Carter Dendy, a third-year political science and international affairs combined major, found herself missing the community she cultivated as a Muay Thai competitor in high school.
After spending her first semester in Belfast, Ireland as part of the NU.in program, Dendy felt disconnected from the larger Northeastern community upon arriving in Boston the spring of 2024. That semester, Dendy resorted to training on the punching bags at Marino Recreation Center alongside other students who were searching for opportunities to practice boxing and other martial arts. This inspired Dendy to found Northeastern’s Boxing Club in the fall of 2024.
“Honestly, there weren’t a lot of good options for students,” Dendy said, “A lot of local gyms were really expensive and didn’t have the community I was looking for.”
Before Dendy applied to officially register the club sport, another student referred Dendy to Al Valenti, a boxing promoter whose grandfather, Rip, was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2012. Valenti put Dendy in contact with Matt and Mark Nolan, the twin brothers who have been coaching the Northeastern team for the past two years.
Growing up, the Nolan brothers fought at Somerville Boxing Club, where their father was on the board of directors. Growing up surrounded by boxing culture, the two officially got their coaching licenses in 2004 and opened their own gym in 2012.
“I always thought that boxing was kind of a great equalizer,” Matt Nolan said, reflecting on his connection to the sport. “I always think about being younger, and a kid can say, ‘My dad’s taller than your dad,’ or, ‘I have more money than you,’ or, ‘I’m smarter than you,’ but I always thought, ‘I can still kick your ass.’”
Though some students in NU Boxing have competed before, a fair amount of the team is relatively or completely new to boxing. The Nolan brothers have found that this only makes the coaching process more rewarding.
“Newcomers are a preference for us because a lot of our strength is in our system, which is so community and team based,” Matt Nolan said. “In our classes, we have undefeated fighters, champions, professional boxers and people who have never fought before.”
Nolan Bros Boxing, the brothers’ gym in Waltham, offers various classes to the public, three of which are utilized by Northeastern’s boxing team. One teaches the fundamentals of boxing and routinely draws over 40 participants, most of which are not Northeastern students.
“Being able to pair someone who’s never boxed before from Northeastern with an undefeated professional is atypical for a boxing gym,” Matt Nolan said. “We have such a large community that really is willing to put their own interests aside to lift up the new breed of fighters, which is awesome and really organic.”
Diversity in the gym was extremely important to both the Nolan brothers and Northeastern’s team. Boxers of “every age, gender and denomination” are part of the Nolan brothers’ community, something they believe makes their community especially welcoming.
As part of Nolan Bros’ mission is to give back to the community, classes are free for Northeastern boxing members, who attribute much of their success to the environment cultivated by the Nolan brothers.
“Mark and Matt are so dedicated to this sport and making it accessible to the community that they don’t charge us for their coaching,” said current team president and fourth-year criminal justice major Alexandra Kerner.
Though the free classes are beneficial, the financial strain of being unaffiliated with club sports has posed a challenge to the team. The team initially applied for club sport status last year, but concerns over financial feasibility and lack of local competition made its application unsuccessful.
“Getting out to Waltham isn’t cheap,” Kerner said. “We carpool as much as possible, use Ubers and Lyfts, but since we’re not an official club sport, we can’t access the Northeastern vans.”
Kerner said part of the problem is that not enough local universities offer boxing as a club sport; the lack of competition means Northeastern can’t establish a club.
“If you go to the greater New England area, there are a bunch of schools. But if every school in Boston bases their standard for establishing a club on local competition, there’s never going to be a boxing club established,” he added.
Because students in the area face similar struggles, Northeastern boxing extends membership to students attending Wentworth Institute of Technology and Berklee College of Music, an option it wouldn’t be able to offer as an official club sport. But because of financial struggles and lack of competition, the club recently re-applied to gain club sport status.
“Club sports wasn’t able to support our club [the first time we applied], so after our proposal was denied, we spoke to them about the shortfalls of our application and how to address them,” Kerner said. “In our recent submission, we outlined every detail of the club’s operations, backed by data. We’ve tracked all of our expenses, our attendance for a year and a half, as well as highlighting the importance of working with a national governing body.”
Due to the team’s unaffiliated status, it competes in USA boxing tournaments rather than in National Collegiate Boxing Association, or NCBA, events. Northeastern team members have competed in six USA boxing events since May 2025. From March to November 2025, the team maintained a record of 5-1.
Sean Radimer, a second-year cyber security and business administration combined major, won the team’s first belt at Sonny’s Boxing Bada Bing tournament.
“It was really fun. You’ll never get that feeling doing anything else,” Radimer said.
Radimer, who wrestled in high school, started boxing in January 2024. While abroad in Greece for NU.in, he struggled to find a gym where he could continue boxing, but after arriving to Boston, he found a home on Northeastern’s team.
“The coaches are great. They’re always accepting,” Radimer said.
As one of the few members who came with previous boxing experience, he still found the structure of the club’s practices beneficial.
“I would say it was easier for me to improve with prior experience,” Radimer said, adding it was easier for him to transition to the more advanced classes offered by the Nolan brothers.
While the club waits to hear back from club sports regarding its application, it continues to train, compete and financially support itself through fundraisers, including by selling t-shirts and hoodies.
“When the dust settles, I want to see [Northeastern boxing] become a recognized club,” Matt Nolan said. “I want to see us win at the national level, which I know we can.”
