Pat Sullivan has worked for many years as Director of Operations for Jimmy Burchfield’s Classic Entertainment and Sports (CES), New England's leading boxing and MMA promoter. Though he has never thrown a punch in the ring, Sullivan is a champion of life based on how he has responded to tragedy. He established the Joanne Sullivan Memorial Fund following his mother’s passing in 2008, and he calculates that he has raised more than $950,000 for the Dana-Farber Cancer Research Institute in Boston. That total was current as of November 1st. But later that night, during a fight card at the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut, Burchfield along with CES’ righthand men Michael Parente and Steve Maze, presented a jumbo-sized $10,000 check to Sullivan in support of his efforts.

 

In addition, Burchfield supported a Pink Out as part of the night’s festivities. Every fighter wore pink gloves; CES staffers wore pink dress shirts and ties; the round card girls wore pink crop tops;  Sullivan wore a pink shirt, pink blazer and pink shoes; QR codes were posted in the fight programs and around the arena inviting boxing fans to donate to the Joanne Sullivan Memorial Fund; and a table was set up in the upper concourse to encourage donations, with pink T-shirts being given to everyone contributing. 

 

Burchfield said he considers Sullivan his “fourth son” and encouraged any generous donors out there to get Sullivan over the $1 millio mark. Anyone looking to support the cause can make a donation at https://joannesullivanmemorialfund.org/.

 

“We definitely want to go over the $1 million mark before this year is over,” said Burchfield, who planned to have another Pink Out event at his mixed martial arts event one week later at the Historic Park Theater in Cranston, Rhode Island. Alongside support from his boxing boss, Sullivan has raised nearly a million dollars through an annual golf event at Framingham Country Club. The three largest sponsorships are Dinner, Hole and Golf Cart, at $5,000, $1,500 and $1,000, respectively. 

 

“Pat, I’m so proud of you,” said Burchfield after presenting the check. “Your mom and dad are smiling right now in Heaven. Thank you so much for everything that you do.” 

 

Maze also encouraged boxing fans in attendance to donate. “There are QR codes all over the place,” he said. “Please, please help. It’s a fight that everybody’s in, whether it was your mother, your father, your grandmother, your grandfather, your husband, your wife. Everybody’s affected by cancer. Every dollar helps.” 

 

As he accepted the generous donation, Sullivan thanked Burchfield, the CES team, Mohegan Sun for their combined efforts. He also talked about his mother. “In 2008 my mother passed away from breast cancer. I was only 23 years old,” said Sullivan. “And I’m not ashamed to say, I’m very proud to say, I am, 17 years later, I was and still am the biggest mama’s boy that anyone’s going to meet.”

 

He added, “My mother was my best friend, my rock, the person I looked up to. She’s still my hero to this day , so when she passed away it totally crushed me. But we got such great care at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts, that we went in and met with the head of oncology, and said, ‘What can we do to support what you’re doing here?’ ”

 

Sullivan and his family met with Dr. Sara Tolaney, an oncologist at the time who is now the head of Dana-Farber’s oncology department and an associate professor of nedicine at Harvard.  “At the time, she said she was on to some pretty important research,” said Sullivan, “And we told her we’re going to raise as much money as we can, but the money has to go to the research [not to stock the shelves, or pay administrative fees, etc.], and I’m proud to say that in the 15 years of this research Dr. Tolaney has set the standard of care, not just in Boston, not just in Massachusetts, not just in the United States, but worldwide. People are being affected by the standard of care because of the research that we are funding.” 

 

Dr. Tolaney praised Pat's efforts, saying "Pat is truly extraordinary. He has been hosting an annual golf tournament in memory of his mother, Joanna Sullivan, and pours his heart and soul into every detail of the event. The funds he raises each year provide critical support for our breast oncology research, enabling us to pursue more effective and better-tolerated therapies for patients. His commitment has a tangible and meaningful impact on the progress we’re able to make."

 

Sullivan’s said he’s proud he’s been able to support such change and “I know that my mother’s name might be on the check when it gets donated, but for everybody here that’s thinking of somebody, praying for somebody, remembering somebody, I want you to know..it’s also written and signed by hundreds of heavy hearts who are out here tonight in support of somebody.”