Top Boxer will not be all done and dusted by tomorrow night

The Top Boxer belt won’t be worn by the winner tomorrow

WITH a day to go until the Top Boxer lightweight tournament begins, the drama continues.

At today’s weigh-in for the eight-man showdown at Planet Ice, Solihull, it was announced the tournament will be staggered.

Tomorrow (Saturday’s) bill will feature only the four quarter-final bouts. The semis are provisionally scheduled to take place on promoter Tommy Owens’ October 14, Sports Connexion, Coventry, bill.

In another development, hot Coventry prospect Bradley Goldsmith has been withdrawn from the night following a “medical query” that arose on Tuesday.

At the time of publication, no further information was available. But the news must impact the show: Goldsmith has a huge following and, I believe, would’ve brought around 300 fans to Planet Ice.

The fighter will be crestfallen…and then some.

The decision not to run Top Boxer, which carries a first prize of £6,000, in its entirety tomorrow was made for “logistical reasons”, Owens told me immediately after the weigh-in.

Those “logistical reasons” have yet to be fully explained, but I’ll speculate economics are a factor.

For small hall promoters, cost have gone through the roof. They have rocketed. Grass roots promoters have been hit very hard: too hard, in my book.

The finances involved in staging a normal show are big. For a Top Boxer type event, where competitors face fighting three times on the same night, they are bigger.

For a show featuring a 10 round title fight, three doctors are required. The fast pace of a tournament such as Top Boxer requires four.

Tomorrow also has to have three judges and five referees. Those are merely the initial bills.

You do the maths.

TV covers the cost of major shows, small hall promoters have no such safety net. Theirs is a thankless task, yet they develop future television stars.

It is becoming increasingly apparent that they do the spadework while big promotional outfits reap the rewards down the line.

Promoters such as Tommy Owens and Errol Johnson are vital to the health of the game. For future champs, they provide the first rung on the ladder to stardom.

News Top Boxer is being run over a number of weeks will, I’m sure, receive a mixed reaction from the men taking part.

Michael Mooney…the new format may suit the veteran

I know those behind grizzled veteran Michael Mooney welcome the added recovery time.

Young guns Dylan Norman and Ryan Griffiths may feel their sharpness and fitness would’ve prevailed had three bouts on the same night taken place.

The public still has a cracking show: a five star main event, four slam bang Top Boxer battles and former outstanding amateur star Niall Farrell in action.

The only real difference is they’ll be treated to the first chapter of Top Boxer rather than the whole book.

That may add to the excitement and anticipation.