SPORTS YEARBOOK 2011 (Including the 2009-2010 Review

Amateur Boxing Club
www.CUABC.org.uk
CUABC exists to teach the art of
boxing in the University of
Cambridge, and to field a team
in the annual Varsity match.
We seek to develop students of
the University in physical ability
from any level into confident,
skilled athletes.
103rd Varsity Boxing Match
result: Cambridge 5 - 4 Oxford.
Cambridge leads 51- 48.
The feeling on the bus from
Cambridge to Oxford on 09 March
2010 was electric, with Head
Coach Ben Blowes and Junior
Coaches Richard ‘Dolph’ Hardy
and Lee Mitchell leading their
9 boxers with the same
determination of purpose that
they had taking over the gym for
the first time in October 2009. Ben
never asked more of his athletes
than he asked of himself – he is a
sub 3 hour marathon runner. All
the boxers had won their places
through grit and determination
against fierce opposition
throughout the year, and the 5-4
victory in the match over Oxford
was similarly earned.
The VM match was thrilling from
beginning to end, a match where
the Coaches recognised that every
shot thrown would count. This
analytic approach conditioned the
coaches’ and the boxers’ attitude.
James DeGale, British Olympic
Heavyweight Boxing Gold
medalist joined the team on
the night, and donned a CUABC
shirt with the team before the
match began.
14 Sports Yearbook 2011
Left in the ring after a noisy and
hostile “face off” was Faisal Nasim.
Adrenaline ran high with Oxford
clearly keen to avenge their 9-0
defeat of 2009. Nasim’s opponent
Chen was the dominant boxer
who tore out of the blue corner
with classy rapid straight
punching. Nasim never quite
managed to rally himself to box
off the back foot and make clear
space, and Chen closed him
down, denying him the
opportunity to be the stylish
free-flowing boxer he had
shown himself to be in previous
bouts. He lost on a unanimous
points decision.
Second up in the red corner for
Cambridge was young Jason Blick
(whose brother had boxed for
Oxford in 2009). Blick carried a lot
on his shoulders going into this
bout, with family rivalry, and a
closer knowledge of his Oxford
opponent than other CUABC
boxers. Blick suffered in Oxford
Town Hall, between the crowd and
Pearson, his larger and more
experienced opponent, and was
overwhelmed from the first bell.
He was unable to release the very
heart and guts that had won him
his VM place in a fierce bout
against teammate Shanley earlier
in the season. The referee stopped
the contest in the first round.
Third up for Cambridge was the
irrepressible Brett Shanley, a
plucky character all season in the
gym. Shanley was able to move in
and out of contact in the ring, but
he was never able to out
manoeuvre the more capable
Oxford boxer Upton. In a good
three round contest Upton
proved the stronger boxer and
took the bout on a unanimous
points decision.
The home crowd were, by this
point, enjoying a nuclear ecstasy.
Ben Blowes in the CUABC corner
had seen his first three boxers
defeated, yet never wavered.
Oxford seemed to have promised
revenge for 2009 to the home
crowd, and their coaching team
were clearly excited by the chants
of “9-0” by Oxford supporters.
Bout 4 saw the first of OUABC star
boxers, the former Scottish
amateur national Fields step into
the ring, against Cambridge’s
Fergal McCool. The first round
belonged to Fields, and his
technical skill paid off. Yet McCool
was to prove how much he had
developed as a boxer, and how
synchronized he was with his
coaches’ instruction in not
losing his nerve in the second
and third rounds.
McCool was unsuccessful in
gaining a place on the 2008 VM
team, and gave up boxing the next
season, only to watch the 2009
victory from the wings. From day
one, there was no doubt in his
mind that a Cambridge Blue’s
blazer was his for the taking.
A superb all round athlete, who
could probably have competed on
the track for the university, his
athleticism shone in the second
and third rounds.
Fields became increasingly reliant
on technical skill, as McCool