Fight night UNB's Business Law Society for the Canadian Landmine Foundation hoping to raise $3,000 for Knocking Out Landmines

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FREDERICTON - They turned a ballroom at the Crowne Plaza into a fight club on Wednesday night, and packed the house.

David Smith

David Smith/for the telegraph-journal Chris Samuel, left, takes a punch to the head from Ryan Schuler on Wednesday evening during the Knocking Out Landmines boxing charity event at the Crowne Plaza in Fredericton. The event was organized by the UNB Law Business Law Society.

Who wouldn't want to dig into their pockets to see a bunch of lawyers beat the snot out of one another?

The occasion was Knocking Out Landmines, a fund-raiser staged by the University of New Brunswick's Business Law Society for the Canadian Landmine Foundation. Eight law students from UNB donned gloves, headgear and mouthpieces for the event; none had ever previously had a regulation bout.

Organizers hoped to raise about $3,000 for the charity, whose mission is to raise awareness and funds to end the human and economic suffering caused by anti-personnel landmines.

The fights were held beneath chandeliers in a ring at the same hotel where Finance Minister Victor Boudreau introduced his budget last week. Take it from one who attended both events: the Fight Night in Fredericton was a lot more entertaining.

The music was blaring, the crowd was screaming and, even if there was a noticeable lack of glitterati, a leggy girl in a mini-skirt and knee-high boots made up for it by sashaying around the ring between three-minute rounds.

The lone exception came when Erin Riley, a third-year law-student, fought an exhibition against Liza Eapazian, a 2006-2007 provincial champion. Riley, who is from Sidney Crosby's hometown of Cole Harbour, N.S., was the only future female lawyer who participated, and accounted so well for herself that the audience was chanting her name by the finish.

"It was OK,'' Riley said, chuckling as she walked from the ring to thunderous applause. A guy was recruited to walk around the ring between rounds when she fought.

Like the other students, Riley had been training at the Fredericton Boxing Club for six months.

"It is not only demanding physically, but mentally, too,'' said Gavin Cosgrove, a third-year law student from Kingston, Ont., who helped organize the evening. "You know that when you go into the ring that at some point you are going to get punched in the face."

Cosgrove, who fought fellow law student Josh Lowney of Rothesay in one of the later bouts, threw a dinner for the same charity last year and only raised about $300.

On Wednesday night, he had a shiner around one eye as he stepped into the ring, thanks to a strenuous sparring session last week.

The event's first fight, billed as the Battle of Alberta, featured first-year law student Chris Samuel of Edmonton and Ryan Schuler, a second-year engineering student from Medicine Hat. With one previous fight to his credit, Schuler was the lone boxer from UNB with any experience.

He showed it against Samuel, who fought gamely but lost a unanimous decision after having received two standing-eight counts in the third and final round.

"The closest I'd ever come to boxing before this was Punch Out on Nintendo," Samuel, 25, said.

"It is not the same."

By the time he climbed out of the ring, Samuel's mouth was bleeding and his nose was bloody.

"That was great,'' he said.

Marty Klinkenberg is a contributing editor of the Telegraph-Journal. He can be reached at martyklinkenberg@hotmail.com.