MAD FOR IT
We relive the tale that changed the face of boxing in the city of Manchester
THEY called it ‘The B of the Bang.’ A 40-metre tall steel sculpture, designed to depict the beginning of an explosion, situated on the site of the old Bradford Colliery in Beswick,
East Manchester.
The structure never really found a place in the hearts of Mancunians. One of the hefty spikes which protruded into the air fell to the ground before the sculpture was officially unveiled. Although there were no The Omen-style impalings, locals who stared at the design through the windows of the 216 bus, or passed by as they made their way to Grey Mare
Lane Market, christened it, ‘Kerplunk’.
Beswick sits a short stroll from the city centre’s fashionable Northern Quarter, but spent decades lost in the gloom of decline. When Manchester won the right to host the 2002 Commonwealth Games, a light was finally shone on the deprived community. The Velodrome – then the National Cycling Centre – which had stood alone in the area since 1994 was joined by the cavernous City of Manchester Stadium and a wide ranging regeneration programme gave the area a new sense of identity.
For years, the Manchester boxing scene had been relying on outsiders like Naseem Hamed, Nigel Benn and Steve Collins to bring glamour and crowds to the new Nynex Arena and while local fighters like Robin Reid, Carl Thompson and Michael Brodie manfully battled away at world level, they never managed to fully connect with
the city’s army of casual sports fans.
Just as Beswick received a badly needed influx of investment and a vision for the future, Manchester boxing was desperate for an injection of life. On Saturday July 7, 2001, the Velodrome would play host to the B of Manchester’s boxing Bang. Ricky Hatton was the 23-year-old British light-welterweight boss on the brink of seducing an entire city. He was defending his title against Jason Rowland. Hatton’s trainer, Salford’s Billy Graham, was plotting Rowland’s downfall. Frank Warren was the promoter who recognised Hatton’s talent and Manchester’s potential. On the undercard, Warren had matched Mehrdud Takaloo, or just plain Takaloo as he was known, with the unbeaten local hero Anthony Farnell. Farnell was 26-0, had sold a load of tickets, and was tipped for the very top. Michael Jennings, an 11-0 welterweight, was making his arena debut. And journalist Steve Lillis, working the Manchester beat at the time, was just happy to be there.
John Evans talks to the key protagonists of a story that changed the face of Manchester boxing at the turn of the century
I WAS NEVER THE SAME FIGHTER AFTER THAT NIGHT. IT TOOK SOMETHING OUT OF ME”
³ RICKY HATTON:
The Velodrome was when it all kicked off. We were all local lads from just around the corner, all fighting for titles in front of a crowd of around five thousand. They were happy times. It was XQEHOLHYDEOH WR EH KRQHVW b
We built the following together. Me, Michael Gomez and Anthony Farnell. It was the start of the Manchester boom and I don’t think we’ve looked back since really. It was a wonderful occasion that we had such a big show for local talent.
FRANK WARREN:
It’s a building process. When you think back we were doing shows regularly up in Manchester in smaller venues when we did the Fight Night series in the 1980s. We’d always been there but I like to believe that we were the catalysts in making Manchester boxing great again. A few years before we got world title fights for Pat Barrett and Derek Angol on the same card. We laid a lot of money out on it but it didn’t sell at all and they both got beaten. That was a bit of a killer but we persevered with it.
We were lacking a decent sized venue but the Velodrome turned out to be good for us. That was the catalyst to getting Ricky and everybody going.
STEVE LILLIS:
Look at the personalities on that bill. Ricky Hatton. A media darling and one of the boys. He’s fighting Jason Rowland, a hardened East Ender with a story to tell and Jimmy Tibbs in his corner. Anthony Farnell, the hometown hero wearing a Roy Keane shirt to the ring. That’s tabloid porn. He’s fighting Takaloo the Iranian who has a great story about how his dad got them into the country. Michael Gomez, born in a car, fighting a lunatic [Laszlo Bognar] who had beaten him before. Jamie Moore who everybody really thought was going to go on to be the real deal. All of those characters on one card.
BILLY GRAHAM:
Farnell supported United, Gomez and Ricky were City fans. The following that they had were friends who came from the same areas that they grew up in and who supported the same football teams. I don’t really think they were boxing fans at first but they quickly became boxing fans.
MICHAEL JENNINGS:
Me, Farnell, Gomez and Tommy Mcdonagh were all in camp together at the Collyhurst and Moston gym. There was a good buzz around and the gym was on fire. Brian Hughes was there cracking the jokes but being serious when he needed to be. They were the best times. I’d love to go back.
LILLIS:
It was just one of those nights. Jamie Moore got done by Scott Dixon early in the night [ko 5]. You wondered whether Jamie could come back. He made a whirlwind start and then got done. Then Gomez was on the floor a couple of times early doors before beating Bognar [rsf 3]. When you think back, you realise what a night that was in Manchester boxing. It’s in modern day folklore but QRERG\ WDONV DERXW LW b
TAKALOO:
The week was unbelievable. Arnie really went out of his way to get under my skin. He was calling me Vindaloo. I said: “I might be a vindaloo, but have you actually tasted one? They’re bloody hot.” Arnie was huge at the weight, big and strong. I knew
I had to be on my game. I’d prepared for a really tough fight. I was in the French Alps for about a month. There were no holiday makers there, just the nutters doing paragliding and adrenaline junkies. They were looking at me thinking I was crazy because I was running in the mountains in shorts.
ANTHONY FARNELL:
I wasn’t calling him Vindaloo to wind him up. Me and Gomez were in a restaurant and Sky came down to film us. Gomez said: “On Saturday I’m going to eat a Bognar.’ I said: ‘I’m going to eat a Vindaloo.” It just came into my head. You know, Takaloo, Vindaloo.
I remember sparring Takaloo about 10 months before and it was easy. I schooled him a bit. I was unbeaten and thought I was on a crest of a wave and that it’d be easy work. In the dressing room I was quite calm. Howard Rainey was doing my bandages and he was a really calm person but there was something different and I don’t know what it was.
I remember everybody going mad for me. I sold most of it out myself and I remember this big guy. He was dead tanned with a bald head wearing a white shirt with a big chain hanging over it. As I was walking out, We Are The Champions started playing and this guy had tears in his eyes. He was shouting: “Come on $UQLH ȋ 7KDW JRW WR PH ΖW FKRNHG PH XS b
LILLIS:
It was packed at ringside. By the time Farnell got in the ring you couldn’t move. It was a genuine 5,000 sell out and not a ticket to be had all week. Ricky was the star of the night but Arnie was the hero. You look at a lot of Ricky’s early fights it was people around him like Arnie and Gomez doing a lot of the selling but everybody got to know Ricky and could identify with him and he just took off. I remember them shouting: ‘Farnell! Farnell!’ It was like a bearpit.
FARNELL:
Me, Danny Williams, Johnny Nelson and 5LFN\ +DWWRQ KDG DOO EHHQ WR /DV 9HJDV WR WKHB:%2
convention. I was pretty close to Danny and talked to him a lot. I got in the ring and Danny was staring me out. I was thinking: “You cheeky b ***** d! Who do you think you are? You’re supposed to be my friend?” My PLQG ZDV RII 7DNDORR OLNH D IRRO b
TAKALOO:
I think Arnie was 26-0 with 17 by knockout and with all the support on his side. That uppercut only travelled six inches. I thought: “Chop the body down and his good defence would drop.” I feinted and the uppercut came. It was a peach of a SXQFK b
FARNELL:
I got in there and to tell you the truth, I think I froze. I was going forward and threw a stiff jab. When your jab is stiff, it’s slow. He slipped it and caught me with the uppercut. I went down and got back up. He threw a few punches and the referee jumped in. I remember everybody saying it was a quick stoppage but it wasn’t. I was gone. It was the right stoppage.
I’D ONLY FOUGHT IN LEISURE CENTRES BEFORE. AFTER THE VELODROME, IT BECAME MASSIVE”
WARREN:
It was a big shock. Arnie was a big favourite going into that fight and none of us expected that to happen. That night I think we all took a gulp of air but Arnie was a good bloke with a good following and we did the best we could to bring him back. It was an upset to say the least. It was one of those nights. It was excitement all through. The fans got value for money and we did what we had to do and brought the guys back again. It’s boxing isn’t it? If the fighters are all getting knock overs people moan and if they get beat, it is what it is but you just have to keep building. If you’ve got faith and confidence in the fighters you’re working with then you work with them.
FARNELL:
From that night, I don’t think I was ever the same fighter as I was before. I think it took something RXW RI PH b
JENNINGS:
I boxed David Kirk [w pts 6], a southpaw kid who gave me nightmares. In the dressing rooms beforehand it was brilliant. Afterwards, with Gomez getting dropped and Arnie getting stopped, it was a bit doom and gloom. I don’t think any of us had our best SHUIRUPDQFHV b
HATTON:
I remember it turned into a bit of a disaster for me. All of the lads were my friends and I turned up at the venue and asked how Jamie had got on. They said he’d been stopped by Scott Dixon. I asked how Anthony had got on and he’d been knocked out by Takaloo in the first round. I asked how Gomez was getting on and they told me he’d been down twice in the first two rounds. I thought : “Oh, my God.”
GRAHAM:
At the time I thought it was a great fight for us. Jason Rowland was a former champion and he’d only lost to that freaky first round knockout to the “Punching Postman”, Bernard Paul. I think he was a really good fighter. He did things correctly and was very well schooled but unfortunately, that made him easier to read. There was no awkwardness about him. I knew that Ricky was gonna be good in the fight. I didn’t underestimate Jason, I knew he was a really good fighter and he had Jimmy Tibbs in the corner who I considered a friend and a great trainer. I was really looking forward to the fight.
HATTON:
Jason had won the WBU title but had to give it up because his dog bit his finger. I now had the title but I hadn’t beaten the man. It was a good fight from that point of view.
I was always a good body puncher from the amateurs which was rare. I went to Billy Graham and his main thing was the body belt, he was fine tuning my style. I was going through a period where I was getting cut every fight. People started to think it might be a hinderance so although I was always very aggressive I became a little bit more subtle as I went in. A little more subtle where I laid my head. A little more subtle when stepping to the side and keeping
IT TURNED INTO A NIGHTMARE. MY FRIENDS HAD LOST OR WERE GETTING BEATEN”
RICKY’S FIRST FIGHT WAS IN WIDNES AND HE RECKONS HE SOLD ABOUT FOUR TICKETS”
out of distance and using my jab before I went in. Just tweaking it here and there. From there on I stopped getting cut as much. I stopped Jason in the fourth.
WARREN:
It was a bit of a snowball. I’m always looking to take the risk and take the chance and it paid off. We were getting good numbers on TV and the ticket sales were improving every time. Ricky’s first fight was in Widnes and he reckons he sold about four tickets. He got out there and built a following up. He was quite accessible and he comes from the people. He’s a fan’s person and they all took to him.
LILLIS:
It was just a mad night. From that point the Farnell fans caught on to Ricky. Ricky is a blue collar hero and the Velodrome is in a blue collar area. You couldn’t have a better place for people to identify with Ricky Hatton than the Manchester Velodrome. When I think about shows like that it reminds me how good newspapers were for boxing. I was working for the papers in those days and Farnell versus Takaloo got major national coverage. Imagine that these days?
JENNINGS:
Most of the fights I’d had before were at the Kingsway Leisure Centre in Widnes and Wythenshawe Forum. The we moved to The 9HORGURPH DQG IURP WKDW SRLQW RQ LW EHFDPH PDVVLYH b
FARNELL:
It was a horrible night for me but I think it played a good part in what I do now. When I’m coaching lads I can tell them that if you lose it in your PLQG \RXȆYH ORVW WKH ILJKW 7KDWȆV OLIH LVQȆW LW"B
GRAHAM:
I said right from the off that Ricky would be the champion of the world and that he’d top bills in Las Vegas. I predicted that right from the off. I even said on TV: ‘This kid is going to be one of the best fighters to ever come out of this country.’ I knew what was JRLQJ WR KDSSHQ b
HATTON:
It was a great, great, great atmosphere. Whether you’re a red or a blue, one thing about Manchester is that we are very proud of our roots. When you see what that night led to, to the M.E.N Arena and then to Vegas and all the fans flying over. It wasn’t just the fact that we were all fighting for titles, we were all exciting. Jamie Moore was exciting, Anthony Farnell was exciting, Michael Gomez was exciting. Why would anybody not want to buy a ticket to watch us little animals?