SAE Boxing Tournament

Ignore the date at the top: It was the weekend of the 5th-7th and was Awesome, so it is still posted so you can gloat in the aftermath!

SAE Boxing tourney is one of the oldest and largest fraternity events in the country.

The three day event attracts 3,000+ students from all over the south east. It has been going on annually for the last 28 years occurring in the last week of February or the first week of March. The tickets are $10 a night or $25 for the 3 nights and the proceeds normally raise over $70,000 for charity.

Update:

Tickets at the door may be going up this year from $10/night to $15/night. Also, 3-day passes prices may be increasing as well from $25/3-day pass to $35/3-day pass. Damn Inflation! However, this year does seem to be on track to be another great year for the entire event. There will be bouts and parties like always for three nights straight!! You can get the most up-to-date information for this years tournament (March 5-7, 2009) from the Facebook group, 29th Annual Sigma Alpha Epsilon Boxing Tournament. Thanks and hope to see everyone at the event.

The Boxing

The fights are held at Golden Gloves boxing in run-down east Knoxville and it is structured as a three day tournament starting on Thursday night. You might think that it is just a bunch of fat fraternity kids boxing, but that is not the case. The guys get really serious about this and often train for months leading up the weekend.

Many of them will drop 20-30 pounds before the Monday night weigh-in. This gives them sufficient time to eat enough steak dinners (often paid for by the fraternity) in those 3 days to gain most of that weight back. 

The Atmosphere

The atmosphere is really festive and when you walk in the door you feel like you stepped back in time to the 1980’s. The fluorescent lights shine down on the boxers as they begin to brawl. The ring is surrounded by preppy fraternity guys and the all of the hottest girls at UT. As the fights get intense so does the crowd and it is tough to keep the fights only in the ring.

The Tournament

The fighting gets more heated every night as they work their way through the bracket. On Saturday night the winners are crowned and the fraternities take this very seriously. The last two years the team trophy went to Pi Kappa Alpha and then Phi Sigma Kappa in 2008. Individuals also get recognized from each weight class and if you are a big enough Bad A to win three years in a row you join the elite in the