Kevin Foote

kfoote@theadvertiser.com

When Clay Higgins resigned from his position with the St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s office Feb. 29, one of the first things he did was contact the organizations that had scheduled him to speak prior to turning in his badge.

“I didn’t know if they would still want me to speak or not,” said Higgins, who became a YouTube sensation with his CrimeStopper segments, one of which sparked controversy and led to his resignation. “I figured some might and some might not.”

One of those groups that certainly did was the Battle of the Badges in Monroe.

“They actually said that they wanted me to come more now than ever,” Higgins said.

Their genuine reaction “touched my heart,” so much so that Higgins even threw out the idea of possibly participating in the next event, which is an annual charity boxing exhibition between police officers and fireman across the state.

“It just blew their minds that I was willing to do it,” Higgins said.

Almost six months later, reality is beginning to tug on Higgins’ time schedule.

Higgins is set to fight longtime Monroe fireman Roy Daniels during the 2016 Battle of the Badges on Aug. 13 at the Fant-Ewing Coliseum in Monroe.

“It seemed like a great idea at the time,” the 55-year-old Higgins laughed. “It seems like a terrible idea now.

“No, really, it’s for charity. It’s a win-win situation for everybody.”

Higgins' fight is billed as the main event on the organization's website — battleofthebadgesmonroe.com — pitting "Battle Ax Chief Roy Daniels vs. America’s Toughest Cop Clay Higgins."

“It actually took about a month to decide if I was actually going to go through with the fight,” Higgins said. “In my mind, I just thought it would be good for me spiritually, physically and mentally to go through the rigors of preparing for the fight.”

Higgins also is one of 12 candidates vying to replace Charles Boustany as the 3rd Congressional District's representative in Washington, leaving him little time to train.

In fact, on Sunday afternoon Higgins went through just his fourth training session at Beau Williford’s Ragin’ Cajun Boxing Club in Lafayette.

“He (Daniels) has a great attitude about it,” Higgins said. “He’s a really nice guy, but he’s a very tough man.”

Deirdre Gogarty-Morrison has actually done most of the Higgins' training with encouraging results.

“My first impression is that he was in real good condition,” she said. “A lot of guys, even if they’re in really good shape, the first time with the mitts, they’re just dying. He wasn’t.”

Gogarty-Morrison also saw some talented hand speed from her new pupil.

“When they make a mistake, I usually tap them to teach them what they did wrong,” she said. “With Clay, it was really difficult to catch him. He was blocking them. I had to really work hard to catch him and even then, I still wasn’t catching him sometimes. He’s very strong and good reactions.”

Higgins’ history as a boxer goes back three decades to one amateur fight in 1980 in Tampa, Florida. He won that fight on a TKO. Daniels, meanwhile, is four years older than Higgins and has been boxing “since he was 12.”

That doesn’t mean Higgins isn’t trained in combat, however. He teaches martial arts, where he trains “to end fights quickly,” which Higgins would be all for doing on Aug. 13 against Daniels.

“I’m in really good shape for a 55-year-old guy, but boxing is a very different thing. I had trouble breathing.”

Sunday’s training session was the beginning of what Gogarty-Morrison calls “hell week” for Higgins. The idea is to train extra hard this week and then rest the week before the fight to give his body time to recover.

“I’m going to be in his corner,” said Gogarty-Morrison, the former Women's World Featherweight Champion. “I try to remain calm in the corner, because I know that helped me when I fought.”