NEILSON NOTES: When will small-hall boxing events return?

Small-Hall professional boxing in the UK could return as soon as March, but we have a few hurdles to cross first as the country approaches the halfway stage in the second national lockdown. Swindon-based boxing promoter Mark Neilson pens his first column for Total Sport Swindon as he gives his analysis on when fight fans can expect professional boxing to resume around the country.

Since the introduction of the first national lockdown, sports fans have been banned from attending live sporting events and instead have had to rely on television screens to get their much-needed sports fix. 

Rules on social distancing and Covid-secure bubbles has meant that many sports have had to adapt to the new restrictions imposed by the Government due to the Coronavirus pandemic and boxing isn’t any different. 
 
After postponing and cancelling fights at the start of the first national lockdown, Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing and Frank Warrens Queensbury have managed to put on shows at great expense. Providing boxing fans with some brilliant entertainment, as showcase fights such as Whyte v Povetkin were staged at Hearn’s ‘Fightcamp’. 

MTK Global managed to stage some shows behind-closed-doors streaming these on their Youtube channel with Gloucester’s Akeem Ennis Brown becoming the British and Commonwealth super-lightweight champion in September, but for small-hall boxing events, it just isn’t possible to put shows on in the current climate. 

Under the current British Boxing Board of Control Coronavirus restrictions, for a scheduled Saturday fight, boxers and their team must be placed into a Covid-secure bubble on the Wednesday, where they will be Covid tested and must then stay inside their hotel until their result comes back. 

Once they get their result back, they must still stay inside their bubble inside a cordoned off zone or hotel and then can not leave this area apart from training and to eat in a Covid secure environment up until the moment they step into the ring. 

In contrast on a normal small-hall fight-night, boxers will turn up in the morning to get weighed and then will come back in the evening to fight. 

Now for the deep bank accounts of the big-punchers of the television promoters, this is just a drop in the ocean. But think about the costs that would likely be incurred for small-hall promoters like myself and you quickly realise putting on fights at the moment just doesn’t make sense. 

Under the current restrictions, myself and other promoters are technically allowed to put on shows, but no fans are allowed to attend and we must adhere to all of the BBCs infection prevention measures.

The last show I put on in November 2019 cost me roughly £40,000. But with spectators producing 70% of the revenue of the overall event, Covid tests costing £120 a pop, and hotel and meal costs for a boxer and their full team likely to be in the thousands, you can quickly see how a behind-closed-doors event would mean a massive loss in revenue and a significant rise in costs. All of which makes small-hall events a no-go at the moment. 

Obviously, this isn’t what fans or boxers want to hear but unfortunately, there isn’t an alternative at the moment. However, it’s not just fans that are missing out on the action at the moment. Fighters are missing out on paydays and punters are missing out on local boxing action, but eventually, things will get back to normal. 

I’m no scientist but after the positive news we received earlier this week on the Coronavirus vaccine, I am preparing shows for March 2021 in Swindon and across other parts of the South-West. 

I’m expecting big things for small-hall boxing in 2021 and whereby you might’ve seen four shows in Swindon in years gone by, after a year without local boxing there is going to be a surge in popularity and fans might see possibly eight shows in Swindon next year, with hopefully some record-breaking attendances set to come to the likes of the MECA.

This has certainly been a year to forget but small-hall boxing will be back with a bang in 2021 and I certainly can’t wait to bring some big heavy-hitting fights to Swindon’s boxing scene next year.