The University Boxing club fell to a 6-2 defeat on Friday night in the annual Town v Gown match, an unfair score line perhaps, not helped by the late withdrawals of the much fancied Cambridge duo Kiwanuka and Simpson.

The decision to move the bout from Royston to the Guildhall ensured a Cambridge majority in the crowd for the first time in twelve years. The atmosphere was already at fever pitch by the time Corpus philosopher Nick Melgaard had dispatched of the less experienced John Lacy in an all Cambridge fight before the Town fighters appeared.

Heley Matthews kicked the fixture off against Svetlana Link of the Metropolitan Police. It was a fight that set the tone for the evening with both boxers adopting largely attack-minded philosophies. Matthews,however, played into Link’s hands and the Russian had her down halfway through the first with a fine right hook. Matthews, to her credit, recovered well but despite her jab troubling Link at times, she couldn’t quite pull herself back from her unfortunate start and lost on a majority points decision.

Next up, ex Cambridge Karate captain Nim Sukumar showed nifty footwork in the against Dean Bently of the Iceni ABC and tried to rattle his opponent with an opening flurry of punches. Yet Bently was wise to it and midway through the first round started to dominate with some impressive shots, taking advantage of Sukumar’s low hands. The town took a 2-0 lead.

Hoping to stem the tide was Robinson second year, Elliot ‘Chainsaw’ Chambers, who, following on from last year’s points victory had taken the summer out to box in Cuba and New York. A counter attacking boxer at heart, Chambers tends to soak up pressure and let loose late in the bout. Yet his Metropolitan Police opponent, Alex Omar, wasn’t going to drop off easily and was able even to breach Chambers’ usually tight guard with a couple of tasty jabs. Chambers admirably resisted and looked as if he would threaten with some attempted combination moves. But given his style three rounds is arguably too short for the geographer, and Omar prevailed on a unanimous points decision.

The next two fights were to go the way of the Town also. James ‘JP’ Phillips, with a strong Johnian backing in the crownd, fell to Deaon Cianciola of Bishops Stortford while Robinson grad student Simon Paul put up a brave fight before just falling short of Perry Gallagher.

Staring at a whitewash, returning blue and ex-captain Chris Webb put on a sensational performance to demonstrate once more why he is one of the University’s premier sportsmen. Even though his opponent from Iceni ABC seemed more than capable, the gulf in class was on display early in the first, with the Queens student’s incredible foot speed and jab. In cruise control, Webb continued his master class with a series of fine hooks in the second and third and will only be disappointed not to have seen his opponent on the canvas at any stage. Unsurprisingly the verdict was saw a unanimous points win for Webb.

Following in Webb’s footsteps, ex City Lawyer, the 37 year old Kevin Morgan gave a suitably mature performance in dispatching Islington’s Maxwelll Badu in arguably the fight of the night. The pair traded blow after blow in the first couple of rounds though it was Morgan who stepped up the plate in the third and deservedly left the ring the winner on points.

Morgan, beaming from his victory, stayed at ringside for the last fight of the night between Churchill’s Chris Kelly and policeman Joe Kirkby. It wasn’t to be however for Kelly and Kirkby was in control for the majority of the bout even if Kelly landed a few good strikes in the first couple of rounds. The scores finished at 6-2 to the Town.

Team captain SSegawa Kiwanuka was nevertheless upbeat about the performance and spoke to Varsity after the performance, "The 500 spectators packed into the Guildhall saw that boxing is the hardest sport out there. CUABC had 7 no-bouters making their debut, five of whom had only been boxing since October. They were up against boxers who had been in the gym for two years, so the fact not one of them gave up or got overwhelmed by the occasion shows the amount of boxing heart they have. As captain, I am immensely proud of all my boxers and the work our three coaches, Head Coach Ben Blowes, Lee Mitchell and Richard "Dolph" Hardy".

Despite the loss, the club have every reason to be confident going into the Varsity fight on March 17th when they will attempt to win the Truelove bowl for the third year in succession.