This personal injury lawyer wanted to push his limits, so he took up bare

This personal injury lawyer wanted to push his limits, so he took up bare-knuckle fighting It’s not that Victor Demesmin Jr. was looking for a fight, exactly. But he was certainly looking for a challenge. That’s just the kind of guy he is—so throwing himself into the ring as a bare-knuckle fighter was on-brand for the South Florida father of three. “The idea of going into a ring, bare-knuckled, it was the scariest thought for me,” says Demesmin, 37, a personal injury lawyer. “And because it was so scary for me, I decided I would have to do it.” Demesmin, who had never competed in combat sports, trained for eight months before making his professional boxing debut on March 21 in Kansas City, Kansas. He emerged triumphant, knocking out opponent Rayne Wells in round three. His wife and 4-year-old son were there supporting him, along with colleagues from Demesmin & Dover, the law firm he co-founded. “It was weird,” Demesmin says. “I thought I would be nervous, and I wasn’t. I was like, ‘Why am I so calm?’ I just felt ready. I felt that it was my calling and my purpose, and that the story had already been written.” Law partner Jeremy Dover attended the fight and said Demesmin “made a spectacle of his entrance,” and that he expected “nothing less” from his law partner. Demesmin “was in his element in there, and the energy, excitement and happiness was present in him from the moment we touched down in Kansas City to the moment we left,” Dover says. He describes Demesmin as a “caring, empathetic, driven and tactical person.” “I know the first two are not often associated with someone who professionally punched someone else in the face, but it is who he is,” Dover says. “He is able to use his drive and tact to help find the best outcome in any scenario—whether it be an actual case, a disagreement, a new solution or, like I said, punching someone in the face until he was declared the winner.” ‘Mamba Mentality’ Born in Boston and raised in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Demesmin played basketball and football in high school before heading to the University of Central Florida, where he studied business management and entrepreneurship. He then went on to the Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center, earning his JD in 2015. When he partnered up with Dover in 2020 to found a law firm, they didn’t anticipate how quickly it would grow from two employees to over 80 and three offices in Chicago, Fort Lauderdale and Tampa, Florida. Demesmin, who is fluent in Creole and conversational in French, says the firm handles a wide variety of personal injury cases, including medical malpractice and workers’ compensation. A few years ago, he also started managing bare-knuckle fighters, which is how he got interested in the sport. He says he was inspired by the “courage and bravery” of the fighters he represented. “I told my wife, ‘I know this sounds crazy, but one of these days, I will get into the ring myself,’ and she said, ‘No, you will not,’” Demesmin says. Eventually, she too was on board with his training, which consisted of four sessions a week in the boxing gym with a coach, hot yoga and running or other high-intensity workouts, he says. About two months before the fight, Demesmin also went on a strict diet to maintain the 180 pounds he needed to be to fight and to ensure he was at his best. Demesmin says that he has always been influenced by former basketball star Kobe Bryant’s “Mamba Mentality,” a philosophy centered on relentless self-improvement. Demesmin has a tribute to Bryant, who died in a helicopter crash in 2020, tattooed on his left leg. But Demesmin is thinking that his bare-knuckle career may already be over and that he will likely move on to a new adversity to overcome. “My wife is very happy because I think I’m going to be a one-and-done,” he says. “I got everything I wanted out of the experience, and part of me wants to just leave it where it is and not tarnish it.” Write a letter to the editor, share a story tip or update, or report an error.