In an empty house, a young boy – no older than fourteen – moved carefully around his room. His mom finally left him alone for the weekend.
He stripped the sheets and blankets from his bed and replaced them with an old tarp.
“My grandpa killed himself when I was six and my mom had to clean that up. I wanted it to make it as easy as [possible] to clean me up.”
Slowly, he lowered himself onto the bed, his father’s .22 pistol in hand – working up the courage to pull the trigger.
But before he could commit, an unknowing savior intervened.
“[A friend] just happened to want to talk to me, and it was just enough to keep me here for that day.”
Born and raised in Sturgis, South Dakota, Nick Draine fought his whole life both in and out of the ring. Today, the 25 year old is living out his dreams as a professional boxer, coach, youth mentor and firefighter, but he did not fulfill these dreams without sacrifice.
Draine began his boxing career in Rapid City, South Dakota, at the age of 14.
“My best friend at the time wanted to lose weight, but he didn’t want to do any school sports,” Draine said. “He pulled me aside one day and said he found this boxing gym in Rapid and asked me if I wanted to go with him.”
Intrigued, Draine decided to accompany his friend to Rapid City Youth Boxing to see what the sport was all about.
“I immediately fell in love with it,” Draine said. “I’ll never forget the first day I walked in there. I just knew that’s what I wanted to keep doing, and I stuck with it.”
Almost instantly, Draine found something he hadn’t even realized was missing from his life.
“I was always an aggressive person, and I had a temper real bad when I was younger,” Draine said. “[Boxing] gave me a great outlet for that, and it helped me figure out a way to use [my aggression] for something productive instead of being an asshole elsewhere.”
For Draine, boxing meant a new start – a way to remove himself from the life he had been living and to improve it.
“Growing up in a small town, it’s not uncommon for young boys to get a little rough and tumble,” Draine said. “I just happened to be all right at doing that.”
Driven by his newfound passion, Draine approached Michelle Rodriguez, his mother, with a request to start training consistently and, eventually, start booking matches. Reluctantly, she agreed.
“Nick has always been a deep thinker,” Mrs. Rodriguez said. “So when he came to me when he was fourteen or fifteen and said he wanted to try boxing, I knew he had thought it through as much as he could.”
Determined to help her son get started on his new path, Mrs. Rodriguez made sacrifices and found a way to be there for Draine.
“I was a single mom and poor, but I drove him to boxing three nights a week in Rapid City,” Mrs. Rodriguez said. “It was the only program at the time he could go to. But Eddie Martinez was just a light in our life at the time, and he was a really good mentor to Nick. It was hard watching him box, but I knew that Eddie had his best interests at heart.”
More often than not, combat sports are not the ideal career path a mother would envision for her son. However, with her family’s background in boxing and a strong love for her son, Mrs. Rodriguez was able to look past her fears for Draine’s safety and support his passion.
“There’s obviously some concern,” Mrs. Rodriguez said. “But Nick had a pretty rough childhood for a while, and when he started going to the gym, he started healing mentally and physically. When he’d have hard days, he could go to the gym, and that’s what made him happy. That outweighs the dangers of the sport every time.”
Training under Martinez at Rapid City Youth Boxing, Draine began developing and refining himself both physically and mentally – transforming into a promising young boxer.
Typically, a new boxer, especially a young one, will train for around a year or more before they are trusted to hold their own in an amateur fight. Draine was prepared in half that time.
Just six months into training, Draine was chomping at the bit to get in the ring for a real match. However, he soon experienced firsthand the fear that comes with walking headfirst into a scheduled fight.
“If you’re not nervous before a fight, you’re either lying or you don’t have any emotions,” Draine said. “I still get nervous, but I’ll never forget my first fight. I went into the bathroom at the Rawlins Middle School to change, and all I could think was what was I doing and how the fuck could I get out of it.”
Swallowing his fear and doubt, Draine forced himself out of the bathroom and through warmups.
“After warmups, you have to just sit there,” Draine said. “It’s called being on deck. And as I’m getting closer and closer to the ring, I’m getting more nervous.” 
Locked in a grueling battle with his racing thoughts and pounding heart before the first bell had even rung, Draine willed himself between the ropes and toward the center of the ring until he stood toe-to-toe with his opponent.
“The ref gave us our final instructions, and as soon as that bell rang, it was too late to do anything else but fight,” Draine said.
Despite losing the close decision, one fight was all it took for Draine to realize he’d discovered what would become his life’s work.
“I feel like it’s really rare, and I wish it could happen for more people,” Draine said. “I remember exactly where I was standing when I made the decision that I was going to be a professional fighter. I was getting ready for practice at Martinez’s gym, and I realized that this was what I wanted to do. There’s nothing that’s going to stop me from doing it.”
As he continued to further his career, Draine began to establish himself as a respectable opponent in the amateur boxing community. Although he did not hold an undefeated record, the young, relatively inexperienced boxer was more than just holding his own in the ring.
“The first match I got to watch, there was nobody in Nick’s experience range,” Mrs. Rodrigez said. “The best option was a kid who was two years older than Nick and had more than ten matches in his book. Nick won in a split decision. He beat a kid who had more than ten fights, and the look of pure joy on his face was the moment I realized I could handle watching him fight.”
Draine boxed as an amateur for a few years under Martinez, fighting his way around the state and parts of the region. However, as Draine ventured further into the world of combat sports, his curiosity grew.
“I was sixteen when I started doing Muay Thai,” Draine said. “At the time, the old coach for Rapid City Boxing, [Martinez], was stepping down.”
In need of a new coach to help maintain and progress his athletic career, Draine scoured the internet with an open mind for a new gym to call home.
“I found out there was a Muay Thai gym over in Black Hawk [South Dakota],” Draine said. “I started training there, and I really enjoyed it. About six months after I started training there, the coach came up to me and asked if I’d be interested in going to Thailand to train with them.”
The chance to travel to Thailand, the motherland of the “Art of Eight Limbs,” was far too great for Draine to pass up.
“I got the opportunity to go to Bangkok and train at an actual gym,” Draine said. “To them, fighting is more of a spiritual journey than a physical one. [Muay Thai] is like a religious event for those people. They never ask how many fights you’ve won, they only ask how many times you’ve fought because that’s all they care about.”
Enveloped in the spiritual and passionate culture of Muay Thai, Draine opened himself up to a whole new world of what fighting and combat sports could mean.
“[Muay Thai] has changed the way that I’ve looked at fights,” Draine said. “I don’t look at them like I have to win anymore. The way I look at it is that anyone I fight is going to remember the day they fought me, whether I win, lose or the fight gets dropped. It’s taken a lot of pressure off of me now that I’m not so focused on having to win.”
Draine’s new mindset has allowed him to fight and train with a precise focus he’s never experienced before. Because of it, his efficiency both in and out of the ring has improved as well as his mental health.
“There’s already a thousand voices in your head when you’re getting ready for a fight,” Draine said. “Because, believe it or not, it’s not natural for human beings to schedule a day to go get in a fistfight.”
It was this unnatural act that molded Draine into the man he has become. In defiance of the hardships and challenges he has faced, Draine remains determined to bring his best wherever he goes and create a positive impact within his community and the sport he loves, regardless of the danger he faces and the pain he suffers.
“When I put my socks on, I lay flat on my back on the bed and I bring my leg up to me because it fucking hurts to bend over,” Draine said. “I got problems with my neck, and I got problems with my back. I wake up some mornings, and my hands are numb. But the biggest thing is your brain is not meant to get sloshed around in your head. A lot of people suffer from CTEs after their careers. Regardless, I definitely want to keep [boxing]. I’ll do it until the wheels fall off.”
Despite the risk, the damage and the near guarantee of lasting, chronic health complications, Draine remains determined to give everything he has to boxing – the sport that gave him a second chance over ten years ago.
“For whatever reason, I always had that screw loose in my head where I was just depressed and angry,” Draine said. “I’d lost a lot of people at that point in my life, and it ate at me for a long time. I didn’t understand it, I didn’t know how to deal with it and it made me crazy. I felt like my only way out was to take myself out.”
Draine’s love of boxing comes from something much deeper than just enjoyment of the sport. Boxing and its community welcomed him with open arms when he was broken, and he has never forgotten that.
“I made the decision with myself when I was fifteen,” Draine said. “The way I feel is that I’m already on borrowed time. When this sport found me, I was at the lowest point in my life I’d ever been. The only reason I’m still here is because a person very close to me reached out at the perfect time, and then I found boxing and I realized it could give me something to live for.”
Driven by his gratitude for the boxing community he credits for saving his life, Draine has committed himself to the sport and to training and mentoring the youth of the Black Hills area in the art of boxing – teaching them everything he knows about making it through life.
“I know injuries can happen,” Draine said. “But, to me, that’s not as bad as it was sitting there getting ready to end everything. I would rather pursue this and sacrifice my body this way instead of letting all of it end right there. One day, some kid might walk through the door in the same position I was in, and if I can help them make the right decision, that would be enough for me.”
For the last few years, Draine has been working alongside his mother and Ron Rodriguez, his step-father and current coach, at the Sturgis PAL Boxing Club, which was established by the Sturgis Police Department as a safe space where youth and adults can go to train, learn and build relationships. 
“Nick is a really great mentor for the kids and adults alike because of the things that he’s gone through and the things he’s learned to overcome,” Mrs. Rodriguez said. “He’s always dreamed of helping kids and coaching.”
Draine has thrived as a boxing coach. His dedication to the sport, the athletes and his life experiences have allowed him to forge strong connections with the youth who have also suffered hardships early in their lives.
He hopes to inspire his athletes to pursue their dreams – whatever they may be.
“One of the biggest things I’ve learned through boxing is that if you want something, and you’re willing to put the work in and make sacrifices, then you can have it,” Draine said. “That’s one of the things I try to tell the kids around [the gym]. Not every kid who walks through these doors is going to be a professional boxer. They might want to be a chef or a dancer. Whatever it is, I want them to know that if they’re willing to make sacrifices and put in the work to do it, then they can.”
During his time coaching and mentoring at the PAL boxing club, Draine has proven his commitment to improving the facility and the lives of the athletes time and again.
Draine even completed a seven-hour workout fundraiser to finance a remodel of the gym, which allowed Mr. Rodriguez to purchase new equipment for the facility, all in the name of helping the youth reach their goals.
“I feel like, far too often, there are people in this world that didn’t do what they wanted to do, so they make it their mission to tell other people that they can do what they want to do,” Draine said. “People are so quick to write off other people’s dreams because they gave up on themselves, and I don’t want them to give up because I never did. That’s why being a professional boxer is so important to me.”
Aside from his boxing career and his work with the Sturgis PAL Boxing Club, Draine also participates in a number of other community events and works as a firefighter for the Sturgis Fire Department.
“He’s really coming into the community in Sturgis and embracing different things he can do,” Mrs. Rodriguez said. “I credit boxing for that, it’s given him the confidence to tackle new challenges. It’s impressive to me how he’s taken everything he’s learned in the gym and transposed it into his life.”
Since earning his professional card with the Association of Boxing Commission, Draine has had a less than ideal start to his professional career.
However, Draine and Mr. Rodriguez hope for a turnaround since he concluded his amateur career after only seven bouts. Considering the nature of their relationship, the two believe their closeness and Draine’s lack of wear and tear will contribute to success in the near future.
“In 2018, I was training at a gym in Spearfish,” Mr. Rodriguez said. “These girls that were competing already came to the gym and they wanted to train with me. One day, one of the gals brought Nick in, and they asked if it would be okay if he started training with us. I took a liking to Nick because he was just a good kid. I could tell he loved the sport. He trained hard, and that’s just what you like to see as a coach.”
As Draine and Mr. Rodriguez’s relationship grew stronger, Mr. Rodriguez was eventually introduced to Draine’s mother during his high school graduation party.
“It was pretty funny,” Mr. Rodriguez said. “Nick was watching me pretty closely, but his mom and I started talking and hanging out, then we started dating and I ended up with a beautiful wife and a great stepson. It was just one of those things where the universe put us all together and made us one big boxing family. And I’m so proud of [Nick]. He’s just a fantastic kid, and we love him to death.”
With strong family ties and a loving community behind him, Drain expects to keep fighting for as long as he can – for himself and for his family. And after four professional fights, he believes the sky could be the limit for him.
“I want Nick to be proud of himself no matter where he goes with his boxing career,” Mrs. Rodriguez said. “I know that it helps him work through things. I know that it keeps him going every day. I just want to see him successful and happy. Win or lose, it doesn’t matter. Nick always comes out smiling because he’s doing what he loves, and that’s what’s important.”
