BoxRec

Bizarre mid 80's Channel 4 amatuer boxing tourney.

Introduced us to Colin Mcmillan and Cornelius Carr.

odd one-off concept...great fun

Mercman is right... It was golden belt...

Remember the kid off Grange Hill being on it. he looked like a good prospect.

lee macdonald ( i think) was Zammo in Grange Hill

this Cooper TV tourney was airing in the middle of boxings golden age Holmes/ Hagler/ Hearns/ Duran/Leonard Minter/ Bruno/ Sibson etc when british tv ratings were high.... cant imagine something like that being a hit now..... maybe if Amir had stayed in the amateur ranks ?

anyway we have Contender now ... :P

Remember going to see Hagler v Mugabi at Leister square cinema on close circuit ,the atsmophere was incredible ,as stated when a british Fighter one a world title it meant a great deal and was front page news.Sky did kill off Boxing as a top sport in the uk.

mercman wrote:It wasn't just the really big fights that were popular either. I remember watching the mid-week programme Sportsnight and seeing good domestic fighters and potential stars on their way up. There was often boxing on a Saturday afternoon too - Grandstand had both domestic and international fights. Even Fight Night was worth a watch in the '80s.

ITV would do saturday afternoon broadcasts too. Chris Pyatt, Tony Willis, Pat Cowdell... And they'd always show US fight (sometimes highlights). Great stuff.

"Mid Week Sports Special", which was ITVs equivalent to Sportsnight used to show a lot of boxing in the 80s as well. Sky getting boxing in the 90s has meant it is now a minority interest sport over here

mercman wrote:

ITV would do saturday afternoon broadcasts too. Chris Pyatt, Tony Willis, Pat Cowdell... And they'd always show US fight (sometimes highlights). Great stuff.

Yes. I remember first seeing Larry Holmes on an ITV Saturday afternoon show. Another striking memory is his demolition of Marvis Frazier that I also saw on a Saturday afternoon. I think I also saw Tate v Weaver the same way. Weaver's late, late KO win had us all talking at school. I don't get the impression that boxing is so in the forefront of kids minds nowadays. I think the lack of such accessible coverage has played a big part in this.

A lot of the big fights were shown on the Saturday afternoons. I still have old tapes of Camacho v Boza Edwards, Camacho v Rosario and a lot more. Also got my first look at Chavez versus Barrios with Reg Gutterige enthusing 'he really is a bolt handed fighter is Chavez, reminds of the great Mexican Ruben Olivares', and after putting the hapless Barrios down 'look at that he really picks his shots like he is in a gymnasium'. Wonderful stuff.

mercman wrote:I remember it well - and used to enjoy it. However, I think it was called Henry Cooper's Golden Belt not Golden Gloves. Also I seem to place it as a early '80s thing (about '82) rather than mid-80s. Or am I thinking of something else?

I used to watch it. After school I was 9 or 10 at the time.

Who remembers big fights of the 70's. This was shown on ITV after news at 10 in the early 80's

I was allowed to stay up late for that

mercman wrote:I remember it well - and used to enjoy it. However, I think it was called Henry Cooper's Golden Belt not Golden Gloves. Also I seem to place it as a early '80s thing (about '82) rather than mid-80s. Or am I thinking of something else?

It ran for about 4 or 5 seasons though. I was meant to appear on one in 1983 but the kid I was matched up with weighed in 3 kilos too heavy. This after I had fought him in the junior ABAs only 3 or 4 months earlier. Boy do some youngsters spring up.