Harvey drops Santa Clara on the boxing map

By Blake Twisselman

For those of you who didn't know that boxing was a club sport at Santa Clara, you obviously don't know junior Mike Harvey.

Harvey helped put Santa Clara boxing on the map two weeks ago, with his third-place finish in the Light Heavyweight Division of the National Collegiate Boxing Association (NCBA) National Tournament April 1-3 in Reno, Nev. The Santa Clara junior qualified for the NCBA National Tournament by finishing second in the NCBA Western Regional Tournament held in Berkeley last March.

Collegiate boxing is not an NCAA sport, but it is a sanctioned club sport by the NCBA. The NCBA is divided into three regions, with Santa Clara belonging to the Western Region along with UC Berkeley, the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, the University of Nevada-Reno, San Jose State and the Air Force Academy. Boxers compete in three-round bouts, with two minutes per round. Proper boxing technique is crucially important because the vast majority of bouts end in a decision rather than by knockout due to the safety guidelines that require headgear and extra-padded gloves.

Harvey, who fights in the Light Heavyweight class (under 175 pounds), faces boxers with an assortment of fighting styles and different physical builds. Despite the variance of his opponents, the rangy Harvey rarely strays away from his game plan and personal fighting style.

"I don't fight inside as much because the guys I usually fight against are usually stronger and faster," Harvey explained. "But my reach is usually longer, so I keep people outside with my jab and I just throw straight punches, no hooks or uppercuts."

That steady strategy proved to be successful in the regional tournament, where Harvey defeated a fighter from UNLV by decision to qualify for the nationals. Harvey eventually lost in the nationals to the defending national-champion from the United States Naval Academy.

All of this success has come from a boxer who had no prior boxing experience before coming to Santa Clara. In fact, Harvey just picked up the sport his sophomore year as a means to keep in shape.

"It was random," Harvey admitted. "But when I started to learn the technique it became more of a sport as opposed to just fighting. That's when I got pretty dedicated. That's when it became fun."

Harvey was able to refine his raw talent into national success at Santa Clara under the tutelage of a pair of trained professional boxers. Former Olympic coach Candy Lopez and local boxing standout T.J. Trujillo have worked with Harvey and other boxers from Santa Clara and San Jose State at the San Jose Police Athletic League (PAL) in downtown San Jose on a year-round basis. Lopez and Trujillo have helped boxers like Harvey achieve their potential through a rigorous hour-and-a-half daily training program that includes sparring, conditioning and teaching of proper techniques.

"My coaches have helped me pick out what I'm doing wrong in practice and they put me in the ring with amateurs and pro fighters," Harvey said. "I've really learned a lot from fighting people who are better than me. That's the good thing about our program."

With a third-place national finish already under his belt, Harvey has his sights set higher for next year, as well as on the continual development of the Santa Clara boxing program.

"I would love to see us send five or six guys to regionals next year," Harvey said. "And I also want to bring recognition back to our school. I'd like to win nationals next year, that's my goal."

Considering Harvey's ambition and his third-place finish at nationals this season, it's remarkable to think that this junior has achieved so much success in a sport that he just picked up a little more than one year ago.

û Contact Blake Twisselman at (408) 554-4852 or jtwisselman@scu.edu.