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CELEBRITY BOXING

Celebrities are not uncommon at Spaniorum Farm Gym. The ‘names’ that have been seen training, or visiting the farm, in the past include Lennox Lewis, Frank Bruno, Audley Harrison and many smaller men with lesser names.

Possibly, the most famous darts player in the World, Phil “The Power” Taylor, has also been seen in the ring punching the pads, albeit with a little less accuracy and consistency than he shows on the “Oche”. Nine out of ten for effort Phil?

Among other sports, squash, football and cricket have all had players train at the gym, but amongst the biggest, in name and in size, must be David “Sid” Lawrence, ex-Gloucestershire County and England cricketer. Aggressive as a frightening fast bowler on the cricket field, ‘Sid’ is now harnessing that aggression and training for an International Charity boxing match against New Zealand opposition in June, at Billingsgate London, as part of a fund-raising for the sporting charity SPARKS

MOTHER’S DAY AT THE MARRIOTT

Jane Couch, temporarily suspending her career as a World class boxer, proved that she is almost as good as a promoter with her latest dinner show at the Marriott Hotel, Bristol on March 18th “Mother’s Day”.

Mothers attending the show were given gifts of flowers and chocolates to go with the excellent food provided by the hotel. This gentle touch added to one of the most sociable scenes experienced at a professional boxing show. Good quality singing entertainment from Tony “B” who sang Danny Butler into the ring with a competent rendering of “Danny Boy” and somewhat less competent Karaoke singing from some of the fans who possibly had more pleasure from their efforts than the audience. An exception to this was the singing by former World Champion Glen Catley, who it has been rumoured, might even have had as good a career as a singer as he has had as a boxer.

The serious side of the evening’s entertainment came with the first bout of the evening, Spaniorum Farm’s Chris Long versus road warrior Chris Brophy from Wales. Both boxers looked better than their national rankings and provided a competitive match. Chris Long, scoring regularly, with a left hand to the body early on, had to survive some right hand swings to the head, one of which may have felled the proverbial ox but didn’t even wobble the “Farm fighter”. Quality versus quantity punching made it hard for referee Grant Wallace to pick a winner and there were no complaints when he scored the fight a draw.

Danny Butler (Spaniorum Farm) made it six wins in a row when he out pointed London based Pole, Jawel Pas, over six rounds. It was a clear points win, with Danny displaying a variety of skills rarely seen in a

19 year old novice professional boxer. Elusive footwork, good use of the left lead and periodic fast bursts of combination punches always kept Butler ahead on points, so it was no surprise when referee Wallace raised the young Bristolian’s arm at the end of the fight. Despite trailing on points, Jawel Pas made the contest competitive, especially in the last round when he knew he had to score a knock-out to win. Danny kept cool, stuck to his skills and delighted his growing ‘fan-club’ with another win. Jawel was fit, strong and another step up on Danny’s learning curve.

It is many years since Jane Couch first entered a woman’s prison, reluctantly, for an enforced period of time. She could never have imagined that she would one day return to other prisons as an inspirational and motivational personality, encouraging inmates to seek out and grasp opportunities that will take them away from the short term excitement of drink, drugs and criminality.

Boxing is a sport that demands discipline and dedication and it will certainly not be the choice of every young person. However, Jane has shown that if the desire to change one’s life is there, exciting things can happen. Turning her back on her previous life style she has travelled to box in America, Poland, Jamaica, Belgium, France, Denmark, winning five World titles.

Now, also a respected boxing promoter, Jane’s first invitation to talk and demonstrate, along with trainer Tex Woodward and stable-mate Danny Butler, was to Eastwood Park Prison, Gloucestershire, England, where the female inmates were encouraged to skip, shadow box and spar with Jane and Danny.

The activities and question and answer period were appreciated by the Governer and all other attendees.

The next visit will be to East Sutton Park Prison, London