Senior Josh Pollock rolls with the punches in more ways than one. He started boxing nine months ago and hasn’t looked back.

“When I started doing it, I was like ‘this is me,’” Pollock said. “It just comes so natural in so many ways.”

Coach Jeff Warner was surprised when Pollock approached him about becoming a boxer.

“I didn’t really want him to fight because here was this nice kid, college boy,” Warner said. “We call him ‘school boy,’ and he’s the total package of a human being.”

But Pollock has proven a strong boxer so far, winning one out of his two amateur matches.

“After nine months running, training, doing all that stuff, it really felt good getting my hand raised at the end,” Pollock said.

Pollock said balancing school, work and boxing is challenging.

“It’s hard; I’m not going to lie,” Pollock said. “It’s basically: wake up, school, train, bed. I try to throw eating in there whenever I can.”

Pollock is confident boxing is helping him build character, no matter where the future takes him.

“I think down the road when I’m in a business setting, it’s going to help me a lot because I’m going to stay motivated,” Pollock said. “I’m going to keep driving, I want to get that extra, you know, dollar.”

Baihly Warfield can be reached at warf3860@stthomas.edu.