Moving north for university, Eli says he started boxing due to his love for martial arts, jiu jitsu and ninjas as a kid, finding it a good way to expel his energy and get rid of any stress he felt. He commented that “you don’t really have to think, just fight,” and so a love for boxing was fostered.
Having competed on inter gym competitions through secondary school, competing in BUCS was a big change. “It was much more rigorous and formal. I had to get weighed in everyday with medics.” Eli said.
The club hoped to do another campaign next year, saying how much he enjoyed competing in this one and that he was looking for more challenges to help further his boxing career.
Winning gold “was nice” but Eli was adamant in saying “I don’t really care if I win or lose, I just like the fighting. It’s quite fun.” The weekend was very quick, having had to wait a bit to fight as there were less people in Eli’s weight class. The first day was spent watching other fights and waiting for his fights to start: 'I was itching to get in. I really wanted to get started myself'.
I was itching to get in. I really wanted to get started myself.
The training primarily takes place in the university gym, around four to five sessions per week, with extra sparring sessions on Saturdays. In preparation for BUCS, Eli went to at least four sessions a week and the extra sparring, commenting that it was “tough but quite fun.” They also engage in sprinting sessions before practice, to increase stamina and endurance as the bouts are “more like a sprint.”
When asked about balancing boxing with his engineering course load, Eli said it wasn’t as hard as he thought it would be. “A lot of the sessions are during the evenings,” he said, “and training is on six days a week, I can still go on Saturdays. It aligns to my schedule really well so it works out well for me.”
We want everyone to be together and just work towards something.
He says, “everyone should give [boxing] a go. Even if you’re not good, or don’t want to compete, it’s really good exercise in general, gets you active and you meet a lot of different people. They’re trying to do more social stuff this year, to build a community. Next year, we want to do BUCS again, and we want more people involved, not even in the competition stuff, we just want more involvement and really getting stuck in.” He recommends the club to first years, and for anyone looking to make more friends and get involved in boxing.