Eddie Weichers has coached boxing at Air Force for more than 30 years, and he’s trained Olympians and professionals.

So from time to time, he needs little more than just one look to tell he’s got a fighter.

Like the first time he watched junior 112-pounder Matt DeMars.

“He looked like your Bic pen,” Weichers recalled at a recent practice. “Little, skinny kid. But that little joker could fight – and he liked it.”

Indeed, DeMars said he fell in with boxing “right away – when I got hit in the face.”

Wait – he likes getting hit in the face?

“A little bit,” he said. “I think you have to.”

Still, DeMars typically gives more than he receives. A “boxer-puncher,” according to Weichers, the 5-foot-8 DeMars can keep opponents at bay with his jab and out-point them even if he’s not afraid to trade blows.

DeMars will defend his 112-pound National Collegiate Boxing Association national title April 8-10 at West Point. He’s 6-0 this year, but hasn’t fought as much as he’d like (his weight class and skill make opponents scarce). DeMars was a “walk-over” champion at the academy’s Wing Open and the NCBA West Regional Championships, meaning he did not have to fight to claim the titles.

“What I’ve tried to do is box him up a division or two,” Weichers said. “And at the regionals we sparred him at least two times against local guys who were pretty good. So we kept him sharp.”

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