The first rule of Fight Night is — well, it’s not like that.
The Wharton Boxing Club and the Penn Law Boxing Club are hosting the 10th annual Wharton vs. Penn Law Fight Night, an amateur boxing charity event that attracts students from all around Penn. Fighters primarily come from the Wharton School and from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, but students from other graduate and professional schools have also participated in the past . The organizers expect over 1,800 attendees at this year’s event, which will be held at the Class of 1923 Ice Rink on Saturday.
“J.D.s and MBAs are careers that are kind of intertwined. As a future lawyer, I’m mostly going to be representing a lot of MBAs and the businesses that they work in, and there’s going to be a lot of battles across the boardroom,” H.T. Flanagan, manager of Media Relations for the Penn Law Boxing Club, said. “It’s really cool that before we [will actually] spend a career in a way fighting each other and also working with each other ... we get to step into a ring and box each other.”
About a week before the event, Penn Law Boxing Club and the Wharton Boxing Club have a joint weigh-in where all the fighters get up on the stage and “fake trash talk each other,” according to Flanagan. “A lot of the marketing and the publicity that goes forth is the idea of this being the business school versus the law school.”
The two boxing clubs often hold joint workout sessions at the Sporting Club at the Bellevue with professional boxing trainer Clif Johnson. Workouts are intense. “Every workout, you’re going to have some combination of mountain climbers, push-ups and some type of ab work,” Co-President of the Wharton Boxing Club and second-year MBA Kareem Howard said.
This is the first year Fight Night is at an on-campus location. Flanagan heard that Fight Night was originally held where Rocky was filmed. “Bringing it on campus required a lot of work with the University to make everyone comfortable that this would be a well-run event,” Howard said.
Proceeds from Fight Night go to charity. According to Howard, Fight Night is the second-largest individual fundraiser for the Boys and Girls Club of Philadelphia, a nonprofit that provides after-school programs for youth in the community. Last year’s Fight Night raised about $80,000 and drew over 1,600 attendees.
After Fight Night this year, there will be an after-party with R&B artist Nelly at SoundGarden Hall.
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