Boxer James Woolnough is one of the first in line for tickets when they went on sale at 7.45am on Saturday. (Picture by Adrian Miller, 0721135)
THE tickets for Saturday’s Boxing Open Show sold out in a record 15 minutes.
Last year’s supply all went within 29min., but that mark was smashed when more than 800 seats for this year’s big event went on sale at Beau Sejour at 7.45am on Saturday. By 8am they were all gone.
The show’s atmosphere is always electric in the Sir John Loveridge Hall, but there is an extra edge this year as it will see Guernsey boxers meet Jersey lads in the ring for CI championship belts for the first time in 50 years.
‘I’m amazed,’ said Guernsey’s head coach Graham Guilbert about the response.
‘Loads of people are enjoying their sport at the moment. We’re having two open shows a year and we’re packed out. There’s a good following in local boxing.’
People were queuing up outside Beau Sejour for tickets from 10pm on Friday .
When Guilbert arrived at 6am to get his, he said there were 20 to 30 people in the queue.
Someone who had queued all night was James Woolnough.
The light-middleweight boxer is fighting against Jersey’s Boyd Monroe in one of the six CI Championship bouts.
When Woolnough turned up just after midnight to get tickets for friends and family, he was already 15th in the line.
‘I don’t think they advertised the last one [the October Show] enough, but this one they made sure everyone knew about it,’ he said.
‘Plus it’s Jersey and they’ll want to watch that. It’s important that it’s a sell out and that everyone wants to watch it, as all the boys will be buzzing from that and will want to do well.’
For his wait in the cold, Woolnough brought along chairs, flasks of tea and sausage sandwiches and he made sure he was wrapped up warm.
‘It wasn’t too bad as I had my thermals on,’ he said.
‘The time went quite quick. It was a good craic.’
Along with the CI Championship belts, Guernsey fighters will also face opponents from the tough Dagenham Select side.
There will be a total of 16 bouts with the island’s number one Matt Jennings topping the bill against the highly-rated Tony Conquest from London.
Guilbert said local boxing was on the up.
He has 36 medical-carded boxers and boys turning up all the time at the Amalgamated Boys Club hall in St Martin’s to get involved.
‘We’ve been a low-profile sport for so many years,’ he said.
‘It’s now coming into its own.’
Article posted on 17th February, 2009 - 2.30pm
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