Hann edges green baize bust-up

Quinten Hann took a points decision over bitter rival Mark King in snooker’s brawl at York Hall, Bethnal Green, tonight.

Quinten Hann took a points decision over bitter rival Mark King in snooker’s brawl at York Hall, Bethnal Green, last night.

Hann was presented with the winner’s belt by world snooker champion Ronnie O’Sullivan after the sport’s warring duo flailed away for six minutes in the ‘Pot Whack’ punch up which settled a simmering 10-year feud.

The fight lived up to the hype, making up for what it lacked in technical ability with a non-stop aggressive display from the pair.

They quickly forgot all they had learned in training, abandoning boxing behind their jabs inside the first minute to wade into each other.

First blood went to 26-year-old Australian Hann as King, from Essex, suffered damage to his nose inside the first round.

King battled back gamely but a grandstand finish in which he swung a series of big left-hand punches at Hann failed to turn the tide.

The pair embraced at the end, settling the differences which had simmered ever since King won £500 off Hann in a side stake match at a snooker club when the Australian was only 16.

Hann revelled in his revenge and said: “I thoroughly enjoyed the training and I enjoyed the fight. I’d love to do it again.”

He added: “The bad feeling between us was partly to hype up the fight but we’ve certainly never really been mates. I don’t like most of the other snooker players, they’re not my sort of people.”

Both had taken their training seriously, becoming ABA licensed boxers.

Hann joined Dagenham Amateur Boxing Club while King trained at east London’s Monteagle under the watchful eye of Jason Rowland, the former WBU light-welterweight champion who was in his corner tonight.

But the expert advice failed to pay off on a night when soccer-style frenzy produced an atmosphere to match any Britain’s best known small-hall boxing venue had seen in its long history.

The pair had talked a good fight with King promising: “He’s got a big gob and I’m going to shut it for him,” while Hann pledged: “I jumped at the fight because I’ve always wanted to shut him up.”

King got his chance when he took up the cudgels on behalf of Devon snooker player Andy Hicks who was “offered outside” by Hann in a high profile row at the recent Embassy World Snooker Championships in Sheffield.

The atmosphere was decidedly un-snooker like with the noise so great at the end of the first round that the pair had to be pulled apart when they failed to hear the bell.

Hann finally took the decision but the real winners were the Sport Relief charity and the youth development programmes of the Dagenham and Monteagle Boxing Clubs who benefited to the tune of several thousand pounds from the EA Sports-sponsored Fight Night 2004.