The aim of Friday’s fight night at Sunningdale sports complex was pretty straightforward – to stage exhilarating bouts for fight fans.
At the end of the night, two pugilists went back home with straps around their waists at the Jackie Brice promoted event.
Dillon Solomons won his fourth pro fight and took the Western Cape middleweight championship. The night was capped off by the WBF Africa welterweight championship bout between Wasim Chellan and Lybon Ntshani, with Chellan taking the strap home.
The two title fights were part of the seven-bout affair that was nothing short of spectacular.
Promoter Jack Brice lost his voice in the excitement of the proceedings.
The Chellan bout had the whole house screaming at the top of their lungs in support of the local fighter.
Brice was no different from the rest of the loud crowd as the action inside the ring was riveting.
“I’ve been in boxing since 1966 and when you see some of these boys, like Chellan, change his life from gangsters and drugs and you see his parents, you see cousins sitting around the ring. It brings tears to my eyes when you change the community through one sport of boxing,” said Brice.
More than the action in the ring, everything about the fight night went according to plan for Brice, and judging by the reaction from inside the venue and after the show on social media, the night was close to perfection.
From the venue set-up, production, and matchmaking, there is not much to criticise.
All that was done without the support of major sponsorship, but still, boxing was the overall winner when the curtains closed on the night.
“It costs a lot of money, this was not funded by any big sponsor or broadcaster. It was out of my pocket and that of friends because of the heart we have for boxing,” said Brice.
“I’m involved in everything from the marketing, production lights, and the erection of the ring. There are still a few minor things to work on here and there but very minor. The matchmaking was very good. I’ve been in this game, I’ve been a trainer with very successful fighters, and now into promotion for the past three or four years.
“It’s very important, I brought into the growth and development of boxing from BSA. I brought in to their model. We need to buy into this together,” he said.
“My father has left a legacy in boxing. And I want to leave a legacy too and be busy, leave this beautiful land one day having made many people’s lives better through this sport,” he added.
