Ringside story

CRN Fight Night 2016 proved to be a smash hit, attracting its biggest audience yet. Sara Yirrell reports on what happened, and what our brave fighters had to say about it all

Dry ice. Check. Crazy music. Check. CRN Fight Night 2016 was another swinging success.

As always, we at CRN are relieved when the last fight is over and everyone is still in one piece and looking forward to celebrating their amazing achievement of surviving three rounds in the ring. And the fighters certainly enjoyed themselves this year - deservedly so after three months of intensive training - and raised money for their favourite charities at the same time.

After eight years, the event has gone from strength to strength and the atmosphere was electric at the venue in the Brewery in Chiswell Street.

With our biggest crowd to date packed into the central London venue, we kicked off the evening with a mass balloon pop to see who had won a free bottle of champagne for their table (courtesy of HP and Westcoast), after which the alcohol flowed freely all night.

The first three bouts took place before dinner, opening with Peter ‘The Pistol' Ollerenshaw from Softcat living up to his name against Andrew ‘The Shoreditch Shark' Miles.

With a hard and fast volley of punches, The Pistol knocked The Shark to the floor in the first round with a heavy right hook, and the fight was stopped, despite the Shark's clear disappointment.

Speaking after the fight, Ollerenshaw said: "I absolutely loved it. It's amazing how all the training goes out the window when you step into the ring for real, but I'll definitely keep it up. CRN Fight Night is an excellent ambassador for boxing in our industry and helps keep the sport healthy and fresh with newbies coming in (like me!)"

Next up was Darren ‘The Suburban Samurai' Blumenthal from Accenture fighting ‘Lightning' Luke Masterton from Northamber.

Both men fought hard and went the full three rounds, but Lightning made the fiercest strike and was declared the winner by the referee.

"It seems my face-to-fist style of fighting is not the right approach! I am glad it's a long weekend and hopefully the bruises will fade by the time I get back to work," said Blumenthal after the fight."I honestly never knew boxing was so complex and so technical a sport. The sheer number of aspects you need to train for are immense and I am not the same person I was 12 weeks ago."

In the final fight before the meal was served, Alan ‘The Beast' Kearney from Infinigate took on Paul ‘The Pocket Rocket' Page from CDW.

This was a hard-fought bout, with The Beast striking hard, but The Pocket Rocket fought back and emerged victorious in what was described by compere Mark ‘The Burf' Burford as a "fantastic fight".

The audience was then treated to a three-course meal as the next batch of warriors prepared for their fight. Guests were served steak tartare, a main course of pork, followed by cherry bakewell cheesecake, with aubergine parmigiana for the vegetarians among us.

Then it was time for the fighting to start once more and the crowd were clearly ready for more action.

Phil ‘Little Evil' Laidlaw from Arrow ECS was up next against Oliver ‘The Earth' Crake from Lenovo in a true middleweight fight.

Both fighters took a fall during the match, but it was a very hard-fought bout and they both gave it their all. At the end of the third round, the referee declared Little Evil the winner by a whisker.

Next up was the first of our two female bouts and it certainly was worth the wait. Kelly ‘The Ram' Mason from Comms-care was up against Emma-Beth ‘The Assassin' Anthony from Agilitas.

Both ladies gave it their absolute all, but The Ram was defending a seven-year unbeaten run for Comms-care and she was a demon in the ring. To be fair to The Assasin, she gave it her best shot and took an absolute pounding, refusing to give in and deservedly earning the title of Female Fighter of the Night later on in the evening. The sheer guts shown by both fighters brought the audience to its feet at the end of the third round, but the Ram kept Comms-care's clean sheet, making it eight years undefeated.

Next up was a change to the schedule, with James ‘The Closer' Giblette pulling out due to injury, but his opponent Lenny ‘The Wolf' Bowers from Mimecast was put up against a criminal lawyer called Daniel ‘The Judge' Wellings from The Ring Boxing Club. It was a light heavyweight showdown, with both men putting their heart and soul into the fight. At the end of the third round, the referee couldn't call it, so declared it a draw. But The Wolf won the grand title of ‘Male Fighter of the Night' at the end of the evening.

We were then treated to our second female bout of the night, with another belter - Sandie ‘El Toro' Ibanez-Leach from Kite Distribution took on Thea ‘The Fear' Mayes from HP Enterprise. The fight got off to a blistering start and the level of support for the two women was deafening, with people on their feet from the outset cheering on their favourite.

After three brilliant rounds and some quality boxing from both sides, Ibanez-Leach was declared the winner as the room erupted in cheers for both ladies.

Speaking to CRN afterwards, Ibanez-Leach said: "I feel amazing and loved every minute of it. I really feel that my training worked out and it felt exactly how I visualised it. I would 100 per cent recommend it. The training alone has been so rewarding - I have got fitter, I have more confidence, and I raised money for charity. I had so much support from everyone and to win was just fantastic."

Her opponent Mayes also had a positive experience: "It was an incredible night, and I'm so proud of everyone. I'm a better person for meeting all of you. Now back to selling a ton of IT!"

Next up were two heavyweight giants - Gary ‘The Brawler' Warner from Avnet took on Aatish ‘The Lion' Pattni from Check Point. The punches could be heard from the far ends of the room while some very vocal supporters for Aatish cheered him on.

Both were spent by the end of the third round, but The Brawler was declared the winner by one point at the end of the fight.

Speaking to CRN after the fight, Pattni said: "It was a great experience. You do so much to prep and it's still not enough in the ring but afterwards you feel good about what you've achieved. I feel broken and tired but at the same time I'm thinking about going back into the gym tomorrow - that's what this does to you!"

Finally, the last pair, who had been waiting patiently for their turn all evening, were unleashed on the audience.

Craig ‘Boss Man' Drew from Insight Direct was up against Scott ‘The Admiral' Nelson from Westcoast. The pent-up energy from both was obvious as they started the fight and the audience was wowed by some hard and fast punches from both sides.

However, Boss Man lived up to his name and began dominating the fight, getting in some serious blows to his much taller opponent.

Much to the obvious disappointment of The Admiral, the fight was stopped just before the end of the second round, with Boss Man declared the victor. However, both men enjoyed a well-deserved standing ovation for their efforts.

With the fights over, and the boxers having a well-earned drink at the bar, the party really got started and the typical channel mingling began.

The hardcore partygoers then moved on to the after-show party at Beduin Bar in Smithfields and danced until the early hours.

■ Fight Night will be back in 2017. To register your interest as a potential contender, we will be accepting entries and nominations at the CRN Channel Awards in November.