UTRGV Club Boxing is nearing the end of its first year, with upcoming events on the horizon such as nationals in Las Vegas this coming March.
The club currently consists of 25 members and was started in the Spring by graduate communications major Noe Mendoza Jr.
Mendoza first started teaching boxing to onlooking neighborhood kids for a dollar a day until he had what he described as a humbling experience.
He describes an incident in which two brothers approached him with a sandwich and an HEB brand cola because their parents could not afford the dollar that day.
This led to Mendoza and his father Noe Mendoza Sr. starting Las Brisas Boxing Club in 2011, where students are given free boxing lessons in exchange for passing grades.
Academics are important to Mendoza and UTRGV Club Boxing was created with student athletes in mind. Mendoza explains their values in more detail.
“Our philosophy at the time was, not everybody is gonna be Floyd Mayweather and make millions of dollars, but everybody can get their college degree.”
Mendoza said that due to the lack of college boxing programs in Texas, highschool graduates who box would be left with the choice of continuing their education or going professional.
With the addition of UTRGV Club Boxing, UTRGV students who want to continue boxing can now do so while attending college.
The club will be participating in Georgia Tech College Fight Night on December 4, where biology senior Omar Cortez will face off against Georgia Tech’s Erick Benitez – Ramos.
If Cortez wins this match he will be going to nationals.
Despite being a part of the university, Cortez mentioned the lack of UTRGV-hosted matches and hopes that this will change in the future.
“It would be awesome to have a fight here at UTRGV with local support from our valley natives and young amateurs of the sport.”
Both Mendoza and Cortez show an interest in having UTRGV hosted matches, with Mendoza even saying that he would want Brownsville to be Club Boxing’s home campus.
Finance sophomore Joaquin Villalon believes boxing events would be good for the Brownsville campus.
“We don’t really get a lot of events here [Brownsville] and if that were to happen here, I think it would draw a lot more people in.”
The Georgia Tech College Fight Night will be broadcasted for free on the WBC network.
This is Will Bennett with Vaquero Radio.
