Scarier than your summatives: Meet the girls boxing in Fight Night Durham

Wilder Events’ Students Fight Night is the biggest student boxing event in all of the UK and Ireland. Every academic term, students spend six weeks in intense training to prepare to fight a fellow student in a ring, watched live by hundreds and streamed hybrid for more. In the 2023-24 academic year, £260,000 was raised for The Oddballs Foundation, its partnered charity. The Oddballs Foundation is a charity that aims to raise awareness of Testicular Cancer, making a difference to male health around the world and normalising discussion of such an important issue.

You can donate to this rounds’ fighters and The Oddballs Foundation here: https://givestar.io/team/7ECK756?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAaZXIH-3oBLiNPTCasuG4Po74_a4Au4H3o9ek9K58myjqvQThOeUKT2jiIc_aem_V6MvAnGUtewxJWpQGjQq1g

We know what it’s about, we know why it’s important, but who’s involved this time? Let’s meet the girls.

Thea Little v Bobby Gonzalez

Thea, representing DU women’s cricket, is a second year mathematics with economics student at St. Cuthbert’s Society. Having been a ring girl last year and done some boxing with her brother during lockdown, Fight Night was a no brainer for Thea – but she admits it’s still very much out of her comfort zone. Fundraising activities from Thea sound entertaining, having gone to lectures in boxing gloves and done the worm in a banana costume in the Billy B. The hardest thing for Thea has been shark tank- however she seemed less scared about her fight, feeling “not terrible” as she’s slightly taller and her opponent joined later. She promises “she’s not getting complacent”, nonetheless. Maybe we will see her do the worm on the walkout. We certainly shouldn’t expect little from her…

Most Read

Love Island finalist Ron Hall has a new girlfriend – and it’s an Islander he was in the villa with!

Nathan breaks silence on MAFS UK split and reveals Lacey left him ‘heartbroken’

The heartbreaking reason behind Tulisa’s transformation and why she looks so different now

Bobby, a St. Cuthbert’s Society second year studying history and Spanish is representing DU and Cuths squash, trying to prove to her friends and family that she’s able to take such a challenge on. Bobby says getting over the fear of being hit is so difficult, emphasising that it’s as much a mental fight as it is a physical fight, if not more. Her fundraising has involved a lot of push ups, layering on the already intense physical training, which might hold up against her opponent. She describes Thea as “lovely” and admits they’re an even match up, but hopes that her “fiery Mexican genes will work in her favour” on the night.

Samantha Smith v Alice Vyvyan-Robinson

Samantha, a fourth-year law student representing Hatfield netball simply wanted to check Fight Night off the uni bucket list. In her words “if I didn’t do it now, what chance would I get to do something like this again for such a great cause”, and I couldn’t have put it better myself. She admits the hardest thing is learning to expect to get hit and accepting its inevitability, the importance of the mentality cannot be understated. She admits her opponent is a lot stronger but thinks she’s “got the cardio on her”. I expect the fight to be pretty exciting, but the walkout obviously comes before the fight, and Samantha tells me her walkout plan involves a rolling Pitbull theme and bald caps – promising to “get pretty worldwide”.

Alice, a Collingwood second year climate sciences student representing DU hockey and Collingwood rowing says that all this was “to do something that would scare and challenge me”. It’s certainly been a challenge to “stay dialled in” she says, especially in later rounds due to exhaustion. Her walkout plan is “brewing” and fundraising could be “more” she says, but we’re not uncertain about her confidence in being “more logical when it comes to tactics” as an  advantage against her opponent.

Florence de Selliers v Evie Weston

Flo, a third year business and management student representing Hatfield mixed lacrosse decided with her friend Tally that they would sign up together. Confidently she tells me “I love it”, finding the positives even in the intense fitness which she identifies as the hardest thing, she admits she feels “so good” afterwards. Her walkout plan is hazy, but she’s sure about the height advantage on her opponent. She awards Evie the compliments “she’s very good and very strong” but we’ll see if she’s as nice to her in the fight.

Evie, a second year studying marketing and management, who is representing St. Mary’s hockey, tells me she was inspired by a friend doing Fight Night in the past and a drive to meet new people. The sheer intensity of training is what’s been hard for Evie, but her fundraising initiative has helped her keep motivated throughout. She asserts she’s “feeling confident” but doesn’t want to give much away. We’re promised “much choreography” for her walkout, but will she be as coordinated and put together in the ring?

Lera Tarasenko v Freya Cope

Lera, a second year sports and exercise science student at Collingwood is representing DU women’s cricket and Collingwood women’s rugby. She jokes that she kept signing up for Fight Night and not getting it, and when she did, she realised she actually had to go through with it. It’s a mental and physical challenge, she tells me, and it’s incredibly difficult to balance it with being a student and part time jobs. But she laughs, “once it’s over I don’t know what I’m going to do with myself it’s like my whole personality”. She’s not laughing when she tells me “I’ve got a hard punch” and her opponent will need to “watch out for that hook”. I saw her last week cracking eggs on her head outside the Billy B, but hopefully she won’t crack like that in the ring.

Freya, a South college second year studying psychology is representing DU women’s football and South hockey. She tells me she’s always thought about doing Fight Night, and more generally has always wondered how she’d hold up in a fight. It took some convincing from her brothers, but she committed, and since then it’s only been entirely “rewarding”. Practising punching and practising choreography for her walkout, Freya seems planned and is “feeling good”. She’s got “height and speed” against her opponent, but knows it’s going to be a tough one, nonetheless.

This has been described as “the best girl’s fight there is”, with majority of the fighters admitting that they would be most scared to fight Freya and, or Lera. Lera’s been described to “throw a gnarly punch” whilst some of the boys said, “Freya’s actually the hardest out of everyone”. This one is one to look forward to.

Tally de Putron v Flavia Sosoli

Tally, an international business and management fourth year returning from her year abroad, is representing St. Cuthbert’s Society netball and DUSSC. She gives me plenty of good reasons for doing Fight Night; the need to get back into a routine after a year away, and having had glandular fever in second and some of third year, she wants to build back her physical strength. She was specific with what’s been hardest thing, as that “singular moment” in shark tank when you become acutely aware of your helplessness unlike any moment in training. “You can’t do anything… you’re hitting, it’s not landing. You don’t have the skill” she tells me. But, apart from this, she’s feeling good, having been in attendance more at training and got a good reach compared to her opponent.

Flavia, representing Butler Tigers cheerleading, is a second-year chemistry student who wanted the opportunity to challenge herself and fundraise for a good cause. She immediately identifies “getting in a zone” as the hardest thing, mentality and mindset being fundamental. She’s less sure about her walkout plan, whether to perform a cheer stunt or not, only that it’s full-out Albanian themed. She feels good about her opponent, nonchalantly telling me “we will just find out”. She’s already run a parkrun in a whoopie cushion costume, so let’s hope her experience in the ring won’t be as embarrassing.

Liv Schmidt v Lucy Huang

Liv, a South third year studying sports and exercise science is representing DU hockey. Fight Night for her was just one of those things to get off the bucket list, being in final year and all, but it’s been a challenge to balance time and physical capability with other sports commitments. Her walkout is all sorted in terms of “song, outfits and people” she says, only thing left to do is create some choreography. She tells me she’s feeling good, but she knows her opponent has “been good” in training.

Lucy is representing DU badminton and St. Cuthbert’s Society netball, studying mathematics with anthropology in her second year. She wanted to challenge herself physically and mentally, whilst learning the important skill of self-defence. It’s been hard to “adjust” to being punched, she says that “body shots make you feel so sick” and it’s an entirely new feeling. Lucy hasn’t just been learning to fight, but learning to “embrace social humiliation” she says, having dyed her hair as part of fundraising efforts. Committed, she states “mentality will give me the edge” but credits her opponent, they have “both trained hard”.

Leonie Rowe v Emma Isherwood

Leonie is a second year St. Aidan’s classics student representing DU lacrosse and Aidan’s netball. Her desire to do Fight Night stems from the need to “prove to herself” that she was “good enough” for something like this, especially being a non-aggressive and non-violent person. The hardest thing for her is getting into “that mindset” to fight someone else, even though Leonie says she doesn’t mind an argument, she certainly prefers using her “words not fists”. She thinks her and her opponent are “fairly even” and although her walkout plans are still a little bit ambiguous, Leonie is ready to “get in the zone”.

Emma, a Hild Bede second year primary education student representing DU Irish society, signed up for Fight Night because she wanted to “try something new” and “push her limits”. She says balancing training is hard, “but it’s worth it”, and the all the fundraising has made her recognise how amazing the support from friends and family is. She promises the walkout will be “epic” but kept the details ambiguous – whilst asserting she certainly feels ready, hoping that “speed and focus” might give her the edge.

Clarice Webster v Emily Alcorn

Clarice is a South third year studying sport and exercise science representing Durham Divas. She chose to do Fight Night because she wanted to prove to herself, she “has a deeper strength than I sometimes give myself credit for”, but also “to show that divas do it best”. Much like the other fighters, again she confesses it’s a “mental battle” and you need to “let yourself be bad at things and be shown your weaknesses”, let alone then having to work on them afterwards. Clarice tells us she’s “not afraid to let that aggression out”, so we’re hoping to see a fearless approach from her.

Emily, better known as moose, is a Grey second year studying marketing, representing Durham and Grey hockey. She chose to do Fight Night simply because it’s “a unique experience”, and without hesitation admits the hardest thing has easily been shark tank. However, her walkout plan is more ambiguous, “some moose antlers on the way” she says dismissively, that its truly “nothing extravagant”. She’s got a big six-inch height difference on her opponent, meaning her reach might give her an advantage when they go head-to-head (or head to shoulder).

Emily and Clarice, having shared lifts to and from training together, know each other quite well. Will this familiarity make the fight harder for them to throw punches, or even easier?

Images via Wilder Events