Of all the boxing going on this weekend, only a select few will lace up the gloves, do their thing in the ring, then begin final exams on Monday. 

You guessed it, college boxing is back in Atlanta’s Buckhead Fight Club, featuring a set of showdowns between local rivals Georgia Tech and Georgia. 

“We're trying to make it feel as much like a school football game as possible and it's cool because the kids are representing their schools,” said International Women’s Boxing Hall of Famer Terri Moss, who is presenting the event and prepping the Georgia Tech squad. “It's like being at a collegiate tournament. It's just so fun. And the boxing, they're not the most skilled, but they definitely have a lot of heart. And they're the most fun fights - they're a little bit sloppy, but a lot crazy.”

Moss laughs, well aware that it might be a little awkward to lead Georgia Tech into battle even though she went to UGA, as did her daughter and son-in-law. 

“My grandkids will probably go there,” she admits, but when it comes to the sweet science, her heart is with the 166 Georgia Tech students that have made the Buckhead Fight Club gym their home.

“Good thing I've got a big enough gym to hold those numbers,” said Moss, who has been forced to separate the budding boxers into A, B and C teams, with A being the competitive squad, C consisting of boxers taking up the sport for fitness, and B being somewhere in between. 

And in that 25,000 square foot space, a team that she describes as “a bunch of engineers” learns lessons they would never get in a classroom. 

“I used to tell them I was gonna get them a shirt that said, 'Brains and balls, who woulda thought it?'” laughs Moss, who is well aware of how boxing is perceived, not only in the world at large, but in academia in particular. That negative perception wasn’t helped by the recent death of 20-year-old UNLV student Nathan Tyler Valencia after an unsanctioned “fight night” event held by the Kappa Sigma fraternity.

And though boxing will always contain an element of danger, Saturday’s event will be sanctioned by USIBA (United States Intercollegiate Boxing Association), with all the prerequisite officials and medical personnel on site. That’s important for Moss, the boxers, and their parents.

“Everybody in the whole program is looking out for the safety of the kids,” said Moss, who has seen a lot in her over two decades in the sport. But this might be the coolest development.

“I've been in boxing over 20 years and I've been able to do a lot of really interesting things, and one thing I really enjoy is bringing more people into the sport,” she did. “That's what I do with Corporate Fight Night and college boxing. We need future fans.”

These events are a good start, and more schools are starting boxing programs, mainly as rec sports, like Georgia Tech does. Saturday’s event will also see schools like VMI, Maryland and Georgetown competing, and though the National championships (with 37 schools participating) were scrapped five days before the opening bout in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Moss, who is also putting on a pro show at the gym on December 11, hopes to host the next tournament in the building. 

But in the meantime, it’s a bunch of college kids finding out that you can learn a lot about life and about yourself from getting into a fistfight.

“It gives them courage to go out there and do something that's outside of their comfort zone,” Moss said. “That's the big thing that it does. It teaches them to push past what they feel is comfortable.” 

For more information on College Fight Night, visit https://www.buckheadfightclub.com/event-details/college-fight-night-tickets-to-attend 

To watch College Fight Night, visit https://wbc.vivetv.network/events/dec-2021/georgia-vs-georgia-tech/ 

“We're trying to make it feel as much like a school football game as possible and it's cool because the kids are representing their schools,” said International Women’s Boxing Hall of Famer Terri Moss, who is presenting the event and prepping the Georgia Tech squad. “It's like being at a collegiate tournament. It's just so fun. And the boxing, they're not the most skilled, but they definitely have a lot of heart. And they're the most fun fights - they're a little bit sloppy, but a lot crazy.”

Moss laughs, well aware that it might be a little awkward to lead Georgia Tech into battle even though she went to UGA, as did her daughter and son-in-law. 

“My grandkids will probably go there,” she admits, but when it comes to the sweet science, her heart is with the 166 Georgia Tech students that have made the Buckhead Fight Club gym their home.

“Good thing I've got a big enough gym to hold those numbers,” said Moss, who has been forced to separate the budding boxers into A, B and C teams, with A being the competitive squad, C consisting of boxers taking up the sport for fitness, and B being somewhere in between. 

And in that 25,000 square foot space, a team that she describes as “a bunch of engineers” learns lessons they would never get in a classroom. 

“I used to tell them I was gonna get them a shirt that said, 'Brains and balls, who woulda thought it?'” laughs Moss, who is well aware of how boxing is perceived, not only in the world at large, but in academia in particular. That negative perception wasn’t helped by the recent death of 20-year-old UNLV student Nathan Tyler Valencia after an unsanctioned “fight night” event held by the Kappa Sigma fraternity.

And though boxing will always contain an element of danger, Saturday’s event will be sanctioned by USIBA (United States Intercollegiate Boxing Association), with all the prerequisite officials and medical personnel on site. That’s important for Moss, the boxers, and their parents.

“Everybody in the whole program is looking out for the safety of the kids,” said Moss, who has seen a lot in her over two decades in the sport. But this might be the coolest development.

“I've been in boxing over 20 years and I've been able to do a lot of really interesting things, and one thing I really enjoy is bringing more people into the sport,” she did. “That's what I do with Corporate Fight Night and college boxing. We need future fans.”

These events are a good start, and more schools are starting boxing programs, mainly as rec sports, like Georgia Tech does. Saturday’s event will also see schools like VMI, Maryland and Georgetown competing, and though the National championships (with 37 schools participating) were scrapped five days before the opening bout in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Moss, who is also putting on a pro show at the gym on December 11, hopes to host the next tournament in the building. 

But in the meantime, it’s a bunch of college kids finding out that you can learn a lot about life and about yourself from getting into a fistfight.

“It gives them courage to go out there and do something that's outside of their comfort zone,” Moss said. “That's the big thing that it does. It teaches them to push past what they feel is comfortable.”