CSI rodeo team members trade cowboy hats for boxing headgear and gloves

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — The forty-seventh College of Southern Idaho Boxing Smoker was Saturday night and with five of the 15 fights featuring members of the CSI rodeo team KMVT caught up with a few of these cowboys to hear more about their involvement in the event.

“The sport of rodeo, you know, it’s kind of like all in or all out, and it’s kind of the same way boxing is, so I figured I might as well try it,” said Dahl Winters, a freshman bareback rider.

Four cowboys and one cowgirl from the CSI rodeo team traded their cowboys hats and boots for boxing headgear and gloves at the annual boxing smoker fundraiser and one junior cowboy explained why he wanted to lace up the gloves.

“This event is more about you against you and your mind, and your preparation leading up to it is, than it is about the fight. Win or lose out there, we’re all doing it for our future on this team, and this team’s future most importantly,” said Josh Dobbins, a junior saddle bronc rider.

Dobbins is a first-time fighter with little to no combat sports background and experience, but despite this he won his fight by decision and escaped any major punches.

The CSI rodeo team boxers were tasked with training themselves for the boxing smoker and cowboys like sophomore Cade Johnson even had to follow his regiment over the holiday break.

“Back home, when I went home, I’m from Bishop, California, there was a gal, she owned a boxing gym, she would train me up, did a lot of hard, really hard cardio workouts, and she told me days that I wasn’t doing that, because I didn’t have a bag or anything at home, to do five rounds of three minutes, a minute in between each round of shadow boxing,” said Johnson, a calf and team roper.

Winters talked not only about his training, but also about how much his fellow team members helped him in the lead up to his match.

“Well, there’s a lot of working out, and working out with other people that are fighting on the team, so it’s good to get a camaraderie from them other guys so you can get some confidence in you,” Winters said.

And confidence is the name of the game in both rodeo and boxing, and despite his win Dobbins says one is far scarier than the other.

“I think I was more nervous to go get on a bucking horse than I was to crawl into that ring,” Dobbins said.

All five CSI rodeo team members with a match came out victorious at the smoker and picked up awards including quickest knockout for Chase Andrade, best cowboy boxer for Cade Johnson and Hayden Corta won best cowgirl boxer as well as fight of the night for her third round TKO.

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