ISU student and boxing club member Josue Avila competed in the National Collegiate Boxing Association National Championships this past weekend at 132 pounds.

Avila, a sophomore in mechanical engineering, fought Jacob Berggrenn of Air Force Academy on April 5, 2013. 

The match went all three rounds and came to a 3-2 split decision in favor of Berggrenn, eliminating Avila in the first round.

“Josue fought hard out there, but unfortunately only two of the judges saw the match his way,” said coach John Swanson. “He fought hard; things just didn’t fall his way.”

During the match, Avila became frustrated with his taller opponents’ slow-paced tactics.

“He was a tall guy, so it’s going to be easier for me to get inside him than it would be for him to come at me and have to punch down, but he just kept getting me in the clinch, which is something I wasn’t used to,” Avila said.

Berggren continued to keep Avila in the clinch for the duration of the three-round match and eventually earned him the 3-2 split decision victory.

“During the match I was getting so frustrated that I eventually told the ref to tell him [Berggren] to stop wrestling me and box,” Avila said. “I kept trying to fight out of the clinch, which I thought was helping me because I was pushing the action, but in the end it actually tired me out and that’s when he started to get on me a bit.”

Losing in the first round of the national tournament is not the way Avila wanted to go out, but he is very optimistic about the next two years and what he can still accomplish with the time he has left as a boxer at Iowa State.

“After the match, I was still really mad and frustrated, but some of the older guys who were seniors came up to me and told me not to worry too much about it,” Avila said. “I’ve still got two more years to win and make a difference.”

Avila will get back in the ring this summer, training at a gym in Des Moines and also competing in a tournament held in Kansas City, Kansas.

Before he picks up the gloves again, Avila has his mind set on picking up something else: books.

“I told coach after this tournament I have to take a break from practicing and hit the books,” Avila said. “I missed a lot of class.”