NEW YORK (PIX11) — The Battle of the Badges is back for the first time in nearly a decade! Members of the NYPD and FDNY boxing teams will take jabs at each other in the ring Friday night at Terminal 5 in Manhattan.
Bragging rights are on the table. There are several matches for charity, including the first-ever female firefighter versus female police officer.
Nisa Rodriguez, an NYPD officer for one year, told PIX11 News that she’s been boxing for 15 years. “I was born and raised in the Bronx, got into a lot of fights, running the streets. My father brought me to the gym and the rest is history.”
Rodriguez was getting a last practice in on Thursday at The Last Round boxing facility on West 30th Street.
Rodriguez’s competitor is FDNY firefighter Nicole Malpeso of Engine 76. She was getting her last workout in at The Victory Boxing Club on West 37th Street Thursday morning.
As for being the first female FDNY-NYPD match? Malpeso told PIX11 News, “It’s a really cool thing to be a part of now. I have a lot of women I look up to in this sport, and representation matters. I am looking forward to showing the crowd that women can scrap. We can do this, and we do it well.”
“We work in a male-dominated sport and we’re both in male-dominated jobs for years, so it’s one more thing to show women are coming up and can do it just as good as men, so it will probably be the best fight of the night,” Rodriguez said.
The event is sold out, but it will be live-streamed at varsitymedia.net. The stream costs $19.99 in advance and $29.00 on the day of the show.
All proceeds go to Tunnel to Towers Foundation and NYC Cops & Kids Boxing Program.
