Alexandria boxer Troy Isley has just gone professional and is headed into a fight next Saturday with something to prove.
“I’m feeling good,” Isley said. “I’m ready. I’m eager and getting anxious.”
Isley recently signed a multi-year contract with Top Rank, a boxing promoter, and has his first fight on Saturday, Feb. 13. For Isley, it’s part of a hopeful comeback after narrowly missing a chance to compete at the Olympics.
“I didn’t get to go to the Olympics, don’t have quite the following I would, but I still have a good following with three years on the team,” Isley said. “I’m still well known. Right now, I’m using that chip on my shoulder. I’ve got to win… I’ve been going all out, working hard, and it’s giving me that extra push. It didn’t come through on the Olympic dream, I gotta make this.”
Isley started boxing as a child with the Alexandria Boxing Club but said it wasn’t until late in high school when he started seriously considering it at a career path.
“It’s not that I didn’t believe in myself, I was confident when I got in the ring — but when I got on the team senior year was when [it sunk in],” Isley said.
While coronavirus has shut down athletic activities, Isley got relatively lucky: he needed about a year to recover from shoulder surgeries near the start of the pandemic.
“It didn’t quite impact me as bad,” Isley said. “I had to get two shoulder surgeries, so I was rehabbing and recovering. It didn’t really do anything from me, I had to recover anyway. It really came right in time.”
Isley said boxing gave him an avenue he’d never expected to success, and said he hopes others in Alexandria can come out of the pandemic with similar passions they can believe in and stick to.
Photo via Top Rank Boxing/Facebook
Recent Stories
Francis Deonte Rose was found guilty today of two counts of aggravated murder in the 2022 shooting deaths of two construction workers in the West End. The Commonwealth Attorney’s Office…
It’s been a busy week in Alexandria. There were multiple mayoral and city council forums and debates this week as the city gets closer and closer to the June 18…
The Cinco de Mayo fiesta is starting early this Sunday in Carlyle. From 9 to 10 a.m., Tequila & Taco (540 John Carlyle Street) will be selling six-ounce margaritas for…
After missing an important mayoral debate this week due to a “freak accident” while canvassing that led to his hospitalization, Steven Peterson says that he’s done sitting on the sidelines….
Good news, D.C. area. You can save money on your next home cleaning with Well-Paid Maids. It’s easy!
We offer a discount when you set up recurring cleans — and the discounts just increased this week!
For weekly cleans, get $30 off each cleaning.
Potomac Harmony is Back! Following a gap year of competing, then virtual rehearsals during the pandemic, followed by the well-earned retirement of our long-term director, a year of a director search, Potomac Harmony hit the regional contest stage in Concord, North Carolina in March for the first time since 2018! It was exhilarating, reaffirming, and rewarding!
The chorus hit all of its goals, the biggest of which was to have fun and sing our best on contest stage — we did both! Because we earned a score over 400 points, our new Director, Allison Lynskey, was awarded the Novice Director award, photo above. Additionally, one of our charter members, Jackie Bottash, was nominated for and honored with the Leadership Excellence award. It was a celebratory weekend!
What’s next? So much! We now look forward to upcoming performances, growing our membership, and expanding our musical product with new arrangements and an education component each week. It’s an exciting time to be part of this ever-growing ensemble!
Alexandria NAACP, Shiloh Baptist Church, DPC to hold City Council…
The Alexandria Branch of the NAACP, Shiloh Baptist Church, and The Departmental Progressive Club to hold the City Council Candidate Forum for ALL Candidates in the City of Alexandria Virginia. The event is Free of Charge and Open to The
