I'd stick to powerlifting if I were you. I'll take the brute strength over the boxing skills any day of the week. There are no weight divisons in the real world. You are not going to be "evenly matched" against the jerk messing with you at the pool hall. Of course some lean, mean, fighting machine might sqaure of with you one day, but he should hope and pray he doesn't get within arms reach of you, because your going to rip his arms off and shove em up his ass.

Learn how to throw a punch, sure, but don't live the boxing lifestyle just because you're a fan of boxing. Just lift for strength and not for size. Those bozo's walking around on the beach aren't as strong as they look.