Oxford Edges Cambridge in

By John E. Oden: London, England, March 8, 2007. The setting was something out of a movie set—a sold-out, packed house in a famous boxing hall in the London suburbs (York Hall in Bethnal Green); two teams with almost even records over a 99 year boxing rivalry (49-46 in favor of Cambridge, with 4 draws between them); and an intensity both inside and outside the ring that defined the importance and seriousness of the moment. The room was full of pride and tradition as this Centennial classic began.

Boxing teams at Cambridge University and Oxford University have been slugging it out at their annual challenge meeting since 1897. If it had not been for two world wars, this match-up would have likely occurred in 1996. But world conflicts prevented the annual classic match-up for eleven years, first from 1915-1919, combined with years from 1940-1945. So 2007 became the defining moment to settle the score between the two universities. Normally the venue for the annual warfare is alternated between the Oxford and Cambridge campuses. This year’s contest is only the second to occur in London in this 100 year rivalry. The first was in 1937, and has not occurred there before or since.

Going into this contest, the long term record of the universities favors Cambridge at 49-46-4, but the last 20 or so years have been interesting. Oxford enjoyed a 16 year winning streak from 1986-2001. This Oxford streak ended abruptly in 2002, with a convincing 8-1 Cambridge victory, including five first-round knockouts. Three more Cambridge triumphs followed: 7-2, 6-3, and a dramatic 9-0 in 2005. Oxford came back with a strong team in 2006 to capture a 5-4 victory.

York Hall was full of blue blazers as the crowd poured in to enjoy the evening’s contest. In keeping with tradition, athletes at both schools are awarded the designation of “Blue” when they represent their school in a qualifying sport and are recognized by their university—boxing is one of the oldest sports to have received a Blue designation at both schools. Cambridge athletes wear light blue; Oxford dark blue. Along with blazers go caps and scarves in the same blue color for each school. But most Blues gathered at York Hall tonight were just wearing the blazer. As tradition has it as these universities, student athletes are awarded only one blazer per lifetime, and are supposed to never clean it. As it is only to be worn on special occasions, each subsequent smudge or stain to the blazer is supposed to remind the wearer of the unique moment when the discoloration occurred. One row of impressive Cambridge Blues, all donned in their light blue blazers, was the entire rowing team, who were there to support their rowing teammate, Russ Glenn, who was fighting the featherweight fight against John McCarthy.

The university boxing teams from 1957 were honored on this most important occasion. They were in the unique position to be able to look 50 years behind the year they fought, and with tonight’s contest, 50 years in front of them. In addition to them, the room was full of many past participants spanning many years, as evidenced by the proliferation of dark and light blue blazers, in this annual challenge of academic warriors. Other legendary fighters and notable personalities have graced the boxing rings of these universities, including the poet and adventurer Lord Byron, the Marquis of Queensberry, Olympic boxing champion and Rhodes Scholar Eddie Egan, singer-songwriter Kris Kristofferson, and British Olympic Committee Chairman Lord Moynihan.

Indeed there was high drama in York Hall on this night, with much at stake for both teams. For many of the boxers, it was their defining moment as an athlete, a moment like none other. For the standing room only crowd of 1300, the intensity was everywhere.

Teams now consist of nine boxers—featherweight, lightweight, light-welterweight, welterweight, light-middleweight, both an “A” and “B” middleweight, light-heavyweight, and heavyweight. There are two middleweight divisions, “A” and “B,” with the “A” designation considered the better of the two. In earlier days of these matches, there was a super-heavyweight division, but this was eventually replaced by the two middleweight divisions. Each match is three two-minute rounds, with one minute in between rounds. All matches are refereed, and three judges were present to call each contest.

First and foremost, we must remember that Cambridge and Oxford are both known as top educational institutions for academic excellence. Competition to get into these universities is keen; studies are intense and schedules demanding. However, the boxing programs at both institutions are strong, with enthusiastic participation by many students. The universities attract—and produce—many excellent boxers. The workout schedules are grueling, with Cambridge holding formal training schedules of sparring, running and weight lifting seven days a week, and Oxford six. To achieve the status of a Cambridge or Oxford Boxing Blue, while maintaining the required academic excellence, demands a great deal of sacrifice, concentration and commitment from each student boxer.

I am an American writer/white collar boxer who made the trip to London out of respect for the long-standing tradition between these two teams and curiosity about the contest, along with the conviction that I would see some excellent collegiate boxing. I absolutely relish amateur competition—I am a fixture in the boxing room at the Olympics whenever possible. I also have tremendous respect for great rivalries, and have enjoyed many in my country, including Harvard-Yale football, Army-Navy football, Kentucky-Indiana basketball, New York Yankees- Boston Red Sox professional baseball, and many others too numerous to mention. Rivalries are at the heart of athletic competition, and make competition more serious and intense. But the idea of a 100 year boxing rivalry between these two famous universities was too much for me to resist. To that, one must also factor in the general rivalry between the two universities which dates back to the 13th Century. All of these factors combine to make the Oxford-Cambridge rivalry extremely unique.

It was to be a night of great sport and excellent competitive match-ups. One extremely interesting match-up that the crowd was buzzing about as they assembled and began to take their seats at York Hall was the heavyweight contest between the two team captains—Edward Andrews from Cambridge and James Webster from Oxford. Both men were returning Blues who had fought the previous year. Ed Andrews had won the heavyweight fight in 2006, and James Webster had fought as a light-heavyweight and lost. James had gained the necessary weight to qualify as a heavyweight for this contest tonight. There was excited speculation in the crowd that if the matches were 4-4 through the first eight fights, it would be this fight that decided the outcome.

In addition to the nine matches which were to decide this Centennial winner, there were two other competitive matches, which did not qualify towards the team totals. One was fought in the light-welterweight division by the women’s team captain of Oxford, Canadian born Kate Stinson, who was pitted against Emma Hagen of Cambridge, a Naval Academy graduate. This was the only women’s competition of the evening.

The matches began with the bout between Stinson and Hagen. Emma Hagen, who is studying for her Masters in Chinese Economics while on leave from the Marines, looked almost scary with her poise and confidence. She had a way of shaking down her arms in her warm ups in her corner before the match began that sent a message of strength, experience and skill. These traits did not phase Kate Stinson, a former kickboxing champion who went about the three rounds with hands held high in excellent defense, while also demonstrating superior ringmanship and boxing dexterity. Stinson also showed impressive footwork, and danced out of the way of Hagen’s hard punches time and again, while she countered many of Hagen’s strong moves with clean counterpunches. When Emma Hagen was awarded the decision, on my scorecard, I wrote “robbed.”

In the first match which counted towards team totals, Russ Glenn of Cambridge took the fight to John McCarthy of Cambridge in the featherweight division. Glenn, though lacking finesse and skill, showed a superior heart and aggressiveness for all three rounds against his taller opponent who was backpedaling and sidestepping all the way. However, McCarthy demonstrated excellent footwork and elusiveness towards his enthusiastic opponent. When McCarthy was awarded the decision, I conceded that McCarthy could have been judged as technically superior to the straight-ahead style of Glenn. The score stood at Oxford 1, Cambridge 0.

The next three matches were all hard fought and exciting. In the lightweight division, Ph.D. candidate Tom Bennett-Britton of Cambridge won a TKO in round two against a last minute substitute, Asa Oldring. The light-welterweight match between Fred Brown of Oxford against Dave Hyman of Cambridge was a little “brawly,” with Dave taking a “standing 8” in round three to lose to the more skilled Brown. In the welterweight division, the Cambridge team’s Vice Captain Rich Spandl, who is working towards a Ph.D. in organic chemistry, had a distinct height and reach advantage over Oxford’s Matt Nice. Both men had been winners in separate weight categories last year, and gained valuable experience for this important match-up. However, Spandl did not use his jab and size effectively to fend off the more aggressive Nice, and as a result, was tagged over and over again. Though Spandl was able to effectively spin out when cornered and clearly demonstrated heart by taking some hard punches, Nice scored repeatedly to gain another Oxford victory. At the end of four bouts, the score was now Oxford 3, Cambridge 1.

The final match before intermission was fought in the light middleweight division by Cambridge’s Peter Taylor against Oxford’s Tom Hughes. Peter is a veteran with over 70 bouts, having won two Irish Intervarsity titles and other impressive boxing championships. Peter went about his work with the careful, deliberate, and poised confidence of an experienced and classy boxer. Hughes did a respectable job, moving well, but Taylor’s experience helped him coast to a unanimous victory. At intermission, the score stood at 3-2 in favor of Oxford.

During intermission, the ring talk of the crowd again centered on the exciting possibility of the night’s overall school winner to be decided by the heavyweight bout of the two team captains, should the score be tied at 4-4 at the end of the first eight bouts. With the card at 3-2, this was clearly a possibility. But, it was not to be.

The second half of the program began with a non-student special challenge bout, featuring a former student at Cambridge, Oliver Bowles, taking the honors against a University of Portsmouth student, Daniel Hendy—this match did not count again team totals. University competition resumed when Cambridge law student, Ardil Salem was paired against Oxford’s Ben Quigley in the middleweight “A” division. Quigley had the height advantage, but Salem continually took the fight to Quigley with superior aggressiveness and determination. Quigley used his jab effectively to give Salem a bloody nose during the contest. Nevertheless, my card had Salem claiming a difficult though convincing victory; however, Quigley’s hand was raised in a split decision. Again, I wrote “disagree” on my scoresheet. Nevertheless, the matches at this point totaled 4-2 Oxford.

The middleweight “B” bout of the evening saw Dominic McKean of Oxford challenging Simon Lehnis of Cambridge. “Dom” is the Oxford Boxing Club President, and looked to be the more skilled fighter, demonstrating clean punches in this crowd pleasing match-up. This was a close, good fight which I awarded to Dom, but the judges saw it differently, and it went to Cambridge’s Lehnis. The official score was now 4-3 Oxford.

The next fight in the light heavyweight division paired Russian born Artem Korolev against Cambridge’s Carl Walton. This was a close match, with good footwork and ringmanship demonstrated by both boxers. Though not as many hard punches were thrown in this fight, both fought and moved well, and the Oxford crowd erupted as Walton’s hand was raised at the end of the third round. The score now officially stood at 5-3. Oxford had officially triumphed at the 100th Centennial matches as a result of Walton’s victory. Oxford students, alums, supporters and fans were delirious in their celebration.

Even with an Oxford victory secure, the anticipation of the contest between Ed Andrews, the Cambridge Captain, and James Webster, the Oxford Captain, was not diminished. Both boxers were returning Blues, who were skilled boxers and team leaders. Andrews fought Muhammad Ali-like, confident to the point where he would hold his hands down at times. Webster was proactive and skilled. Andrews was the classier looking fighter, and a crowd pleaser. Both fighters had excellent concentration and good overall ringmanship. I was not surprised when Andrews was awarded the decision, but Webster fought well. After their graduation this summer, Ed will pursue a career in investment banking, and James will pursue a Master’s degree at the London School of Economics with ambitions to eventually go into the finance industry.

Officially, the night was scored at 5-4 in favor of Oxford, although my card could have just as easily flip flopped the score had Salem been given the decision over Quigley. However, other matches could also have gone either way, and the subjectivity of boxing decisions just emphasizes the importance of “leaving no doubt” by knockout victory. So it goes in boxing, and one must appreciate that fights are not easy to score, and can be scored differently by different people. Not being as familiar with the amateur scoring system in Great Britain, I respect the outcome of the decision for Oxford. And despite the record of the first 100 years now standing at 49-47-4 favoring Cambridge, the Oxford team was declared the victor on this night, and their victory was hard fought and deserving of admiration by all.

However, more than anything else, I think that the results demonstrate that the evening was filled with good, competitive matches, a few of which might possibly have gone either way. In amateur boxing, everyone is a winner, in my opinion. These boxers all fought their hearts out, and the 100th Anniversary matches disappointed no one. I was glad to be there, and loved every minute of it. It was a wonderful night of boxing.

I was also impressed at the camaraderie of all the boxers towards both their teammates and the opposing squads after the bouts. Not only that, but many of the former students and older Blues of both universities gathered at a local watering hole for a great celebration following the matches. Both dark blue and light blue blazers were joined in appreciation and camaraderie for what they had seen. It was a magical experience, following a thrilling evening of good competitive boxing. As for me, an American in London for this historic occasion, I count myself extremely lucky to have witnessed this unique sporting event, and the experience of the 100th Anniversary of the Oxford-Cambridge Varsity Boxing Matches will always be one of my most cherished memories.

A documentary movie called ’Blue Blood’, which chronicles this great boxing rivalry, is being released this spring. It tells the story of a group of undergraduates who enroll for Oxford’s Varsity boxing team. I, for one, can’t wait to see it.

John E. Oden

joden@nyc.rr.com