When Chris Eubank Jnr and Conor Benn step through the ropes at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday night they will be continuing a rich tradition of boxers fighting at British football grounds.
The stadium fight can be the pinnacle of a boxer’s career, and it is a stage few ever experience.
Carl Froch never tires of reminding people how he fought in front of 80,000 fans at Wembley in 2014, when he left bitter rival George Groves crumpled in a heap.
This is a man who was a three-time super-middleweight champion, yet it is that steamy May night at the national football stadium he cherishes most and it is the fight that secured his legacy.
For boxing has always been about more than simply winning. It can be boiled down to this: does a fighter excite fans and can he put bums on seats? And there is no greater endorsement of a fighter’s popularity, his showmanship, than selling out a football stadium.
Some boxers draw crowds because of their fighting style. For others it’s their winning personality. Barry McGuigan ticked both of those boxes. The charismatic Irishman with dynamite fists packed Loftus Road to the rafters in June 1985 when he won the featherweight world title by defeating legendary Panamanian Eusebio Pedroza.
Conor Benn and Chris Eubank Jr lock horns at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday
Barry McGuigan fought in front of a packed Loftus Road and beat Eusebio Pedroza in 1985
Many of the 25,000 in attendance had made the journey across the Irish sea and a staggering near 20million watched live on the BBC as McGuigan dethroned a man who had racked up 19 consecutive world-title defences.
Hailing from the town of Clones in Ireland, a stone’s throw from the border with the North, McGuigan had shunned sectarianism at the height of The Troubles, and achieved a level of popularity that most fighters can only dream of.
‘I wouldn’t wear colours that alienated people,’ McGuigan tells Mail Sport. ‘All of my family came from the six counties in Northern Ireland. I wasn’t going to take sides. I wore the United Nations dove of peace. I didn’t need to tell everyone I was Irish or write it on my head. Every time I opened my f****** mouth they knew that anyway!’
The most enduring image of that night, in which McGuigan won the world title by unanimous decision, is the astonishing ring walk that he embarked on from the home dugout.
The metal barriers designating his path to the ring were knocked over by fans desperate to see their hero, who is engulfed and has to make his way through the swell.
‘I had amazing support,’ McGuigan recalls. ‘The noise was just throbbing. The American TV guys were flabbergasted by the support I had. It took me about 12 minutes to get to the ring!’
Given the political turmoil of the time, did McGuigan fear someone taking a pop at him? ‘Without being bumptious, I was loved by the fans,’ McGuigan says. ‘I loved them and they loved me. But, yes, security has come a long way since those days!’
Barry McGuigan’s Eurovision star father Pat sung ‘Danny Boy’ at the Irish boxer’s title fight
Once in the ring, McGuigan’s father Pat, a famous singer in Ireland who came fourth in Eurovision in 1968, performed a moving rendition of Danny Boy. ‘Has there ever been a more emotional night in boxing than this?’ asked commentator Harry Carpenter.
Carpenter also touched on another important factor in any stadium bout – the weather. It was cold that night, but McGuigan didn’t notice. ‘The fight started at a frenetic pace. I didn’t feel cold, because Jesus Christ I was going 100mph!’ he laughs.
Stadium fights are commonly held in the summer to at least minimise the chances of bad weather.
Not that David Haye was so lucky when he fought Wladimir Klitschko at Hamburg’s Imtech Arena in July 2011.
The rain hammered down that night and Haye wore plastic slippers to protect his boots on his ring walk, which turned into a farce as drunken poncho-wearing fans leapt over the barriers to mob him.
David Haye walked to the ring in Hamburg with a blanket around him to keep warm
Joshua ushered in a golden era of British boxing when he sold out Wembley Stadium
Far better security was in place for each of Anthony Joshua’s seven stadium fights, the best undoubtedly being his epic defeat of Wladimir Klitschko in front of 90,000 fans at Wembley in 2017.
For all of Joshua’s critics today, he can justifiably lay claim to having ushered in a golden era for British boxing. He not only made the stadium fight commonplace but he also fought for, or defended, heavyweight world titles 10 times on these shores.
The record figure for a British fight rose to 94,000 when Tyson Fury beat Dillian Whyte and it was claimed that number extended to 96,000 when Joshua lost to Daniel Dubois last September. Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn could aim for even more if he can persuade Joshua and Fury to finally share a ring.
Ultimately it is rivalries that make stadium fights and, from the perspective of promoters, the more antipathy, the better. No rivalry festered with more bitterness than the one shared by Eubank Snr and Nigel Benn.
Eubank stopped Benn in their first bout in 1990 before they did it all again three years later at Old Trafford in front of 45,000. Benn was left seething when judges scored it a draw.
After that fight Eubank, who was the opponent of Michael Watson when he suffered life-changing injuries in a bout at White Hart Lane in 1991, believed that he and Benn would fight again.
Mike Tyson defeated Lou Savarese in a bout at Hampden Park back in 2000 in what was a farce
It never happened and fans were left to wonder what might have been. And so in a case of the sins of the fathers visited upon the sons, it is left to Junior and Conor to uphold the honour of their family names.
For many years it was the pull of Las Vegas that made the British stadium fight a rarity. Ricky Hatton, who could call on fervent support, fought at his beloved City of Manchester Stadium only once and was more commonly found slugging it out in the Nevada desert.
The hope with any stadium fight is that it lives up to the hype. Mike Tyson’s farcical outing at Hampden Park in 2000 against the hapless Lou Savarese certainly failed to do that.
Tyson’s unhinged post-fight rant about wanting to eat Lennox Lewis’ children lasted longer – and was more entertaining – than his 38-second victory that Scottish fans had been kept waiting for until 11.50pm in the cold and rain. Cries of ‘cheat’ and ‘fix’ filled the air, with many of the 30,000 in attendance quickly calculating how much they had paid per second of action.
For whatever happens at a stadium fight, good or bad, is amplified tenfold. Take Henry Cooper, who was immortalised for his knockdown of Muhammad Ali at Wembley in 1963.
Frank Bruno beat Joe Bugner at White Hart Lane in 1987 and there were skirmishes in the crowd
There are risks for promoters if an event turns sour. Frank Bruno dispatched Joe Bugner at White Hart Lane in 1987 in what The Mail On Sunday’s Patrick Collins decried as a ‘pathetically unequal contest’, and one of the event’s promoters Barry Hearn apologised to fans afterwards for problems with seating and stewarding. There were also skirmishes in the crowd.
No such fears afflict the Saudis and their bottomless pockets. Their rivals have ended the dominance of Las Vegas as boxing’s heartland, but for now their foray into boxing has not signalled the end of the British stadium fight. Long may they live on.
To celebrate the 40th anniversary of his victory over Pedroza, Barry McGuigan is hosting gala dinners this June in Monaghan, Ireland, London, Birmingham and Bristol. For information, email info@excelsiorsportingclub.com
