I’m going to be fighting in a white-collar charity boxing match in November! And the organisers very kindly still let me take part when I explained at length that I’m not in any sense “white-collar.”

I’m training and fighting to raise money for the NSPCC, and I’m inviting you all to come down to London’s East End on Friday 3^rd November for an evening of live Queensberry and Thai boxing and entertainment in aid of fundraising for the NSPCC.

Before I tell you about the particulars I want to talk about why I’m doing this and highlight two people who have inspired me to get between the ropes. While I’m a big fan of boxing and look for any excuse to be active I think you need intrinsically motivating reasons to really succeed at challenging endeavours like this.

The first person is Barry McGuigan, a professional featherweight
boxer from the Republic of Ireland - who won a famous world title fight at Loftus Road during the Troubles. Early in his career the ‘Clones Cyclone’ represented Northern Ireland and became a British citizen so he could fight for the British title and progress his career. McGuigan became very popular with Irish and British audiences alike and brought people behind him together from both sides of the divide by embodying inclusivity, peace and neutrality during a violent, divisive and melancholy time.

Continuing with this theme of peace during discord and people who risked their lives during the Troubles my other inspiration is my late grandfather. When he wasn’t herding sheep and cattle and growing potatoes Bob Stewart was a reserve policeman for the RUC in Northern Ireland in the 1970s and 1980s. He did part time shifts in an area very close to the Tyrone-Donegal border that acquired the tagline of being “the most bombed small town” in NI. Aside from this my granddad was also a talented amateur boxer. Nicknamed the ‘Castlederg Cruiser’ he won three Ulster titles in as many years and in 1955 he was on the Ireland teams that fought the touring Americans on the Golden Gloves team in Dublin, and the visiting Germans in Belfast.

On to the event details, tickets range from £20 - £50 depending on how close to the action you want / can bear to be. You can buy standard seats, booths (for 2 or 4 people) and tables (10 people). There is more ticket information available below.

If violent sport isn’t your cup of tea or if you can’t make it down then you can also donate on this page. The fighter that raises the most money gets the main event billing (and a prize worth £500).

My two month training camp with professional coaches starts on Monday, with two sessions a week – focusing on fitness, nutrition, defence, attack, conditioning, sparring and combinations.

Outside of sparring with relatives I’ve never had a proper boxing match before, so will be a significant challenge for me. What will help make the copious sweating, groaning and pain worthwhile and meaningful will be knowing that plenty of my friends and colleagues will be supporting me and the same cause together and helping to raise an abundance of money for a fine charity.

Dig deep folks! I hope you can make it down.

Lynchie

Ticket information

Downstairs

Gold Tables 1-22 / £500 per table
Silver Tables 23-50 / £400 per table
Standard Tables 51-86 / £300 per table

All ground floor tables are based on 10 sharing and will be reserved on a first come first served basis by emailing info@thewhitecollarfightclub.co.uk with the the table number. They expect the Gold & Silver tables to sell out very quickly so please get in touch.

See The Troxy seating plan for further insight and ring allocation (https://www.thewhitecollarfightclub.co.uk/floorplan).

The Circle (upstairs)

Booths / £120 per booth of 4 or £80 per booth of 2
These booths are based on four sharing a table (4 x £40) with a limited number of two sharing (B1, C1, D1, B17, C17, D17).

Front Row Seats / £40 per ticket
These seats are in front of the booths with an excellent viewpoint of the show. (Row A1-55).

All booths are to be reserved on a first come first served basis by emailing info@thewhitecollarfightclub.co.uk with the the table number. (B1, C7, D15 etc)

Standard Seating / £20
These can be purchase individually either online via Eventim (link to follow via social channels) or in person from The White Collar Fight Club during your training sessions.

See seating plan for further explanation and ring allocation (https://www.thewhitecollarfightclub.co.uk/floorplan).