That's awesome, Mike sounds like a good time + getting paid for it.
When I joined the ARMY two of the guys I went through basic training with were brothers and both boxers, one of them was the Nevada Golden Gloves winner, they were joining the ARMY to box... yup that was their 'job'. Of course when we got news we were (most of us) shipping out right from basic to fight in Iraq those two of course weren't they were going to Germany... to box.