“Strong bodies fight, that weak bodies may be nourished.” The words of Dominic “Nappy” Napolitano, Bengal Bouts participant in 1932 and 1933, and later director and coach of Bengal Bouts for over fifty years, have been immortalized as the motto of Notre Dame’s annual boxing tournament.
In the coming weeks, over 150 boxers will strap on the gloves and enter the ring—fighting for their own pride and for so much more. Boxing was introduced to Notre Dame over 90 years ago by legendary football coach Knute Rockne. In 1931 the tournament directors adopted the Holy Cross Missions in Bangladesh as their beneficiaries, and in the years since, Bengal Bouts has become a campus tradition unlike any other.
Boxers, ranging in age from freshmen to third year law students, and ranging in experience from first time punch-throwers to returning champs, train for months in anticipation of the biggest fight of their lives.
According to sophomore Nolan Welsh, a returning fighter, “The workouts were tough work: push-ups, sit-ups, squats and sprints. We’ve been training since November—five or six days a week. To me it was about proving something to myself—fighting myself, and making myself better.”
Senior Will Hayman, who is doing Bengal Bouts for the first time, joked that the training sessions were “insane.” “I felt too sore to exercise every day for the first month,” he claimed, “but I ignored my body and kept going.”
And while boxers claim they are the ones changed by the experience, the people of Bangladesh—many of whom live on less than $2 a day—are the true champs. To them, the tournament means something more.
“It’s a good cause,” Welsh said. “Everybody wins.”
In Bangladesh, a country with a land mass the size of Wisconsin and a population half the size of the United States, over 80 percent of the people live in extreme poverty. The land is prone to cyclones and monsoon floods. Political corruption rages, and with the eighth largest population in the world, the nation is over-crowded with people desperate for help.
Hours before entering the ring in the preliminaries this past Sunday, sophomore Jeff Ulrich said, “I’ll give it my best, but [after the fight] most importantly I want to be able to say, ‘I have fought the good fight; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.’” Ulrich won his first contest and has advanced to the second round.
Hayman, who has also advanced to the second round, commented that he has wanted to train for Bengal Bouts since freshman year, but had to wait until senior year due to schedule conflicts and a semester abroad. He attributes his motivation to the “sense of struggle, sacrifice, and accomplishment” that comes from participating.
The Holy Cross Missions have used the proceeds from the tournament, which includes ticket and merchandise sales as well as philanthropic donations from alumni and community members, to erect schools, churches and healthcare facilities across Bangladesh.
Brian Metz is a sophomore American Studies major. He can be contacted at bmetz2@nd.edu
