Black and Blue
CRN's 2014 Fight Night event was not for the faint-hearted, writes Sara Yirrell
The phrase on the back of the fighters' vests said it all: "You don't play boxing". And that was certainly the case at CRN Fight Night 2014 at the Brewery in central London - which was probably one of the most brutal to date, with a catalogue of injuries - all of which were borne and displayed with pride.
The list included a busted ankle, two broken fingers, a perforated eardrum, a dislocated shoulder and numerous black eyes, swollen and cut lips and sore noses.
But the overwhelming feedback was that it was a fantastic night, and despite their injuries our fearless fighters would do it all again! All 18 boxers were fighting for their favourite charities, which gave them the determination to succeed on the night.
The evening kicked off with the first three fights, starting with a bout between Troy "Mad Knuckles" Carpenter from Avnet, against Check Point's Martin "The Rottweiler" Rutterford (pictured left).
After a very close fight indeed, the referee declared Mad Knuckles the winner and CRN caught up with him the next day.
"Wow, what a night," he said. "I'm still feeling pumped up and a little sore, if I'm honest. CRN put on an amazing night and I would do it again in the blink of an eye. I would like to thank The Burf and Robin from City Boxer for all the training and advice they have given me over the past three months. It was a great night, a great event with great people," he said.
Next up was a fierce battle between Faisal "The Executioner" Akram from Panduit and Neil "The Warrior" Wheeler from Azlan. (pictured right). The Executioner won the day.
Speaking of his disappointment, Wheeler said: "I feel that the fight could have easily gone my way. I think I let myself down with the training, I wasn't as committed to it as I should have been and now I'll have to live with that. The trainers and all the staff at the gym were brilliant and I'd like to extend a special thank you to George for all his hard work and insight. Would I do it again? Absolutely."
Third up was Astute's Paul "The Punisher" Woods versus Clifford "Riddler" Norton from Channel Telecom (pictured left).
It was a hard fight but The Punisher lived up to his name and dealt the winning blow. Riddler Norton said he had enjoyed his experience nonetheless. "I'm a bit bruised, with a swollen nose and a black eye, but compared to some of the other guys, I got off lightly. It certainly wasn't what I expected, but it has been a brilliant experience and how fit I have got as a result is unbelievable. It is a life-changing event to do and I would highly recommend it to anybody."
He added that he would be keeping up the boxing once a week and was pleased to have raised £4,500 to date for his charity, the National Autistic Society.
Dinner was served next, consisting of bass with cauliflower and apple tapioca, followed by pork chop and mash and a coffee and caramel meringue.
After the meal came one of the most brutal and hard-fought matches of them all - Ben "The Warrior" Whitehouse from Comms-care and Harry "The Hatchet" Lowton from SoftwareONE (pictured below).
Because it was such a close fight, the referee decided to declare a draw. Lowton was later given the Best Boxer Award for his overall performance.
Speaking to CRN after, he said: "I thought that I had it, but great respect to Ben. He was a great fighter. It was a great fight, and it was just great to come away with boxer of the night. It was for a great cause (Cruse Bereavement). My brother died on his gap year, with his best friends, in South Africa in a car crash and the charity was there to support me through counselling. And because it is a free service, I thought it would be a great idea help them and to fight in memory of my brother Ed. They helped us get through a difficult time."
Ben "The Warrior" came off slightly worse, requiring an early morning hospital visit for his injured ankle.
"I turned my ankle in the first round and damaged all the ligaments, so am now on crutches for the next three to four weeks," he said. "But despite that I really enjoyed the experience and it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It is definitely something I would do again and to anyone thinking of applying next year I'd say do it, but make sure you are prepared."
The next match was our second ladies' bout in the history of Fight Night, between Charlotte "Tornado" Tunstall from Trend Micro and Exclusive Networks' Lamorna "Hellcat" Harpin.
After a brilliantly executed fight, Hellcat clawed her way to victory in the third round.
Tornado said she hoped more women would be inspired to take part after watching their bout.
"It was very close! There was definitely more boxing rather than fighting in our match! I'd say that the whole experience was fantastic. Each training session was different and tested different strengths - be them physical or psychological. Everyone who supported CRN Fight Night has been amazing and I definitely couldn't have taken part without them all. It's great knowing it was all for charity as well! Here's hoping some ladies step forwards next year and follow in our footsteps!"
Our next bout (pictured, right) resulted in the other serious injury of the night, with Ian "Clubber" Clark from Westcoast against Justin "Beelzebub" Garlick from Verisolve.
Clubber dislocated his shoulder after two rounds and Beelzebub was declared the winner.
Garlick said: "There's no hiding in boxing... unlike anything else or any other sport I've ever done. You have to know how good you are - no matter where you start or how you may feel at the beginning of training, you get to the point where you have to fight. The hardest part as with all things is the wait...once you start, a button clicks and nothing else matters other than who's in front of you. Do it again? Oh, hell yeah."
Our next fight (pictured, left) also saw an injury stop play after two rounds, with Ed "The Butcher" Bell from Bytes declared the winner after Sean "The Wolfhound" Doggett from Nebulas suffered a perforated eardrum.
The penultimate fight was a grudge match between Symantec's Ross "The Lawman" Lawrence and Sam "The Baby-Faced Assassin" Oliver from Mimecast. (pictured, right) In the end, after some really heartfelt punches, The Lawman threw the book at his opponent with a victory in the third round.
And the final fight of the night (pictured, left) was classed as not only the battle of the giants, but the battle of the Bens, with Ricoh's Ben "Step Into the Ring and Feel My Scorpion Sting" Lee squaring up to Ben "The Wreathall Weapon" Wreathall from Computerlinks [Arrow].
After some hard-hitting punches, the force of the Wreathall Weapon ground the Scorpion down and the fight was stopped in the closing seconds.
Once the fights were over, the hard partying began, with revellers leaving the Brewery after midnight to continue celebrating at the Beduin Bar in Smithfields until the early hours.
Anyone interested in applying for CRN Fight Night 2015 will be able to get their submissions in at the CRN Channel Awards in November.
All the videos of the bouts can be viewed here.