TV STARS Ant and Dec were among the watching spectators as Neilson Promotions held its latest white collar show at Swindon’s MECA venue on Saturday.
Some 20 fighters were involved and the main event saw Dave ‘Bam Bam’ Gregory get the better of Dennis ‘the Menace’ Jones for the Neilson Promotions heavyweight title.
Both fighters went to war from the bell and after three action-packed rounds it was Gregory that had his hand raised by referee Spencer Alton.
The title belt was placed on the victor by former WBA/WBC world heavyweight boxing champion ‘Terrible’ Tim Witherspoon.
Gregory said afterwards: “I know Dennis personally and know how tough he is.
“I have trained harder for this than any other fight I’ve had and am over the moon.
“I intend to keep my hands on this belt for a while.” Meanwhile, former boxing pro Andy ‘Macca’ McCaffrey made his long overdue return to the ring in a rematch with the experienced Stewart Tordoff, who formerly fought out of ex-world champion Richie Woodhall's stable.
The pair had previously met before Christmas and on that occasion it was McCaffrey who took victory.
McCaffrey looked ring rusty from the off as he struggled to put together the telling combinations needed to dispose of such a well-disciplined opponent.
The encounter did not result in a knockout so it went to the scorecards and a draw was the outcome.
Elsewhere, 50-year-old Vince Ayris provided the shock of the night by stopping Chris Jones in the first round, a man with the advantage of being more than 20 years his junior.
Aaron White was beaten by Jamie Canavan, Ryan Towler-Wilson succumbed to Andy Backinsell and boxing for the first time, Ringside's Danny Wilson was outpointed by Robbie Burton.
Nick Tuckett won through against Marcin Janecki, Aidan Hills was overpowered by Chris Bull and Paul Payne forced a stoppage against Luke Boswell.
One of the loudest cheers of the evening was reserved for Ringside fighter Dan 'The Hitman' Hart, desperately unfortunate in his two previous ventures into the ring, who triumphed in an epic encounter with Darren ‘Chippy’ Jones.
Promoter Mark Neilson was very pleased with how the evning had gone and said tickets had sold well after the decision was made to keep prices as low as possible.
He said: “This is our third event at MECA and I am delighted with the turnout.
“Once again we’ve managed to put on some great fights with local fighters, both novice and experienced.
“We did our best to keep ticket prices down as we know it is tough times for a lot of people at the moment, and this proved the right approach.”
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