Varsity Boxing

On Saturday night myself and Stef went to watch Varsity Boxing with Cambridge taking on Oxford in 9 bouts at a range of weights to see who would take home the Truelove Bowl.

The night started with a couple of support bouts with Daphne Tsalli 0f CUABC (Cambridge University Amateur Boxing Club) taking on and beating Hianae Miller of Essex University. This fight surprised the elderly lady beside us who had not been paying attention to Nicola Adams et al this summer as she gasped slightly when she realised there were women punching each other! In the other support bout Jamie O'Neill of CUABC beat Jayed Hussain of Iceni ABC.

The Varisty Bouts began with a Featherweight fight with Oxford taking first blood (no blood was actually spilt) with Michael Davis overcoming Nick Melgaard on points after three 2 minute rounds (all fights were this length). Oxford took a 2-0 lead after the Lightweight fight when James Watson stopped Stefan Lavelle within a miunte of the first round. Cambridge finally got a point on the board when Xiaofeng Li beat Oxford captain Tom Eliasz in a very close fight. The final bout before the interval saw Oxford extend their lead when Conor Husbands stopped Sebastian Pender in the final round.

First fight after the interval saw Light-middleweight Will Nyerere-Plastow beat Dan Bailey for another point to Cambridge - Will's performance won him the individual performance of the night award. In the first of two Middleweight bouts Zachariah Sammour of Oxford put in a very impressive performance to beat Cambridge Captain Borna Guevel. The second Middleweight bout saw a Cambridge victory as William Wakeford overcame Iain Holland, making the score 4-3 to Oxford with two fights left.

The Light-heavyweight contest was between Cambridge's Tinashe Murozoki and Oxford's Harry Miller, and is the fight from which my blip belongs to. Oxford won on points, deservedly so in mine and Stef's eyes, with the victory giving them the win overall. The final fight between Heavyweights Dan Fountain of Cambridge and Laurent Tadjo Kotch of Oxford did not disappoint with Laurent soaking up the hits with a great defence before landing a devastating right hook which ended the fight immediately. A great show and one I will be looking to attend again when it is next on in Cambridge.