Written by : Nathan Kernell, sports and culture correspondent.
Gleason versus Smith. English department versus admissions. Friend versus friend.
In what has been described as Bryan College’s fight of the century, Dr. Daniel Gleason and Mr. Andrew Smith will face off in a boxing match lasting five rounds, with the winner being able to hoist bragging rights over the other until a rematch can be set.
“Boxing almost has a sort of physical chess match aspect to it,” Gleason said. “Even though two chess masters have seen thousands of games, they still move their pawns out to feel out the opponent.” Although Gleason and Smith have been training together for close to three years, and have boxed head to head numerous times, each competitor will still need to figure out the tactics of their opponent.
The experience levels of the two are close to equal, meaning the strategic side of the contest should take precedence over physical advantages.
From Gleason’s side of things, he plans to stay mobile, do his best to tire out the opponent and try not to become trapped in the corners of the ring. His intentions are to begin the match with the goal of figuring his opposition out, and to save the big power punches for later in the match. “The sweet science is to hit and don’t get hit,” Gleason said. “But I definitely expect to take some punishment.” From Gleason’s experience with fighting Smith, he knows both what skills are brought to the match by his opposition, but also that his opponent features a wide array of capability. Gleason comes to the match expecting to get hit some, but will try to minimize that in picking up what tactic Smith will employ on the night.
Smith, on the other hand, comes into the fight with a more defensive approach. “I have trained defense more in training,” Smith commented. “So that I am prepared to be more courageous on the night of the fight and am willing to stand at a less safe distance in the ring in order to land my punches.” In addition to thinking defensively, Smith has also been building up his endurance for the later rounds with the hopes that Gleason will be vulnerable by that point. I have been running more and trying to burn myself in the training days,” Smith said. “So I have energy for the fourth and fifth rounds.”
The match will hold the format of a standard, five round boxing match. Judges will be present to determine points throughout the bout. Beginning at 8:30 Monday night in Summers Gymnasium, the main event fight kicks off following a short warm up. The Mayweather-Pacquiao-esque fight looks to be a close and entertaining match.
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Nathan Kernell is a sophomore majoring in communications with a focus in digital media. He is a very swell guy. nkernell6869@bryan.edu.
