STANFORD — Dante Kirkman isn’t your average Stanford student.

Before school, Kirkman drives from his home in Palo Alto up Interstate 101 to B Street Boxing in San Mateo. Awake early enough to see the sunrise, Kirkman hits the pads, does some heavy bag work and gets a run in.

Then it’s off to school for a few hours to attend some of the most challenging classes in America. Even on days he’s exhausted, the 23-year-old communication and media studies major has no choice but to try to keep his eyes open during lectures.

After a day of grueling schoolwork, Kirkman heads back to B Street to complete another long workout session before returning to Stanford to study. While some of his friends are off to the nearest Stanford shindig, the 23-year-old Kirkman is back in bed promptly before 10 p.m. to get up and do it all again the next day.

A poster announcing Dante Kirkman’s next fight adorns the wall at B Street Boxing in San Mateo as Kirkman trains with his coach Eddie Croft on a Thursday in mid October of 2024. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group) 

No time for partying when you want to become a super welterweight world champion.

Kirkman has won his first three professional bouts, and he’ll look to continue his undefeated streak when he fights 37-year-old Jose Cruz (2-6) at Thunder Valley Casino and Resort in Lincoln on Saturday.

“I’ve never really met a kid quite like him,” said former WBC featherweight champion Eddie Croft, who has been Kirkman’s trainer since he was in middle school. “He’s just very serious and focused on his goals. He had two goals in mind when we first met and that was to go to Stanford and to become a world champion in boxing. He’s on his way to doing that now.”

Kirkman juggles his dreams of becoming an academic scholar with the grit-and-grind lifestyle of trying to become an elite fighter.

But make no mistake, Kirkman was built for this way of life. This is all he’s hoped for athletically since he was in fifth grade.

“Boxing was always my dream, and I always wanted to be the best,” Kirkman said. “As I got older, I knew what I wanted was to go to Stanford, and it sounds a bit crazy trying to do both. But who wouldn’t want to go to Stanford?

“I wasn’t super confident that I could make this dream happen, but once I got it in, this was just something that I wanted to keep going.”

Kirkman has already caught the eye of many in the Bay Area’s boxing community. His speed and technicality have given his opponents fits.

He’s just as diligent with his studies.

Stanford was always a dream school for Kirkman, partially because he saw the campus almost every day. A graduate of Palo Alto High School, Kirkman went to school across the street from Stanford’s campus and grew up watching Cardinal football and basketball games.

Dante Kirkman walks to class at Stanford University. He is a senior majoring in communication and media studies. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group) 

Kirkman played just about every sport growing up but was always intrigued by boxing. His dad, Robert Kirkman, was a promising boxer, and Kirkman was inspired to follow in his dad’s footsteps, though Robert tried to sway him from putting on the gloves.

“I didn’t want my kids to box; he did that on his own,” Robert said. “He did track and played football, but he heard some of the stories from my neighborhood about me, and people would talk about my skills to him. I think he was kind of intrigued by the people who were kind of pulling at him to try boxing.”

The slick defense and elite technique Kirkman possesses in his fights comes from years of watching Floyd Mayweather Jr., his favorite fighter. In college, Kirkman interned at Mayweather Promotions as a photographer, an experience he would later say shaped his boxing career.

While Kirkman grew up in the shadows of the Stanford campus, he’s no softie. Though he realizes he didn’t have many shortcomings as a kid, he does recognize his opponents will look at him differently based on the ZIP code he grew up in.

“I’ll be the first one to say, I’m not a physically intimidating-looking person, like, I’m not as dangerous as my boxing skills are,” Kirkman said. “People definitely underestimate me and (think) I don’t have to box because I go to Stanford (or) I’m from Palo Alto and I had a good upbringing.

“That does definitely rub people the wrong way to where they either want to beat me up because I’m an outsider coming into their world or they underestimate me because I’m just a college kid from Palo Alto.”

It wasn’t always smooth sailing for Kirkman as an amateur.

He suffered a shoulder injury that forced him to switch from a left-hander to an orthodox style. During his amateur career, he had three separate losing streaks of two fights or more.

The setbacks frustrated Kirkman, whether it was a tough loss or having to sit out a few weeks to let an injury heal.

In many ways, he was a ball of fire.

Dante Kirkman faces off with Jose Adolfo Rodriguez at the weigh-in at the Hilton San Francisco Airport Bayfront in Burlingame on Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group) 

“His nickname is the Inferno,” Croft said. “It comes from ‘Dante’s Inferno,’ but it also comes from when he was younger, he was such a hot head. He would get mad and frustrated if things weren’t going right for him. He would hit kids after the bell. He was like a little bit of a nutcase that way.

“The thing is, Dante puts a lot of pressure on himself. That’s one of the things that I’m trying to tone down because I tell him that he is going to be successful.”

The turning point for Kirkman’s career came at the Olympic trials in 2022. Fighting as an amateur, he came into the tournament as a heavy underdog but came away impressing many in attendance after defeating Demontre Thompson in the first round and losing a close fight to Javier Meza in the quarterfinals.

Since turning pro last year, Kirkman has been dominant.

Dante Kirkman boxes Jose Adolfo Rodriguez in their super welterweight match during “Fight Night at the Fox” at the Fox Theatre in Redwood City on Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group) 

In his second pro fight in Oakland last August, he peppered Miguel Soto-Garcia with straight right hands to the head and won by unanimous decision in a four-round bout. Three months later, he defeated José Adolfo Madrigal Rodríguez by technical knockout in the third round in front of a home crowd in Redwood City.

Until he can get bigger opportunities, Kirkman prefers to fight locally.

“A boxer I looked up to as a kid was Andre Ward because he was a gold medalist from Oakland,” Kirkman said. “Being around the Bay is really important to me because I’ve been fighting in these random places like Chattanooga. I just want to be the Bay Area’s next guy and make the Bay Area a household name in boxing again.”

Dante Kirkman is announced the winner by knockout against Jose Adolfo Rodriguez in their super welterweight match during “Fight Night at the Fox” at the Fox Theatre in Redwood City on Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)