Local fraternity Sigma Phi Epsilon put on their boxing gloves last Sunday as a fundraiser for its brother, Cal Poly student John Murphy, who has undergone six surgeries after falling out of a fourth story window last July.
More than 300 people attended Fight Night Fight Night, a huge increase from last year’s approximate 200 people. It grossed more than $5,000. $700 of which was from raffle money. The raffle prize was a 40-inch flat screen television donated by Mead Enterprises. T-shirts and “John Murphy” wrist bands were also sold and contributed to the total. After expenses, the fraternity will donate all of the proceeds, more that $2,000, to the John Murphy Medical Fund.
Sigma Phi Epsilon’s Fight Night is their annual philanthropy that usually benefits the youth AIDS foundation. This year, however, the fraternity decided to help Murphy’s family with all of the medical expenses.
Each fighter was asked to train with SLO Kickboxing for three months to prepare for the event. It started with 30 contenders and the final 18 went through a rigorous training process where they learned how to fight properly, ensuring that no one would get seriously hurt.
The event was held at The Graduate and featured nine fights. Each fight was made up of three minute-and-a-half rounds.
“We had a lot of help from the guys in our house and it was great to see so much support from the greek community, along with everyone else who came,” public relations representative and Sigma Phi Epsilon brother Joe Trupiano said.
“A lot of (John’s) friends came out to help as well, being the ring girls and other things like that.”
“It was a little harder to get sponsors this year because of the economy,” co-coordinator of Fight Night and economics senior Andrew de la Pena said. “A lot of businesses just didn’t have it in their budget.”
Murphy’s parents drove down from the Bay Area to see the boxing matches. According to Trupiano, the family was astounded to see such a huge turnout.
“They kept telling us how blessed they felt that some many people came out in support,” Trupiano recalled.
“They said that he might even be able to make it out to next year’s event.”
De la Pena said that the event was a success overall and it seemed like everyone had a good time.
“It was really good to see the family out there and enjoying it,” he added. “The coolest part was seeing everyone having fun. It was really crowded and most of the seats were full.
“The fans were really well-behaved.”