We spoke to King of the ring fighters after their bouts

Yesterday was one of the bloodiest days of the year, as Brookes’ best amateur boxers took to the ring in the Oxford Kassam Stadium.

With bow ties and short dresses the norm, students braved the elements (and the ticket prices) to watch the second King Of The Ring on Thursday the 3rd of December.

After 12 weeks training, we spoke to some of the fighters at the afterparty in Warehouse to find out what they really thought about what went down.

After losing based purely on judges points to her opponent Gemma Walls in the only girls fight, we spoke to Thea Haaland Cheek and asked why she decided to enter King of The Ring, and what she really thought of her opponent.

She said:”As no girls have entered before, I wanted to challenge myself and make a statement. I wanted to put aside the fake tan and makeup and prove that women are just as capable as getting down and dirty as men.

“I didn’t know my opponent and we hardly spoke, but she was very nice and said thanks for the good fight.”

Thea stated that her entourage and cornermen helped psyched her up before and during the fight.

Similarly, Ben Lines who took on Fin Taylor in a Rugby League vs Football rivalry, told us that without the support of his Rugby Team he would have been lost, as he said “The boys were absolutely amazing in rallying me up.

“I always wanted to do boxing and I wanted to set myself a challenge. Fin trained hard and it was a deserved win… now I just plan on getting ridiculously drunk.”

Francis Kerins, a third year who nobly stepped in to fight after just two weeks of training, said that he knew entering late was a risk, but he needed a distraction from his deadlines anyways.

Francis would like to give a special shoutout to Justin Bieber, as he told us that his new album really helped gear him up for the fight: “Listening to Justin Bieber’s new album was so inspirational.

“There’s not a bad song on there.

“The lyrical genius of ‘purpose’ is just so motivational.” Each to their own we suppose.

Noah Ellis Kelsey who fought in fight three wanted to prove to people that there was more to him than just his cute bear smile. He said his opponent Alexander Shovell was a lovely person, but a dickhead in the ring.

He told us “I was pretty relaxed before the fight, I just chilled with my entourage. I’m glad its over now, I’m just going to smoke and drink the night away.”

James King, who knocked his opponent Dan Baker out in just a whopping 30 seconds, wanted to give a shoutout to all of his ‘boiz’ for the support and motivation.

He told us that he couldn’t be happier with the result, and that his opponent was a good fighter, but he should have trained harder. James said he was going to celebrate his win by getting drunk and dirty dancing with his girlfriend.

Finally, Tom Lawson who fought in one of the final fights of the evening against Sam Burrows, said that he actually thought his opponent was a pretty sound bloke, and could see them being friends in the future.

Lawson told us “I entered for the experience, I’m normally a hockey player and I like to push myself, so I thought I’d do something a bit different. The Hockey Team have been amazing.

“Now I’m going to spend the rest of my night drinking with the boys and finding my opponent to start our bromance.”