| The Greater Manchester 'Battle of the Badges' charity boxing event raised over £16,500 |
The event took place at the Premier Suite of the Reebok Stadium in front of 1500 people, the turn out was better than we could ever imagine, and it was a really fantastic night.
Following four months of preparation and commitment, which involved training on two occasions a week with Amir Khan’s trainers, the teams turned out on the evening with a combined weight loss of 19 stones and 5 pounds.
Prior to the event two of the boxers took part in a “spar” for the first point of the event, which set the tone for a great night. They could not fight in the fully licensed ABA event as they were under the age of 34. A firefighter from Leigh took the first point for the Fire Service and led the way for the rest of his team.
On the evening itself the teams were piped into the arena led by their captains carrying their ceremonial flags and introduced to a somewhat vocal crowd!
Unfortunately despite some very hard fought and close bouts the Fire Service were soon 4-1 down. A rally in the middle of the event with a couple of outstanding performances from firefighters from Salford Borough raised our hopes but as the night wore on the Police just had the edge and ran out 10-5 winners.
Chief Constable of GMP Peter Fahy presented the fine trophy to the first ever Battle of the Badges winners Greater Manchester Police.
Amir Khan took a break in his world title fight training and flew in from Los Angeles with his world renowned trainer Freddy Roach to support the event.
Part of the money raised was donated to the Firefighters Charity in honour of firefighter Steve Morris who was badly injured while trying to rescue a casualty from a serious house fire in Bolton. Whilst at the match, Amir presented Steve with a signed boxing glove. Steve is a big boxing fan and it was great to see the smile on his face when he received his gift.
During the event some fantastic auction prizes combined with takings for tickets meant that over £16,500 was raised for The Firefighter’s Charity, Gloves Community Gym and the Mayor of Bolton’s chosen charities which were supported by the Police.