Wu strikes at his goals

The crowd cheers as Senior Thomas Wu’s opponent strikes at him, causing him to gasp for air from the impact. Sweat slowly trickles down his neck as his opponent nears. He swiftly ducks under the opponent’s jab and scores a knockout with a powerful uppercut.
Wu’s most recent tournament was the Golden Gloves Tournament on March 31 and April 1. Due to an unknown reason, the match on April 1 was cancelled, and there was no winner for the tournament.
Wu started boxing in 2010, when his baseball coach suggested for him to join boxing so he could practice twisting his waist hence, leading to a better batting swing. Wu found his passion in boxing, so he quit baseball in order to box competitively.
So far, Wu has won six national tournaments and has been scouted by a professional boxing promoter. However, he has asked them to wait until he achieves his dream of going to the Olympics in 2020.
“If you really like boxing then you would excel at it,” Wu said. “But if you just wanted to try it out, you wouldn’t go far since boxing is a way of life instead of a sport. All sports have off seasons, but boxing doesn’t have one so you have to live the way of a boxer to be a boxer.”
Despite the tough standards from training privately with his father, Wu still manages to find time within his schedule to practice by himself. He trains approximately four to five hours almost everyday and spars with his friends during his free time.
When the moment comes close to a fighting day, the main struggle that Wu faces is watching what he eats so that he does not gain weight. Along with watching how much he weighs, he also has to lose several pounds and cannot drink too much water.
“There are some days where you don’t want to workout,” Wu said. “However, on those days, you just have to work even harder.”