Oxford University retained the Truelove Bowl with a pulsating 5-4 victory over Cambridge in the 100th Varsity Match at London's York Hall.

The famous bethnal Green venue was packed to the rafters for the historic event and the crowd were treated to a gripping contest.

Light-heavyweight Carl Walton clinched the match for Oxford after gaining a majority verdict over Cambridge's Artem Korolev, prompting jubilant celebrations from Dark Blue coach Des Brackett.

Featherweight John McCarthy put Oxford 1-0 up and they never trailed in the nine-bout contest.

Even a final bout defeat for captain and heavyweight James Webster to his opposite number Ed Andrews could not take the gloss off a great night for Oxford.

The 100th match brought added prestige to an already atmosopheric event and boxing celebrities such as Barry McGuigan were among the guests.

Cambridge's Emma Hagen defeated Oxford captain Kate Stinson in the curtain-raising women's match, but the Light Blues couldn't build on her early success.

McCarthy secured a unanimous victory over Russ Glenn in the opening men's bout, setting the tone with a hard-working performance.

The night's only real mismatch came in the lightweight division where Cambridge's Tom Bennett-Britton, boxing in his fourth Varsity Match, had simply too much class for a very young looking Asa Oldring.

Oldring, a late replacement for Ian Hollett, saw his contest stopped in round two after his coaches threw in the towel.

Two returning Blues then gave Oxford an ultimately decisive advantage in bouts three and four.

Light-welterweight Fred Brown overpowered the battling Dave Hyman, forcing his opponent to receive two standing counts en route to a unanimous victory.

Welterweight Matt Nice clinched a cracking bout with Cambridge's Rich Spandl with a performance that really got the crowd going and fully deserved the unanimous verdict.

Irish light-middleweight Peter Taylor had over 70 bouts experience and was an Irish under-21 silver medallist.

He showed his pedigree against Oxford's Tom Hughes, but it was no cakewalk.

Oxford's Ben Quigley had Cambridge's Ardil Salem pouring blood in a middleweight clash, which proved the most exciting of the night.

Quigley took it on a majority verdict before Cambridge's Simon Lehnis did the same to Dom McKean in the second middleweight bout.

This meant Oxford needed one of the remaining two bouts and Walton stepped up to deliver.