Why Kalen DeBoer's boxing metaphor still applies to Alabama after Indiana loss

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PASADENA, Calif. — Kalen DeBoer isn’t a die-hard boxing fan.

He never wrestled. He never boxed. But the Alabama football coach has an appreciation for those hand-to-hand combat sports from afar: to be in the moment, to take punches. And in terms of analogies, boxing was perfect for DeBoer to mirror with the Crimson Tide.

Take the Rocky Balboa quote he used in the days leading up to Alabama’s College Football Playoff quarterfinal game against Indiana in the Rose Bowl:

”It ain’t about how hard you hit,” Balboa told his son Robert in “Rocky Balboa.” “It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. It’s how much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning’s done.”

Alabama got hit. The Hoosiers hit the Crimson Tide hard, beating Alabama 38-3. But even in those moments of shock, as when linebacker Deontae Lawson stood at his locker with tears in his eyes after finishing his final collegiate game, the metaphor still applied.

“All I know is we fought 'til the very end, man,” Lawson told The Tuscaloosa News. “So proud of this team, man. I love this team. I wouldn’t want to be in any other locker room for sure.”

'The one who can sustain will be on top at the end'

To DeBoer, 2025 was a 15-round, old-school heavyweight championship fight. It’s how he helped Alabama plan out how to face its slate, comparing what the Crimson Tide faced with the early, middle or late parts of a championship match.

It was language Lawson was using back when Alabama was preparing for its Iron Bowl against Auburn.

“It was 15 rounds back then,” Lawson said Tuesday, Nov. 25, invoking one of the boxing metaphors DeBoer used. “... Keep punching away, keep chipping. You might get cut. You might get punched. The one who can sustain will be on top at the end.”

To linebacker Nikhai Hill-Green, a self-proclaimed “huge boxing fan” who named his dog after Muhammad Ali, DeBoer’s messaging is what gets him fired up.

“It gets me in that mentality of whatever it takes,” Hill-Green said Thursday, Oct. 30. “The whatever-it-takes mentality of the game. Whether we got to win it in the first, the fourth or the fifth quarter, whatever it takes, I’ll get it done.”

In 2025, Alabama kept swinging.

A Week 1 loss to Florida State that had Alabama dead out of the blocks, one that looked more like a continuation of season one of the DeBoer era that ended with an uninspiring bowl loss to Michigan, turned into a streak of ranked wins that brought Alabama back firmly in the CFP conversation.

The hits came back in the home loss to Oklahoma and the SEC Championship Game debacle against Georgia. But Alabama remained alive. And that’s all DeBoer could ask for.

“Our guys just continue to keep swinging, keep punching,” DeBoer said in the days leading up to the Indiana game. "We really kind of honed in on the boxing piece. … I always try to feed off what the guys relate to, or what you feel like they're connecting to. And every year it's different because every team is different. Every team's struggles and the things they thrive on are different. They've really connected with that more, so I continue to build on it.”

And then Indiana got into the ring. And Alabama turned into Balboa in Rocky IV facing Ivan Drago.

Indiana destroyed the Crimson Tide for 38 points and 407 yards while limiting Alabama to 3 points and 193 yards.

But for DeBoer, the whole boxing thng is more than just physical. It’s using the famous Ali picture of him standing over a downed Sonny Liston to represent mental toughness, to hone on the emotion needed to dominate, the discipline it takes to win, the fortitude to ride the wave of ups and downs throughout a game or a season.

That’s where DeBoer’s mind turned to after Alabama’s 38-3 loss. He looked back at the process: those practices a year ago where his players committed to each other and to the season.

“It's a lot of emotions right now shared in the locker room,” DeBoer said. “We can be upset because losing doesn't sit well with us, and we can be frustrated about it, but that's what our program is going to be, is upset when these types of situations happen. We've got to use it to fuel us moving forward.”

That’s exactly what Lawson wants from Alabama moving forward, even with him no longer in the ring.

“Never get this feeling again,” Lawson said. “Do it for the guys before you, which is me now.”

Colin Gay covers Alabama football for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at cgay@gannett.com or follow him @_ColinGay on X, formerly known as Twitter.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Kalen DeBoer's boxing metaphor still applies to Alabama after Indiana loss

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