Fight Night – 1973 style: great insight into a 1970s British boxing show...

By Miles Templeton

I first got interested in researching the history of Boxing as a 16-year-old in 1973. Having been brought up in the era of Muhammad Ali it was virtually impossible not to take an interest in the sport at that time. I bought my first Boxing News on 27 April 1973 and within a few months had really become hooked on the domestic scene. The sport was littered with characters; on the up were John Conteh, John H Stracey, and Johnny Clark. On the downward slide at that time were great ringmen like Mark Rowe, Harry Scott and Joe Tetteh.

The world heavyweight title had recently changed hands in dramatic fashion, as the invincible Joe Frazier was destroyed by a young George Foreman. The 1970s are widely recognised today as the golden age of world heavyweight boxing. The British scene wasn’t bad either.

I thought I would select a show at random from this period and then analyse it within this piece. My pin came down on a three-bout event held at the National Sporting Club on 5 March 1973.

The headquarters of the National Sporting Club in 1973 were at the Cafe Royal in Regent Street, Piccadilly. The club, once the most important bastion of British Boxing, had fallen into decline during the 1930s. There were two reasons for this. Firstly, whereas the club had traditionally hosted all British title bouts, the huge growth in the popularity of boxing enabled commercial promoters to move in on the most important contests by offering far larger purses; and these were now held at large public Stadia including the Royal Albert Hall, Earl’s Court and Olympia. Secondly, the club had once been responsible for administering the sport but this had changed once the British Boxing Board of Control was re-established in 1929.

In July 1951 the club was revived and one show was held within a hotel at 35 Dover Street, Mayfair. The next show took place at the Mayfair Hotel and regular boxing took place there until the move to the Cafe Royal in 1955.

In 1973 the club held 23 shows, making it the busiest venue in Britain. The boxing took place in front of a dinner-jacketed audience who ate a fine meal, with good wine, during the boxing. Attendees were all members of the club and their guests. Other than on the annual ladies' night, no women were allowed. On the night in question the top of the bill contest brought together Bob Tuckett of Leeds and Terry Armstrong of Manchester.

Continue reading:

http://blog.boxinghistory.org.uk/2011/10/fight-night-1973-style.html

That's the way I remember a lot of the 70s. I may be imagining this, but I seem to recall that applause was supposed to be restricted to the conclusion of each round. Not during the rounds, if you valued your membership. The fights could be viewed through a haze of cigar smoke puffed into the atmosphere by the well-stuffed patrons, while you could hear the squeak of boxing boots on canvas as the boxers plied their trade. Fighters tended to get peanuts for their troubles on these promotions as well - Ken Buchanan got marooned on the NSC merry-go-round for a while, and was meant to have said that he'd have been better off going back to carpentry!

Splendid article, which captures the flavour of the times extremely well.

I'm not old enough to have experienced such times, but I think the greatest compliment I can pay to this article is to say that for a moment there I actually felt like I was in one of these smoke filled halls watching a toe-to-toe battle unfold between two largely unheralded British boxers.

Excellent read, and gives those of us that never experienced such events a real taste of what it would have been like.

alexd wrote: Other than on the annual ladies' night, no women were allowed.

Golden times indeed.

Fascinating stuff, nice to see what was happening on the day I entered this world! Have to be honest was completely unaware the National Sporting Club was still operating so late, have read a bit about them as Langford fought there a few times and they tried to make the fight with him and Johnson, believe they also put some of the money up for Jack's challenge to Burns but had no idea they carried on so long, you live and learn.