Real Assets Are Back: How to Own Broad Commodities in 2026 | DBC

Right? But we're not going to specificate that today. Head of wealth sales. Head of wealth sales at uh X trackers at DWS.

Yes. Yes, yes. But we're not going to talk about that today because we're instead of talking about offense and defense in ET house and investing, we're going to talk about offense and defense in boxing. So so how did you get into boxing?

How did this come about? So I've started trading in like 2018, but was doing mostly like fitness boxing when I was out in Los Angeles. Um always loved it. Had a uh had sort of a uh bucket list item of mine that I always wanted to get in the ring and actually have a fight.

It's I always found boxing to be interesting. If you're a lover of the sport and the art form, you understand that it's not just the physical uh requirement and athleticism, but truly a mental game. It's physical poker, physical chess, where if you're just constrained to your arms, um having the ability to understand what the other person is going to do, predicting while also having peak physical conditioning, it became very attractive. And you know, I kind of did that for a while, and in 2019 ended up getting into a very bad car accident.

It the car accident kind of changed my future. It uh I broke five ribs, I fractured my pelvic bone, I tore my MCL, I broke my thumb. You know, I had a beautiful classic car, a 1970 Chevelle SS that I restored from top to bottom. And I was living in Los Angeles, some guy cut me off twice, created a whole series of events.

Ended up in the hospital, and I was in the hospital for three days. Second day I'm in the hospital, they're going over the extent of my injuries, and they're like, listen, you have a bunch of lymph nodes all over your body that are swollen. You really need to get that checked out. Go down the rabbit hole of getting all the testing done with uh CAT scans and PET scans and this and getting a biopsy done, and lo and behold, I get diagnosed with stage three lymphoma breaks.

Now comes 2020. I didn't even know COVID was happening. It was in the midst of everything, and I needed to move back from Los Angeles to New York. I wanted to be with family in January.

So I moved back from LA, drive cross-country with my young brother and sister. We go through another bucket list item, traveling through the U.S., seeing all the beautiful national parks that we have, going to Zion, Grand Canyon, Bryce, Arches, and so forth.

And um how long did that take? Ten days. Okay. It was beautiful.

And I highly, highly recommend Zion is probably one of the greatest national parks I've ever seen in my life. And we finish, we get here, I start my chemo treatments in February, and the heart of COVID begins. I had to go through my chemo treatments by myself. Stage three lymphoma.

I had six treatments to go through. So I did all that. And when I was said and done, uh, I knew I had a greater purpose and I wanted to do something more. And what I quickly realized was in the space of cancer, especially, I was very fortunate with the company that I was with at that time and um, you know, having the type of insurance and so forth.

I realized like, what if someone doesn't have insurance? What if they can't afford these types of treatments? And I wanted to get back in. I felt very broken.

And because I felt very broken, I wanted to show myself that I can do things. So I said I want to have a boxing fight. So this is where Haymakers for Hope came up, and I wanted to specifically benefit cancer and cancer charities um and cancer research. So in 2023, I started training.

Um, it was grueling. I lost 30 pounds. I showed myself I've I can do it. I raised about $65,000 for cancer and got in the ring.

Unfortunately, I lost. The guy that I fought was six foot four. Okay. He had quite the reach advantage.

And um, you know, that's how I got into boxing and actually getting in the ring. And I want to do the same thing again this year, but double the amount of money that I raised. So, how does that how does that come about that there a fight is set up? How do we get how it chooses your opponent?

So this time I'm doing something a little bit different. I actually have a trainer in Astoria, incredible guy. Um, and we're training together in a very different way and understanding that given my weight class, I'm probably going to go up against guys that are a lot taller. So I've changed my regimen.

I actually start really hardcore training six months from now instead of three months from now, like I did in 2023. So I know that my fight is most more than likely going to be on October 23rd. So April 1st is when I'm hitting it hard and the diet begins and really going at it instead of three months. Right.

What does that look like? What does training look like? Six days a week. Okay.

Uh I wake up, I have a specific fighter's diet, I call it. I have an avocado toast with uh two hard-boiled eggs. Then for a snack a couple hours later, I'll have a uh yogurt parfait with uh cashews and a little bit of honey to kill the sweet taste. Then for lunch, I'll have a piece of protein, either chicken or fish, with uh broccoli and a little bit of brown rice.

Then after that, uh for another snack, I'll have a protein shake, and then for dinner, another six to eight ounces of protein with uh vegetables like asparagus or carrots and a little bit of brown rice again. And in the evening, if I train, so I hate training in the morning, but I'll wake up usually at five o'clock in the morning, I'll do a run jog walk. A lot I hate running, but I'll do it the best that I can. And then in the evenings, I hit the uh boxing gym and we do all kinds of strategy and other types of conditioning work.

I do that six days a week, and Sunday is the day of rest. Okay, so there's a trainer that you're looking for. Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

Yeah, and so it's that trainer then also training your opponent or no, oh no. So, but he knows the promoter, so this one is different. We're kind of doing it on our own. He works with a promoter that he knows from the neighborhood.

I'm born and raised in Queens, New York, in Astoria, and my trainer's from Astoria, and you know, the promoter is in Astoria, so he knows all the people. It's not like they're gonna put me up against someone that isn't gonna be within my same class and sort of understanding and skill set. They're gonna they're gonna try to make it very competitive, put on a show, but it's the point is to not make it an uneven matchup, to make it an even matchup, because that's when it becomes the most exciting film.

So someone else is training. I don't know who I'm gonna fight, but at the end of the day, for me, this time it is in my wheelhouse and goal. I want to win this. So I am training to win.

Yeah, but again, I have the goal. I want to raise over $120,000 for various charities, including again, cancer charities, uh, big brothers and big sisters, uh, any kind of mentoring and ability to give back to kids. Uh, I'm Armenian, so some Armenian charities as well. So really just want to give back to the community and one of the best ways that I know how.

And foot on a shelf. Yeah. And and a bucket list, right? You get to know it all, especially if you win.

And possibly retire. I think this is probably gonna be my last fight. I want to go out. If I go out one and one, I'll be very happy and I'll do a good thing for myself, and hopefully I get that notch in my belt and win that match.

So, how are you gonna go about um raising this money? So I haven't started it yet, but uh once I start training, I'm gonna have a GoFundMe. Um, maybe take some videos. I'm not a huge social media guy, but unfortunately you gotta use it.

Yep. So I got my Instagram back up and kind of I'll take training videos, I'll put the GoFundMe link when I have the page set up and you know, six-month time frame and hopefully get out there and people see the story, understand it, and empathize and sympathize with it. And it's not for me. At the end of the day, I'm raising money for everyone else, and I think having the awareness of understanding that not everyone has what you have, and not everyone is in such a fortunate position that you are, and we really in this world with everything that's happening, with the level of geopolitical strife and just understanding what it means to be a human and what it means to truly empathize with someone else.

We just really need to be a lot more human to one another and care about one another, and this is my way of doing it. Yeah, it's really uh commendable and awesome. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for joining me.

It's always a pleasure. That was good. Okay, you did a really good job with that whole story. That was awesome.

That was awesome.