Notre Dame offers men’s boxing through Bengal Bouts, where junior captions are training for the upcoming tournament.
A science pre-professional major from Marshall, Michigan, and a Fisher Hall resident, junior captain Isaac Culp says, “When I was a freshman it was — I wanted to stay active obviously, I wanted something to get involved with — but more so it was about trying to meet people who were outside of the freshman class [and] trying to get a more variety of friends, because up until that point I’d really only been hanging around the guys in my dorm.”
“I remember I joined my freshman year, and I remember I knew absolutely nothing about what I thought that I knew,” California native and finance major Michael Nilsen said. “I’d thought I’d be a little bit ahead of everyone, but I remember that I knew absolutely nothing, and it was great because the upperclassmen — the seniors and the juniors — were so helpful. It’s crazy how much I learned in such a short amount of time.”
Pittsburgh native and finance major Phil Pollice commented, “I wanted to join because I had a little bit of boxing experience from the summer of my junior year in high school, but I also just wanted to find a club and a group of guys that wanted to push themselves.”
The four captains also take pride in their roles as captains, each having their own unique jobs within the club.
“There are about 10 of us captains in total,” Culp said. “We each have our main points. For me, I work with another captain on the social media front, so we control the Facebook and Instagram socials, and we post information about what’s going on and we are responsible for spreading the word of what we do and how we do it.”
But social media is not the only thing they are responsible for. Junior captain and psychology major Ijeh Nwaezeapu described, “I’m a workout captain, so I devise workouts for the club, and I lead them.”
Nilsen, on the other hand, works closely with the Holy Cross priests in his role as captain.
“I’m an outreach captain, which basically [means] I’m working on those connections with the Holy Cross priests and kind of strengthening those relationships with them,” he said. “It’s been nice because every Monday, we host Mission Monday, where we have one of the Holy Cross priests come speak to boxers.”
“I designed all of the merch for the club,” Pollice added in regard to his role as a merch captain.
In common with the Baraka Bouts, which raises money for schools in Uganda, Bengal Bouts also raises money for a cause of their own — the Holy Cross missions in Bangladesh — which the captains expressed is an important part of the club.
“Basically, what we do is is we try to raise a bunch of money for kids in Bangladesh who suffer from drug addiction or don’t have the opportunity to go to school, and basically, we sell tickets and raise money for the Holy Cross missions,” Nwaezeapu said.
The Bengal Bouts will begin with the quarterfinals on Monday, Feb. 17, and continue with the showcase on Feb. 19 and the semifinals on Feb. 24. Each of those three rounds will take place at 7 p.m. inside the Duncan Student Center’s Dahnke Ballroom. The bouts will conclude with the finals at 7 p.m. on Friday, March 29, at Purcell Pavilion.
