KCL Amateur Boxing Club gets its swagger back

If Quentin Tarantino were to direct a game of chess, he’d turn it into a boxing match. Add a soundtrack provided by the KCL DJ Society and you get ‘King’s of the Ring: Boxing Fight Night’.

KCL Amateur Boxing Club hosted the ‘King’s of the Ring: Boxing Fight Night’ this Wednesday night at Greenwood Theatre on Guy’s Campus. Here, boxers representing the amateur boxing clubs of King’s College London, Cambridge and Nottingham Trent competed to snatch the title of ‘King of the Ring’.

As the theatre started to fill up, all the attention was drawn to the empty ring. One could say it almost looked peaceful… if only it weren’t for menacing red light prowling over it. However, as the first bout of the night began, any illusion of tranquility vanished.

Gilbert Sagalia, from the College, made his entrance to 2 Chainz and Wiz Khalifa’s ‘We own it’ – which he did, defeating his opponent, Iftyar Thoughfique from Nottingham Trent, by TKO. Gilbert told Roar News that the only thing in his mind right before entering the ring is “get in and win”. Asked about his pre-game rituals, he said listening to rap and hip-hop always helps him swagger. Seems like a pretty efficient technique.

The second bout between Esteban Guzman from the College and Rob Lack from Nottingham Trent heat up quickly. The crowd rooted for Esteban until the final seconds, but Rob’s good punches with bad intentions made it impossible for him to pull a strong comeback. Finally, victory by unanimous decision was awarded to the Nottingham Trent boxer.

Dan Warren, representing Nottingham Trent, and Matt Ashford from Cambridge were next to enter the ring. As they exchanged some chopping punches, the audience went from cheering to roaring. Matt Ashford won this exciting bout by unanimous decision.

In the fourth contest, fact was stranger than fiction. Just like comic book heroes, Vincent Timsit from the College faced his doppelgänger, Sidharth Prabhu-Naik from Cambridge. Vincent described his ‘evil twin’ as “the best opponent I had. We were the same height, weight, level…I felt like I was fighting myself”. The audience got louder as the plot – and tension – thickened. Coincidence or not, it was impossible to tell whether they were shouting “Vin” or “Sid”. Ultimately, Vincent won the contest by TKO.

The evening ended with a bang: Joshua Deakin from Nottingham Trent defeated the College’s Liberatus Fusi-Okpodono by TKO in a fast paced and very furious bout. For a moment, you could hear their punches over the hollering crowd, which quickly noticed and got louder than ever just as the contest finished.

After the show, Martin Dimitrov, the coach of the College’s team, declared himself happy with the boxers’ performances, saying that “Hard work paid off tonight”.

Coach Martin Dimitrov

Two years ago, the College’s Boxing Club didn’t afford a show. Last year, although the ‘Fight Night’ was victorious for the College’s Boxing Club as an event, none of the bouts themselves were. This week, KCL Amateur Boxing Club got its swagger back. One thing is certain: many people are going to break the first (and second) rule of Fight Club. They are definitely going to talk about this night.

“We own it” – Gilbert Sagalia (left) and Vincent Timsit (right)

Photography by Cathy Wang

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