There were mixed fortunes for Oxford’s boxers on Friday night as the first bouts of the season got under way in the long preparation for the annual Varsity match. Five OUABC boys faced off against boxers from the local Oxford Boxing Academy in their annual show at the Kassam Stadium.
The Oxford Boxing Academy, a club based in Northway, work under the mantra that “boxing is misunderstood by people who do not box”. As an amateur club covered occasionally by the likes of Sky Sports, they were always likely to prove a tough challenge at this foetal stage of OUABC’s season.
Sadly this proved true, as the local club got the better of the University boys in three of the five outings, but there were strong positives to be salvaged from a brace of victories from the University’s pugilists.
It was a debut showing for Heman Joshi (Teddy Hall), Richard Beck (Somerville) and Stephen O’Driscoll (Somerville). Jack Straker (Queens) had his first bout as a Dark Blue having boxed on his year abroad in Lyons last, and this marked the third outing for returning Blue, and this year’s captain, Ian Holland (St. Benet’s).
Joshi opened proceedings, tipping the scales at 74 kg, and facing the more experienced local Zeeshan Moughal who had two bouts to his name. Joshi looked tentative initially, his opponent showing more confidence in letting his punches go early on. But, dominating the centre through his superior strength, Joshi scored some nice straight jabs in the first round and seemed to be leading on points. Moughal reined in his swinging, and started to box in a more careful, albeit cagey, fashion. Joshi grew in confidence in the final round, using his size to dictate the pace and leaving the judges to award him a majority decision.
Fortunes took a bit of a nose-dive for the Oxford boys in the next few bouts, however. In another Middleweight match, Straker faced Nasser Balayo – whose speed and dynamism belied his thickset physique.
Straker worked ceaselessly in the first but was unable to gain ground on Balayo or break through his cast-iron guard. After both boxers settled in and started to swing a little, Straker caught some heavy shots – initially remaining resolute – yet by the third round Balayo’s sharp inside-work and fluent head movement meant he was breaking through with enough frequency to tip the decision unanimously in his favour.
Up next was Stephen O’Driscoll who was – quite literally – fighting an uphill battle from the start. Joshua Rigby towered over O’Driscoll by a good few inches and was able to hold him on the ropes for the majority of the bout’s duration. O’Driscoll managed to elude his adversary’s reach to begin with, but was rarely able to move past the jab and score. One clean backhand from Rigby spelled a standing-count for O’Driscoll in the first round from which he easily recovered, but Rigby reprised the same move in the second, at which point the referee elected to stop the contest despite the protestations of O’Driscoll – who was beginning to assert himself and insisted he could continue. Blue Richard Beck was next, and also on the wrong side of a premature stop-page in his welterweight contest. Beck faced an awkward southpaw, and both looked tentative in the first round as they tried to find their range. The contest livened up significantly in the second with both boxers displaying a range of shots many of which landed. Nothing separated them at the beginning of the third, but Beck began to wear and his opponent capitalised, forcing a standing count. Beck recovered but fell victim to a textbook backhand immediately as the fight resumed. At this point, the ref called a technical knockout against Beck with barely seconds left in the round, leaving Oxford with a third disappointment.
Skipper Ian Holland was to restore some dignity after a string of tough losses in the most technically pyrotechnic bout of the evening. It started poorly for Holland, facing Adam Howard at 74kg, with his opponent landing a big left bodyshot instantaneously.. Holland was visibly stunned but quickly recovered. Howard’s oeuvre seemed to be decidedly one-note, as he alternated between his original shot and a big right hand to the head for the first two rounds both of which Holland shrugged off repeatedly. Despite his opponent’s aggression, Holland kept the fight technical and scored freely. He was the more expressive boxer throughout and the result showed with a majority victory. Howard stopped gunning for the knockout and began trying to box Holland in the third and final round, which was more evenly scored, but had left himself with too large a deficit – he took defeat ignominiously, refusing to shake the OUABC boy’s hand after the decision was given to Holland.
Despite the losses, prospects look bright for OUABC. At the same show last year, James Watson and Mikey Davis both suffered defeat and went on to win by knockout in Varsity. As club president Jack Straker told Cherwell a few weeks ago, “the coaches have said that they have never before seen a squad this strong at the start of the season”, and on that basis it is definitely worth dwelling on the positives from last week’s showing.
Next term is action packed for OUABC, with all five of Friday’s boxers, and a fair few others, boxing at the Oxford Union in the third week of Hilary. The club will be defending the Varsity crown in 7th week.
