[Mick]

Nah.  Neither football nor bull riding is going away anytime soon.

Nor rugby. Or wrestling. 

Or club boxing. I wonder if it's worse when it's not a varsity sport, when you have little medical personnel, untrained coaches etc. The NCAA had championships starting in 1932, then discontinued boxing championships after 1960 when a UWisconsin boxer died of a brain hemorrhage. 

But there's a long history of collegiate boxing:

- first boxing training, Harvard, 1859
- first boxing competition, Oxford vs. Cambridge, 1897
- first documented U.S. intercollegiate competition, Penn vs. Colgate, 1920

64 American universities listed boxing clubs last year, including nine in California. Santa Clara, San Jose State, USF. UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, Sacto State. USC...and Stanford.

In fact, Stanford hosted a "Fight Night" at Burnham Pavilion on January 17 of this year. Two bouts with Stanford boxers fighting each other, others were intercollegiate matchups between boxers from UC Riverside, Oxford University (yes, that one), and Santa Clara. Two of the Stanford victors were a Master's and a PhD candidate. And they did it right...it was sanctioned by USA Boxing, with referees, judges, medical professionals, headgear and gloves.

Stanford boxing hosts first on-campus Fight Night

Here's the full video:  Bing Videos

The Stanford boxers entered the year with a 4-0 record in intercollegiate competition, and last year's club president (and Stanford club athlete of the year) won the USIBA (U. S. Intercollegiate Boxing Association) middleweight championship.

[Mick]

Nah.  Neither football nor bull riding is going away anytime soon.

Nor rugby. Or wrestling. 

Or club boxing. I wonder if it's worse when it's not a varsity sport, when you have little medical personnel, untrained coaches etc. The NCAA had championships starting in 1932, then discontinued boxing championships after 1960 when a UWisconsin boxer died of a brain hemorrhage. 

But there's a long history of collegiate boxing:

- first boxing training, Harvard, 1859
- first boxing competition, Oxford vs. Cambridge, 1897
- first documented U.S. intercollegiate competition, Penn vs. Colgate, 1920

64 American universities listed boxing clubs last year, including nine in California. Santa Clara, San Jose State, USF. UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, Sacto State. USC...and Stanford.

In fact, Stanford hosted a "Fight Night" at Burnham Pavilion on January 17 of this year. Two bouts with Stanford boxers fighting each other, others were intercollegiate matchups between boxers from UC Riverside, Oxford University (yes, that one), and Santa Clara. Two of the Stanford victors were a Master's and a PhD candidate. And they did it right...it was sanctioned by USA Boxing, with referees, judges, medical professionals, headgear and gloves.

Stanford boxing hosts first on-campus Fight Night

Here's the full video:  Bing Videos

The Stanford boxers entered the year with a 4-0 record in intercollegiate competition, and last year's club president (and Stanford club athlete of the year) won the USIBA (U. S. Intercollegiate Boxing Association) middleweight championship.