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Hennessy Sports have been forced to postpone their “First Defence” promotion at the York Hall in Bethnal Green on Friday night, despite going to every effort to secure a suitable replacement top of the bill fight after Barry Morrison withdrew from his mandatory challenge to British Light Welterweight champion Lenny Daws.
Morrison’s precise reasons are unclear – with his representative Tommy Gilmour simply supplying a letter from a doctor stating that he was unable to compete because of “health problems” that require further investigation.
Initially, a solution looked achievable. Former English champion and British Title challenger Alan Bosworth was due to contest an eliminator for Daws title against Colin Lynes in the chief support contest and would have jumped at the chance to save the day. It has been his lifelong ambition to win the domestic title.
Unfortunately, the British Boxing Board of Control wouldn’t sanction him to do so, despite consenting to a British Title championship for the very same night in Sheffield that features two fighters coming off stoppages. For one it has been three in a row. The Board also deemed Colin Lynes unsuitable.
An extensive search for another challenger ensued. Other possibilities were also considered; including Daws challenging for the Commonwealth Title and Lee Meager stepping up from an 8 rounder on the under card to defend his British Lightweight Title, but no-one was prepared to face the Hennessy Sports duo.
Sky Sports requirement for a championship fight to top the bill meant that an international opponent could not be brought in for a 12 rounder against Daws, who won the British with an impressive win over the highly respected Nigel Wright in May.
It has been a very frustrating week, admitted Hennessy Sports head Mick Hennessy. We have done everything we can to keep this show together. This kind of cancellation is not good for British Boxing
Everyone loses out: the fans, television, us and, perhaps worst of all, the boxers. Lenny had been training for this fight for ten weeks, Bosworth and Lynes had a crucial British Title Eliminator, Lee Meager was getting in an 8-rounder before defending against Jon Thaxton and there is a host of fighters on the undercard losing out on vital experience. It stops us from
moving things forward. All this is without even touching on the financial implications.
I am absolutely shocked at the decision not to sanction Bosworth, particularly when you consider some of the fights that have been passed recently. There needs to be some consistency.
Bosworth is a hard fight for anybody when he’s had the kind of notice that he’s had for this show. He has been in full training for at least two months and was obviously on the weight as he was due to contest a Championship eliminator. It is easy to argue the case that Lynes deserved another shot as well.
Unfortunately, without a title on the line, Daws-Bosworth or Daws-Lynes, didn’t meet Sky’s requirements. We could have brought in a decent American, Canadian or Mexican fighter for an International contest, but these wouldn’t have been suitable for the same reason.
Even after Bosworth and Lynes were turned down, we had hoped to find a suitable domestic opponent. Our matchmaker John Ingle offered Ted Bami, Gary Reid and Young Muttley the chance to fight Lenny but their representatives all said no. Dean Hickman was considered but the Board ruled him out.
John also gave Lee McAllister, Martin Watson, Ricky Burns, Anthony Maynard, Scott Lawton, Nadeem Siddique and Jon Thaxton the chance to challenge Lee Meager, but they all turned it down. Some said they couldn’t make the weight, so we offered them the chance to fight Lenny at light welterweight, but that drew a blank as well.
It’s gut-wrenching, particularly as there was no need for it to come to this. It’s the first show we have ever had to pull and we have hated doing it. Even though Morrison withdrew on late notice we were still confident that we could save the promotion. Sadly, a combination of factors went against us and we hit a brick wall. There was just nothing we could do.
