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FOR YEARS, London's Royal Albert Hall was synonymous with boxing.
I staged some big shows there and at one time almost every top name in Britain, and more than a few from overseas, had fought at the venue.
I took Nigel Benn and Naseem Hamed to Kensington and the public loved it.
In the new Millennium, the Royal Albert Hall has dropped off the radar, with the East End and Wembley the capital's top destinations for the sport.
Yet, like the prodigal son, boxing folk have always dreamed of returning to the RAH.
Those hopes are no nearer fulfilment after local residents successfully blocked a bid for the resumption of boxing.
They say that unruly fight fans will cause a public nuisance. That's an insult.
At shows I promote up and down the country, fans are better behaved than their counterparts at football, cricket and even rugby and some concerts.
Over the years the Royal Albert Hall has hardly been a bastion of middle England - many years ago fascist Oswald Mosley had a rally and his black-shirt orchestra played there. All hell broke loose.
More recently, there were violent protests when American politician Henry Kissinger spoke there and Peter Tatchell tried to get him arrested for war crimes.
And when Pete Doherty's band Babyshambles played a gig, the police had to be called late at night to restore order.
The residents say boxing has an 'unsavoury audience'. These ignorant snobs should know better. A boxing audience wouldn't be any more trouble and I wouldn't be surprised if it was much better behaved.
And I'm sure some of the high rollers who spend big money to be ringside would be interested to know they are effectively being branded as thugs.
If you live near a venue you have to expect some disruption every now and again. The Kensington residents must have been aware of that when they bought their properties.
I wonder how they cope when the big summer rock concerts take place 100 yards away in Hyde Park, with tens of thousands of fans showing up for all-day to late-night extravaganzas.
Hopefully this ridiculous ban will get overturned when the matter goes to appeal.
Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...#ixzz0hLyadc17
I staged some big shows there and at one time almost every top name in Britain, and more than a few from overseas, had fought at the venue.
I took Nigel Benn and Naseem Hamed to Kensington and the public loved it.
In the new Millennium, the Royal Albert Hall has dropped off the radar, with the East End and Wembley the capital's top destinations for the sport.
Yet, like the prodigal son, boxing folk have always dreamed of returning to the RAH.
Those hopes are no nearer fulfilment after local residents successfully blocked a bid for the resumption of boxing.
They say that unruly fight fans will cause a public nuisance. That's an insult.
At shows I promote up and down the country, fans are better behaved than their counterparts at football, cricket and even rugby and some concerts.
Over the years the Royal Albert Hall has hardly been a bastion of middle England - many years ago fascist Oswald Mosley had a rally and his black-shirt orchestra played there. All hell broke loose.
More recently, there were violent protests when American politician Henry Kissinger spoke there and Peter Tatchell tried to get him arrested for war crimes.
And when Pete Doherty's band Babyshambles played a gig, the police had to be called late at night to restore order.
The residents say boxing has an 'unsavoury audience'. These ignorant snobs should know better. A boxing audience wouldn't be any more trouble and I wouldn't be surprised if it was much better behaved.
And I'm sure some of the high rollers who spend big money to be ringside would be interested to know they are effectively being branded as thugs.
If you live near a venue you have to expect some disruption every now and again. The Kensington residents must have been aware of that when they bought their properties.
I wonder how they cope when the big summer rock concerts take place 100 yards away in Hyde Park, with tens of thousands of fans showing up for all-day to late-night extravaganzas.
Hopefully this ridiculous ban will get overturned when the matter goes to appeal.
Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...#ixzz0hLyadc17