Stepping into the ring with Mohawk alumnus, Bradley Wilcox
When Bradley Wilcox enters the professional boxing ring, he is light on his feet, grateful for the many people who lifted him up along the way.
A 2017 graduate of the Civil Engineering Technology program, Bradley is grateful for the love and support of his family and friends. He is grateful to the Westmount Secondary School teacher who supported and encouraged him to keep focused on his schoolwork while competing with Team Canada’s Boxing program.
And he is grateful to Mohawk College, too.
“Mohawk College was very helpful. They helped to address my learning disability. I would spend a lot of time with them [the Learning Support Centre]. They gave me a couple of programs and a couple of things to help, and then I was able to excel. I would do the tests in the Testing Centre because it was better. They just helped me get through it.”
The college has several student academic support services available, from peer tutoring to math drop-ins to one-on-one appointments for skills assistance.
As well as managing the challenging course load of Civil Engineering and co-op placements, Brad was training with the national program and competing for Canada internationally. Academic accommodations allowed him to successfully balance those priorities.
He also managed to fit student varsity sports into his routine. He and his brother, Jessie, ran for the varsity cross-country team. Both brothers were boxing – in fact, all five Wilcox brothers have had success in the ring – and they saw cross-country as a good opportunity for training.
“I remember our first cross country meet, [other runners] made jokes because we wore basketball shorts,” Bradley remembers. “[They] just looked out of place because we were doing really well, but we were in basketball shorts.” Running shorts were found soon after.
In 2012, Jessie finished 12th in the OCAA championships and Bradley was 25th. The next year, Jessie finished 20th in the country at the CCAA championships and Bradley was 52nd in a national field of 116 runners.
Upon graduation, Bradley was able to secure a full-time job with the City of Hamilton and work his way into his current position as a City of Hamilton roads technical inspector. He credits multiple college co-op terms at the City with getting his foot in the door.
He continues to include boxing in his life. After finishing a 135-bout amateur career, Bradley “The Truth” Wilcox has earned a 12-0 professional boxing record, with seven knock-outs. He will step into the ring again for United Promotion’s World Championship Doubleheader on December 12 in Toronto, hoping a win will give him a chance to fight for a top-15 ranking.
As he prepares for this next big bout, he expresses confidence and pride in what he has already achieved, grateful for all the people who have been in his corner along the way - and for the college that helped him realize his dreams.
Want to learn more about Bradley? Connect with him on Instagram and Facebook.