The team will make its strongest showing at nationals in years this weekend—cheer them on via USA Boxing live stream.
In 2017, the WVU Boxing Club was a competitor on the rise: The club was just over a decade old, USA Today wrote, and it had had five National Collegiate Boxing Association champions in five years.
COVID-19 set college sports teams back everywhere, WVU boxing included. But the club has been working hard to rebuild, trying everything from social media posts to bake sales at the Mountainlair, says sophomore Anthony Abrego, who competes in the 132-pound weight class. It’s working—it now has 66 members on its roster.
The club’s skills in the ring are improving, too. In March, it sent eight fighters to the NCBA Midwest Regionals in Cincinnati, Ohio. “Last year, we had only four,” Abrego says. In a tournament with competitors from Iowa State University, Miami University of Ohio, The Ohio State University, the University of Cincinnati, the University of Iowa, the University of North Carolina, and the U.S. Naval Academy, WVU came away with two regional champions—Abrego in the 132-pound class and Austin Bartley in the 139-pound class—as well as several second- and third-place finishes.
When the WVU Boxing Club shows up with seven fighters at the NCBA National Championships in Charlotte, North Carolina, this week, April 11–13, it will be a new show of force. “We have only taken one per year since COVID,” says head coach Brandon Lial.
- 119 lbs: Noah Gorospe
- 132 lbs: Anthony Abrego
- 139 lbs: Austin Bartley
- 147 lbs: Devon Perrine
- 156 lbs: Eric Shutter
- 195 lbs: Leo Cuellar
- HWT: Robert Brown
In Charlotte, the quarter-finals will take place on Thursday, April 11, the semi-finals on April 12, and the finals on April 13. You can cheer the team on from home—USA Boxing will stream the NCBA nationals live.
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