Jess Evans has earned an inspiringly successful career teaching thousands how to perfectly execute a knockout right cross or uppercut. Chances are the majority of her students will never step into the ring against a live opponent. However, fighting to keep beating the 10 count when life keeps nailing you square on the chin may be the FightCamp trainer’s most valuable education she can offer.

The L.A.-based fitness instructor can share this life lesson to her students based on her own long list of personal battles she’s battled back from. Evans has overcome an abusive relationship that broke her down physically and mentally. From that triumph came another seemingly overwhelming obstacle—bouncing back from a stroke at age 31. She’s trained to no longer flinch—literally—even if she knows there’s a haymaker waiting to land at any moment. And when it does, rest assured, she won’t stay down long. Not just for herself, but for the countless members of her boxing community who’ve come to rely on her for more than just technique tweaks but to help further their fitness aspirations.

“I always tell people to not go into a fighting sport if you don’t want to get hit— it’s inevitable,” she says. “I’ve been hit so many times by guys in boxing, I’m not afraid to be hit anymore. This is where you really level up in order to get over that fear. You begin to look at it more like chess rather than simply running for your life.”

Through boxing, Evans has been able to travel around the world—from Australia to Europe and most recently in Guatemala. She’s also used her expanding combat sports presence to help raise awareness for a number of causes. It’s quite a rise for the Rocky Balboa-loving former video producer turned fitness professional as a profession after being furloughed from her video job.

“I would’ve never imagined working in fitness, but what’s amazing is that I just took the next door that opened, then the next one, and that’s how I ended up where I am,” she says. “I didn’t have this ultimate plan. It kind of unfolded this way and I’ve just gone with it.”

What eventually became her calling card, Evans admits that boxing originated as her only means of self-preservation. Over time it’s evolved into a her teaching women and also men that no obstacle is too great once you absorb that first punch. It’s taken Evans several rounds to figure this out herself.

“You have to be able to flow through life because things are going to happen and the’ll take you down a direction maybe you don’t want, but you have to be able to be just go with the flow,” she explains. “In fighting, you gotta roll with the punches sometimes… had it not been for this experience I had been in, then I don’t know how I would have gotten through that.”

How An Emotional Beatdown Became a Personal Breakthrough

With her blend of lightning-quick uppercuts, sharp jabs, and infectious personality, Jess Evans has become a major influencer when it comes to helping part-time pugilists elevate their fitness levels by experiencing the heart-rate-boosting conditioning benefits of this total-body workout.

But before fitness or FightCamp came calling, the trainer had to first learn how to fight for herself.

Growing up in a small Missouri town, she admits that focusing on academics and athletics—primarily basketball, track and cross country—left her leading what she calls a “sheltered” life. “I didn’t even think boxing or anything like that, at the time,” she says.

College was where she engaged in her first serious relationship. And what first seemed like love soon morphed into manipulation and isolation. She reluctantly moved in with her new beau—while becoming more distant from her family. Then came verbal and emotional abuse. While her self-esteem was being chipped away over time, it finally took a physical altercation that a change was needed.

“There are a lot of people in abusive relationships who get beaten regularly, and the thing is, many don’t leave their abusers. They don’t leave the person who is verbally, emotionally, or physically abusing them because of that self-reliance again—it’s that seclusion. You don’t feel like you have anything outside of this.”

From that moment, her mindset turned from tolerance to empowerment. However, she admits that in the midst of personal survival, having a viable plan took time to materialize. With the help of her family, it took about three more months for Jess to break away. And despite a final grasp of  emotional manipulation from her ex, Evans was free.

“Many times you don’t have the confidence to walk away, so I’m really glad that it did come to a breaking point,” Jess Evans says. “I was with him, but I resented him at the same time. But it came to a breaking point to where I was like, I don’t want this for my future. So by the grace of God, I walked away from that

However the ordeal left her with emotionally and physically shattered. and with no real Plan B, combat sports—in this case boxing—became her fallback plan.

“It wasn’t for a while—probably a year later—that I thought, I want to learn how to fight,” she says. “I don’t even know where that desire came from, other than the fact that I was determined to prove that nobody could do this to me again without me being able to defend myself.”

To Punch, Jess Evans Had to Learn to Take a Punch

Now free from an abusive relationship, Jess Evans now had to repair the physical and emotional damage in the aftermath. Weighing just 90 pounds at 5’4”, it was time to recapture her health as well as her confidence.

Walking into Kansas City’s Pound for Pound Gym, she discovered what she had been missing–an outlet to let out her stress—but admits it took much longer than expected to discover how to throw a punch. She realized she was the only female there, but she was determined to unleash fury. “I told him, I want to get in here and learn how to defend myself,” she says.

Expecting to deliver powerful punches on Day 1, Evans was disappointed when the first workouts under the guidance of Pound for Pound trainers Melvin Wesley and “Big Ron,” consisted around nothing but the boring fundamentals: running, skipping rope, and some basic moves on the heavy bag.

“It was just bag work—rolling, rolling, hooking, rolling, crossing, and then running and skipping rope,” she recalls.

Her first sparring session was a brutally deflating initiation: Evans says she was floored by a liver shot delivered by a 15-year-old boy. Some days, she left the gym in tears, but always walked away determined to master the sweet science.

In order to do so, Evans says she resorted to some extreme measures. She enlisted some of her MMA partners to spar with her, encouraging them to keep hitting her in order to desensitize her from the trauma coming her way.

“I’d just do defensive rounds and have someone punch me in the head, just to keep my eyes open,” she explains. “I definitely don’t advise this level of training, but I think it stemmed from all the hurt and pain I felt. I was determined to learn how to do this as quickly as possible.”

Within six months, Jess had progressed to her first tournament—and developed a new career which has taken her around the globe, where she also added Muay Thai to her MMA arsenal. At the same time, her health improved significantly. She fought at a muscularly shredded 112 pounds, relying on a strict routine of counting her macros.

“When you’re doing that much activity and expending that much energy, you have to fuel because otherwise you’ll be super fatigued,” she says. So I definitely was getting back into a healthy routine.

A Community of FightCamp Fighters Come to Jess Evans’ Rescue

What makes FightCamp—the heavy-bag punching and kicking platform that incorporates boxing, kickboxing, and HIIT workouts at home to help build strength and resiliency—so worthwhile? According to Evans, it’s the before-and-after transformation stories she has witnessed since becoming involved.

“I’ve seen so many people go from never having punched a bag in their entire lives to looking incredible on the bag,” she says. “Their transformations are amazing, whether it’s weight loss or improved technique. We’ve had members transition from our classes to public boxing classes. It’s incredible that we’re able to be that bridge for people.”

There’s also the community aspect of FightCamp, highlighted by a rapidly growing Facebook group. In fact, Evans credits one of the members with helping her during her stroke.

After a FightCamp class one day, Evans experienced sudden and alarming symptoms. She returned to her office and noticed her right hand involuntarily sliding off her computer. Perhaps it was fatigue, she thought. But soon her condition further deteriorated: She couldn’t lift her phone or perform other common tasks.

She initially attributed her symptoms to a combination of fatigue and after-effects from a recent fender-bender. She rationalized that, at age 31 and in the best shape of her life, it couldn’t be anything serious. Her manager, however, contacted a doctor who insisted on getting her to the ER immediately.

“I didn’t know how serious it was until I was back in the ambulance bay,” she recalls.  “Everyone was standing there waiting to put me on the gurney. After that, I realized, OK, this is serious. My body went into shock.”

An MRI confirmed it was indeed a stroke. The initial diagnosis labeled it as ischemic—a stroke without a known cause. In the past, Evans would have accepted that diagnosis and proceeded with the prescribed treatment and rehabilitation. This time, the fighter needed more answers.

“I told them that it’s not acceptable,” she says. “This is why it’s great to be a fighter; you have to learn how to fight for yourself. You have to advocate for yourself when no one else is going to fight for you.”

After her stroke, Jess Evans took the initiative to research her condition. She recalled model Hailey Bieber, who had also experienced a stroke. Jess requested a transcranial Doppler (TCD) scan during her neurologist appointment. Despite her excellent blood work and normal results, she was determined to uncover the underlying cause of her stroke.

“It didn’t make sense,” she admits.

The next round of research uncovered a clue: Evans discovered she had a patent foramen ovale (PFO), an opening in her heart that typically closes by age 4 but, in her case, never did. It had gone unnoticed until her stroke. A week later, she underwent heart surgery to close the opening. After months of therapy, she’s now back to 100 percent.

“One of the FightCamp members is one of the ladies who helped me,” she says. “She works with stroke patients on the East Coast. The fact that I was able to have people from the community work with me and assist me was amazing.”

She acknowledges that, while she approached her conditioning like a heavyweight champ, she may not have overcome this battle without the experience of the first one.

“Had I not gone through that relationship, I don’t know how I would have gotten through this stroke,” she says. “After we face certain challenges, we become tougher and more resilient when things happen.”

Jess Evans: From Struggles to Triumph in the Ring

Jess Evans’ journey from potential victim to forever a fighter mirrors some of the comeback narratives found in some of her favorite fight films. Rocky, Million Dollar Baby, and Cinderella Man all resonate with similar themes of bouncing back through adversity. Even Evans’ entrance to fitness came after losing her video production job during COVID. Now with nearly 300,000 Instagram followers, Evans is getting her message across one body blow at a time.

“All of these movies illustrate the parallels between fighting and life,” Evans explains. “The beauty of fighting, boxing, and the art itself lies in the ability to fight through challenges and to overcome. That’s what these films are all about: overcoming obstacles.”

Although the benefits of boxing are well documented—from improving heart health to increasing endurance, and even helping in weight loss—many women are still reluctant to lace up the gloves. Evans tells those people that once you get past the first punch, you’ll be hooked. In fact, her first tip for beginners is to, like anything in life is fight through the fear.

“Life is wild, and it’s normal to feel scared, but just go after it” she says. Don’t take don’t take what anyone else has to say. Most of the time, people who are trying to deter you are scared to do it themselves. They’re going to try to put you off. So go after your dreams.”

Boxing, through it’s never-ending self-improvement sessions, teaches resilience and empowerment. It’s helped Evans turn her life from tragedy to triumph.

“Life keeps coming at us, and we have to be able to take the knockdown and get back up,” she says. “But you can do anything; you just have to believe in yourself.”