“They always say, ‘At what age do you think you can marry your old man?’ I don’t think I’ve been there; he’s 71 years old and he’s still having a bit of a ruckus in the parking lot that someone has mistakenly looked at him…”
Swindon’s Battle Town supremo promoter, Mark Neilson, continued: “The first professional bout I’ve seen of him, he was against this big heavyweight in Bristol. I saw this guy and I remember saying, ‘Dad, he’s big.’ He said, ‘No, don’t worry about it.’ He has such a threat about him, like a [Mike] Tyson, the threat. ‘Do not worry about that.’ And he blocked him in the third round. Honestly, it’s pretty cool. ”
The almost mythical mountain, Neilson’s father, Eddie, can be seen in grainy black-and-white photographs, either grimacing between punches or posing with clenched fists, the size and solidity evident. clarity of concrete bricks. A Swindon boxer feared in his pomp, Eddie Neilson shaped his son’s path to professional boxing without much intention. He faced Joe Bugner and bravely faced young Frank Bruno, unafraid of making mistakes. And now, with the family’s advertising business growing, the couple can enjoy success together. What began as merely a charity fundraising venture at the turn of the millennium has become a staple of British small-hall boxing – and Neilson Jnr tells Social boxing they are just getting started.
“Listen, I’ve always thought that you should make shows great, spend some money on them, that’s why people will come back. That production came naturally to us when we turned around, but we really had to start from scratch. We can put white snow on our collars [level] and in two weeks we’ll fill it up. But on the plus side, we have an empty phone book. We just started moving things around in 2019, founded the Fight Town franchise and that’s in development. We’ve got a big concert booked for March [pre-pandemic] and it all stops there. Back in March of last year, we just continued where we left off – we’re looking to break it now. ”
“I own my own business,” explains Neilson, when asked if the art of creating success comes naturally. “I did that for about 15 years. It’s a temporary recruitment agency; it’s completely separate. However, we know how to build a brand, we know how to market, I’m an entrepreneur and I know how to run a financial model, and I’m not an idiot. I went to see other shows, and I thought, ‘I like that – it works great.’ Then I go to other programs, ‘Hmm…’ In business too: you do more of what works and less of what doesn’t. In the end you will get a really good product. ”
That product – no doubt a labor of love – seems set to test its durability, accessing several exhibitions spanning the spring and summer months. Performances in Swindon, Bracknell, Gloucester, and London’s York Hall are scheduled to run from April to June. The rest of the year, possibly more. Mark Neilson’s ambition is evident as he sits at home, speaking from the office, with framed pictures of other sporting successes behind him. He talks incredibly well, speaks meaningfully from a position many speculated, but he beats you up like a competitor.
Other pro outfits of Neilson Boxing’s stature will have to come in at second as he won’t let them pass wheel space: “Over time, because we work that way. , as soon as we closed the date, we got phone calls saying, ‘Can we take our guy to one of your gigs?’ We are getting that reputation. And where we started borrowing boxers from other managers or promoters to start, now, today, I’ve got four requests to get the boxer to take part in the show at Our York Hall – but both were full. ‘What about your Bracknell program?’ Sorry, it’s full. Then you’re in a lucky position because you get to choose who you work with. Just because we’re all into boxing doesn’t mean everyone is fine; You have to choose who you sleep with, right? ”
“I view a card as a boxing fan; I look in though I would pay for a ticket. And if the whole card is just house warrior against laner, what’s the point? You can see sparring better than that. We started working with Alfie Warren and they’ve got a really big boxer. We tell them, ‘This is the way we want it. We want to fight 50-50. ‘ And they’re up there. They say, ‘Yes, we’re telling our fighters the same thing: there’s no time to mess around now.’ They actually dropped some guys who just wanted to sell tickets and be boxers, and other things. But now they’re focusing on some really good guys, and there’s going to be some great matches coming up. We have two 10-card cards coming up at York Hall and I think about 50% of them are 50-50. It’s not a bad little mix, is it? ”
No, it’s not. In the spirit of honesty, those cards are hard to build consistently. While promoters like Neilson aim for that mix, that mix, to make people happy, ticketing against ambition gets tough, and if he’s as good as his word, it’s can define Fight Town. The work of Neilson Boxing with talented cruiser Luke Watkins, and now Ryan Martin, trained by Adam Booth, demonstrates their careful and unwary guidance towards a martial arts career. doctor. But who is next? And how do you keep your talent on track?
Neilson talks about Max Mudway, a promising boxer who lives locally, and mentions an attractive boxer known as ‘El Gordito’ or ‘chubbsy’ after he lost weight once as a man. amateur. That Mexican nickname led to a fake mustache, a mustache during his ring walk, and the muffled mariachi band that accompanied Lewis Roberts in his next outing. The story and character building doesn’t necessarily lead to the clichéd staging that we often see at the small hall level and beyond. Warriors should know where they are. They should keep their ambitions unequaled, and hope to overachieve, but Neilson remarked that he has seen boxers 19-0 beaten in the gym; they know what they are, and they know what they are not, deep down.
As Mark Neilson prepared to begin his tour in the south of England, he moved quickly, saying Social boxing What matters to him when people talk about the company’s legacy: “I just want to be remembered… I’m old enough to remember Terry Lawless, Mickey Duff, Mike Barrett. I saw something and tweeted back the day before, they were sitting there with cigars in the hotel lobby with a little black book matchmaking. It says ‘Legendary.’ You just want to come down like something. Who knows how big we will be? We’re still building this brand – I just want people to look back and think, ‘Yes, they were great.’ Even if – worst case – we keep the same size; I just want them to say, ‘Those were brutal shows, they put some boxers in. ”
And they are on their way. Swindon holds boxing close to its heart, even though you may not know it. And Neilson’s dad Eddie, who is still in excellent health, will come to the shows when he can. A real fighter, I would say he tries to avoid scuffles in the parking lots if possible.
It feels like it’s time for a little boxing revolution in their world and Fight Town with Neilson Boxing is planting his flag in the ground. Thankfully, Neilson doesn’t have an exit date – not with his wife’s spending plan, he said Social boxing. It is news, which should be welcomed, as the sport lacks good men with good intentions. Now, the only pressure is on when it comes to fulfilling their promise…
