A rowdy crowd alternated chants of “U-C-L-A Fight Fight Fight” and “U-S-C.” UCLA’s Yell Crew led several eight-claps. Cheerleaders did backflips. Many fans in the crowd were dressed in tuxedos for the black-tie optional event,
This was not any UCLA-USC rivalry match. It was the last of twelve bouts at the annual Rivals in the Ring L.A. Collegiate Boxing Invitational. The fights took place in a ring on the sixth floor of the upscale Los Angeles Athletic Club in downtown Los Angeles.
The main event of the night was a bout between UCLA freshman psychobiology and music student Vladislav Panin and USC junior Aaron Goldwyn. Fighting in the 156-pound weight division, Panin fought back from a brutal first round to more or less equalize the fight in the second round. He then went on to dominate the final round, but, in spite of the late comeback by Panin, Goldwyn was declared the winner.
The USC fans erupted in cheers while Panin, clearly unhappy with the decision, left the ring.
Panin’s coach, Chad Wigle, was optimistic, however. “It’s the first fight of the season; it’s not the season final,” he said.
He also attributed Panin’s loss at least partly to the scoring system in boxing, highlighting that since scoring is done by round, Panin’s dominance in the third round was not able to make up for being edged out in the previous two.
Miriam Bribiesca/Daily Bruin
“We’re looking to develop for nationals in April,” Wigle said.
Club president Sean Tierney, a fourth-year history student, who is on the competitive fight team said that they will train three times a week in Santa Monica to prepare for the four-day tournament. He trains several days a week on his own.
After losing three of its four matches on Friday, the club might need all of that training, especially since this year the club will travel to two national tournaments on the same weekend.
The National Collegiate Boxing Association and the United States Intercollegiate Boxing Association are holding their championships on the same weekend, leaving the club in a bit of a bind. Tierney isn’t worried, however.
“We have two coaches and plenty of fighters. We’ll be fine,” said Tierney.
Recent communications alumna and former gymnast on the NCAA team Rachel Luba, who still boxes on the team, was frustrated by her loss to Megan Coley of West Point in the first and possibly most intense bout.
“I gave it my all, but that’s boxing. It’s subjective. Certain judges are at certain angles and see different things,” said Luba.
When asked about the transition from gymnastics to boxing, Luba said the two sports were “totally different.”
“In gymnastics, you know exactly what you’re getting into; you’ve been training the same thing over and over,” Luba said. “Whereas boxing, you have no idea who you’re stepping into the ring with.”
In the next fight, UCLA fourth-year biology student Sloan Toth was never able to match the sheer firepower of Cal’s Sean Ghods, although Tierney said that Toth was “looking really good, almost scary good” before the fight.
The fight was Toth’s first, however, and he will have a chance to redeem himself when he travels to London in late January, where, Tierney said, the two UCLA fighters and members of the USC and Georgetown club boxing teams will compete in an exhibition match.
UCLA’s only win of the night came from third-year linguistics and computer science student Sean Myers, who nearly knocked opponent Nicola Bulajic of the University of Michigan out in the first round. Bulajic came back strong in the next two rounds, however, and ended the third round with a victory shout, apparently confident of a win. The judges saw differently, however, and awarded the belt to Myers.
“It was definitely a rush,” Myers said of the fight. “There’s nothing quite like it.”