City Fight Club: Boxing Finals

This is Part 2 of our coverage of the City Fight Club White Collar amateur MMA's first round event, the boxing competition, held at DEF Boxing Gym in Sheung Wan, Hong Kong.  You can read Part 1 here.

At this point of the event, every white collar warrior has tasted of battle.  Now begin the finals in each division to determine the champions of the night.  The only thing missing is the Founder, Vuyisile Colossa.  What could possibly keep him from attending the first phase of his own event?  Well, The Cheetah is in Kuala Lumpur for the finals of "The Challenger" Muay Thai television show.  Even throughout the event, even though they must focus on their own performance, the fighters are checking for updates on how The Cheetah did!  Much love in the house.

Kicking it off is Jeff "Soul Child" Siegel taking on James "Mamba" Li.  Both come out boxing.  It's Soul Child who finds his timing first, and starts picking apart the Mamba's mojo.  But Mamba comes back and rights the situation with some nice stiff rights of his own.  Mamba's strong finish earns him the win.

In a heavyweight battle between Ben Hartwell and Nick Robinson, we have a very dominant game  from Ben, who rocked Nick few times and referee Shinji Ichinose called it a bout.

Next we have the first set of ladies back in the ring: Sharon "Sanguine" Law versus Eva "The Scorpion Queen" Rona.  This is a back and forth battle, as each fighter knows this is their last bout and they've got to leave everything they've got in the ring.  The Scorp is definitely drawing some blood with her stinging combinations, but Sanguine rallies at the end.  It's not quite enough, so the decision goes to the Scorpion Queen.

I asked the Scorpion Queen how she got her fight name, and she showed me a strategically placed tattoo.  I guess scorpions have got this queen's back.  Eva said she's been training in kickboxing for 6 years, but never straight-up boxed before.  She's here in City Fight Club because Vuyisile encouraged her to go for it.  The Scorpion Queen said she couldn't wait for the kickboxing phase to begin: "I want to kick the girl's head... I'm dying to!"  But first, she was on her way out to Saikung to be a supporter all night ong for the Trailwalker competition.  What a trooper!



Then I asked Sharon "Sanguine" Law about her fightingly fit moniker.  She replied, "Well, in Chinese culture, red means luck, confidence, happiness... and of course blood-thirsty!"  Sanguine said it was a good experience, but she feels she could have done better.  When she found out her fight was first, she thought "Oh no!  You're not doing it to us ladies!"

Welcome to a classic match up between technician versus brawler: Charvel "The Phoenician" Assaf versus James "Crunch Time" Smith.  The Cruncher comes out crunching down and swinging to knock the Phoenician's block back into the black.  It only takes one of those wild rights for the Phoenician to back off and start picking apart the Cruncher one combination at a time.  He's got James' number and this crunch time goes to The Pheonician.

Back in the ring is Katie "'Ave a Go" Lowe versus Ludivine "Jagheera" Politano.  Ave a go is having a go at the Jag, really putting the pressure on, but the Jag wants to be the hunter not the prey and she uses some nice footwork to get out and away.  Katie Keeps the pressure on and forces her opponent to really move around.  Jag's catlike agility leads her to start finding her range, and she begins landing some right hooks.  But 'Ave a Go is having none of that and still insists on keeping up the pressure.  Towards the end of the round, it's Jag's footwork and some nice combos that land which give her the lead to take the match.

The crowd knows the two prospective champions are about to meet in the ring and they want to see how this battle goes down.  Morgan "The Viking" Cousin takes on Patrick "Who's Your Daddy" Mitchell.  The Vinking storms out of the fjord to rock the southpaw.  Daddy's no stranger to those blows and starts showing some nice head movement.  But the Viking's found his distance early on and his right hooks always find their mark.  Morgan Cousin takes home the gold!

This is it, the final match of the night.  Our final between the hard and swift ladies, Andrea "Roc Fist" Fisher and Ludivine "Jagheera" Politano.  Roc and Jag both come out with fire in their eyes and engage straight away.  Jag rocks Roc with a few rights.  Roc comes back brawling and jams the Jag back into a corner.  Roc's swift and rapid fire combos rain down on Jag, who looks to use her fleet-footedness to get on the outside and around.  Roc Fist lives up to her moniker when the fists don't stop which more than a few times sees Jag scrambling to evade.  Both athletes show courage and skill, but it's Roc's unending barrage of fists that gives her the win of the night.

I asked the female champion of the night how she feels about the next stage of the event.  "Grappling.  I've got to learn some of it.  What I want to work on is my endurance.  Tonight was only for 2 minutes, but the finals will be three 2-minute rounds.  I need to start running.  Working out is my life-long endeavor but it's hard to schedule the training I need for this competition.  I take long weekends!"

To a sold-out house, MC Jimmy Kong thanked the audience for supporting their friends, a group of hard-working people in and outside of the ring.  Well done, City Fight Club!

For more information, please visit the City Fight Club website, their Facebook page, or their Facebook group.