Her Whole Hobby Was a Million-to-One Shot

In 2001, a gym trainer offered a friendly challenge to Patricia Harris that echoed Mike Tyson’s famous dictum that everyone has a plan until they’re punched in the face. He said the boxing classes Harris used to stay in shape were well and fine; but if she went to a real gym and got punched in the face, she would walk out and never return. She remembers her response: “Challenge accepted!”

Harris has been accepting such challenges all her life. When Title IX passed, she joined a Little League team as its only girl. And when she walked into Kingsway Boxing on 28th Street and saw the look of disdain from some of the older trainers, she knew she would be making another stand. “I am super proud that—25 years later—women are largely accepted in the sport and are now participating at both the Olympic and professional levels,” says Harris, who practices administrative law, providing licensing advice to design professionals and contractors, at Zetlin & De Chiara in Manhattan.

“I got punched in the nose pretty quickly,” she adds, “and instead of walking away, I realized I better learn to block and move. You can never avoid all of the hits, but you can always learn to be a better boxer. Every new sparring partner, even a newbie, comes with a different style, and I have to learn and adapt. This is not dissimilar from the mental skill set required of a lawyer. Every client is different; I need to learn from and about a client and their needs before I can be at the top of my game for them.”

It didn’t take long for Harris to go beyond fitness and training and apply for an amateur boxing license. Her most memorable moment actually occurred outside the ring—a few days after a 2005 fight. “I remarked to my trainer that I had taken a punch and, three days later, still couldn’t hear out of my right ear. His response was, ‘That’s nothing, I heard you broke her ribs.’ That made me feel better. … It spoke to my strength, both physical and mental, and I think these are skills that are important not only in athletic pursuits but, in a very different way, in my roles as mother and lawyer.” The trainer also taught her how to clear her ear.

For a time, she competed as a member of Team Freeform, a NYC-based women’s boxing team; and though she’s no longer on the amateur fight circuit, she regularly trains at Church Street Boxing Gym. “Both of my sons followed me into the boxing gym and I was very proud of them for doing so,” she says. And did they follow her into the law, too? “My husband and I are both lawyers; my sons wanted no part of it.”