“It wasn’t perfect boxing technique, but that’s not what you need on Fight Night,” said Mount Carmel senior boxer Leonard Siegal. “What you need is that energy and that drive to go out there and win it and that’s what he did.”

Prior to this year’s Fight Night, Aiden Correa had lost every boxing match he fought in during his four years at MC. While his twin brother, Angelo, had managed to get one win previously, Aiden always fell short in the ring.

Even this year Aiden lost in his preliminary round against Michael Thornton, and all hope was lost that he would ever be able to get his fist raised in the air in front of the school as a champion.

That was until about 9 p.m. on Friday, April 25th, the day before Fight Night, when Correa got a call from Siegal asking him if the fire was still burning and if he wanted one last dance in the ring.

“I really thought I was never going to fight again,” said Correa. “I was like, ‘Damn, this is going to be the first year I’m just going to be on the sidelines watching.’”

When Siegal called him and asked if he wanted a fight the next day, he was shocked but also unsure of himself.

“I wasn’t feeling that well. I was recovering from the flu or strep throat or something. I had something. I was like, really bad.”

But Aiden had a realization.

“I’m like, ‘You know what, screw it.’ I feel like I would have regretted it. So I want to live a life without regrets. That’s why I accepted the fight.”

The original matchup was supposed to be between seniors Lucas Ellis and Aiden Torres, but Torres chose not to fight at the last minute, potentially leaving a hole in the Fight Night lineup. When Siegal found out about the dropouts he took it upon himself to try and organize the bouts so that the already busy organizers did not have more work. However, Siegal did not initially plan to call Correa.

“My first thought was actually to have Lucas [Ellis] fight my opponent, Jack O’Neill, and have me fight Matt Mucha, since I’m a little bit heavier,” said Siegal. Mucha’s scheduled opponent, sophomore Brandon Ward, also opted out very close to Fight Night, and Mucha ended up having nobody to square off against that evening. “So I told Lucas there’s three options: either you fight someone that we find, you fight Mucha, or you fight Jack O’Neill and I fight Mucha. I didn’t want the third option, and I knew that Lucas would be pretty light for Mucha, so I didn’t think the second option would be very good either.”

Stumped for options and thinking that there might just have to be only eleven bouts this year with scheduled fighters having dropped out, a conversation with senior fighter Dominic Rotto gave Leonard the idea.

“Me and Dominic Rotto were talking, and Rotto says, ‘Hey, you know, Aiden Correa lost his prelim bout, and he really wants to fight. I mean, he’s fought every other year, he’d probably want another round in the ring, you know?’” said Siegal. “So I figure, ‘Okay, I’ll give him a call.’”

When people found out that Correa was fighting Ellis instead of Torres, some were skeptical of the replacement’s chances, especially due to the near 15 pound weight difference in Ellis’s favor, but Correa himself was taking a different attitude to this one compared to all the other fights he had lost.

“In all my previous years I felt nervous,” said Correa. “This year, I felt calm, collected, and like, ‘Eh, it’s my last year–nothing to lose.’”

That attitude must have done something because Correa pulled out an unexpected victory to secure his first Fight Night win.

“When they raised my hand, it was awesome,” he said. “That was the greatest feeling ever. I have that video saved and liked in my photos. So it’s one of my favorite videos. I keep playing it. It’s a really good feeling. I think I fought like the best I’ve ever fought before.”

Angelo Correa was also thrilled to see his brother tie him in Fight Night victories.

“I thought he worked really hard for it, and it was well deserved,” said Angelo. “I’m glad he got his first win and won the Most Improved Boxer award.”

Aiden’s story of perseverance and the bravery to jump into a fight even though he thought all hope was lost is inspiring.

“Every single round, he didn’t stop—and that was amazing to see,” said Siegal.