But those crowds won’t be like anything Rojas will see on Thursday when he’s in front of more than 2,000 attendees to get inside of a boxing ring for the first time. No, Rojas isn’t starting a new career and becoming an amateur boxer, but he is stepping between the ropes for a good cause.

On Thursday at the MGM Music Hall in Boston, Rojas will be fighting to combat cancer and raise money for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute as part of the annual Haymakers for Hope charity boxing event, this one being called Rock ‘N Rumble XV.

Rojas, an attorney/instructor, will be stepping into the ring to compete against Nick Pomposelli, an account-based marketing manager. Rojas (37 years old) stands at 5 feet, 8 inches and weighs 158 pounds while Pomposelli (40) is 5-5 and 150.

“I’m used to performing in front of crowds to a certain extent. There’s only so many in Muncy as well. So stepping into MGM Grand Music Hall right next to Fenway Park in Boston in front of I think they said over 2,000 attendees is definitely going to be a different magnitude of an audience,” Rojas said. “I think the biggest thing for me is just a one-on-one situation. Walking out there by myself of course trusting in my coaching that we prepared best we can. I think that’s a big difference. I’m so much more used to playing team sports where I trust my teammates to do their thing and I play my role, but this is totally different being a one-on-one physical interaction with another individual.”

PHOTO PROVIDED Casey Rojas, a 2007 Muncy graduate, will fight in a charity amateur boxing bout on Thursday in Boston as part of Haymakers for Hope. The organization combines fundraising for cancer research with allowing people the chance to box in a three-round amateur boxing competition.

The first Haymakers for Hope charity boxing event was in 2011 and to date it has raised more than $42 million for cancer research. This year’s event has raised more than $570,000.

Rojas will be competing in a three-round boxing match on Thursday at 37 years old. The Muncy native last fall heard of the event while living in the Boston area and thought it looked more than interesting.

“I said it’s something I could do, something I could see myself doing,” Rojas said.

So Rojas filled out an application and got the ball rolling. Shortly after being selected, the Muncy graduate attended an orientation and sat down for nearly two hours to discuss what’s involved, from the gyms you get set up with to fundraising and what’s expected of everyone.

“That was a big orientation about how it all goes,” Rojas said. “What happens from that point on, they match you up with a boxing gym that many of these have done Haymakers in the past, so they’re familiar with the process.”

PHOTO PROVIDEDCasey Rojas, a 2007 Muncy graduate, will fight in a charity amateur boxing bout on Thursday in Boston as part of Haymakers for Hope. The organization combines fundraising for cancer research with allowing people the chance to box in a three-round amateur boxing competition.

Each competitor commits to four months of intense training which leads up to the bout. Rojas noted that he trained in the boxing gym near his home about four days a week and had a personal trainer once or twice a week. The organization also sets up Rojas and other boxers with head gear, boxing gloves, hand wraps and other stuff including shorts and training shorts.

“Just stuff to get you started if you’ve never boxed before,” Rojas said. “That’s from their sponsorship relationships with boxing gear manufacturers.”

Part of that journey as well includes fundraising a minimum of $10,000. Rojas had been working on reaching that goal with the understanding that if he doesn’t fundraise the full amount, he is responsible for paying the difference. Rojas raised nearly $11,000 entering Sunday and had a goal for $15,000 according to the Haymakers for Hope website.

“That’s something they made clear to us during orientation and you signed a commitment. If I don’t raise $10,000, I will cover whatever is left over at the end of the day. It certainly is a commitment to fundraising, but you feel very strongly but when you get out there and say ‘hey, I’m putting my chin on the line,’ it’s amazing what you see. Everyone supports the mission and they’re often very impressed by personal stake in this specific fundraiser,” Rojas said. “I can’t tell you number of times people said to me are you sure you wanna do this? You actually get punched for real? Yeah it’s real, it’s happening. Legitimate amateur boxing match and I’m preparing best I can to make sure nothing bad happens. It’s always nice to see peoples concern first and they say that’s fantastic, you get out there and do best you can and of course the donations when they see mission and purpose.”

Rojas and others may be punching one another inside the squared circle to knock one another out, but the real goal is to raise money to help knock out cancer, and all the boxers understand that.

PHOTO PROVIDEDCasey Rojas, a 2007 Muncy graduate, will fight in a charity amateur boxing bout on Thursday in Boston as part of Haymakers for Hope. The organization combines fundraising for cancer research with allowing people the chance to box in a three-round amateur boxing competition.

“It was cool to see other people who have chosen to take this fundraising journey,” Rojas said. “We all want to raise money against cancer to knock out cancer. It was nice to be amongst a group of guys committed to the same purpose and mission.”

Each fighter chooses a charity where the donations go. Rojas picked CancerCare as his charity.

“They are a fantastic charity because they support anyone affected by cancer. That community is broader than just those diagnosed. A cancer diagnosis impacts life in so many ways: families, finances, mental health of the family and patient. CancerCare helps with all these extras with cancer diagnoses so people who are going through a diagnosis can focus truly on their health,” Rojas said. “I think it is really admirable. I’ve seen how cancer impacts everyone who knows and loves a patient who has been diagnosed. So helping them so they can best support the cancer patients and focus fully on their health? I think that’s fantastic.”

Haymakers for Hope was co-founded by Julie Anne Kelly who, as a cancer survivor, noted that she wanted to help support cancer research and having Haymakers for Hope helps give people a once-in-a-lifetime experience to everyday people to get inside a ring and help knock out cancer. Since that first year in 2011, there have been 54 boxing events held by Haymakers for Hope and more than 200 organizations have received financial support through donations with the boxers’ charities.

The culmination of Rojas’ journey is on Thursday in the ring, but it began almost four months ago in January. He began training and has been getting in shape and ready ever since. That includes being matched with a trainer and getting ready to fight.

“I have very limited experience with boxing. I started from the first day learning to wrap my hands and put on gloves and throw a simple jab. Now, I’m doing combos, jump rope exercises, working the bags,” Rojas said. “We started sparring pretty early on. I’ve been sparring since my second or third week of training which is really important for me to learn how to punch, how to get punched and block punches. There’s a heavy reliance on my trainer to learn the whole process.”

Rojas’ trainer — Jess Smith from BoxSmith, who was a Haymakers for Hope boxer nearly 15 years ago — helped him in regards to fundraising and thinking about ways to raise money in different ways.

“It’s a new endeavor and one I had to focus on strongly for this pursuit,” Rojas said. “It’s a fundraiser first with a worthy mission and the boxing component is what drives the mission forward. It’s a new way to look at fundraisers.”

Now, all that training is going to pay off with three rounds inside a ring with an opponent.

“This is the hardest part for me to be like ‘hey, you’re out there to knock out cancer and now I need to knock you out,'” Rojas said with a laugh. “That’s the thing I have the most anxiety about. I’m not nervous or anxious, but it’s the thing I least look forward to because we’re all here for a good cause, but once we step into the ring I need to knock you out. That’s what is weird to me.”

Regardless if Rojas wins or gets knocked out himself, he’s glad to be taking part in this fundraiser and boxing inside a ring for an actual amateur bout.

“It’s exciting to feel the energy of everyone who’s there and the energy in MGM Music Hall and those who bought tickets to see me fight, all those people who had donations along that journey,” Rojas said. “You feel you don’t wanna let them down, but at the end of the day, it’s important that we raise a boat load of money to help knock out cancer. That’s why I’m training for this.”

Rojas won’t be letting anyone down because he’s already won no matter what happens when he steps in the ring. Raising more than $10,000 to combat cancer helped him earn that victory, regardless of Thursday’s in-ring decision.