The 103rd Varsity match took place in 8th of Hilary term and the tensely contested affair saw two of the most controversial decisions in Varsity history. It was also probably the closest the Varsity match has come to turning into a riot! These two decisions allowed Cambridge to walk away with a 5-4 victory which was not theirs.
The first fight of the night was the Featherweight bout between Melvin Chen (Mansfield) for Oxford and Faisal Nasim (Cambridge). The first round was a relatively close affair with Nasim able to use his height and reach advantage to keep Chen at a safe distance from him but when Chen was able to get inside his opponent, he landed hard right hands. On coming out for the second round Nasim seemed to have tired considerably, Chen sensed this and for the remaining two rounds applied relentless pressure. He landed hard combinations, to which Nasim could give no answer. Chen took the first fight by unanimous decision to make the score 1-0 to Oxford.
The Lightweight boxers were the next pair to take to the ring with Chris Pearson (Balliol), one of only two survivors from last year’s crushing defeat, fighting Jason Blick. This was the most explosive bout of the night. Pearson felt out his opponent for about 20 seconds, before exploding with a flurry of punches. He landed several devastating uppercuts and right hands, which forced the referee to step in and give Blick a standing count. Pearson sensed that his opponent was hurt and quickly resumed the attack after the count. He landed unleashed a horrific barrage of uppercuts and the referee had seen enough to stop the fight. So Pearson won by stoppage and gave Oxford a 2-0 lead.
Next came the Light-Welterweight bout between Leon Upton (Pembroke) and Brett Shanley. From the first minute of the first round Upton took control of the bout; using his southpaw stance to his advantage and landing countless straight left right hook combinations. He did not lose control at any point. Shanley was never allowed to exert any kind of pressure or land anything of note in the fight and Upton won by a unanimous decision.
In the Welterweight bout Josh Fields (Pembroke) fought Fergal McCool. This bout was very technical, with McCool applying as much pressure as he could for the entire fight. He never stopped coming forwards, but in doing so he did not appear to land cleanly. Fields, though on the back foot, landed clean counter strikes. Fields counter boxed while McCool attacked. In the end McCool won a majority decision. Fields was very unlucky not to have won, for the judges seemed to have awarded the Cambridge boxer the fight not on clean punching, but on aggression. With McCool winning on a majority decision, the score became 3-1 to Oxford.
The Light-Middleweight bout saw OUABC Captain Richard Pickering (Wadham), and the only other survivor from last year’s defeat, take on CUABC Captain and former GB kickboxer Chris Webb. This bout was probably the hardest fought contest of the evening. Webb took control of the first round landing hooks from unorthodox angles, but Pickering applied constant pressure, landing hard left right combinations of his own. Pickering started the second round the stronger and hurt Webb with several hard right hands. However, Webb managed to land hard counter strikes, including several hard uppercuts. The bout continued in the same vein for the rest of the 2nd and 3rd rounds. Pickering never took a step back and applied relentless pressure, but the Cambridge man’s greater accuracy saw him land more punches and earn the decision. So the score went to 3-2 to Oxford.
The first Middleweight bout of the night was between Carl Walton (Balliol), the clubs’ most experienced member as a double Blue from 2007 and 2008 and Ed Chadwick for Cambridge. This was the first of the controversial bouts. Walton looked extremely calm and was not at all phased by Chadwick’s attacks. He blocked all of Chadwick’s punches and Chadwick spent most of the time swinging with his forearms; only occasionally landing some hard left hands. In contrast, Walton landed solid right hand counters, left hooks and jabs. On several occasions he forced his opponent into the corner and landed hard right hands which made the Cambridge boxer turn his head away. When the announcer called out a unanimous decision, the crowd were already sure of a victory. To everyone’s horror, the bout was given to Chadwick! The crowd booed the decision and one of the Oxford coaches threatened to walk out with the remaining three boxers. It took a full 10-15 minutes for the night to resume. The Oxford crowd was outraged at the decision and were probably two steps away from starting a riot in protest. With this controversial result, the score went to 3-3 with three fights remaining.
The second Middleweight bout saw more of the same horrifying controversy. Borna Guevel (Somerville) faced Ssegawa-Ssekintu Kiwanuka. The bout started very explosively, with both boxers landing decent punches; Kiwanuka landing several hard jabs, but Guevel answering with sharp right hands of his own. It was difficult to separate them after the 1st round. In the second Guevel came out with huge determination and attacked his opponent for the entire two minutes. Kiwanuka was forced to turn his head away under the barrage of blows from Guevel. Guevel came out for the 3rd round tired after the pace he had sustained throughout the 2nd. Kiwanuka took advantage of this and landed several hard jabs. However, Guevel dug deep and responded with another burst of energy. He attacked his opponent with fury and landed right hand after right hand. The referee was forced to give Kiwanuka a standing count in the last 30 seconds of the fight. Once again the Oxford team were sure that the bout had gone their way, however, the mc announced a majority victory to Kiwanuka!
Now it was time for the Heavyweight boxers to take to the ring, with the Light-heavyweight bout between former paratrooper Ben Morris (St Hugh’s) and Tom Burlton. Burlton started the fight aggresively and attempted to match Morris’ ferocity and strength. However, Morris soon overcame any resistance his opponent could offer and proceeded to knock his opponent from one side of the ring to the other. At the end of the second round Morris landed several devastating uppercuts, which forced the referee to administer another standing count to the Cambridge boxer. The Cambridge coaches showed a degree of class by retiring Burlton at the end of the second round. This victory for Morris, kept Oxford’s chances of winning the fight alive.
With the score tied at 4-4, it all came down to James Ogg (LMH) to avenge the decisions at middleweight by beating Cambridge’s Bart Dear. Ogg started by using his greater height to keep his opponent at a distance. However, as he tired he stuck less to his strategy and allowed his opponent to pressure him and land punches on the inside. He never got back into the fight after this. Dear won the bout in a unanimous decision and in doing so gave the Light Blues a 5-4 varsity victory, albeit a controversial one at that.
Although the Oxford team and coaches remain hugely angered and disappointed by the result and by the judging on the night, on the plus side, the Dark Blue team successfully managed to restore their pride after last year’s crushing 9-0 defeat.
