Eleven months ago, the OSU Club Boxing Team had its first ever, National Collegiate Boxing Association (NCBA) National Champion, Eddie Son.

Eddie's victory was spectacular: he was an underdog, Regional runner-up, who defeated boxers from all three service academies (Army, Air Force and Navy) in three straight days to claim the 185-pound belt. More than just bringing home a championship, Eddie helped propel the OSU Boxing Team into the national conversation. The club, and by extension, the competitive team, has seen continued growth in participation and experience.

March 15-17 of this year, the team sent multiple fighters to the NCBA Midwest Regionals in Cincinnati . Regionals serves as one of three qualifying tournaments for the NCBA National Tournament which will be held in Charlotte, NC from April 11-13. The Buckeye pugilists performed spectacularly at Regionals, qualifying four boxers for Nationals with three Regional Champions and one third place finisher qualifying at-large. Team captain Eddie Kubit (7-6) not only won the Region but was named "Most Outstanding Boxer" for the tournament. Eddie is the first OSU boxer to win this prestigious award, and will be fighting in the 165 pound division at Nationals.

The Buckeyes' three other competitors at this year's Nationals are Midwest Region Champ in the 112-lb women's division Nicoleta Durlesteanu (5-0), at-large qualifier in the 132-lb women's division Ella Yi (3-4), and Midwest Region Champ in the 156-lb women's division Camen Pape (3-1).

Because boxing is a club team, they receive very little funding from the university. Consequently, the fighters have to raise their own funds to support their trip to compete at Nationals. If you're so inclined, they set up a GoFundMe to raise money to cover their travel expenses. The team is about $1000 shy of their goal, so every little bit helps.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/ohio-state-boxing-get-to-nationals

Who knows? You could be helping the next Buckeye National Champion achieve their dream and bring another belt back to Columbus.

(Chase - thanks for the mention in last Friday’s Skull Session?)