Melson to face Gilbert on December 4

New York, NY (October 21, 2013) – Rising junior middleweight Captain Boyd “Rainmaker” Melson of New York City takes a step up in competition when he faces undefeated power puncher Chris “Gumby” Gilbert in the eight round main event of Broadway Boxing Wednesday, December 4 at BB King Blues Club in Time Square.

Melson, a 2003 West Point grad, has an excellent 12-1-1 record with 4 wins by knockout. Since turning pro in November 2010, Melson’s donated 100% of his fight purses, thirteen which went to Justadollarplease.org to help support America’s first trial to cure Chronic Spinal Cord Injuries and the other to help a friend who had a young son with cancer.

The selfless southpaw’s been featured on HBO Real Sports, Sports Illustrated, Yahoo.com, ESPN.com and various other media outlets and is one of the most popular fighters in the Empire State. In his most recent bout on August 14, Melson impressively defeated Jason Thompson in front of a standing room only crowd, avenging a controversial draw.

Unbeaten in ten professional bouts, Chris Gilbert’s not a fan of judges. The 28-year-old Windsor, VT native stopped eight of his opponents, six of which failed to make it out of the third round. On September 12, the heavy handed Gilbert dropped 11-1 Anthony Chase three times en route to a third round TKO.

“Gilbert is definitely going to present a strong challenge," said Melson, whose March 2012 bout with then-unbeaten Delen Parsley was one of the greatest in Broadway Boxing history. "His team personally reached out to me on Facebook asking me to fight their man. Christmas falls in the same month of this fight, so I decided to give them their present early by saying yes. It's the season of giving, which is my specialty. I know he’s hungry and is looking to come into New York to steal the spotlight but I’m not about to let that happen. A win over Gilbert will get me one step closer to a significant fight and I’m ready as ever!”

Tickets starting at $55 are available on Teamfighttowalk.com. Following the bout, Melson will once again donate his entire fight purse to Justadollarplease.org in support of bringing trials to the United States that could help cure chronic Spinal Cord Injuries.  It was recently released in the nation-wide media that this clinical trial we are raising funds for to bring here to the U.S. has resulted in 15 out of 20 patients walking enrolled in the study in China who were paralyzed an average of 7 years. Unfortunately, there still is not enough money to carry the trial out in the US.

In association with the 501 (C) 3 nonprofit Justadollarplease.org, Melson and his best friend Christan Zaccagnino created Team Fight to Walk, whose mission is to raise awareness within the boxing community as well as the entire nation about the importance of bringing Clinical Trials to the United States to help cure Spinal Cord Injuries. Team Fight to Walk is comprised of Melson, Zaccagnino, former Rutgers football player/ESPY honoree Eric LeGrand, two-time cruiserweight champion Steve “USS” Cunningham, WBA junior middleweight titlist Austin “No Doubt” Trout, title contender DeAndre “The Bull” Latimore, Edgar “El Chamaco” Santana, Sonya Lamonakis, Hector “Machito” Camacho Jr., 2008 US Olympians Demetrius “Boo” Andrade and Shawn Estrada along with prospects Sid “The Messenger” El Harrak, Jeff “TNT” Spencer, Denis “Da Momma’s Boy” Douglin, Will “Power” Rosinsky, Floriano “Italiano” Pagliara, Danny “Little Mac” McDermott, Vinny “The Lion” O’Brien, Ahmed “Prince of Egypt” Samir and Delen “Sniper” Parsley.