Gym partners Johnny Eames and Gianluca Di Caro brainstormed with some of the regular supporters and participants of the Football Tournament, one suggested a Boxing Tournament, featuring some of the TRAD TKO old boys and their rivals.

No surprise that when TRAD TKO former stars boxers, such as WBU Light Heavyweight Champion Tony Oakey, WBU Lightweight Champ Graham Earl and British and European Bantamweight Champion Ian Napa, to name just a few, were approached with the concept, they loved it and in an instant to a man signed up to take part.

Within hours a virtually full card of fights were made, as stars such as WBU Middleweight Champion Wayne Elcock, British & European Cruiserweight Champ Terry Dunstan, WBO Super Featherweight Champion Nicky Cook, British Super Bantamweight Champion Matthew Marsh, Southern Area Champion and WBU Middleweight challenger Gary Logan, Southern Area Light Middleweight Champ Tony Hudson, British Champion Patrick Mullins as well as Gary Barron, Mark Ford, Joe Elfidh, Lee Beavis, along with TRAD TKO Coaches Ben Doughty, Brian O’Shaughnessy, Tony Cesay and Michael Sprott’s coach Andrew Edge signed up to fight.

Certain old rivalries emerged, such as Tony Oakey and Wayne Elcock, with both going straight in training, as well as dishing out some good old fashioned banter through the social networks to add a little spice to the proceedings.

At the event, which takes place at the Menzies Prince Regent Hotel, Manor Road, Chigwell, Essex on Saturday 22nd February, besides the loosely termed ‘box-spar’ matches there will also be an auction of memorabilia, a three course meal and an after event party.

On making the official announcement of the event, a beaming Johnny Eames said.

“Through unfortunate circumstances we missed out on the Football last year, it was too late for us to get another ground, so one of my friends come up with the idea of getting some of the old boys together to spar each other on a show, which put the idea in our heads.

We spoke with some of our ex professionals to get them to come out of retirement, for one night only, and do a three round box-spar, for want of a better word.

It’s grown a bit now and the response we got from ex-fighters has been fantastic, obviously the first one to put his name down was, which we knew it would be, is Tony Oakey, an old soldier who can’t wait to get the gloves back on, although he’s nursing his nose, which throughout his career picked up thirteen breaks, which explains why they (we) used to call him flat nose, but there you go Tony.

As I said we were going to have all fights as three rounds, but Wayne Elcock, a good friend of mine and a really good friend of Tony Oakey’s made the mistake of putting on Facebook that he will be sparring his old sparring partner Tony Oakey, so I dropped the hint to Tony to add a bit of friendly rivalry, so they both requested that ‘spar’ be over five rounds and not three.

It’ll be fun yeah, two ex WBU World Champions head to head, we’ve got Matthew Marsh, who also fought for the WBU, you’ve got Graham Earl who was WBU Lightweight World Champion, you’ve got Gary Logan who also fought for the WBU title, British and European Champion Ian Napa, Nicky Cook who was British, Commonwealth, European and World Champion, you’ve got British Champion Patrick Mullins, it’s just fantastic how many have volunteered the time.

British and European Champion Terry Dunstan soon signed up too, as did another of my old fighters Darryl Setterfield, and we’ve got Tony Cesay, Lee Beavis, Ben Doughty, you know the list is endless, they’re all people that have volunteered their services for a fantastic charity, the Indee Rose Trust, which for those that don’t know helps children under the age of sixteen with brain and spinal tumors.

We deliver Indee Rose gift boxes to them in hospitals, which brings a smile back on their faces at times when they are not so happy or bright.

We try to do our best for Russell and Jane Dopson, Indee Rose’s parents, usually we raise them a substantial amount of money each year and they have sort of become a bit dependent on it and we feel we let them down a bit last year, so I am sure that with the public support and the ex-boxers that have put their hands up, I am pretty certain we can match that figure, if not better in on the 22nd February.

I’m sure it’s going to be a fantastic night, the tickets are going fast, if there’s any people out there that haven’t got tickets yet, get on the phone.

One thing, there will be no standing places on the night, it is only a seated event. There’s only twenty eight tables and we believe we already have eighteen sold already, so come and get your hands in your pocket.

We are also looking for donations for the auction on the evening, we’ve had some great donations from Chris Carr and also some memorabilia from Ricky Hatton, who is always a supporter of the Indee Rose Trust, but we could still do with a lot more, so if anyone wants to donate anything gives us a call at the gym and we’ll gladly take them, thank you.”

The TRAD TKO Boxing Gym Charity Boxing Event, in association with the World Boxing Union and in aid of the Indee Rose Trust, takes place at the Menzies Prince Regent Hotel, Manor Road, Chigwell, Essex IG8 8AE on Saturday 22nd February 2014.

Tickets, priced £80 (inclusive of an evening of boxing, three course meal and after party) are available from the TRAD TKO Boxing Gym in Canning Town or through the TKO Box Office – www.tkoboxoffice.com or call the ticket line on 07960 850645.

www.tkoboxinggym.com
 

For further information or interviews please contact:

 

Tel: (UK) +44( 0)208 166 5694

Tel: (UK) +44 (0)7960 850645

Tel: (UK) +44 (0) 7557 641597

Skype: GianlucaDiCaro

Viber: +44 (0) 7557 641597

E.Mail: rio@justlisten2this.com

www.justlisten2this.com