Celebrity Boxing Review
- Posted on June 13, 2007 10:51 AM
- 0 comments
Bob and Weave Celebrity Boxing
Friday 8th June, 2007
Review By Gabriel Rolph
It wasn’t a good night for the Brits at the Bob & Weave Celebrity boxing, in fact for a couple our boys it was, in fact “goodnight”!
Friday night saw this year's Bob & Weave Celebrity Boxing night take place at the Old Billingsgate Fish Market on the Thames. Amongst the quaffing of many a beverage and scoffing of some fine New Zealand lamb, there was some pretty exciting/shocking (**delete where appropriate**) boxing...
First off, let me just say that Old Billingsgate Market is quite a venue. Located on the Thames between London Bridge and Tower Bridge, the Grade 2 listed building has been given the refurbish treatment by Richard Rogers. The result is a stunning structure and perfect venue for posh dos like this.
Bob & Weave Celebrity Boxing - the run-down.
Cricket and rugby legends from England go up against their Kiwi counterparts, doing their bit for charity. The charity in question, Sparks the children’s medical research charity. So, a big thumbs up to those taking part and behind the scenes, as this is a massive undertaking and it’s not often that celebs are willing to give up their time in order to take a beating! In between the celeb action, there’s some kick-boxing in the form of pros, Karen Lynch (NZ Champion) v Nicole Carter (UK star).
The first match up of the night saw ex-All Black, Eric Rush take on Adam Hollioake, who by the looks of things hasn’t left the gym since leaving test cricket! This ended up being the most evenly matched fight of the night, both men acquitting themselves well, with Rush just shading a points decision. So, 1-0 to the Kiwis.
The next fight on paper looked like a cracker. Another ex-All Black, Frank Bunce against Chris Sheasby, the big ex-England back row and man mountain. In actual fact Sheasby was waaaaay too slow for Bunce, who promptly put him on his arse in round 2… 2-0 to the Kiwis and things were not looking good for England.
Now, I consider myself an armchair fan of boxing, but what I saw next left me a little shaken… and it wasn’t just because of the volume of red wine (which was excellent btw) that I’d consumed. You could actually see it in ex-Kiwi cricketer, Andrew Penn’s eyes as he walked to the ring that he wasn’t the most confident of chaps. It was probably because of the size of his opponent. David “Syd” Lawrence only had a handful of games for England as a cricketer before shattering his knee, but, looking at him entering the ring, you would not have thought that he was once a purveyor of the gentlemen’s game. In short, the guy is huge… and he was pumped up… and Andrew Penn knew it.
Syd went to work. At one point just before he finally hit the canvas, I swear Penn was being already out cold and just being held up by a barrage of punches. It all looked pretty straight forward, Penn took a pasting, England were back in the tie. However, the ref called Syd for one punch too many after the fight had been stopped and awarded the fight to the unconscious Penn… oh, the controversy!! The call stood and England were looking at an embarrassing whitewash.
And so to the main event. England rowing’s golden boy James Cracknell against Kerry Walmsley, the Kiwi cricketer. Surely, Crackers would do us all proud, after all, he’s got the physique, the stamina, the reach…. Er, nope. He hit the canvas in round one too. Let’s just say, for the sake of his TV career I hope the left side of his face is ok, because he took quite a right hand from Walmsley!
Were you there? Did you enjoy the 'flesh pounding 'fun'? Post your reviews and messages to the contestants in the comment section.
For more reviews by the Seatwave staff, check out our HQ blog.
Post a comment
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.seatwaveblogs.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/910
