Joseph Orosco: From Novice to National Boxer

BHAVNA MAMNANI ’22
FEATURES EDITOR
 

Among the various clubs Trinity offers for students to get involved, one of the most low-profile yet entertaining is the boxing club. Current boxing club president and nationally ranked boxer, Joseph Orosco ’19, describes his eventful experience with the boxing club. His boxing career started in his freshman year; never having any martial arts experience, Orosco decided to join boxing due to its easy accessibility and absence of financial burden. Not only did he join as a fulfillment to his childhood dream of being able to box, but Orosco also explains how boxing is the best way for him to travel and see more of the world worry-free. He credits the opportunity to travel as one of the main reasons he chose Trinity. As a California native, travelling is rooted in his veins.

In terms of his boxing journey, Orosco starts off frankly and admits he lost his first two fights, but with reason, of course. He versed a twelve year experienced German boxer as a student who had barely a few months of training, however, Orosco shares that they are now close friends, which is one of the best parts of competing. Orosco took this as motivation to do better and resolved to, “never lose any more matches.” In his sophomore year, his winning streak shot up to nineteen fights and he qualified to compete in the regional competition. Orosco reveals that no one had any expectations for him coming from Trinity as our boxing team had never really been exposed to the competitive boxing realm until Orosco’s first match; this resulted in a harder match as it was difficult to be in favor of the judges, which played a role in making it to nationals.

In his regional competition, he was put up against a friend, but he promised himself, “no matter what, I’m not losing” and won the fight with his first technical knockout. In the last round of the competition, Orosco fought a competitor from the Army and won, propelling him to the national championship, where he faced the effects of being an unknown fighter. During his fight in the national competition, Orosco went up against an opponent the judges took partiality to due to his Air Force status; while it was clear that Orosco was winning, the referee kept breaking the fight up as soon as Orosco had the chance to make an actual impact. He ended up losing this fight, but won the Sportsmanship Award for his determination. Orosco takes the loss and the award as encouragement to focus and beat his own prestige.

During his junior year, Orosco was consumed by his academics, but kept up his winning streak and built his reputation to where he is now: a nationally ranked champion. When discussing his overall progress and improvement, Orosco tributes his success to hard work and never giving up. He acknowledges the fact that everyone is busy and it’s easy to dismiss sports and clubs as an excuse to do homework or study, but being committed to a goal, more specifically his goal of being the best boxer he possibly could, takes effort and responsibility. Orosco’s vow to himself and the sport is admirable.

When asked for advice, Orosco simply says, “take advantage of Trinity’s resources.” While there are a plethora of things to criticize, we must be thankful for the opportunities the College gives us and take it upon ourselves to make the most of our time. Whether it be a newspaper editor or a nationalchampion, striving for our best can only ameliorate our college experience.