By Michael Letendre

BRISTOL – The Bristol Armory continues to be the home for collegiate boxing when the month of March rolls around.

And it won’t be any different this year as college boxing is on the docket once again.

This coming weekend, UConn hosts the annual National Collegiate Boxing Association event from the Armory.

The matches take place over March 10, 11 and 12 and will be an exciting weekend of hard-hitting action.

Tickets are just $10 per person and can be purchased at the door.

There’s plenty of free parking at the event and bell time starts at 5 p.m. on Friday night.

Saturday’s session begins at 1 p.m. while Sunday’s events commence at 11 a.m.

UConn will be hosting several programs at the venue as boxers from UMASS, Army, the University of Hartford, Penn State, Trinity, Lock Haven, the US Coast Guard, Norwich University and Shippensburg will all be in action.

UConn boxing is a growing program on the campus in Storrs, coached by Mike Campisano.

The team is a member of the NCBA and the team’s website states that the UConn program is a competitive bunch, always looking for new members.

According to the UConn Boxing Team Fan page, “We have begun to build the foundation for warriors ahead of us. We sweat, feel pain, and taste the fruits of our labor together as we lead our dreams into reality. With our gloves we are building a legacy.”

Boxing is certainly a growing sport collegiately and the Huskies are slowly developing their own program and identity.

Just this past year for UConn, 16 different boxers have entered the ring since September – a record setting season for the Huskies’ program.

The matches from Bristol are a National qualifier event and it’s a big deal for all the programs involved. 

And how fun would it be to see a couple boxers from UConn advance to the postseason with a couple victories over the weekend in Bristol?

There’s nothing like boxing live and in person and on the collegiate level, those athletes are looking to earn postseason berths and the in-ring action will be intense.

The Bristol Armory, located at 61 Center Street, has become a hotbed for events such as this and next weekend’s boxing card should be competitive from start to finish.