Scotland Boxing: An Intimate Night of Young Prospects
By Donald “Braveheart” Stewart (At Ringside)
Recently I found myself ringside watching yet another series of cracking contests whilst “Bad” Brad Berkwitt was doing what he does best and presenting. His was an evening in an older buiding that had a military look to it. I was in the Ballroom of the Marriott Hotel in Glasgow. It was mighty fancy…
You see we may be a small nation but we do try our best to keep up with the bigger ones. Our ring announcers try and channel their inner Buffer whilst the boxers are attempting to get some razz and attach it to their ama to make the tazz more special.
The place where our boxers attempt to get a little Las Vegas is in their ring walks… Now if you want Eye of the Tiger, I have no problem with that. The Rocky theme tune? Sure I can take that…
But really? Have we descended into such cliché and parody? I want some originality! I want some my, my, my… We demand some show biz and some of that old magic…
So I am in the Ballroom of the Marriott Hotel in Glasgow… The chandeliers are perfect, the setting could not be more grand, this is special…
I am watching the latest four fights on a Lock, Stock Promotions bill as the chandeliers were quaking and the fights were taking their toll…
It was an excellent night with some cracking contests. Exciting Scottish prospect Craig McIntyre, 2-0, 1KO’s, was first in the ring. This kid is good and he is definitely going places – of that we have little doubt. He faced a new guy, from Manchester, Danny Mickleburgh 0-1. McIntyre wasted no time, got a sense that Mickleburgh was nervy and caught him cleanly in the first round. Mickleburgh hit the deck. He got up but was sent back down again. The referee waved it off.
It was a great performance in the ring but I was still looking for some Las Vegas…
Next up was the undefeated, Kieran Smith, 6-0, 2 KO’s. Smith has a snappy style that people like – unless you are in his corner! With his hands by his sides he faced another Manchester fighter – Darryl Sharp, 2-7. I had last seen Sharp in Grangemouth and he had proven a tricky customer. In between then and now he had won against Adam Ismail, 9-1. It had been Ismail’s first loss and a bit of a shock for his system. There were no such problems here as Smith got a 40-36 verdict.
I still looked for some sort of pzazz…
In came the Scottish Mexican, Craig Kelly, 9-9-1, 2 KO’s. His last fight had been a toe to toe war and this was no different. Defending his Masters belt Kelly was in no mood to give it up. Unfortunately, we forgot to tell Stefan Sanderson, 2-0, 1 KO’s, who traded blow for blow with Kelly until by the end of the 6th, Kelly just could not go on any longer. The belt went and we saw a boxer receive oxygen… Not a great sight but after a few short breathes, Kelly was up and back making noises about his next fight.
Highly impressive stuff but I was after the big noise …
Each of the 6 fighters so far had given us their own personal ring tone. Their ring walk told us about their taste in music or what made them motivated to get onto the canvass. Much thought had gone into some of them and you could see that.
What was missing was the entertainment, the show biz…
Scott Allan 5-1-1, was next up… This was the smallest guy with the biggest mouth. He had told me he was winning this. He had told EVERYBODY he was winning this Scottish bantamweight title. His entrance though was more about the effect he wanted within the ballroom. It was not just for him… It was for his fans. And they loved it…
This was show biz… This was the razamatazz…
And so in a little corner of Scotland in came a wee guy who fought another wee guy – Scott McCormack, 4-2-1, and beat him on points, scoring 98-93. Allan, former World kickboxing champion at bantamweight is now the Scottish boxing champion at the same weight. What’s next? Who knows? Allan probably does but for the moment
I have this as a memory…
I wonder if “Bad” Brad got a ring walk to match it…?
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