im surprised there wasnt a thread about this i watched it until 10 and was quite impressed but some of the work was sloppy and you see the styles taht works in the AMs straight away. i was most impresed with that guy who was on first Yaquia or something like taht he was a very talented boxer and had a style i liked
I watched it. I find the ams quite interesting something a bit different. Dont like the scoring sometimes thats the only thing. But yeh i enjoyed it!
Was gunnu watch it just to see the bout at light-fly, was supposed to be Gamul Yafai (if thats how it's spelled) vs Robert Wright, would have been a good fight but don't know what happened to Wright. Want to see more of the top British amatures like Saunders, Wright, Yafai and Luke Campbell. They'v all got a chance of getting a medal at the worlds.
Wright has moved up to fly weight but didn't make the weight (for fly that is) and so couldn't box. Thought the scoring was awful.
The only disappointment about the British ABA's was the **** poor crowd, apart from that, it was great coverage for the amateur code, up against Sky's Friday Fight Night. For me the plus points were....... No journeymen, both boxers doing their very best to win. Great picture quality, I reckon that Setanta's camera angles seem better than Sky's but maybe I'm talking bollocks. No highlights, all the bouts going out live. Good commentary team of Rawling and Woodhall with decent post fight interviews from Rob Walker. BUNCEY This content is protected & Andy Kerr, a pretty good double act. My favourite MC, except Buffer, Craig Stephen. An absolutely cracking night of boxing from Setanta, I even persuaded the wife to watch Britains Got Talent in the bedroom
the best moment of the show was when rawling and woodhall rightly kept going on about the poor judges and them not scoring any body shots, then for the chat with kerr bunce trys to show them up and goes on a rant about how body punches are scored by judges and its only the pros that go on about it, then right in the next bout a kid called younis in a decent contest against one of the best performers on the night failed to score a point despite landing many shots including plenty of body punches untill the last few seconds which was outrageous, then they go back to bunce and the look on his face was priceless and he said something like he really didn't get a good look at that contest because of the angle. i'm not knocking buncey, just a hilarious moment
I was there for this, ringside. Robster, agree that the turn out could have been greater but the advertising in Liverpool was awful! I heard more about a white collar event in March than I did about the British ABAs! Has to be said though that the set up of the night and the venue was very good. Quality of boxers on show was good too with some real decent scraps!
I think that was the smallest paying crowd that I've ever seen at an amateur boxing show. I doubt the ABA sold 50 tickets. A disgrace. The venue is fantastic and Liverpool is a fight city and the boxing was tremendous - I think that we saw some real future stars - so why such a dismal turnout? I will be going over some of the boxers again on Thursday. Adios.
I go to a fair number of am shows. In the main they are packed out, small halls, working mens clubs etc with standing room only. That's because the clubs organising them care! If this was a club show or a pro show the organiser or promoter would be hanging their head in shame. I'll bet that the badge & blazer brigade were strutting their stuff coz they were on the telly, instead they should have been hiding away. Thank God for the real guys who run the sport, the grassroots clubs & coaches, without them the sport would be right in the **** but then I imagine that the same scenario is echoed throughout most amateur sports. Great show by Setanta, however, can't be easy to put together 4 hours as flawlessly as you guys did. My wife was well pissed off :hey
It's a good point Robster. Club shows are always well attended. There were a far few local attendees to watch Stalker and then a handful of fans who had made the journey for each fighter but they could have sold that venue out with one radio advert!! There were write ups in the local paper about the event but nothing on a grand scale. To put it in perspective, there was a white collar boxing event in that same venue at the end of March. They sold around 15 tables of ten. Filled two boothes of 12 and seated all of the middle tier and a bit of the upper tier. Must have been around 1200 people there. For this there must have been about 200 people ish at most. There is an appetite for it in the city but it all gets targeted wrong (I think our Council needs to share the blame with the ABA too). Even the pro fights arent pitched correctly. The Quigely v Dodson fight would have sold out if the cheapest tickets were £15. As it stood I think we paid £30 for that fight and our tickets were upgraded on the night but I know loads of people who just wouldnt pay that but would jump at cheaper tickets. There's another pro show in the same venue as these ABAs on 12 June, again £30 a ticket. I am not sure what the motivation is but surely filling a hall but lowering the asking price will be better than a half empty arena with high priced tickets?