Former GOP Presidential candidate and Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney is probably pretty used to verbal sparring at this point, thanks in large part to all those televised townhall meetings and primary debates he was forced to endure while on the campaign trail, but according to the latest reports, the notorious boxing fan is about to get a taste of something much more tangible.
Romney, 68, is set to take on former heavyweight boxing champion Evander Holyfield as the headlining bout in an evening of pugilism at the Rail Event Center near the Union Pacific Depot in Salt Lake City on May 15, according to a report from The Salt Lake City Tribune.
"It will either be a very short fight, or I will be knocked unconscious," Romney joked during a recent interview. "It won't be much of a fight. We'll both suit up and get in the ring and spar around a little bit."
The charity benefitting from the event is Charity Vision, "a humanitarian organization founded about 20 years ago by retired Salt Lake physician Bill Jackson, who, as a mission president in the Philippines for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, saw the suffering in areas with abject poverty and the total lack of medical care," per The Tribune.
Charity Vision raises money and partners with medical suppliers to donate state-of-the-art medical equipment to needy countries across the world. The supplies and equipment are offered to doctors in these areas on the condition that half of the surgeries and services provided will be charity work for the poor.
When Jackson first founded the charity, it was called Deseret International.
At the time," said Romney, "it was all kinds of medical procedures, but over the years the focus has been eye surgeries, so the name was changed to Charity Vision."
The Romney-Holyfield bout won't be the only one of the evening. There will be "bouts between real, active professional prize fighters," Romney said.
It is a black-tie event and the fundraiser will be aimed at securing corporate sponsorships.
