Sunday 28 May 2017

I Went to See Brook Vs Spence


A post shared by Matt Tuckey (@matttuckey) on


A post shared by Matt Tuckey (@matttuckey) on

Last night Sheffield lad Kell Brook fought American Erroll Spence Jr in the defence of his IBF Welterweight belt. I went with a few mates; It was the first time I'd been to see a professional, televised boxing match. We got tickets to the Bramhall Lane event early, giving us seats on the actual pitch fairly close to the ring.

We watched quite a few of the undercards as the stadium filled up, including Olympian Lawrence Okolie making light work of Rudolph Helesic. The penultimate fight: Brit George Groves beating Fedor Chudinov for the vacant WBA super-middleweight title. Groves has had a number of title shots- this has been his first successful one.

Here's 'Special K' Kell Brook entering his hometown's football arena to rapturous applause... and Kanye.


The result wasn't what we wanted: Brook suffered a stoppage in the 11th, after struggling with a broken eyesocket

So Britain' boxing community has lost one world title but gained another. An electric atmosphere, although a rainy one. The constant blue skies over northern England didn't hold, and clouded over just when we needed it not to: when we were in t-shirts in an outdoor arena. Cue a few awkward shoulder shrugs and two-steps.

In the crowd: Prince Naseem Hamed, looking... typically out of shape.

The sound in the stadium wasn't a strength of the production- pre and post fight interviews weren't always audible, but the night as a whole was brilliant.

We went for drinks after: Soyo and Beg Borrow Steal were decent, but Reflex was a cock fest.

Who remembers these bad boys!? Still available in Yorkshire

A fun weekend. Glad we got it organised!

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