CLEVELAND — Charles Conwell has been chasing his dream to be the best boxer in the world.
Growing up in Cleveland Heights, he fell in love with boxing when he was just 10 years old. Eight years later, that same love drove him to compete on the world’s stage in the 2016 Summer Olympics, representing Cleveland and the United States in Rio de Janeiro.
The next step for Conwell was inevitable, turning professional.
After a 10-and-0 career start, his next pro fight would be in Chicago.
That’s when his life would change forever.
On October 12th Conwell faced against Patrick Day from Long Island. Conwell dominated the fight with hard right hands and a left hook that knocked Day out in the 10th round.
Day had to be carried out of the ring on a stretcher. He experienced a seizure on the way to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in downtown Chicago, where doctors had to perform emergency brain surgery.
Four days later, Patrick Day died. He was 27-years-old.
"Boxers don’t go into the ring looking to kill nobody – do no permanent damage," Conwell says. "We want to win. Make it an impressive win, dominate win, we don’t go in there to end nobody’s life, do what we know what we taught, come out on top."
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Conwell couldn’t sleep, waking up in the middle of the night, thinking about Patrick Day, replaying the fight over and over in his mind.
He wanted Patrick Day and his family to know how sorry he was. So, Conwell wrote a letter, spilling his heart:
Conwell thought about never fighting again, quitting on his dream. But he knows that’s not what Patrick Day would have wanted.
“It’s bigger than me now. I’m doing it for everybody. It’s not about me. I used to think it was. It’s bigger than me now. He opened my eyes, made me realize it’s bigger than myself, bigger than any one person," Conwell says.
Conwell is back in the ring, training, chasing his dream to be the undisputed champion of the world. Because he’s a fighter at heart – who is not only fighting for himself – but for Patrick Day.