Boxers win five of eleven at regionals

By CHRISTIAN TAYLOR
Collegian Staff Writer

The Penn State boxing team came to fight at the Eastern Collegiate Boxing Association Northeastern Regionals March 5 at the White Building.

Representing the Northeast were Lock Haven, Shippensburg and Army, and of the 11 bouts Penn State boxed, it won five and lost six.

The squad is gearing up for the upcoming E.C.B.A. International Duels in Reno, Nev., where 11 boxers will travel to compete.

Last year, Penn State placed third in the tournament behind Air Force and Navy.

Penn State used the regional competition last week to tune up for Reno, and after his hard-fought victory, heavyweight Rick Slater appears on track. Slater, who also plays football for the Nittany Lions, took on an opponent from Army and survived the slugfest to post the victory.

"It was wild," Penn State assistant coach Lew Muccio said. "They had two (standing eight counts) each. The kid from the Army put two on him and Rick came back and put two on him. It was a wild fight."

At 147 pounds, Penn State's Kurt Decker won a three-round decision and earned "Fighter of the Night" honors.

"He did really well," Muccio said.

At 156 pounds it was a bit sorted; Penn State's Alex Komlev was set up with an odd number of fighters in his weight class, and ended up having to fight twice. Komlev defeated both opponents and came away with a win for Penn State.

At 125 pounds, Anthony Maritato finished strong toward the end and stopped his opponent for a win.

"He looked really good throughout the fight and stopped his kid. It was a good fight," Muccio said.

Penn State's lower weight classes fared better than the higher and showed a lot of depth.

Aside from Slater's heavyweight victory, Penn State lost every bout from 165 to 195 pounds.

At 165, Penn State boxer Glenn Miller was stopped in the third round of his bout. "Glenn could have finished the fight, but (the referee) was really overly careful," Muccio said.

Karl Kinzler, Jesse Bond and Briama Cooper all lost decisions in their respective bouts.

"Overall, I think we did a good job," said Muccio.