By Frank Warren
BOXING is back at the Royal Albert Hall for the first time in over a decade.
I was the last promoter to stage world championship boxing there with Mexican great Marco Antonio Barrera in April 1999.
And now — along with Carl Leighton-Pope — I'm putting on a special Trans-atlantic amateur tournament between our heroic UK and US Armed Forces who will battle it out for the Royal Albert Hall Cup in support of the charity Tickets for Troops.
The October 7 event, sponsored by Holt's Military Banking, has the full support of the Prime Minister's wife, Samantha Cameron, who like myself, is a Patron of Tickets For Troops.
It's set to be a fantastic evening of top-class boxing between two proud and patriotic nations with the show billed as "The Special Relationship — This Time It's Personal".
We held a Press conference this week to launch the event and parked up a 17-ton Abbott tank outside the treasured West London venue — it certainly turned a few heads!
From composers Wagner and Elgar to musical legends The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix; from former world leaders Bill Clinton and Nelson Mandela to some of Britain's greatest boxers, including Sir Henry Cooper, Lennox Lewis, Frank Bruno and Naseem Hamed, they have all featured in the Royal Albert Hall's illustrious past.
I've had many great nights at the Hall with exciting fighters like Naz, Barrera, Nigel Benn, Danny Williams and George Collins.
Now, hopefully, a new generation of boxing talent can come through at the historic landmark.
I'm proud to say 2,000 free tickets will be provided to members of the UK Armed Forces and their families at ticketsfortroops.org.uk — first come, first served.
Nath Masterplan
HE already has a maths degree but WBO world light-heavyweight champ Nathan Cleverly is eyeing a Master's.
The unbeaten Welshman this week met with bitter rival Tony Bellew ahead of their October 15 blockbuster.
The winner could fight boxing 'master' Bernard Hopkins, who defends his WBC world title against Chad Dawson on the same night.
James is My Priority
SINCE I signed our British and Commonwealth super-middleweight champ George Groves to a promotional deal, the snipers tried to unsettle James DeGale's relationship with me.
As James' manager from day one my loyalty will lie with him and when the rematch with George happens, I will be in his corner.