Scottish Amateur And Professional Boxing
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Frank Maloney's moaning again about the Scottish public failing to turn out to support their boxers.
We've heard it all before when the Braehead Arena was only half full for the Scott Harrison v Samuel Kebede fight and then a slightly bigger, but disappointing crowd turned out to see Scott fight Victor Polo.
Frank seemed to forget that the Scottish public turned out in force when Scott fought the likes of McCullough, Chacon and Medina. Craig Docherty's European title shot against Boris Sinitsin was a sellout too. And if the Brodie fight was held in Glasgow you could expect a bumper crowd for that one too.
But nobody had heard of Kebede. That's why your average punter was reluctant to fork out good money for it. And the fact that it lasted only a minute was always going to affect ticket sales for Harrison's next fight, especially when Victor Polo was widely but wrongly seen as being past his sell by date.
But when you hear that only 1,500 tickets have been sold so far for the Alex Arthur v Craig Docherty fight, then Frank Maloney has every right to moan.
Because it's a fight that should need no hype to sell it to the Scottish public.
Had the fight taken place at the Kelvin Hall as originally planned, there's no doubt that it would have sold out. But in all honesty, you'd have expected the same to be the case at Meadowbank. Hence the frustration of Frank Maloney and Sports Network who paid handsomely to see the venue switch from west to east.
One factor could well be that people won't travel so much for boxing as they do for football. And with it being on Sky, it's so much easier to and watch it on TV rather than try to get home from Meadowbank late at night, particularly if you're from Glasgow or further afield. Especially when it's Cup Semi-Final weekend with Hibs, Hearts and Celtic all involved in big games at Hampden.
Docherty will certainly have supporters through in Edinburgh, but probably no more than Arthur brought through to Glasgow for his fight against Willie Limond.
On the night, Meadowbank will be a lot closer to capacity than the half full venue ticket sales to date would suggest. Alex Arthur's and Gary Young's pulling power in the capital will see to that. But it will be a crying shame for both boxers, and Scottish boxing in general, if it isn't the sell-out crowd a fight like this deserves.
One man who says he'll definitely be at Meadowbank is Michael Gomez. Despite stepping up to Lightweight after his defeat at the hands of Argentinian Javier Osvaldo Įlvarez, the Mancunian who has already beaten both Arthur and Docherty says he'll step back down to fight the winner.
"I think it'll be a cracking fight between the two best Super Featherweights in Scotland," Gomez said, "but Docherty will lose because he's up against a man who hits too hard for him to survive. Craig marks up too easily, which was evident when he lost his European title shot against Boris Sinitsin. The Russian was too heavy handed for Docherty and Arthur will do a similar job."
Gomez incidentally also fancies his chances against young Ricky Burns at Lightweight even although the Coatbridge boxer says he'll be staying at Super Featherweight for the time being.
Tickets for Arthur v Docherty priced at £75, £50 and £30 are available from the Meadowbank Sports Centre (0131 661 5351) and Morrison's Gym (0141 554 7777).