Relief as trimmed down fight night is back on
The first was to be in Millstreet in Cork, the second in Belfast, both of them against a crack French team.
A few weeks ago, to far less fanfare, it was announced that the Belfast event had been cancelled due to poor sales; this week came the news that Millstreet too was called off, the hand injury suffered by London Olympic gold medallist Katie Taylor, forcing her withdrawal, thought to be the final straw.
Last night it was all back on track, albeit with a different venue and — crucially — a much-reduced price structure. It will now be held at the Rochestown Park Hotel on Friday May 3, Bank Holiday weekend, starting at 8pm. Speaking at the announcement at the hotel last night, an obviously relieved Billy Walsh, high performance coaching director, had this to say.
“Platinum One obviously decided the venture they went for was too big, but no matter where or how it was going to be run, this was always going to happen.
“It was part of our preparation for the European championships. I was in Kazakhstan last week when the news came through and I thought, ‘there’s only one man in Cork to ring if you want to get a show on’, so I rang Dan Lane.
“A few days later we’re here announcing the details.”
Short notice, agreed Lane, a Rylane native with vast experience of putting on boxing shows, not a lot of time to organise what is still a big event. “I’ve had fierce co-operation from the IABA HQ, from Billy and from Platinum, who are still involved. None of this would be happening, however, but for the co-operation from the hotel itself, from John O’Donovan, financial controller, who had to overcome a few obstacles to get us the big room here, which was crucial for this show.
We’re limiting the attendance to 600 and prices are set at €30 for adults, €15 for juveniles.”
It’s a much smaller venue than Millstreet, but, more significantly, also much cheaper tickets. As for those who have already forked out for the cancelled event — over €100 for the prime tickets — not my problem, says Lane. “I’ve got nothing to do with the other show, I’m only involved in this show, that’s all.”
Not the ideal situation, agreed Darren O’Neill, captain of the that London boxing team. “No it’s not, but we’re just looking forward to the event, getting a few fights under the belt. The European championships are coming up, you want a few fights. The French are in a similar situation, they too are preparing, looking for good fights, so it should be very competitive.”
Despite the circumstances, Walsh was making the best of it, and promising the Cork public an evening to remember.
“Way back, when we came home from the Games, I went to the association and said this was a great opportunity for us to put boxing on display. We have a great package, we have four Olympic medallists, European champions, world champions — why not showcase them and make some badly-needed funds for the association? It didn’t come to fruition until now and I still think it’s a great idea to have Platinum on board with us, to give it more sex-appeal, for want of a better term, make it a more sexy show, drive it on as only professionals can do.
“Cork has a great history of boxing but has been down for a few years. There’s a great appetite for boxing here, in the county and in the city and we need to get some senior boxers on our team from the area.
“In ’92, ’94, ’98 and 2002 Olympic Games we had Cork boxers on the team but we haven’t had any since. We’re 10 years in the High Performance Team and we haven’t had a single boxer from Cork in that time.
“Obviously we’ll have learned a few lessons from this, it’s Platinum’s first time involved with us, but I have no doubt we can benefit from it in the future.”
