What was the first show you ever watched 'live'?

bennie · Post by **bennie** » 07 Dec 2003, 18:07

Who can remember their first 'live' show. Mine was at Manor Place Baths in Walworth in October 1977. Cracking venue, another York Hall in many ways. Sadly, the venue was demolished not long afterwards.
I remember Mick Minter was topping the bill (brother of Alan). He beat a fading Albert Hillman over eight rounds.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » 07 Dec 2003, 18:09

Johnny Nelson V Tom Collins at the Mansfield Leisure Centre. My old man took me on my 17th birthday and a pumped up Nelson banged Tom out inside a round.

REAL_DEAL · Post by **REAL_DEAL** » 07 Dec 2003, 18:24

mine was calzaghe vs mitchell

no money when i was younger and i dont excatly live in the capital of boxing

adamiw · Post by **adamiw** » 07 Dec 2003, 18:24

lightsoot wrote:Johnny Nelson V Tom Collins at the Mansfield Leisure Centre. My old man took me on my 17th birthday and a pumped up Nelson banged Tom out inside a round.

mine was also for my 17th birthday, Calzaghe-Mitchell.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » 07 Dec 2003, 18:26

adamiw wrote:
lightsoot wrote:Johnny Nelson V Tom Collins at the Mansfield Leisure Centre. My old man took me on my 17th birthday and a pumped up Nelson banged Tom out inside a round.
mine was also for my 17th birthday, Calzaghe-Mitchell.

A bit of a step up from mine

adamiw · Post by **adamiw** » 07 Dec 2003, 18:32

yeah i loved it, the Maccranelli-Scott fight was great as well.

I made a promise to myself that i would see more boxing shows after it. Bu then there was a couple of months without meaningful fights, then i quit my job, and have been skint ever since. Hopefully i will get a job soon and my new years resolution will be to go to plenty of boxing cards.

stujones · Post by **stujones** » 08 Dec 2003, 05:37

Hamed vs Robinson :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :(

Lugh · Post by **Lugh** » 08 Dec 2003, 07:01

stujones wrote:Hamed vs Robinson :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :(

Mine too.

I was certain that I had seen something special however and was far from miserable about the result.

More than anything I felt embarrassed for Robbo.

stujones · Post by **stujones** » 08 Dec 2003, 07:03

Lugh wrote:
stujones wrote:Hamed vs Robinson :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :(
Mine too.

I was certain that I had seen something special.

Yeah Marvelous Marvin O Brien on the undercard was a real talent!

MightyWarrior · Post by **MightyWarrior** » 08 Dec 2003, 07:18

McGuigen v Pedroza with 25,000 at Loftus road. Had a cheap seat at the back, but no-one was using chairs so I made my way to ringside, as the night progressed, and ended up watching the fight standing next to nice guy Frank Bruno, who was screaming instuctions out for the whole 15 rounds.

DIRT SUGAR · Post by **DIRT SUGAR** » 08 Dec 2003, 07:46

First pro show was at the Stour Leisure Centre in Ashford back in September 1993 when I watched Kirkland Laing beat Dave Maj, landing some very hard left hooks to the body on his way to an easy second round knockout.

Paul 'Scrap Iron' Ryan was on the card too and my biggest memory of the night was after the bell had rang, Ryan, who was getting the better of very brave journeyman Shaun Cogan, looked down at me with a maniacal stare and just screamed 'Woooohooooo!!!' – obviously he was really enjoying himself.

I was covering the show for the sports section on a local leisure and entertainment rag and the presscard they gave me had then Boxing News editor Harry Mullan's name on it. I kept it to this day.

Oh, a young prospect called Terry Dunstan was also on the bill and looked quite good. I thought he was going to do very well but he didn't quite make it on the world stage.

Present were a few former world champions like Lloyd Honeyghan and John Mugabi.
Ring announcer also called a 'very promising' youngster into the ring who had been wowing audiences on Eurosport. Up into the ring hopped an embarrassed Naseem Hamed.

Kilburn · Post by **Kilburn** » 08 Dec 2003, 07:57

Gary Logan v Spencer Fearon at the Elephant...

TerribleTerry · Post by **TerribleTerry** » 08 Dec 2003, 09:12

Watched the 'enigmatic one' Chris Eubank squeeze past Sugar Boy Malinga in Birmingham.
On the undercard saw a young upstart back flipping his way around the ring after a flashy knock out victory...

Kilburn · Post by **Kilburn** » 08 Dec 2003, 09:41

TerribleTerry wrote:
On the undercard saw a young upstart back flipping his way around the ring after a flashy knock out victory...

Was that Matthew Barney's debut?

Loynesy · Post by **Loynesy** » 08 Dec 2003, 10:14

The Midland ABA finals as Willenhall Baths in the BLack Country - probably 1986. A very young Neville Brown was the best boxer.

The referee of the Heavyweight scrap had the worst wig in the world. The fight itself was dour, so about 800 West Midland blokes were chanting "Toupee" at the top of their voices. One of the fighters heard what they were chanting and started to laugh, unfortunately he lost concentration at the same time and got knocked sparko.

lamphey · Post by **lamphey** » 08 Dec 2003, 19:44

Attended numerous amateur shows starting in the late 70's, mostly at The Pater Hall, Pembroke Dock or The DeValance, Tenby.

First pro show I remember attending was at Pennar Park (Pembroke Dock) with former ABA Light Heavy Champ Chris Lawson topping the bill. Forget his opponent but the chief support was centurion (as in 100+ fights) Winston Burnett against decent Pembroke journeyman Steve Davies which I think was for the Welsh Middleweight title (Davies won on points). All very vague now but this must have been around 1980-81.