Exclusive EUABC Boxing Show preview

The Lemmy may not be adored for much, but one thing it certainly fulfils its purpose for is return of the most anticipated and intense sporting event of the season. None other than the Exeter Uni Amateur Boxing Club’s Varsity. 

Ahead of the event next week, I caught up with the committee to find out more on what to expect and what it’s really like in the ring.

Tell us a bit about the Varsity match and when it’ll be?

“We’re hoping to bring around 10 fighters to the Varsity match where they’ll be up against fighters from other unis, like Portsmouth, Cardiff, Bristol and a few more. Because it’s still quite early on in term though we’ve had a lot of clubs come back to us and say their fighters aren’t ready. It’s taking place next Tuesday 15^th November at the Lemmy.”

“A lot of people get us confused with Fight Night Exe and ask if we’re with them, but they’re nothing to do with our club. This will be our first Varsity match at Exeter since 2014. We’re really trying to push the perimeters this year because not enough people know about it.”

 

What’s the format for the night?

“3 rounds of two minutes. After each fight the winner of each will be given a medal. There’s no overall winner just the winner of each fight.”

“There’ll be a break in the middle too with drinks and food being served at the bar. We just want people to enjoy themselves.”

 How many people are you expecting to come?

“About 500. We’ve sold more than half the tickets and only started organizing the sales on Monday”

What have the past Varsity matches been like?

“The last one we had was absolutely amazing, the place was fully packed”

“Most of our boxers won that night too and we want the same to happen this time.”

Lets chat about the backstory, how often do you guys train?

“Almost every day- three times a week and there are also some morning sessions and squad training every Tuesday. We train at our local gym, with our coaches who’ve been supporting us for five years now.”

“People who are fighting will be doing more runs and sprints, and basically always training and training and training.”

“We’ll have training after the varsity match too so as you can tell it’s quite intense”

What does your training consist of?

“At the moment its mostly just fitness and then at squad sessions we do sparring (practice fighting) each other. We never aim to knock out our teammates but just to prepare them.”

“The uni sessions are different to the squad sessions. We don’t do sparring at uni sessions but focus more on teaching technique.”

Does anyone actually get hurt?

“It depends-you are getting physically punched so if you’re right in front of a punch you’re gonna get hurt”

“There’s some nose-bleeding occasionally”

“Yeah last week during training sessions I got blacked out by a punch”

“We try to keep the power down. But even with the power down if you lock straight into a really great technical shot you can still get hurt”

Do you have any protection?!

“Nope, we don’t wear any protective headgear. The girls do but the boys don’t.”

“But fight night get protective head gear because it’s white collar.”

“But if you look at fight night they get protective head gear because it’s white collar. This is a proper varsity.”

Is EUABC viewed as tough competition then? How do we compare to the other unis?

“We’ve had a few champion gold medals actually, and one who won it two years in a row”

“We’re ranked around 4^th in the UK, which is amazing for a club who only entered BOX a few years ago.”

How long have you all been boxing?

“2 years, since we all started uni pretty much. Only a couple of people had any prior experience so for most of us its 1 or 2 years.”

What makes boxing better than other sports?

“It’s not a team sport, it’s very individual and it’s all up to you.”

“The adrenaline you get is amazing, more than any other sport I’ve done. You also get really really fit, and having the chance to compete is great.”

“You gain self-confidence in your own skills. You have to be conscience of what you are doing and remain focused at every single moment. If you look away for a even a second, the judge disqualifies you for losing focus and says you’re not able to fight.”

“Its very much mind over matter. You train as a team, but then at the end when you’re in the ring its just you, and that compares to life where sometimes you have to go through things alone.”

“We all support each other like family and we love being around each other which helps. We spend a lot of time with each other because we train 4 times a week plus fitness but we also teach at the uni sessions for the general members so we basically see each other every day.”

And finally, what do you think makes a good boxer?

“I think its dedication, and then just natural talent probably. Effort, definitely effort, you’ve got to train all the time. At first you won’t be good but you’ve got to stick at it and if you go to all the training sessions you’ll definitely improve because you’ve put in the effort.”

Tickets for the Varsity match cost £10 and are being sold by the EUABC in Forum throughout the week. There’ll also be a chance to buy tickets on the door.

You can find out more by going to the Facebook event here,  by checking them out on Instagram at exeteruniversityboxingclub or their Snapchat/Twitter at EUABC1

Many thanks to Diletta Alparone, Nina Weber, Zein Jallad, Olga Zyuzina, Dasha Perusheva, Qais Al-alem, Lia Clarke