By Terry Dooley

A RETURN to live boxing for myself and my photographer friend, long-time Manchester boxing figure Al “Big Al” Stevenson, after a near two-year, partially injury-induced hiatus was just like riding the proverbial bike, especially as we were returning to the comforting confines of the small hall arena.

As mentioned by our editor recently, scores of 40-36 or 60-54 abound up and down these shows, but so too do the old familiar faces of officials, trade figures and fans. Fortunately, there was also a familiar face on the ticket desk in the form of promoter Pat Barrett’s older brother, who was dealing with the various passes. The reason it was fortuitous is because this mini-comeback could have been derailed at the first hurdle since access to the show had been arranged verbally with Barrett only for the ever-busy “Black Flash” to forget to convey the message.

What started off as a vague look of recognition on the face of his older brother became a memory of our attendance at past Black Flash Promotions events and we were in. Familiarity breeding access rather than contempt in this instance.

Barrett’s hopes for a three-title show had been dashed earlier in the week when the Central Area heavyweight title fight between Peter Naylor and Luis Wright was scrapped due to Wright’s withdrawal.

Instead, Naylor scored a scrappy but clear win over Milos Veletic in the only heavyweight action of the night. Naylor’s jubilant fans were extremely vocal throughout, playfully and hilariously tapping the heads of the members of press row while entertaining talk of future titles for their man.

Speaking of press row, that is something of a misnomer as when it came to the written press by my reckoning it was just BN’s Andrew Wake and me. That was it. Even before my sabbatical, the number of writers watching fighters had dwindled at this and other levels.

At one time, you could count on at least a half-a-dozen writers attending this type of show to provide coverage for the local papers. That has largely gone by the by due to changing times, tastes and let us be honest here, lots of bang average writers who are or were just phoning it in.

If small hall shows are akin to a travelling circus — familiar faces across similar venues watching the same storylines play out — then writers used to be the programme sellers, something else that has started to be confined to the annals of time on this type of show.

The night’s MC, Aky Karim, kept things cracking along at a lively pace. Karim came up via video interviews, establishing himself over time over at British Boxers with Chris Maylett, Barrett’s long-time right-hand man and the one in charge of overseeing their YouTube content, before becoming an MC.

It was a family affair for Karim on Saturday night. The familiar well-trodden surroundings meant that he could attend with his partner and two children safe in the knowledge that the friends he has made over the years were present at ringside to keep everyone safe, entertained and happy while he worked.

Karim has walked the equivalent of the path that small hall fighters dream of, from local shows to TV ones. He has recently done some work with DAZN, telling me that: “I love shows like this and am so used to them. Then you have the DAZN ones, which are a new experience and, yeah, it can be nerve racking.”

Joe O’Sullivan’s nerves were racked to hell and back again in a razor thin rematch defeat to experienced journeyman Victor Edagha, who staved off what potentially could have been his 100th loss by earning a 38-39 win.

O’Sullivan had dropped a 37-38 decision to Edagha in the same venue back in July and simply could not figure out or time his opponent’s erratic, free-wheeling style. The Italy-born, London-based visitor doesn’t so much move as hop, step and jump at his opponent, swinging all the while.

Two wins over the same fighter, then, for Edagha with three wins in total this year. I asked him if he is looking to parlay that into netting back-to-back wins for the first time in his 109-fight career. He faces a debutant, Troy Gallagher, in Bolton on November 30 so it is not beyond the realms of possibility — although putting a few wins together can come at a cost.

“The phone might stop ringing if I kept on winning!” he openly and honestly admitted to me after the fight, summing up the path walked by journeymen up and down the country. “Did you think I won it or would a draw have been fair?” he asked. “I wasn’t sure, but, like I said, it is nice to get a few wins. Hopefully they don’t see that and stop phoning me.”

Those may be unedifying words for the purists to take in, yet they attest to the stark reality of life on the road. Both in style and application, Edagha is not dissimilar to former journeyman Tony Randell, who went by the brilliant monikers “TNT” or, much better, “The Randalizer.”

Randall retired in 2012 with a 12-30-2 (9) record that has a bit of a story tucked away in it. “The Randalizer” strung together back-to-backs wins over the brilliantly named Jonny Enigma and then Graham Delehedy back in 2007. Roll on to 2009 and a win over Max Maxwell for the vacant BBBofC Midlands Area middleweight title was the start of a five-fight winning streak that included a successful defence of his title over Kevin Concepcion.

This mini revival was ended by a defeat to Matthew Hall on Frank Warren’s big Michael Katsidis-Kevin Mitchell bill at Upton Park in 2010 yet for a just over a year he was the journeyman who bucked the trend.

One final thing of note was watching promoter Pat Barrett put his training hat on to work the corner of Adam Rasool for the vacant Central Area Super featherweight title fight against Ibrahim Nadim, who had a very healthy looking Ricky Hatton in his corner. Rasool came in two pounds over the limit, so could not win the belt. By all accounts, he could barely lift his hands while trying to make weight and that was the case for most of the duration of a wide 92-99 defeat.

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – AUGUST 30: Director Dan Dewsbury and Ricky Hatton attend the UK premiere of “Hatton” on August 30, 2023 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Anthony Devlin/Getty Images)

Manchester boxing lore states that it was Barrett who floored a teenage Hatton with a left hook to the body during sparring to underline the importance of what became one of Hatton’s pet punches. Barrett is a firm believer in the omerta of sparring so has never gone on record to confirm it, telling me that flooring a fledging professional is nothing to brag about even if they go on to reach great heights. Although others, including Hatton himself, have alluded to its veracity.

It was to my knowledge the first time they have faced each other across the ring as rivals, certainly in a title fight, and it got my mind turning to what would have happened if they had met as professionals at light-welterweight in their respective primes.

Hatton infamously used to boil down to the weight as part and parcel of his job. Barrett often told me that he loved coming down to his fighting weight as it made him hungry, angry and focused ahead of the first bell. As battles of Manchester go, “The Hitman” going up against “Black Flash” is one to turn over and savour in our collective imagination.