Sacramento State and UC Davis will host a landmark boxing event. Here are the details
Sacramento State and UC Davis are poised to host a collegiate boxing event at the Sacramento Memorial Auditorium for the first time since the 1960s.
The two schools will have their club boxing teams featured at the inaugural Causeway Boxing Classic on Friday, Nov. 22, the night before the two teams renew their football rivalry at Hornet Stadium.
The event also marks the first marquee boxing tournament hosted by Sacramento State since bringing back its boxing program as part of the popular Combat U program that has made boxing, wrestling, jujitsu and mixed martial arts available to its students. The NCAA discontinued its sponsorship of boxing in 1961; Sacramento State had one of the most successful programs in the country.
“What excites me is that it’s something special, something different, and it’s at an iconic place like the Memorial Auditorium,” said Sacramento State President Luke Wood. “To have these students take their first fight ... and have it be in front of crowd of 3,500 people, that’s an amazing experience that even most professional boxers won’t have.”
Wood said roughly 550 students are participating in Combat U, which he said surpassed his expectations since the program began in September 2024.
“We have, right now, more athletes in Combat U than we do in all our intercollegiate athletic sports,” Wood said. “So it’s a huge program already. It’s bringing in students from all over the world who want to come and compete at Sacramento State.
“And it’s also really nice because one of the things I often hear from students is they have never thought of themselves as, quote/unquote, ‘college material.’ And what the program is doing is it’s showing that they are, and that they belong at a great institution like Sac State.”
There will be 14 matches at the Causeway Boxing Classic, with most being between fighters from Sacramento State and UC Davis across multiple weight classes. Boxers from the Air Force Academy, UNLV, USC and Santa Clara will also be featured.
Tickets are available through Ticketmaster and Sacramento State’s athletics website.
This story was originally published November 13, 2024 at 3:48 PM.
