Student Shout-Out: Elizabeth in the Hilltop Cup!

Last Friday night, USF hosted the 7th Annual Hilltop Cup, the largest intercollegiate boxing event in California. Evidently there were some big names and some great fights! Among them, our very own Communication Studies major Elizabeth “Counterpunch” Castro! For braving her first bout in the Hilltop Cup (and coming to class today with a black eye to prove it!), today’s “Student Shout-Out” goes to Elizabeth!

And now, Elizabeth "Counterpunch" Castro, wearing the green shorts!

I asked Elizabeth to tell us why she became interested in boxing: “I have always loved watching boxing with my family ever since I was little, so that interest has always been with me. Then I started working in the mailroom on campus freshmen year, and realized my boss, Angelo Merino, was the head boxing coach! Finally this past July, my best friend and I asked him if he would train us for Hilltop and he said yes! We brought it up as a joke thinking he would say it was too late to train for Hilltop, but we were totally excited when he agreed to let us train.”

Now, even the thought of getting into a boxing ring, knowing that someone is going to start punching me, is too much for me to handle! It would never happen. So I asked Elizabeth to let us in on how she was feeling: “Well, I went into this whole thing hoping to fight my best friend (which seems weird), since we were both starting out at the same time, had no prior experience, and thought it’d be hilarious to beat each other up.  So then when I found out I was fighting someone else with 2 years of experience, I was a little nervous, but totally determined.  In september I started training Monday through Friday, and I felt as prepared as I possibly could for only having 3 months of training.  During the fight…it was a bit of a blur, but I was just trying to punch as hard as I could.  When they stopped the fight, I was so mad!  I even asked the referee if I could keep fighting.  I felt like I could’ve kept going.  So afterwards, I was a little disappointed, but friends and family were there with signs and cupcakes, which was great. It was nice to see so many people supporting me.  And its nice to be able to eat junk food again…I’ve really missed it these past few months.” Okay, that settles it. You can’t have junk food? Now I’m really never getting into a boxing ring.

Elizabeth said she is definitely going to continue training, but will probably cut back a bit for now given how busy school is. Expect to see her in the ring again at some point, though! “In the future I would love to have another fight, perhaps next semester once I’ve had a bit more training under my belt.”

Check out a short video from Elizabeth’s fight here: Elizabeth “Counterpunch” Castro in the Hilltop Cup

Congratulations, Elizabeth! You are very brave and I am very impressed! It was also great to hear that so many of her fellow Communication Studies majors were cheering her on! And special thanks to Alyssa Micciche for live tweeting from the event! The picture posted here and the video are all courtesy of Alyssa. Also, Elizabeth’s nickname comes courtesy of Cayden Berkmoyer. He also suggested her walk in song: “Mama Said Knock You Out” of course!