Slug It Out

TK Wu vs Axel, Match 643 - UCW Boxing (UCW)

Clinches are the only part of boxing I have genuine enthusiasm for. I like the sweaty bodies wrapping themselves around each other to create a strategic timeout in the punching and dodging. That's the sum total of the sport's appeal for me. This match is straight-up boxing, and Axel and TK know what they're doing. This isn't pretty boys posing or horsing around - it's rough competition with plenty of full-arm blows.

About six or seven years ago, the Freestyle Combat League, a UCW offshoot, featured boxing and jujitsu matches that were shoots (legit, unscripted, authentic). Axel, as most of you know, is a trained martial artist, adept in a variety of combat styles. So, apparently, is new guy TK. These fighters are well matched and tough as nails, and the 27-minute match is jam-packed with dizzying jabs.

With no ref in sight, these guys have not only to know what they're doing but also to possess a certain degree of restraint and self-control. Fortunately, both are proficient and cool-headed fighters - so they're in each other's safe hands, even if they don't pull their punches. Happily for me, TK and Axel do clinch a number of times - out of mutual exhaustion, effecting some of the match's tenderer moments. Sometimes, as in the third shot above, they press their bodies together just to remain standing.

Unlike some boxing-themed matches, in Match 643 the gloves and baggy trunks do not eventually come off, and wrestling never enters into the equation. This is straight-edged stuff, and even I, unversed in the sweet science, can see that Axel and TK do an excellent job of maintaining the sport's boundaries and fight effectively, if not always fairly and squarely.

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