Lists

The Best Boxers That Started Their Career in College

Shutterstock.com

Boxing is one of the most popular sports in the world. Although it may not be such a popular youth choice compared to football or basketball, boxing still offers plenty of great benefits, including:

  • Higher aerobic capacity;
  • Bone and muscle strength;
  • Endurance;
  • Stronger heart and lower risks of disease;
  • Calory burning;
  • Reduced risk of diabetes;
  • Better focus;
  • Lifted mood, etc.

Sounds impressive, right? And this is just the rip of the iceberg! Indeed, boxing offers a whole range of benefits for your body and health. But, unfortunately, not everyone has the possibility to engage in this sport since childhood.

The good news for all boxing fans out there is that you don’t necessarily have to start off early. Even if you are already a college student, there is still a chance for you to become a good athlete, and, in this article, we are going to prove it to you!

Top 3 Successful Boxers Who Started Off in College

When speaking of professional box, we most often imagine athletes who devote their almost entire lives to this sport.

Indeed, experts suggest that early childhood between six-to-seven years (or at least between nine-to-10 years) is the perfect time to start training a professional athlete. This rule applies to most sports and the box is not an exception.

Due to this fact, many people have a common misbelief that starting a boxing career when you are already in college doesn’t make much sense. Generally, it is considered that college students are already too old to enter professional sport. However, is it really true?

In the list below, we have collected some of the most inspiring examples of great boxers, who started boxing in college:

Lennox Lewis

Lennox Lewis is a worldwide famous boxer, who won dozens of titles throughout his career, including:

  • Olympic Games Champion
  • European Champion
  • WBC World Champion
  • IBC World Champion
  • WBA World Champion
  • And many others

Looking at all these achievements you would probably think he must’ve been training since early childhood. And, indeed, when he was in the high school, Lewis excelled in many sports including football, basketball, volleyball, football, and American football.

Lewis was even offered to play for the college basketball or football team. However, in being already a college student he decided to focus on building a career in amateur boxing. And he definitely succeeded as already at 18, Lennox represented Canada at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.

Deontay Wilder

Another inspiring example is an American professional boxer, Deontay Wilder. Throughout his amateur and professional career, Deontay also earned plenty of awards.

One of his most exceptional achievements is that he held the title of the WBC champion in the Heavyweight category for five years from 2015 all the way to 2020. By doing so, Wilder also became the first American world champion in his category in nine years!

Sounds, impressive? Well, guess what–Wilder really wasn’t into boxing until 2005. That year, a future champion decided to drop out of college and build an amateur career in boxing to provide money for his family, and mostly for his daughter who was born with a cleft spine.

Luckily, for those of you who are planning to engage in boxing at college, you won’t need to drop out, just look at this site. However, when he showed off his boxing talent, Wilder’s career started evolving rapidly and brought him into the world of professional sports.

John L. Sullivan

The last, but not least bright example of a late boxer is John L. Sullivan. Sullivan was an American Heavyweight boxer. He is one of a few truly bright personas in the world of the professional box as he earned the titles of the world’s first Heavyweight boxing champion, the last ever world Heavyweight champion in boxing without gloves, and also the first American athlete to earn over $1 million!

According to different estimates, throughout his tour across the country, John L. Sullivan knocked out from 400-to-500 opponents, though most of these fights were not authorized and occurred either in the streets or in bars.

Still, Sullivan is another great boxer who started out during his college years. Although he was always fond of all sorts of fights, Sullivan began his career in 1878 after studying at Boston College for a short period.

The Bottom Line

Have you ever dream of the professional box, but you are already in college? These best boxers from our list show us a clear example that it can never be too late to start pursuing your dreams.

Not only all these people started training late when being in college, but they all also reached stunning success. Despite a rather late start, they all built successful careers and earned recognition as great athletes.

Looking at them motivates and inspires. Thus, whenever you feel like it is already too late for you to start moving into the direction of your dreams, think of the people from this article and keep moving forward!

Comments
To Top