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The Sweet Science of Boxing is a student-run organization at Olivet College. The club focuses on boxing as a strategic and scientific sport instead of appearing as a violent sport.
Club president, senior Taahir Muhammad, created the club as an opportunity for himself and other students on the boxing team to continue pursuing their passion after the boxing team disbanded.
“I hope to give students a different alternative...for extra-curricular activities,” Muhammad said. “A lot of people think boxing is just throwing punches, but there’s still a science aspect; it’s 80 percent diet, there’s a lot of conditioning, cardio...it’s kind of like all sports in one.”
“Boxing, to me, is kind of like a brotherhood, when you’ve got a group of people who are dedicated to something,” club secretary, freshman Tim Nelson-Slaton, said. “[To the community, boxing is] fighting, a combat sport, survival of the fittest.”
The Sweet Science of Boxing also focuses on boxing as a healthy alternative to stress and anger management, as well as self-defense.“[We want] to get people exposed to boxing in a good way, we want to teach you the fundamentals and science of boxing: how to guard yourself, how to fight. It’s kind of like a self-defense class, but at the same time, you have the choice to compete, but you don’t have to compete,” Nelson-Slaton said.
One of the newest club recruits, junior Bailey Saraceno, joined the Sweet Science of Boxing at the start of the Spring semester.“I’ve been focusing on keeping myself healthy, and...focus on me being happy too,” Saraceno said. “I asked them if I had to fight people, because that was one thing I wasn’t sure I was comfortable with, and I said I’d rather just do it to train...it’s more just for the health.”
The Sweet Science of Boxing is open to students of all genders who are interested in participating. “I like that they are open to having a girl on the team; I know that sometimes, teams aren’t necessarily open to having different genders,” Saraceno said.
The Sweet Science of Boxing had its first meeting on Wednesday, January 15 at 7:30 p.m. The club will hold regular club meetings on Wednesdays in Blair Hall Basement.