When Phill Pappas slams his fist into the double-end punching bag, it swings back at him so fast he ducks his head to avoid being hit.

Just like it were a human fist.

He doesn't just stand, he darts. Pappas shifts his weight between both feet, throwing a few air punches before again attacking the bag, attached by clasps to both the ceiling and the floor. Sweat gathers at his chin and drips onto the concrete floor.

The room is empty except for packaging senior Brandon Larvadain, who is fighting the heavy punching bag. On Monday, the only sounds in Crown Boxing Club's training gym in Lansing are the smack of gloves against the bags and deep, audible breaths.

Both men are members of the MSU Boxing Club, and both have lofty goals. Larvadain hopes to win his weight class at this weekend's state boxing championship, and Pappas wants to make the 2008 Olympic team and compete in Beijing.

But their goals aren't unrealistic. Larvadain joined the club this past summer and already has qualified for the state tournament, and Pappas won a national title in 2005 — his first year with the club.

"You get so much out of it," Pappas said. "I put so much into it, and I get so much out of it."

A serious sport

A glimpse into Pappas' planner likely

would look something like this: Wake up at 5:30 a.m. Lift weights with coach. Do homework until 10 a.m. Go to class. Five-mile run and swim from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Back to class until 4:30 p.m. Train at Crown from 5-7 p.m. Do homework from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m.

Repeat.

An average of four hours of sleep each night can't be easy, but Pappas doesn't mind.

"I'm happiest when I'm training, when I'm fighting," he said.

That self-discipline is a result of boxing training, said Ali Easley, head coach of the MSU Boxing Club, which trains amateur boxers for competitions. Amateur boxers range in age from 8 to 35 years old.

Unlike other athletes, Easley said, boxers need to be in top physical condition, and Easley puts his athletes through a strict training regimen that includes running, swimming, weight training and boxing classes Monday through Thursday. Easley urges students to take KIN 103V, or Boxing Conditioning, before joining the club.

"The athletes are in extreme top shape," he said. "They have to be. There's no margin for error."

Easley started the club in 1998 after initially seeking to bring it back as a varsity sport.

MSU did have a varsity boxing program at one time, but it came to an end after a University of Wisconsin student died of a likely brain hemorrhage following the 1960 middleweight national championship, he said.

As a result, he said, he wasn't able to find a training location on campus for the club, so he moved to the Crown Boxing Club, 1010 Ballard St. in Lansing — a facility that has produced such famous boxers as Joe Watts, who recently was inducted into the Michigan Golden Gloves Boxing Hall of Fame.

Easley boxed at Crown, as well as taught its youth boxing program, so he said it was a "natural fit" to move the MSU Boxing Club there.

There now are about 40 members in the MSU Boxing Club, Easley said, and the athletes compete three times a month throughout the United States and Canada.

On some occasions, members of the MSU and Lansing Community College boxing clubs will train together, as well as members from the Crown team and youth program.

"Everyone does everything together, whether you're a national champion or an 8-year-old kid," Easley said. "If I say do five push-ups, everyone does it together. It creates a team."

Pappas has boxed since he was 16, and started competing for the MSU Boxing Club in 2005. He said when he was younger, he didn't take competition seriously in any of the sports he played, boxing included.

"I'd been missing boxing for a year-and-a-half, and after I took the class it was obvious to me that I needed to fight again," said Pappas, who currently fights in the 165-pound weight division. He hopes to get down to the 152-pound weight class soon.

"I just knew what I needed to do to get myself to the next level."

That first summer, he became the 2005 Black Gloves National Champion — just a few months after his first competition. It's an accomplishment he uses as a benchmark to remind himself of what else he hopes to achieve.

He took last year off school to focus on training and fighting, but an old shoulder injury resurfaced and forced him to return home to Ann Arbor to recuperate. It was during that time off when he became serious about boxing, serious about school and serious about succeeding.

"I knew after that tournament that I had a place in this sport," Pappas said. "I knew that if I kept working hard, I was only going to get better."

Looking for a win

Brandon Larvadain stands at one end of the large boxing ring in the Crown gym, red boxing gloves laced up his arms.

Across the ring is Pappas, wearing a mouthpiece, preparing to spar with Larvadain.

One round only. The two will work on a body drill that requires them to avoid their opponent's head.

During class, the boxing students will spar two to three times a week.

The men meet in the middle of the ring, and then begin.

Easley calls out commands as the boxers dart around the ring, changing position, trying to advance on their opponent.

"Get that hand up, Brandon!" Easley snaps. "Come on."

Pappas flies at Larvadain's stomach, but Larvadain moves away. He returns a punch, but Pappas ducks out of reach.

And then, just as quickly as it began, the sparring ends.

It was just a drill. No man wins.

But besides a competition, it's the closest they get to the real thing.

"The training is hard, and sometimes you don't want to train, but it's all worthwhile once you get in the ring," said Larvadain, who competes in the 165-pound weight division.

He was looking for a Lansing-area boxing gym this past summer and came across the MSU club.

Larvadain boxed when he was younger, but it was mostly just for fun.

Now he's got the competing bug, and he's not looking back.

Right now, he's mostly looking ahead — to this weekend's LBC State Championship in Traverse City.

"I'm feeling great," he said. "I'm just looking forward to using the training that I got in here to go in there and win."