BIG Guy Williamson sat in one of the few remaining seats and watched Wembley arena disappear before his eyes.
He was in no hurry to leave; in 1985, he won his ABA title in the same ring. On Saturday night, he was back in the ring as an inspector for the British Boxing Control Board for a fight with Katie Taylor. It was probably his first time in that Wembley ring since that night so long ago.
Those who removed the ring – Mike Goodhall and his men – reduced the ring to an echo right before his eyes. Goodhall’s team made it look like one of those nature movies, where a pack of lions is left with only the raw skeleton of an animal after being killed in the wild.
It was the kind of night inside the old hall. The kind of night where little scraps are left on the bones.
There were a lot of tears and a lot of fun and that’s exactly what an epic boxing night is. Backstage, by one of the exits from the long dressing room, there’s the perfect angle to catch the whole movie as it unfolds.
That’s where Jordan Gill walks, his broken nose plastered on and his broken heart clear for all to see. He was taken off for routine check-ups after losing to Kiko Martinez. Dave Coldwell followed him outside, part of his silent entourage. Coldwell was badly shaken; He was in tears when he returned 10 minutes later, trying to pull up his shirt to wipe it off in the night. Gill is fine, his title is gone, and his pride is hurt.
Jimmy Tibbs was with me, a veteran of so many ups and downs in the old game. “We’ve all had nights like that,” he said. Just an hour earlier, Johnny Fisher had led his 2,000 devoted fans through an endless version of Country Roads. It was a relief after a Neil Diamond overdose, that’s for sure. Tibbs was in the corner in Fisher’s most recent win. Jimmy and his son, Mark, had a good night.
“I thought, if I hurt him, I’ll try,” Fisher said as he rounded the corner of my house. “I hurt him, and I tried.”
Both Mark and Jimmy are pleased with the development of Romford Bull and they should be too. He’s a boxer smarter than most heavyweights and kids in boxing. Intelligence is always looked down upon when judging a heavyweight.
And Kiko Martinez walked over with a grin. He’s a truly remarkable little boxer. His win over Bernard Dunne to wow the Dublin crowd was in 2007. I was in the ring at Point that night and it was terrifying to watch. Martinez has a career track record similar to that of an inexperienced but brilliant boxer from the seventies or eighties. I hope he is celebrated in Spain.
“I think the score is a bit tight,” Ellie Scotney said after winning the European bantamweight title. By the way, they were. Scotney never really got the credit she was due or the exposure she deserved. She is like a boxing sponge, taking her best and giving her best. She never slept after the games, and I knew she was playing boxing ball when dawn broke over Catford.
At some point before Scotney walked away, Taylor arrived with the serious face she had on fight day. She walked in and looked at the ring, turned around, bowed her head and, like magic, walked down the hallway to the dressing room on one side of the large, old hall. She blends in like a shadow. There’s too much personal information about Taylor’s life and rituals and that adds to the mystery. She just fights and we know she owns a dog. And her mother, Bridget, gave great interviews after the battle. We also know that no one is sure when the last time she fought in Ireland was. It may have been against Queenie Underwood at a wellness spa in Tralee in early 2016. She doesn’t know for sure. Brian Peters, her manager, assumed it was at a small club gig.
In the same corridor, one of Wembley’s greatest pantomimes took place in 2001. It’s a story told and enhanced with time, but it’s mostly true. That night, Big Audley Harrison made his professional debut; The venue is already packed with antique trusses and more than six million people will watch it live on the BBC. But, with just a few minutes left, the battle was in jeopardy. There was a flaw in the contract with his rival, Mike Middleton, an undercover cop at Disney World. He was due to receive $5,000 but it increased to $45,000 because of the error. There’s an uncomfortable stalemate, Audley’s lawyers are fuming. It was a hilarious comedy. In an adjoining locker room, two other boxers – Paul Fiske and Gary Williams – warmed up; some said they were wearing gloves. I’ve seen them, they never did. Middleton certainly wore gloves. Seconds ticking; it was crazy. Will it be Fiske, Williams or Middleton? An in-game legend named Johnny Bos found Middleton. He was the one who supplied most of Frank Bruno’s original opponents. In the end it was the nice guy, Mike, and he finished in the first 2-45 games. What a night. I think about that every time I walk those corridors.
John Denver’s classic, Country Roads, begins with the words: ‘Almost heaven.’ That is, in my opinion, the state of mind half of the fighters experienced on the night of the fight. The other half is almost hell. On Saturday night, I caught a glimpse of both.
