Everything you missed from Durham’s ‘most electric black tie sporting event’

Durham’s termly Fight Night is a boxing event where students train for 6 weeks and then compete in a black-tie event to raise money for The OddBalls Foundation Charity, an organisation focused on raising awareness for testicular cancer. After interviewing the fighters at Durham’s Wilder Fight Night, we attended the big event to see what it’s all about…

The event was held in Rainton Arena in Houghton le Spring, a short drive from Durham city. The arena was ideal for the event, with affordable drinks, plenty of good seats, and a great atmosphere. Alongside the fights, the evening featured a raffle and was followed by an after party at Babylon.

Sponsors included Love Corn Snacks, Jack Link’s UK, Hearth, Más+ by Messi, Shandy Shack, and Cadbury UK, so VIP ringside tables and balcony ticket holders enjoyed the corn snacks, beef jerky, natural energy drinks, chocolate, hydration drinks, and lagers available.

For us, the walkouts were one of the best parts of the night. Harry “The Hooligan” Eckerstall’s walkout was particularly memorable, with both flips and fireworks.

We also particularly enjoyed the music choices from Annabel Dyson “Fury” and Xanthe “Mayhem” Mitchell, representing both Hong Kong and Scotland. Plus, we loved Lottie “Liability” Gribbon’s walkout to the iconic Country Girl (Shake It For Me) and Taliah “Pocket Rocket” Spencer-Jacobs’s cheer-themed walkout. The hilarious signs made in support of Sienna “The Killer” Folkes-Miller were also really memorable and got us excited for her fight against Lizzie “make ’em” Dizzy.

However the fights were, of course, the main event.

The fights commenced with the exhilarating and bloody fight between Léa “Lay ’em out” Graham and Immy “The Hammer” Hamp. Both women fought extremely hard, setting the precedent for an evening of lively fights.

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One of our favourite fights of the evening was Manny “the Machine” Olowe versus Felix “Live Wire” Leckie, where Manny performed absolutely incredibly and certainly lived up to coach Nick Hands’s suggestion that this was a fight to get excited for. Unlike in all the other fights, Manny knocked out his opponent in the first round.

The fight between Taliah “Pocket Rocket” Spencer-Jacobs and Gia “See Ya” Sanderson was electric, with both women getting us excited for the final fight. After an extremely intense face-to-face, this fight was pinned as “one to watch”, with coach Tyler Mackensie telling us of his excitement for the girls’ time in the ring. After an absolutely brilliant performance, Taliah won the fight and took home a win for the red side.

We also loved the fight between Lottie “Liability” Gribbon and Becca “the Beast” Easterbrook. Both women were absolutely incredible and, after exciting interview comments and walkouts to remember, gave us all a fabulous performance in the ring. It was perhaps one of the closest fights of the night, and had us on the edge of our seats while awaiting the results.

Overall, every fight and walkout was brilliant and we absolutely loved our experience! If you’ve not yet been, this event is definitely one for your Durham bucket list – it is certainly a night you won’t forget.