Cambridge students square up for inaugural Fight Night

Girton College’s Zara Wedgwood and Finn Mortimore, along with more than 20 other Cambridge students, will swap books for boxing gloves this Friday (03/03/23) as they take part in the inaugural Cambridge Student Fight Night. The two students recently discussed their training, strategies, and nerves with the Tab ahead of Friday’s fight night.

Zara “the Wedg-Hammer” Wedgwood is representing Cambridge University Hockey Club (CUHC) in her bout, while Finn “The Mortifying” Mortimer is set to represent Pembroke & Girton’s Pirton RFC.

Outside the Ring

When asked of their motivations for signing up to fight, both Zara and Finn thought it would just be a “bit of fun.” I think it’s safe to say their opinion of fun clearly differs from the majority of us. Finn is also treating the fight as a redemption of sorts, after being injured for the majority of his time at Cambridge, including an ACL tear last year.

Aside from the ‘fun’ of it, Zara and Finn say the Fight Night is raising money for two worthy causes by giving a portion of the ticket profits to the OddBalls Foundation and Cambridge Raising & Giving (RAG).

The OddBalls Foundation raises money for testicular cancer awareness and to encourage early detection of the disease. The well-known Cambridge RAG is the University’s largest student-run charitable society, organising events for a range of causes each year.

As for their rivals, Zara tells us the fighters have had their opponents revealed at the same time audiences find out the pairings; the Fight Night team have been drip-feeding the reveals on their social media pages. Finn described opening Facebook to find his fighter name and portrait staring back at him, along with that of his opponent.

Finn “The Mortifying” Mortimer (Image Credits: Dik Ng/@dikng99)

Putting in the Hard Yards

Looking back on the seven weeks of training the two have completed so far, Zara said the first few sessions were comprised of intense fitness, comparing it to a “military training camp.” Despite this, Finn says the training has given them “all [they] really need to know in 7 weeks.”

While the training has included fitness galore and the basics of boxing, Finn expressed surprise at the lack of skipping, having clearly watched too many Rocky movies.

In saying that, the stereotypical skipping has been replaced with the ten kilometre cycle back to Girton for the pair after gruelling fitness each week.

During training, Finn has had the opportunity to spar with his opponent Ben “The Wide Man” Weidmann three or four times. He suggests they were paired against each other due to their similar fighting styles, which are calmer than some of the other “jittery” boxers set to fight on Friday evening.

Students putting in the hard yards at training (Image Credits: Dik Ng/@dikng99)

The Big Night

When pressed on the presence of what most would consider inevitable nerves for the night, Finn says he is “really excited” before quickly admitting the nerves are sure to arrive in the coming days. Zara simply expresses a desire to simply not completely embarrass herself.

When it comes to psychological efforts to beat their opponent, Zara and Finn, along with all other fighters, are allowed to have an entourage of four friends to hype the crowd up as they enter the ring. While both are unsure what this performance will look like, they have been busy drafting their best mates for the job.

Finn intends to walk out to “I’ve Seen Footage” by Death Grips. Just the name of the band is enough to scare me. Meanwhile, Zara’s efforts to find a walk-out song have so far only resulted in an inconclusive Instagram poll. Either that or her walk-out song is so core to her strategy that she wasn’t willing to leak it to The Tab.

When asked to predict the result of their own fights, Zara refrains from doing so while Finn is a bit bolder, predicting that he’ll “beat Weidmann on points.”

Zara “The Wedg-Hammer” Wedgwood (Image Credits: Dik Ng/@dikng99)

The first round bell is set to ring at the inaugural Cambridge Student Fight Night at 6pm this Friday 3rd March.

All other information can be found on the Fight Night’s Facebook Page.

Feature image credits: Dik Ng/@dikng99

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