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Workshop Engineer, Luke, Does it Again!

A little over 6 months ago we published a story about one of our newest employees and apprentices, Luke Hawes, single handedly raising money for Cancer Research UK by shaving off all of his hair.
And it appears that Luke has caught the fundraising bug as he has recently taken part in another fundraising event for Cancer Research UK. This time around it was a fight night event put together by the UWCB in Northampton although these events took place all over the country.
There was an attendance of 1000 people, which accumulated to about £20,000 in ticket sales and this combined with the money that the whole individual boxers raised – the Northampton team raised over £25,000.00 for Cancer Research UK. In total the UWCB raised over £1,100,000.00 for this fantastic cause, by holding these fight nights up and down the country.
Luke and the Northampton Boxing Team posing for a photo
Here is an insight into the mind of charity fundraising boxer, and Sight and Sound team member Luke Hawes:
“The 8 weeks training you get was tough and a lot of people pulled out due to injuries or they just couldn’t handle the training, we all became a close team and we all got along well, which was good!
The day of the fight was intense, as soon as I woke up I was feeling pretty nervous! We got to the venue at 2:30pm for our medical, you could tell some people were struggling to keep focused as their nerves built up throughout the day!
It was quiet interesting to see how people decided to get themselves focused, some would just sleep, listen to music and eat food. Others do other things.
In total there was about 23 fights on the night, my fight was 2nd.
When my name was called to say I’m up next the butterflies in my stomach were crazy I felt like I was about to walk out to 70,000 people at Wembley for my England debut.
When I was walking to the ring I kept my head down and went through everything I could remember about the training, but I just couldn’t remember anything. It’s crazy how quickly you forget the 8 weeks of training you get!
Before the fight I had a minute to talk to my corner and they gave me a few tips on how to go about the first round, but to be honest I wasn’t really listening as I was just too focused into getting stuck in!
When the bell rang for the first round and the crowd roared, the adrenaline just took over and I thought I was prince Naseem. When I threw my first punch and it landed I was shocked because I’m not a violent person and I don’t like inflicting pain, but natures instinct takes over and you become like two lions fighting to the death.
Luke and his opponent boxing
We both went all out in the first round and both took a few big hits from one and other, you wouldn’t believe that boxing in a ring for 2 minutes is like running the London marathon and we had three rounds of that!
The second round came along and my arms slowly became like lead and I was just waiting for that bell to go so I could get back to my corner.
When I got to my corner I felt like I was going to throw up and I said to them I can’t carry on I’m going to be sick, but they gave me a good grilling and I got back up for the 3rd round.
We were both pretty damn tired but he had the better of me in the last round, I cant really remember much of the last round as I took a lot of big hits to the head but I remember hearing the announcements “10 seconds to go” and with the very little amount of energy I had left I landed 5 punches straight to his head and body and the crowd roared and I heard my corner saying “that’s it Luke keep going” and then the bell went and as soon as I got back to my corner I threw up like I said I was going too!
But like they say no pain, no gain, anyway I won the first round 29-28 and he won the 2nd and 3rd round 29-28 so he won by points decision, I was a bit gutted but the experience was something I’d ask anyone to try it and it’s for a great cause!
Luke, his opponent and the two show girls posing after the fight
Great stuff Luke, well done from all of your friends and family at Sight and Sound!