Boxing Punchlines: Scott Murray
Scott Murray with Niall Farrell who appears on the next Excelsior show
Scott Murray, 55, from Cannock. Promoter, owner of Cannock Premier Suite, Bar Sport and The Excelsior Sporting Club
As the man behind Cannock’s prestigious Bar Sport and Premier Suite, you have hosted some of the biggest names in sports. Tell me how you got started in the promotion/hospitality game?
My dad owned the UK’s longest running nightclub, Snoopys /Silks, where I worked growing up in Cannock during the ‘70s and ‘80s.
I always had a love for boxing and went to dozens of shows as a kid in the Midlands with family friend and boxing promoter Ron Gray. I also boxed successfully as an amateur and was lucky enough to be invited over to train at the HBA boxing camp in Texas (Houston Boxing Association) by coach Jesse Reid in 1988, training with world champions Frank Tate, Calvin Grove and Orlando Canizales.
It was while I was training in Houston that I first saw the sports bar concept, which gave me the idea of opening something similar in the UK.
It took me 10 years, but in 1998 I found an old, derelict Rank Bingo Hall in Cannock and, through some persuasion, managed to acquire the premises. I begged stole and borrowed to convert the huge venue into the first Bar Sport.
Murray, the young boxer, during his training stint in Texas
When I opened Bar Sport, Ron Gray approached me to host boxing celebrity shows as a joint partnership in our function room above the bar.
Who was the first celebrity you booked and when?
We opened Bar Sport with a celebrity dinner in 1998 with Sir Henry Cooper, although I did promote a small dinner show previously at my dad’s club in 1995 with John Conteh.
You have hosted and befriended some of the biggest names in the sport, tell us about a few?
I’ve promoted literally hundreds of sporting celebrity dinner shows and boxing events over the past 25 years with boxing and other sporting legends. The list Includes ‘The Four Kings’, Sugar Ray Leonard - Roberto Duran, Tommy Hearns and Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Lennox Lewis, Evander Holyfield, Larry Holmes and Gerry Cooney, Henry Cooper, Billy Walker, Jack Bodell, Danny McAlinden, Jake LaMotta, Roy Jones Jnr, Ken Buchanan, Chris Eubank, Nigel Benn, Joe and Enzo Calzaghe, Tommy Morrison, Tony Tucker, George Chuvalo, Mike McCallum, Tim Witherspoon, Frank Bruno, Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua, Floyd Mayweather Jnr, Steve Collins, Vinny Paz, Ray ‘Boom Boom’ Mancini and Barry McGuigan, to name just a very few.
Murray with one of his stand-out guests, Marvin Hagler
There have been other sporting stars such as Martin Johnson, Sir Stirling Moss, Gazza and Pelé. They’ve all been incredible, and some have become personal friends. My ‘A Team’ are Richie Woodhall and Steve Bunce who have helped present the shows, take them to a higher level and make them a huge success.
Who has been the standout personality you have hosted?
Too many to choose from as they’ve all been magnificent in their own right, but Marvelous Marvin Hagler and Lennox Lewis were very special.
Who has been the most difficult?
Mayweather was hard work, mainly due to his 26 entourage!
Ray Mancini has become a regular at your fantastic Excelsior Sporting Club dinner shows. Tell us about that collaboration?
‘Boom Boom’ has worked on dozens of shows with me over the past 15 years and has become a very close friend. He is an exceptional after dinner speaker with an extraordinary life story, but, moreover, he is a boxing historian who also knows the current boxing scene. He is key to the success of The Excelsior Sporting Club and I’m extremely proud to have him as part of our team.
Ray Mancini at the Premier Suite. He and Scott are close friends
The next show sees massive Midlands talent with Shakan Pitters, River Wilson-Bent, Niall Farrell and Ollie Cooper appearing, surely it only a matter of time before we start seeing titles contested at The Excelsior?
We’ll definitely be building the Excelsior Sporting Club shows up to bigger events in the near future. That will include Midlands, English, Celtic and British title fights.
Murray has attracted real heavyweight speakers, including AJ
Moving forward, are you happy to stick with the classy, classic format of the high-end dinner show or do you have an eye on bigger promotions?
Yes, very much so. I personally enjoy the classier shows and plan to expand the Excelsior Sporting Club to hotels on Park Lane, London, in the New Year. However, we also plan to promote open shows at larger venues in the Midlands later this year and next.
Tell us what else 2023 has in store at Bar Sport and the Premier Suite?
As well hosting numerous England amateur boxing shows again from September onwards, we have a terrific St Andrews Night dinner show planned on November 30. It will consist of English, Scottish and Irish boxers fighting for Celtic titles, complete with bagpipes, Highland dancing, live music and whisky tasting.
Interview by DEREK FITZPATRICK
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