Giving students a fighting chance

When Tim Jones learned his daughter, Claudia, had joined the Penn Boxing Club, he was confused. And his wife was apprehensive. "No," Wendy Jones said. "I was horrified." But after watching Claudia, a sophomore, and several other Penn students trade blows on Saturday at the Penn Boxing Club's Ring of Dreams event at the Newman Center, Wendy Jones breathed a sigh of relief. "Now that I've seen it, I'm not really as frightened," Wendy Jones said. "I feel better about it." There wasn't much to be frightened about, since Penn Boxing Club coach Ron Aurit put the emphasis on safety at the Ring of Dreams. Aurit, an accomplished ex-pro who boxed under the moniker "Yid Kid" and once fought Sugar Ray Leonard, envisioned the event as a showcase for the Penn Boxing Club, with the bouts all unscored exhibition matches. The fights consisted of three one-minute rounds, and boxers wore headgear and were expected to not land full-force blows. Roughly 200 people packed the Newman Center for the event, which raised about $2,000 for Aurit's Boxing Scholarship Foundation. The foundation awards college scholarship money to underprivileged Philadelphia boxers. With the soundtrack from "Rocky" playing in the background and the odor of hot dogs heavy in the air -- concession sales went to Habitat for Humanity -- a succession of students and alumni from the Penn Boxing Club stepped into the ring. Their opponents, for the most part, came from Aurit's boxing class at the Jewish Community Center of Northeast Philadelphia, though a few pitted Penn vs. Penn. "It's more excitement than we're used to," said Jon Strauss, a junior who boxed Wayne Leister, a 54-year-old electrician from Northeast Philadelphia. Strauss later returned to the ring to box junior Jon Prin, the club president. "It's a novel experience to be able to get out of the Hutch basement and box in front of people in a real ring." It's not just a novelty for Strauss, a newcomer to the club, which practices at least once a week at Hutchinson Gymnasium. The Ring of Dreams represented the first on-campus boxing match with Penn pugilists since 1955. That means that the event was a first even for the likes of Phil Cuffey, a member of the Class of '82, who was twice a national collegiate boxing finalist. Cuffey is Penn's assistant coach, and Aurit praised his teaching ability as a sparring partner. He noted that Cuffey has boxed "every Penn fighter to come along in the last 20 years." "It seems that way -- big, tall, short, whatever," laughed Cuffey, who now resides in Chestnut Hill. Cuffey's three-year-old daughter, Sana, sat ringside at the Newman Center and wore miniature boxing gloves. "In 1979-80, I was living in DuBois House and I noticed one day walking through the hallways that the lounge had been converted into a boxing ring," Cuffey said. "Four sofas had been converted into a ring, and Steve McNeal and Ron were training." Cuffey joined the club, and he hasn't left since. McNeal, now a chiropractor in the Altoona area, was on hand for the event, too, though just to show his support. One of Aurit's first proteges at Penn, McNeal earned acclaim as a national collegiate champion, fighting on HBO. Today, the club no longer competes beyond an intramural level, but there are other markers of success. Membership is booming. "I'm really proud to have been a part of this," McNeal said. "These guys are really carrying the torch and the club's getting bigger and better." Though the current emphasis is on safety and intramural instruction, membership is hardly a cakewalk. "It's not easy. Discipline is required," Claudia Jones said. "Safety always comes first for [Ron], but you do learn a lot -- it's not fake boxing." Jones' father, Tim, said he was surprised to learn his daughter had started boxing because while his own father had been a boxer, Claudia was too young to have known him, much less to know that her grandfather ever boxed. And Claudia had never before played a contact sport. "I don't know where she got it from, unless it was just through the blood somehow," said Tim, who came in from Florida with Claudia's mom to see the bouts. "But she seems to enjoy it immensely." Jones sparred with Yuri Potapenko, a former collegiate champ in the Ukraine who had 27 years and 80 pounds on the Penn sophomore. The "Russian Bear," who helps out with the instruction at the JCC, also had a son step into the ring -- 11-year-old Michael, who traded blows with Penn sophomore Corey Brooks. Quite a few of the students brought along large rooting sections, including Strauss, who drew big cheers when the ringside emcee announced the 180-pounder from L.A. as Jon "Take it to the House" Strauss. "It was a lot of fun, it's for a good cause. You've even got [door] prizes. It's wonderful," said Nick Sommer, a Penn senior in the Strauss fan section. And as for his friend's performance: "Strauss lagged a little, but what he lacked in experience he made up for in spunk -- pure spunk." After the event drew to a close, a beaming Aurit was quick to assign praise and thanks to those who made the event possible. The Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity volunteered the manpower needed to set up the ring, as all the gate receipts went to the scholarship fund. "Oh, this was very successful," Aurit said. "Because now the word is out at Penn -- students have heard that we have a safe boxing program. And more importantly, we made some money here for the foundation. "And that's pretty good for a small show."

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