Jamel Herring, a U.S. Marine veteran, defeated Masayuki Ito by unanimous decision in Florida on Saturday to become the WBO junior lightweight champion.

Herring was fighting on what would have been his daughter’s 10th birthday and Memorial Day weekend. He served two tours in Iraq and told “Fox & Friends” on Tuesday that his time with the Marine Corps helped him prepare to excel in boxing.

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“The Marine Corps has basically made me mentally strong throughout my time serving under them,” Herring said. “I believe that being a Marine – deployed twice to Iraq – if you can go through that and come out just fine I believe boxing is just the fun part. I always look back at my time as a Marine and think even when it gets hot in the ring, I always think about I’ve been through worse.”

Herring lost his daughter when she was just 2-months-old. He said his daughter helped him stay inspired and keep going despite all the challenges he’s faced in his life.

“My message would be never give up on your dreams. I always think about my daughter and at one point in time I actually did just want to quit everything. To have her remembered, I felt like I had to continue to keep pushing because I knew she wouldn’t want me to just give up on my dreams to be a quitter. Also, being a Marine, that mentality kicked in and I told myself this isn’t the way she would want me to go. I just never gave up and just kept pushing forward,” Herring said.

With the win over Ito, Herring moved to 20-2 with 10 knockouts on his resume.

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It’s unclear who Herring would face next. According to Boxing Scene, Lamont Roach is the No. 1 contender for the WBO junior lightweight title.