Amari Jenkins, a junior on the Miami University club boxing team just won a national title.
The National Collegiate Boxing Association National Championships were held from April 9th-11th in Charlotte, North Carolina. Jenkins qualified to compete at nationals through a regional championship held a month prior. Prior to this event he trained every day, sometimes twice a day, working hard to cut weight and build confidence for the upcoming matches. Jenkins trains with Miami University’s boxing coach Eric Buller. He came in as the first seed and fought in two matches. One against West Virginia and one against the Navy Academy. He won both to then advance to the national championships.
Over that month he had the opportunity to train with the UC Boxing Team, “they put me through some great training sessions and are a big reason why I won nationals,” Jenkins said. He went into nationals as the second seed, fighting Army West Point in the first round. He won this match and moved onto the next round where he would fight the Air Force Academy. This fighter had recently beaten the regional champion from the East Region. Jenkins knew that the Air Force’s fighters confidence would be high, he was nervous going into this round. Despite this he came out victorious and moved onto finals. This would be the biggest fight in his career, I was very nervous,” Jenkins stated, “but when the first bell rang, all the nerves went away.” As a true athlete, he came out on top the first two rounds he was confident going into the third that he had won. After that round it was announced that he was the 156-pound national champion. This was Jenkins first time as a national champion. In the previous year his teammate Danny Gomez was national champion. Danny as well as Jenkin’s roommate came to the event to support. Later that night he was awarded Most Outstanding Boxer for the whole tournament.
Jenkins said, “seeing my teammate win last year was a big motivation for me to win this season.” He hopes to compete professionally in the future. As a junior he will potentially compete for Miami’s team next season. He also might compete in some national open boxing tournaments to further his career. Finally Jenkins reflected on his hard work, “hearing my name called as a national champion was a great feeling, knowing that all the work I put in at the gym and all the nights spent cutting weight were worth it.” There were many early mornings working hard to make weight and prepare himself for competition. His hard work paid off and we congratulate Amari Jenkins on his national title!
