Iain aiming to get the Scottish fight game back on track
Owner Iain Wilson has pencilled in a show at the St Andrew’s Sporting Club for September of this year, which he hopes will end the longest spell without one since it debuted with the classic Ken Buchanan v Jim Watt British title fight in 1973.
The club has been one of the casualties of the Covid- 19 pandemic and if, as Wilson hopes, he’s allowed to go ahead with his plan, it will be the first promotion under the famous banner for 20 months.
The Glasgow businessman argues that Scottish boxing has suffered more than in England, and that has had a negative impact on our emerging prospects.
“Young Scottish fighters will have lost a year-and-a-half of their development to this, and they’ve been harder hit than their English counterparts,” claimed Wilson.
“At least they’ve been able to get bouts on the undercards of the Sky and BT shows down south.
“Up here, our lads aren’t even able to spar and gyms are closed.
“I’ve had offers from English
promoters to put some of our kids on their shows. But I turned them down because they would have been mismatches, going in against whizz kids. You’ve got to protect your boxers.
“The Scottish boys have also had to do without purses for all that time. And unless you have Sky or BT broadcasting, putting on a show would be like setting fire to money.
“It’s not difficult, it’s impossible when you think how much it costs for the constant testing and all the other things that would need to be done, all without a single ticket being sold.
“When it comes to a promotion, it costs thousands to put people – boxers, trainers, corner men, officials – in hotels. Then, if one boxer was to return a positive test, you could be shut down anyway. Plus you’ll struggle to find a sponsor for a show that isn’t on TV.”
Even so, Wilson believes that Scottish boxing will bounce back.
“My plan is to re- open the St Andrew’s in September and start afresh with a new season,” he said.
“The membership is on hold at the moment and, while we’ll get going again, everyone’s been hit financially by this.
“The worst is probably still to come. What’ll happen once furlough ends? It’ll be like Armageddon but we’ll do our best.”
Josh Taylor’s unification fight against Jose Ramirez has finally been confirmed for May 22 – and the winner will be guaranteed a money- spinning bout against undefeated WBO welterweight champion, Terence Crawford.
The 30-year-old Scot will put his WBA and IBF light-welterweight belts on the line against WBC and WBO champion Ramirez, with Las Vegas the preferred option for promoter Bob Arum.