Cardiff Fight Night: Meet the fighters before the big day

This year’s Cardiff Fight Night fighters are fired up and ready to step into the ring, and with just under a week to go, the countdown is officially on!

The fight is Tuesday 25th March and it’s not too late to grab your tickets.

Weeks and weeks of training, sweat, and determination have led to this moment, where the contenders will finally face off in front of a roaring crowd.

From seasoned athletes looking for a new challenge to complete beginners taking their first swing at boxing, each fighter has their own reason for stepping into the ring. Some signed up on a drunken whim, others were peer-pressured by their mates, and a few simply wanted to push themselves beyond their limits. But now, there’s no turning back.

So, who’s got your support? Who’s bringing the best trash talk? And most importantly—who’s hitting the canvas first? Meet this year’s contenders.

Bella Lowton

Having always wanted to learn to punch, Bella signed up because she thought it would be a fun experience.

According to Bella, the toughest part of the process has been: “The fitness and learning to throw a punch properly.

“On the night, I’ll be handling my nerves with definitely a couple of shots. But handling fine”.

More likely to hit the floor first, your opponent or degree: “My opponent, my degree has gone already.”

If Bella could punch anyone aside from his opponent it would be: “Anyone who shoves me in the back in YOLO. They can have a punch in the face.”

Best trash talk for opponent: “Short and sweet, Sadie get Mad.”

Dexter Collins

Most Read

Adolescence director breaks down the ending’s secret meaning and it’s utterly heartbreaking

MAFS Australia 2025 bride Jacqui *finally* explains what her mysterious corporate job actually is

‘Not a nice human’: Teachers, students and parents share horrid experiences with MAFS’ Tim

Dexter signed up as a bit of a joke with a side of peer pressure from his mates, who wanted him to do it more than them.

He added: “I’m in my last year of uni, go out with something interesting.”

According to Dexter, the toughest part of the process is the fitness: “I play football and feel like I was fairly fit but 10 minutes in and I’m sweating absolute buckets.”

More likely to hit the floor first, your opponent or degree: “After my dissertation, maybe my degree.”

If Dexter could punch anyone aside from his opponent it would be: “My housemate Monty, no specific reason, annoying guy.”

Best trash talk for opponent: “Max, it’s hockey vs football on fight night. Football is unfortunately going to come out on top.”

Mia Pizzey

Mia signed up to this year’s fight to try something different: “My friends wanted to go and wanted someone to watch, so I took one for the team.”

Mia told The Cardiff Tab: “The toughest part of the process is the sparring, I’ve never been hit in the face before”.

In terms of how Mia is feeling for the night itself she says: “It keeps me up at night if I think about it too much.”

More likely to hit the floor first, your opponent or degree: “My opponent”.

If Mia could punch anyone in the face it would be a certain guy known for promoting male hyper masculinity. You know the one, super famous, really hated. Need we say any more?

Tytus Magiya

Tytus has never been in a fight before, so thought this would be the perfect chance to get involved. He told the Cardiff Tab: “At first I was super nervous but as soon as I was in the ring that all went away.”

More likely to hit the floor first, your opponent or degree: “Opponent, definitely”.

Best trash talk for opponent: “Ben, I don’t know you very well, but don’t worry it won’t last the whole six minutes.”

Kaiden Jeremy

Kaiden didn’t originally think he would get picked, but wanted to prove to his friends he could do it: “I thought it would be a laugh”, he’s also excited for the drink afterwards.

Toughest part of the process so far: “The fitness, definitely the fitness.”

Stepping into the Fight Night ring won’t be Kaiden’s first hit to the face, having been hit a few times on a Revs night out: “I have quite a punchable face”.

Evie Carroll

Evie tripped and fell into this years Fight Night line up on a drunken night out sign up with her friends.

How is Evie handling her nerves? Well that would be with alcohol. Work hard, play hard right?

More likely to hit the floor first, your opponent or degree: “My degree has already hit the floor”

If Evie could punch anyone it would be: “Anyone who hops in the Misfits queue before 10”.

Best trash talk for opponent: “Let’s have it”.

Evan Deignan

Evan signed up for the fight to: “Test myself, see what I’m capable of, challenge myself”.

He remarks the toughest part of the process not the fighting itself, but: “Outside of the boxing gym, going on runs”.

Evan is “confident” and is “looking forward to the fight and no nerves as of yet.”

More likely to hit the floor first, your opponent or degree: “A bit of both I’d say, but got to be my opponent.”

If Evan could punch anyone it would be: “My brother, he deserves a good hitting.”

His best trash talk for his opponent: “Buddy, you’re supposed to be here today, you haven’t shown up. My talk’s going to be in the ring and you’ll see what I can do.”

Ruby Johnson

Much like Evie, Ruby signed up to joining fight night lineup drunk, a great idea at the time until realising the multiple training sessions she’d be taking on a week.

“Probably the sparring and training multiple times a week” she tells us has been the hardest part of the process so far.

Ruby jokes she’s not handling nerves well, resorting to alcohol.

More likely to hit the floor first, your opponent or degree: “My degree, [it’s] already on the floor.”

Best trash talk for opponent: “You’re going down.”

Ben Welsh

Ben signed up for the fight to challenge himself, in his final year of uni. As it’s the last opportunity to do it, he thought he may as well test himself.

Ben says the toughest part of the process is: “All the cardio, trying to go on runs, cardio the toughest part so far.”

Ben is handling his nerves slowly, blocking out the actual night until he gets to it.

More likely to hit the floor first, your opponent or degree: “Definitely my degree, especially with the fight training”.

Best trash talk for opponent:”Good luck mate, probably going to batter you, so train hard.”

Max Taylor

Max “might have been a bit drunk” when he signed up for the fight, he told The Cardiff Tab, but is following in the foot steps of his mate who has fought before.

Unlike the other fighters, Max has found “getting lifts in” to training the toughest element, especially now that his ride is his opponent, Dexter.

Oh, and the cardio.

In terms of nerves, he hasn’t “thought too much” about the night just yet, but the few days before the fight Max reckons they might start to kick in.

More likely to hit the floor first, your opponent or degree: “Dexter my opponent”.

And if he could punch anyone in the face, although a tough question, it would be Dexter.

Max is confident in his sparring skills it seems.

Contrary to popular belief, Max “actually really likes” Dexter. He told us in his best fighting talk that “come the 25th March, we won’t be friends for six minutes, but after, we’ll be friends again.”

Michael Murphy

Michael’s decision to sign up for Fight Night was for the “good training experience” and to meet new people.

He let The Cardiff Tab know that it was “about time someone won it” amongst his friendship group, we’re keeping our fingers crossed for Michael.

Michael has found getting into and used to the training four times a week has been tough, but is now in a good routine.

He told us that he is “feeling confident” to win.

More likely to hit the floor first, your opponent or degree: “Can I say both? What if one has already fallen? Both.”

If Michael could punch anyone in the face, it would be his opponent, or Jowan Peck, one of the other fighters.

His best trash talk for his opponent: “I’m not gonna name names, but, you’ve lacked on training and I think it’s gonna show. […] You are done for mate.”

Zoe Carbray

Zoe signed up to fight night wanting to build her fitness and for an unforgettable experience.

Zoe said she’s finding sparring the toughest part of the process: “It’s very challenging, hard to keep up with the sparring.”

When asked how she’s handling her nerves, Zoe says: “Not thinking about it, pretending it’s not happening until the night.”

More likely to hit the floor first, your opponent or degree: “My degree definitely”

If Zoe could punch anyone it would be: “My old best friend”.

Best trash talk for opponent: “Watch out”.

Marcos Hill-de Aguilar

Marcos signed up for the fight because he thought it would be “good fun” and “good cardio”, he told The Cardiff Tab.

Although, the cardio has also been one of the toughest parts for Marcos.

He was “very nervous” on night one of training, but now he is “confident” in himself and “excited” for the fight.

More likely to hit the floor first, your opponent or degree: “My degree.”

When it comes to punching someone in the face, Marcos “doesn’t hate many people”. In the end he resorted to his opponent as his answer, but “doesn’t wish him any ill will.”

Marcos wanted to tell his opponent: “Mate, I love you, I haven’t known you for long, but you’re going down. It’s gonna happen. The 25th, it’s going down.”

To those of you that got tickets, enjoy the fight and bring your best support for the fighters.

Good luck everyone!