Kara Maston Gonzalez Media TV interview on Coast Guard boxing

The Kara Maston Gonzalez Media TV interview put the Coast Guard boxer’s November 14 Military Boxing Classic appearance in focus. Speaking with Jose G on MILLIONS, Maston said she is excited to represent the Coast Guard, described how an exchange semester at West Point shaped her view of boxing, and explained why she wants to stay in the sport after graduation.

What did Kara Maston say about the Military Boxing Classic?

Kara Maston said the Military Boxing Classic matters to her because she has not competed in an event dedicated solely to military academies. She is excited to represent the Coast Guard on November 14 and hopes the competition shows how much work she and the other Coast Guard cadet on the card have put in.

The event brings together boxers from the service academies, including the Coast Guard, Air Force Academy, West Point and Naval Academy. Maston did not name her opponent or offer a prediction. Her focus was on competing well and making the team’s preparation visible.

There is a personal reason she is looking forward to the gathering, too. Maston spent the previous fall semester on exchange at West Point and expects to see friends she made there. The Classic gives her a chance to reconnect with them while representing a different academy.

For fans who want to follow the Coast Guard boxers before the event, Maston pointed to the team’s social media account, CGA_boxing. She described the Classic as a meaningful opportunity rather than just another date on her competition schedule.

How did Kara Maston go from playing soccer to boxing?

Kara Maston played soccer throughout elementary, middle and high school, then picked up boxing in the spring semester of her freshman year. She enjoyed it enough to continue, saying the sport has helped her grow as a person as well as giving her a new athletic challenge.

Boxing had come up at home before she began training. Maston said she once raised the idea with her parents, but they were not receptive. She stayed with soccer through school and did not arrive at her freshman year with a background in the ring.

That history matters to how she sees newer members of the Coast Guard boxing team. She recognizes her own starting point in teammates who also came to the sport without prior boxing experience. Her account of joining the team was not a story of an effortless switch between sports: she found something she wanted to keep learning.

Soccer gave her years of experience as an athlete, but Maston did not present it as a shortcut to boxing. She described boxing as a continuing challenge, one that has held her interest since that first semester.

What does Kara Maston find challenging about learning to box?

Kara Maston said the adjustment from soccer to boxing is still happening. Footwork and upper-body movement require her to think about new ways to use her body, and she finds that mental challenge valuable rather than something she has already mastered.

When asked whether her athletic background made the transition easy, she pushed back on the premise. She said she is still working through how to move when she boxes. The demands of the sport keep her thinking, even after she has spent time competing and training with the Coast Guard team.

Her description also explains why small corrections from a coach matter to her. A change in a habit or a movement can give her another detail to watch in the ring. Maston spoke about learning as an ongoing part of boxing, not a stage she completed when she first joined.

She welcomed the difficulty. The opportunity to do something that challenges her mentally was part of what she valued about the sport, alongside the personal growth she associated with taking it up.

What did Kara Maston learn from West Point and the Coast Guard boxing team?

Kara Maston said her exchange semester at West Point exposed her to a boxing program strongly oriented toward preparing athletes to compete. Back at the smaller Coast Guard academy, she sees a different atmosphere: its boxing program is rebuilding, and many team members are beginners.

Seeing West Point’s boxing program

Maston spent the previous fall semester on exchange at West Point. She praised its boxing program and described a team focused on getting boxers ready for competition. The experience also gave her friendships she is looking forward to renewing at the Military Boxing Classic.

She did not frame the two academies as interchangeable. Seeing West Point’s approach gave her one perspective on how a team develops competitors; returning to the Coast Guard gave her another.

Rebuilding with Coast Guard beginners

The Coast Guard program is small and rebuilding, Maston said. Its team is working with many beginners, including people who, like her in high school, had not boxed before joining. She connected that environment to the motivation individual boxers bring to competition.

Maston described the source of that competitive drive this way:

a lot of the competition side comes from just intrinsic motivation

She said she was grateful to have seen both approaches. Her comparison was about the circumstances in which boxers learn and prepare, not a claim that one academy’s program is better for every athlete.

How does Coach Justin help Kara Maston prepare to compete?

Coach Justin helps Kara Maston by giving honest feedback on the habits he sees in her boxing. Maston said the small adjustments he recommends help her break bad habits, improve as a boxer and pay closer attention to details when she is in the ring.

She values the specificity of his observations. Rather than describing a single sweeping change to her style, Maston talked about corrections based on what he sees her doing. Putting those corrections into practice is part of her preparation for the November 14 event.

That work sits alongside the Coast Guard team’s broader effort to develop beginners. Maston hopes the Classic shows how hard its boxers have worked to compete against their opponents. She said one other cadet will box on behalf of the Coast Guard, making the event a chance for both of them to represent the program.

Her expectation for the night was grounded in preparation rather than a promised outcome. Maston wanted viewers to see the work behind the Coast Guard entries, including the gradual improvements she credited to coaching.

Will Kara Maston keep boxing after graduation and try Muay Thai?

Kara Maston said she wants to continue boxing after her senior year, although an assignment on a boat will make it harder to maintain her cardio. She also wants to explore other combat sports if she can, with Muay Thai of particular interest because of a former coach.

Training while assigned to a boat

Maston expects her time on a boat to complicate her training, but she does not intend to leave boxing behind. She said she will do her best to continue in whatever way she can. She did not set out a training schedule or name a future boxing event.

The practical difficulty she identified was keeping up with cardio. Even so, her answer about life after graduation was clear: she wants boxing to remain part of it.

Interest in Muay Thai

Before he transferred, a coach who practiced Muay Thai helped with boxing and inspired Maston to consider trying it. She expressed interest in seeing how it goes, without claiming that a debut or competition is already planned.

For Maston, exploring Muay Thai would be an addition to her interest in boxing, not a replacement she has committed to making. Her immediate focus remains the Military Boxing Classic and the chance to show what the Coast Guard boxers have done to prepare.