Read the fight by fight guide from Tuesday's kickboxing fight night.
Following on from Boxing Society’s fight night last week, the long awaited, much anticipated kickboxing fight night returned on Tuesday to everyone’s favourite venue… Komedia.
Ten fights took place over the course of the evening, with University of Bath fighters facing a range of other unis. With matches against Bristol and Bath Spa, it’s safe to say there were a few grudges matches with reputations to uphold.
Each match consisted of three 90 second rounds. After the rounds were complete, three judges decided a winner based on a scoring system with points added for downs, damage inflicted, clean hits, and aggressiveness.
Bath claim two victories in first five fights
First up was Uni of Bath’s Nicholas Ray against Bath Spa’s Ross Wollard. As the fight got underway, Ray seemed to be technically better, however the aggression from Wollard was unmatched. In the second round, Ray got the break he wanted, dropping Wollard to the ground, but he did not stay down. Spa seemed to be back on top with Wollard landing several impressive blows however in round three Ray was back on top. The judges’ decision was split, but Ray was declared the winner.
Next up Bath’s Kareem Naqvi vs Southampton’s James Forster. Kareem is a well-loved member of the club, and this was evident when he came out. Forster was up against not only Naqvi, but also the whole of Komedia.
Naqvi came in hot as the match began, kicking Forster to the ground. However, in the second round Naqvi was on the back foot. This didn’t stop Naqvi from bloodying up Forster’s nose, but even this couldn’t save the match for him and the judges unanimously voted Forster as the winner.
Despite his loss, when interviewed Naqvi’s focus was on the love within the club, stating “Doesn’t matter if you win or lose, I wanted to give my best and I did. You can’t control the other person only yourself.”
Following on from this was a non-decision fight between Isabella Davis from Bath, and Mia Malik from Bristol. The first round was very even but in the second round Malik started to nudge ahead, using her speed to get Davis into a corner and dominate.
Malik continued to dominate for the majority of the second round. The pace slowed in the third round, with both fighters becoming increasingly tired.
Bath’s Harvey Davies was on next, facing Edward James McCarthy from Bristol. In the first round Davies was knocked to the ground, but the fight looked even. However, in between the rounds the crowd got behind Harvey, chanting his name.
While McCarthy put up a good fight, Davies was on top from here on out and it wasn’t surprising that he was declared the winner. Davies felt the fight had been tough and felt more tired than he had expected. He also credited his friends who had come from home with their cheers pushing him to win the fight
Onto fight five! This battle saw Bath’s Fin Warren fight Swansea’s Kameron Mattu. The match got off to a shaky start with Mattu missing his cue to come onto the stage, but once he eventually made his way to the stage the match could begin.
Soon after the first round began Warren lost his balance and was left scrambling to get back up, however his recovery was remarkable.
Realising that Mattu was more dangerous in the centre of the ring, Warren kept him cornered for most of the second and third rounds and judges voted unanimously for Warren. Another win for Bath.
Epic finale of fights closes evening
Fraser Akel-Johnson was up next for Bath fighting against Charles Graefe from Bangor. The first round was off to a slow start with Akel-Johnson nearly being swept off his feet and a few swings and misses from Graefe.
Akel-Johnson successfully capitalised on these and by round two, Graefe was swaying a little too much for comfort leading to the referee calling a technical knockout. With his head in his hands Graefe left the ring but backstage the two men had a heart to heart.
When interviewed, Akel-Johnson couldn’t have been humbler, explaining that Graefe had very little notice and was fighting up in weight, so whilst he was happy with his performance, Graefe shouldn’t be unhappy with his.
Akel Johnson also credited the atmosphere for his performance, saying “I’ve never heard cheers that loud for me, all my friends just cheering for me it’s amazing there’s no better feeling in the world”
Uni of Bath’s Amman Meah then fought Reuben Dhillon. Meah struggled from the word go, and the TKO in the second round felt inevitable. After being repeatedly cornered, kicked and punched the referee called it about halfway through the second round, with the win going to Dhillon before he could cause too much damage.
Another non decision match up next. Two bath students, Georgina Fernandes and Sky Lee Lilly (currently on placement) went head-to-head. Fernandes landed a lot of early blows and was successfully dodging and countering those sent by Lee Lilly so was ahead for the first round.
Lilly Lee made a recovery in the second and third rounds, but it was too little too late with Fernandes pulling out spin kicks and driving the crowd crazy. In her post match interview, Fernandes discussed how intimidating it can be to square up to someone who can punch heavy but said that the culture is so accepting that it becomes less scary.
The penultimate match saw Ben Ansell face Ross Rayner, another Bristol student. Ansell’s speed and agility were unrivalled. Whatever Rayner attempted was turned back on him and there was a near technical knockout, but Rayner managed to get back to his feet and muscle through.
Ansell dominated the third round, and the judges unanimously voted him the winner. When Rayner was interviewed, he revealed he had only had two days to prepare and that with so little time his key focus was to get himself mentally ready.
Finally, the long-awaited fight between Tommy McAnulty and Areeb Khan from Southampton. Suspense had been building all night for this fight with McAnulty being one of the key fighters within the club. Khan had the speed, but McAnulty had the technique, and they were a blur of arms and legs as they battled around the ring.
The fight was even until the crowd got behind McAnulty in the second round. In the final round the atmosphere was electric. Initially it was even, but with two knees to the face McAnulty was back to battering Khan and in the best end to fight night, it was another win for Bath.
Just after, we had the pleasure of talking to the Chair Gina, who was thrilled with the way the event went especially when she considered how complicated events like this are to plan.
She also emphasised how keen she is for more women to get involved, in what is a positive and friendly cutlure, but that unfortunately other universities couldn’t provide enough female fighters for more of Bath's female students to be able to participate.