WATERTOWN, New York (WWNY) – On February 28, 2022 the lives of Jeremey Campos and his family were radically changed.
Campos lived at 112 Winslow Street in Watertown. He and his family lost everything when their apartment was destroyed in a fire.
The blaze, allegedly set deliberately, killed a man in another unit of the building.
“The last couple months have been a little rough,” Campos said. “My neighbor was set on fire, took down the whole duplex, our apartment and their apartment.”
Now, after years of training as an amateur, Campos is fulfilling a lifelong dream of stepping into the cage, literally fighting to get his family back on their feet.
“This is one of the only ways that I have, that I can think of taking care of my family, and fighting is something that I love to do.”
On May 21, for the first time in his career, Campos will be fighting for real inside the cage. When he steps inside he will be fighting for more than just to have his hand raised.
“When you get in that cage and the door slams shut behind you, you feel like you have some control of your destiny,” promoter John Gibbons said. “I think that’s a big portion of it for Jeremy, he’s trying to recapture some of that control of his life.”
“This fight is going to help me show my son that even though we had that fire, even though all this stuff has been going on, that his dad can go out there and achieve his dreams,” Campos said. “Doesn’t matter how sad we are, doesn’t matter what happens, our family’s strong and I just want to show my boy that.”
It’s a dream that Campos strove for long before the fire.
“Jeremy has been looking forward to this for a long time,” his coach, James Frier, said. “He’s wanted to fight for at least a couple years. I think this is going to make his year and I think his family is going to be very proud to see how well he’s going to do.”
The Victory Cage Fighting Championships go down May 21 at the Watertown Municipal Arena.
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