Preview: UEA Fight Night!

UEA Butterfly Boxing’s annual Fight Night will be taking place this Wednesday 2nd in the LCR.

Boxing has set the world alight in the past few years, with fantastic British fights such as Groves vs Froch (which ended in controversial fashion and will be re-enacted on the 31st May at Wembley Stadium) taking place, and boxers worldwide displaying immense talent – Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather maintaining his dominance on the world stage after a crushing defeat of Alvarez, Anthony Joshua looking like the next big thing in the heavyweight division with a big fight in Tyson Fury vs Derek Chisora to come, and with high hopes that eventually Mayweather vs Pacquiao will take place.

Many of these fighters made themselves known first in the amateur leagues, so who knows – we could be seeing the next Muhammad Ali at UEA’s very own Fight Night!

UEA Boxing have been trained, prepped and weighed in ready for Wednesday night! There will be nine fights taking place, all of a high calibre, with a few knockouts expected. Let’s meet the fighters!

Sam Attwood vs Tanaka Patrick Taks

Attwood

Stance – Orthodox

Nickname – N/A (but doesn’t want to be the next Michael Gomez of the Fight Club, who was knocked down in 6 seconds)

What he says – “I’m optimistic about the fight – I have the weight advantage by about 2 kg and the longer reach on my opponent, but he’s definitely the better technical fighter. We both have the same experience with fighting, and I’m looking forward to being featured in the first fight of the night, although it’ll be crazy! If I do wake up at the hospital I can play the sympathy card at Lola’s later!”

Guy Chatfield vs Pavel Mizgulin

Mizgulin

Stance – Orthodox

Nickname – N/A

What he says – “The fight will be difficult because my opponent fights technically better than me and has longer reach in arms, so I need to use my speed to fight him. If I manage to stick to the plan of the fight I think I have a good chance.”

Josh Excell vs Harry Pollard

Pollard

Stance – Orthodox (but will throw in a few Southpaw)

Nickname – Money Pollard (Harry is taking a leaf out of Floyd’s book)

What he says – “I reckon the fight will be close and it will come down to fitness probably, unless one of us manages to knock the other out!”

Ella Gilbert vs Abi Smith

Smith

Stance – Southpaw

Nickname – Abs (although Smith tells the Tab this is just an abbreviation and nothing to do with the state of her stomach)

What she says – “Ella is in her 3rd year I believe, and has been boxing for 2 years and I started back in September/October so I could be considered the underdog. I’d say she is a lot fitter than me and gets into character a lot easier!

I’m not the most confident but it’ll be a great experience, and I really appreciate how patient and helpful Ella has been with me… It’s a shame I have to fight her really because we’ve become good friends – hopefully that won’t change!

I am definitely not a confrontational or violent person so this is very out of character for me and I think it has surprised of lot of people when they find out I’m fighting. Should be such a great atmosphere on the night, and I’m really looking forward to it, nerves aside!”

Gilbert

Stance – Orthodox (but very used to fighting southpaws, which her opponent is)

Nickname – N/A (but watch out for the feminist insignia she’ll be emblazoned with. Go on gal!)

What she says – “I’m looking forward to the fight, and Abi and I will (fingers crossed) perform to our best ability. My money’s on me, but then again I would say that… Regardless of the outcome though, it’ll be a fun night: I love boxing, there will be some sensational fights, and I’ll be able to drink again after 2 months off the sauce! I‘ll try and channel Emma Goldman and Bakunin while I’m desperately trying to remember everything I need to!”

As a quick side note I am very happy to see a women’s fight included in the evening. Nicola Adams is, and should rightly be, an inspiration to girls after picking up the first ever gold medal in women’s boxing at the 2012 Olympics!

Boxing first and foremost is an intense, high-octane, tactical sport and a lot of the time the fighting and punching is secondary. And let’s be honest, on a Thursday night out on Prince of Wales I’ve seen more fights between women than men, so I’m happy there’s a ladies’ fight in a controlled environment, and it should be great.

I’m sure both Ella and Abi will show that actually it’s ok to “fight like a girl”.

As Ella tells me: “I’m hoping it will counter some of the negative connotations of boxing – maybe it will remind people that to fight like a girl isn’t such a bad thing and that women can compete to the same standards as men. It’s crazy, yet unsurprising, that boxing has been so male-dominated for so many years – it was only made an Olympic sport in London 2012, and wasn’t sanctioned by the Amateur Boxing Association (ABA) til the late 90s.

It’s pretty shocking when you consider how long boxing has been around. I’m glad we’ve moved on from an era where the only role of women in the ring was in holding up the round number cards and being commodified as sex objects, to one where women can compete and be recognised as athletes.”

Max Heron vs Billy Kensit

Kensit

Stance – Southpaw

Nickname – ‘Bareback Bill’ (The Tab aren’t sure this has anything to do with boxing… but we don’t judge*) *Please practice safe sex

What he says – “I’m pretty confident about the fight – I think I’ll win. Either way I won’t leave anything outside the ring – maximum effort.”

INTERVAL

Naf Haque vs Ben Phillips

Phillips

Stance – Orthodox

Nickname – N/A

What he says – “I reckon it can go either way, depends how much I’m shitting myself on the night! Also, how alert I am feeling. If I am the aggressor, I think I’ve got a good chance of victory.”

Haque

Stance – Orthodox

Nickname – N/A

What he says – “I think it’s going to be close and could go either way. Both of us prefer brawling instead of fighting technically if you would say, so it’s likely we will both throw and receive big shots from each other.”

Jordan Morris vs Antonio Invernizzi

Morris

Stance – Orthodox (will throw in a bit of Southpaw)

Nickname – N/A

What he says – “Our fight will be one of the closest I think and could realistically go either way. I would class myself as an underdog however as my opponent has had eleven previous kickboxing fights and I’ve only been doing this since we came back from Christmas!”

Invernizzi

Stance – Orthodox

Nickname – The Assassino

What he says – “Jordan is a good friend of mine and has trained with me for a year. I think the fight is going to be a close call since he is a very good match up for me. I’m called The Assassino (assassin) since I have put down several members of the boxing club during sparring sessions!”

Conrad Francis vs George Redhead

Francis

Stance – Orthodox

Nickname – N/A

What he says – “Our bout should be pretty technical and I’m looking forward to it, George has a fair bit of experience so it will be a  good test.”

Redhead

Stance – Orthodox

Nickname – N/A

What he says – “My fight is very closely matched and it will will be one of the more technical bouts on the night because Conrad also has the same style and has been boxing for a similar amount of time as myself.”

And the big one – the incoming President vs the outgoing President:

Shomarri R Diaz vs Khurram Khan

Diaz

Stance – Orthodox

Nickname – Shomarri ‘Showtime’ Diaz

What he says – “I just want to put on a great boxing show, and give the people excitement and their money’s worth, but mostly give back to my people coming to support me with a great show and hopefully a victory.”

Khan

Stance – Orthodox

Nickname – N/A

What he says – “It’s a well anticipated night at UEA, always a night to remember and hopefully this year will be no different. Everyone has worked so hard up to this point so we just hope we can entertain and deliver to the crowd what they expect.”

The Tab suspects they will! It really should be a great night. The fights will take the form of three two-minute rounds so come, drink and enjoy some fantastic fighting in a controlled environment. Please do not fight outside the ring – if you want to fight join UEA Boxing Club!

Tickets are available to buy from the Box Office but are expected to sell out soon, so make sure you get in quick!