Tulsa Police Officers, Firefighters Train For Upcoming 'Smoke & Guns' Charity Fight

Some of the area's toughest first responders are putting on their boxing gloves in the name of charity.

The eighth annual Smoke & Guns will take place on April 22 at the BOK Center, a one-night event of MMA-style fights and boxing matches that pit firefighters and police officers against each other.

John Espinoza is one of the fighters on the card. He joined the Tulsa Police Department last year after completing three overseas tours with the Marines.

"I got into kickboxing when I was, I think in like 8th grade, then wrestling in high school," Espinoza continued saying, "When I got out of the Marines, I got more into muay Thai, I started winning tournaments and stuff like that, and kind of got addicted to it."

He hopes his decade of martial arts training will give him an edge as he fights to win money for the Special Olympics of Oklahoma.

"When I first heard about Smoke & Guns, he didn't tell me it was for charity," said Espinoza who learned about the event from his field training officer in the police academy. "He told me I was not getting paid, and I was like okay cool, the people of Tulsa want to see firefighters and cops fight, that would be pretty fun. Then he told me it was for charity, and I was like alright there is absolutely no way I can back out, but it feels pretty cool to get punched and punch somebody in the face for a good cause," he added.

Former Oklahoma State University wrestler and three-time Big 12 champion, Nolan Boyd, is participating in Smoke & Guns for a second straight year to raise money for Firefighters Burn Camp. Before that, he had no martial arts experience.

He said, "It was just one of the most incredible experiences I've ever had in my life, it was a blast!" Thinking nothing could ever top that, Boyd, a member of the Tulsa Fire Department, was content with hanging up his gloves for good.

"I was praying, and I was like 'God, that was fun, thanks for last year, but I am not going to fight again unless you want me to,'" he continued saying, "Right when I said that, I got a text from the guy who sets up the fights and he asked if I was going to fight this year."

Boyd took that as a sign, stepped out in faith, and began training at his old stomping grounds of OSU.

"When I was competing there, some UFC fighters would come train with us because they said there is nothing like wrestling for training for UFC," he added. "So, that has pretty much been everything for me just wrestling, a little bit of jujitsu and then I know very little about striking."

Espinoza is preparing for his fight in a slightly different way at Tulsa's Fenix Strength & Conditioning. "What Coach Jaime offers me is more dynamic movement and specific orientated exercises that help me with hip movement on punches, sprawling on someone trying to take me down, as well as a lot of cardio on the bags," he said.

Smoke & Guns is organized by the nonprofit 918 Fully Involved. President Dustin Fletcher said there will be 15 fighters on the card. He said whoever wins the most fights will get 60% of the proceeds donated to their respective charity and the other agency will get 40%.

In the past seven years, the event has raised over $315,000 for the Special Olympics of Oklahoma and Firefighters Burn Camp.

The fights will begin at 7 p.m. on April 22. Tickets start at $25 and can be purchased by Clicking Here. at www.918fullyinvolved.com.