am today. The courts were lucky to grant me a chance, though they were reluctant on whether I would complete the intense [drug court] program in front of me. Well, I exceeded their expectations and ended up graduating.”
Bennett appears as if he’s on the right path now. He said he has finished school at UC Irvine, graduating Summa Cum Laude. He said he took the LSAT in February and scored in the 92 percentile, making him eligible to attend one of the top-20 law schools in the country.
But Bennett is putting law school on hold. Boxing is something he wants to take a serious shot at like his father, Chet, and his grandfather, Chester, did professionally.
Whether Bennett beats Ramon Villanueva or not, he will still be undefeated in the battle that’s most important in his life.
On July 1, Bennett said he would celebrate his six-year anniversary of being sober.