When Chris Eubank Jnr and Conor Benn cross the strings of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday evening, they will continue a rich tradition of boxers fighting on the British football field.
The stadium fight can be the ultimate in a boxer career, and it is a scene that little experience.
Carl Froch never tires of reminding people how he fought in front of 80,000 fans in Wembley in 2014, when he left the bitter rival George Groves in crumpled in heaps.
He was a man who was a triple Movy weight champion, but it was this hot evening at the National Football Stadium that he cherishes the most and it was the fight that obtained his heritage.
Because boxing has always been more than simply winning. This can be summed up for this: does a fighter excite the fans and can he put tramps on seats? And there is no greater approval of the popularity of a fighter, of his farm, than to sell a football stadium.
Some boxers attract crowds because of their combat style. For others, it is their winning personality. Barry McGuigan checked these two boxes. The charismatic Irishman with Dynamite Fists filled Loftus Road to the rafters in June 1985 when he won the world featherweight title by beating the legendary Panamanian Eusebio Pedroza.
Conor Benn and Chris Eubank Jr Lock Horns at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium Saturday
Barry McGuigan fought in front of an excited loftus road and beat Eusebio Pedroza in 1985
Many of the 25,000 people present had made the trip through the Irish Sea and an amazing nearly 20 million people looked live on the BBC while McGuigan had dethroned a man who had accumulated 19 consecutive world title defenses.
Originally from the city of Clones in Ireland, a stone throwing from the northern border, McGuigan had avoided sectarianism at the height of the troubles and reaches a level of popularity that most fighters can only dream.
“I would not wear colors that alienated people,” McGuigan told Mail Sport. “My whole family came from the six counties of Northern Ireland. I was not going to take sides. I wore the United Nations Colombe of Peace. I didn’t need to tell everyone that I was Irish or writing it on my head. Every time I opened my mouth F ******, they knew it anyway!
The most sustainable image of this night, in which McGuigan won the world title by unanimous decision, is the amazing ring promenade that he has undertaken from home pirogue.
The metal barriers designating its path to the ring have been overthrown by desperate fans to see their hero, who is engulfed and must make their way through the swell.
“I had incredible support,” recalls McGuigan. “The noise was just exciting. The American television guys were sidemored by the support I had. It took me about 12 minutes to arrive in the ring!
Given the political troubles of the time, did McGuigan fear that someone will take a pop? “Without being terrible, I was loved by fans,” said McGuigan. “I loved them and they loved me. But, yes, security has traveled a long way since these days!
The father of the star of the Eurovision of Barry McGuigan, Pat Sung, “Danny Boy” in the fight of the Irish boxer
Once in the ring, the father of McGuigan Pat, a famous singer in Ireland who arrived fourth in Eurovision in 1968, interpreted a moving interpretation of Danny Boy. “Have there been a more emotional night in boxing than that?” asked the commentator Harry Carpenter.
Carpenter also discussed another important factor in any stadium fight – time. It was cold that night, but McGuigan did not notice. “The fight began at a frantic pace. I didn’t feel cold, because Jesus Christ went 100 mph! He laughs.
Stade fights are generally organized in summer to at least minimize the chances of bad weather.
Not that David Haye was so lucky when he fought Wladimir Klitschko at the Imtech Arena in Hamburg in July 2011.
The rain hammered that night and Haye wore plastic slippers to protect its boots during its rings walk, which turned into a farce while drunk fans carrying poncho jumped over the barriers to mobilize it.
David Haye went to the ring in Hamburg with a blanket around him to keep warm
Joshua inaugurated an era of British boxing gold when he sold the Wembley stadium
Better security was in place for each of Anthony Joshua’s seven fights, the best being undoubtedly his epic defeat of Wladimir Klitschko in front of 90,000 fans in Wembley in 2017.
For all Joshua’s detractors today, he can rightly claim to have inaugurated a golden era for British boxing. He not only made a banal stadium fight, but he also fought or defended the titles of the heavyweight world 10 times on these coasts.
The record figure for a British fight increased to 94,000 when Tyson Fury defeated Dillian Whyte and it was said that this number extended to 96,000 when Joshua lost against Daniel Dubois last September. The promoter of Matchroom Eddie Hearn could aim even more if he can persuade Joshua and Fury to finally share a ring.
In the end, it is the rivalries that make stadium fights and, from the point of view of the promoters, the most antipathy, the better. No rivalry has agitated with more bitterness than that shared by Eubank SNR and Nigel Benn.
Eubank arrested Benn in their first fight in 1990 before doing everything three years later in Old Trafford in front of 45,000. Benn was left to boil when the judges marked a draw.
After this fight, Eubank, who was Michael Watson’s opponent when he suffered injuries that changed life in a fight to White Hart Lane in 1991, thought that he and Benn would fight again.
Mike Tyson beat Lou Savarese in a fight at Hampden Park in 2000 in what was a farce
It never happened and the fans were let themselves wonder what could have been. And so in a case of the sins of the fathers visited on the sons, it is left to Junior and Conor to maintain the honor of their family names.
For many years, it was the attraction of Las Vegas that has made the British stage to fight a rarity. Ricky Hatton, who could call on fervent support, fought in his beloved city of Manchester a stadium only once and was more commonly found doing it in the Nevada desert.
Hope with any stadium fight is that he lives up to the media threw. Mike Tyson’s wacky release in Hampden Park in 2000 against the unfortunate Lou Savarese certainly failed to do so.
The diatribe to fight Tyson’s fighting on wanting to eat Lennox Lewis’ children lasted longer – and was more entertaining – than his 38 -second victory that Scottish fans had continued to wait until 11:50 p.m. in the cold and rain. The cries of “cheating” and “fix” filled the air, most of the 30,000 present calculating quickly how much they had paid per second of action.
Because everything that happens during a stadium fight, good or bad, is increased tenfold. Take Henry Cooper, who was immortalized for his Knockdown of Muhammad Ali in Wembley in 1963.
Frank Bruno beat Joe Bugner on White Hart Lane in 1987 and there were skirmishes in the crowd
There are risks for promoters if an event becomes sour. Frank Bruno sent Joe Bugner to White Hart Lane in 1987 in what the mail of Patrick Collins de Dimanche has criticized a “ Pathetically uneven ‘competition’ ‘, and one of the promoters of the event, Barry Hearn, apologized to fans to have problems with seats and intendants. There were also skirmishes in the crowd.
No such fear afflicts the Saudis and their bottomless pockets. Their rivals have ended the domination of Las Vegas as a boxing Heartland, but for the moment their foray into boxing has not pointed out the end of the British stadium fight. Let them live.
To celebrate the 40th anniversary of his victory over Pedroza, Barry McGuigan is organizing dinners in gala in June in Monaghan, Ireland, London, Birmingham and Bristol. For more information, email info@excelsiSportingClub.com
