Whatever the MacKids choose — even the Paw Patrol theme — Mitch Wilson will walk out to as a Champion for Charity
By Jeff Hicks
DUNDAS —
The song selection is out of his hands. Or his paws.
Mitch Wilson, one of Mandy Bujold’s 20 Champions for Charity, will leave it up to the young music mavens he will meet at McMaster Children’s Hospital to choose his walk-out tune for The Brawl at Tapestry Hall in Cambridge on April 24.
Whichever song they pick, he’ll dance out to the ring to.
Any song. Wilson, who turns 39 the day after his first fight for charity, is not joking.
“If the young kids at MacKids say to come to the Paw Patrol theme song, I don’t mind,” said Wilson, an Oshawa native, business leader and one of the first-time charity boxers who will visit MacKids and McMaster Medical Centre on February 25 and March 25.
“I’ll let the kids pick.”
What else would you expect from a father of four girls and Brazilian jujitsu enthusiast approaching his Jack Benny forever-39 birthday?
Eye of the Tiger? Cliché. Welcome to the Jungle? Passé.
But Paw Patrol? Timelessly Canadian.
The family puppy Crusoe, who can barely climb onto the girls’ backyard rink to search and rescue castaway pucks and balls, would approve with a patriotic wag of his Dachshund tail.
Whenever you’re in trouble,
Paw Patrol, Paw Patrol,
We’ll be there on the double.
“When it comes right down to it, this whole thing is about the kids, right?” said Wilson, a Dundas resident who was involved in a company that developed a device, still used by McMaster, that helps surgeons improve during complex procedures.
“The boxing. The gala. The training. Everything.”
The kids are the reason Champions for Charity has raised over a million dollars for MacKids through three previous editions and aims to close in on two million by the time May arrives.
Champs will also help Waterloo Region Health Network Foundation purchase an additional echocardiogram machine for its paediatric clinic through a 50/50 draw and silent auction
No job’s too big. No pup is too small.
Paw Patrol. We’re on the roll.
Wilson is on a roll towards his ring debut now.
His wife Tori — the couple met as teachers in the United Kingdom — is looking forward to watching her husband on Fight Night.
The girls, between four and 10, will take in the bout on livestream.
The eldest Lucy is a well-read, aspiring equestrian. Navy has a driven Nancy Drew investigative spirit. Juno, the Dundas Rattlesnake, is full of energy and charm. Iona is clever and responsible.
If it were up to them, dad would walk out to something Mean by Taylor Swift.
Or maybe a Takedown tune from the KPop Demon Hunters movie.
But the MacKids will have the first say.
“I’ll be ready either way.”
To support Mitch, click here.
Our Champion Spotlight is brought to you by Lee Kieswetter Heavy Civil.
