Hundreds gather for black tie and boxing fundraiser

JACKSON, Tenn — Fighters entered the ring Saturday night to duke it out in the name of fighting for a cure.

It was the second year in a row for the ‘Black Tie and Boxing’, a fundraiser held at the Carl Perkins Civic Center and hosted by the the West Tennessee Health Care foundation. Guests dressed in black tie attire as they were entertained with a series of live kick boxing and MMA matches. Ticket sales benefit Juvenile Diabetes Research, a leading global organization for type 1 diabetes research.

“Well we basically do three things. We do advocacy at the federal government level, making sure legislation gets passed that benefits people with type one diabetes. We do outreach in the local communities to insure that families have a support system, and we do research to ultimately find a cure for type one diabetes,

but along the path to that cure, we want to make sure that were improving lives,” Executive Director of the West TN Chapter of JDRF, Russ Ellis said.

Event organizers say it’s events like Black Tie and Boxing that allows them to support such valuable research.