And we think we are being treated to great marathon, all-night fight cards today! Well, we are, and say what you will (and have said) about Turki Alalshikh and his seemingly hell-bent desire to “take over” boxing. Still, we have had some superb, stacked fight cards due to the Saudi money man’s involvement in our great sport (let’s just hope it always stays ours for all to enjoy and respect).
But there have been great all-nighters before—numerous times. But one of the very special, most memorable, and superb value-for-money all-night boxing cards took place on this day back in 1996. Slightly older fight fans from the UK will perhaps recall where they were on “Judgement Night,” – November 9th of 1996.
Sky Sports was still somewhat new in the UK then, while pay-per-view was even newer and cheaper than it would become. But whatever the cost, fight fans knew they could NOT miss this one. This bill. Live, in the comfort of their front rooms, millions of UK boxing fans settled in, ordered their beers, their takeaways, and proceeded to catch the following action:
From the Nynex Arena in Manchester:
Ronald Winky Wright Vs. Ensley Bingham
Naseem Hamed Vs. Remigio Molina
Danny Wiliams Vs. Michael Murray
Steve Collins Vs. Nigel Benn (the rematch)
Herbie Hide Vs. Frankie Swindell
Michael Brodie Vs. Miguel Matthews.
Then, from the MGM in Las Vegas:
Scott Welch Vs. Daniel Eduardo Netto
Christy Martin Vs. Bethany Payne
Henry Akinwande Vs. Alexander Zolkin
Michael Moorer Vs. Frans Botha
Mike Tyson Vs. Evander Holyfield.
Phew!
And, aside from the yearly subscription, all of this was a UK fight fan for just £10! Of course, the Tyson fight really pulled us all in. So many of us, in fact almost all of us, felt Tyson would all but kill Holyfield – a brave warrior, but one who had recently suffered a “heart attack” and who was now being “fed” to the “better than ever” Tyson. I remember being almost laughed out of the pub the night before the fight. This is to suggest that Holyfield might have a chance against Tyson!
The end of Nigel Benn was sad to see, this at the hands of the teak-tough Collins, while “Prince” Naseem was firmly established as a massive star in the UK. It was great to see the great Winky Wright box in the UK, avoided by the elite as Winky was in the US, ducked you might say. Herbie Hide was always fun, while Danny Williams, like Mike Tyson, is still fighting (or trying to do so) today!
Women’s boxing was still way too new for most of us to appreciate and understand, but Christy Martin proved to be a real trailblazer who changed our perceptions when it came to watching women slugging it out in the ring. Michael Moorer, of course, best known then, as he is now, for being on the wrong end of George Foreman’s punch for the ages (or of the ages) in November 1994, put on a good performance against the stubborn but ultimately stopped Botha.
And then came the BIG one. Tyson Vs. Holyfield – “Finally!”
By this time, it was early morning in the UK, yet none of us at my party had any thoughts of going to bed. Accompanied on screen by greats Barry McGuigan, Paul Dempsey, and Emanuel Steward (who gave excellent interviews during the long broadcast), we were all wide awake as Tyson entered the ring. Quite astonishingly, Tyson was met with a smattering of boos mixed in with the cheers. Holyfield was a hero, and plenty of fans were rooting for him to become an even bigger one.
And it happened. Holyfield shocked, stunned, thrilled, and moved us as he fought one of his best fights in beating Tyson up. Knocking Tyson down, beating him to the punch, beating Tyson up, and then, in the 11th round, stopping the man he had always wanted to fight, “The Real Deal” was smack, back, bang on top of the world. It was a great moment that topped a truly magnificent, multi-hour marathon of a thriller of a fight night.
A “Judgement Night.”
Where were you, and can you still vividly recall the fistic brilliance that came our way that night 28 years ago?
