It was a night that had everything – including Dominic Negus calling out John Fury and a fitting tribute to Dave Courtney.
As anyone who follows BKB™ knows, Dave was our No.1 fan and we remembered him at BKB 35.
There was a video tribute to him, his friends and family thanked the BKB family for their support and the traditional 10 bell tribute was impeccably observed.
It was a night that showed everything that’s good about BKB™ and more good news came after the show when Carl Hobley reversed his decision to retire.
He said he was walking away after stopping CJ Mills in the third round for the world cruiserweight championship in the battle of Bournemouth.
I was glad when Carl rang me a couple of days later to say how much he was looking forward to the future with us.
Carl has been a great story.
I remember him stepping in at four days’ notice to make his debut for BKB™ against Rob Cunningham in March, 2021.
Carl gave away 7 inches in height – and still won.
I think Carl saw that fight as a one off, but he’s stuck with us, fought his heart out in every fight and has ended up on top of the world.
He lost a previous world-title fight to his good friend Mickey Parker and the odds were against him after the opening round last Saturday night.
CJ won the first round on all the judges’ scorecards and Carl had a nasty cut.
Carl knew he had to go for broke and jumped all over CJ. He got the stoppage he needed and then told Robin Reid afterwards he was planning to retire before having a rethink.
Dan Podmore was at ringside on Saturday night and he is keen to fight Carl and try to win back the world cruiserweight championship, so that could be a big fight to look forward to in 2024.
Until next week Joe Smith-Brown