Fighting Chance Press Conference Review

Earlier this week, your British Boxing Blog correspondent made the short journey down to Fighting Chance HQ in Felling, Gateshead to attend their press conference in which they unveiled some key details, which could shape a very exciting future for North East boxing.

Firstly, the Fighting Chance chief, Lewis Pendleton, revealed that Fighting Chance have taken out their promoters licence, a move that will see them become major North East boxing promoters, alongside the likes of Phil Jeffries over on Wearside and Steve Wraith operating in Tyneside.

In conjunction with that, a further announcement followed, that Fighting Chance has signed an exclusive television agreement with Made TV, allowing their shows to be broadcast on the network channel. This exclusive deal will give Fighting Chance and their fighters a great platform in which to showcase their talents, with the shows being broadcast in Cardiff, Leeds, Bristol as well as the Tyne & Wear area. FC chief Lewis Pendleton also stated that he was looking at broadcasting future shows online as well, which will only serve to increase exposure to their stable of fighters.

Fighting Chance’s first televised show, under their new promotional banner, aptly titled “GENESIS” will take place on March 26th in Gateshead (venue to be confirmed) and will be headlined by their figurehead boxer, the well renowned and Lonsdale belt holder outright, Jon-Lewis Dickinson. It was stated that Jon-Lewis will be fighting for an international title and Fighting Chance are currently working in conjunction with major UK players Matchroom Boxing to finalise the title and opponent for this fight.

There are four televised shows planned to take place in 2016, with dates in May, September and December in addition to March’s debut show.

Also featuring on the inaugural Fighting Chance show will be Jon-Lewis’ stable mates, Jone TK & Mark White, who will both be looking to remain unbeaten and gain further experience whilst being in the early stages of their pro career. Mark White was visibly excited at the thought of boxing on live television, adding that he hopes it will help increase the popularity of fighters and give them greater exposure to a TV audience.

New signing Jamie “Boom Boom” Jones will also make his debut on the Genesis bill.

As well as providing great opportunities to their own fighters, Fighting Chance chiefs Lewis Pendleton and Ron Rowe echoed our own sentiments here at British Boxing Blog; that the North East fight scene is stronger if promoters work together alongside each other, rather than against each other.

This was further proven by Fighting Chance, as they also revealed that a handful of Mark Clauzel’s boxers would also feature on the bill, including local favourite Basi Rasaq, Danny Wall and Harry Biembe.

As well as hosting their own show here in Gateshead, one of Fighting Chance’s golden boys, Craig Dixon, will be travelling across the border to Scotland on March 26th to fight in what is undoubtedly the biggest fight of his career to date – a British title eliminator against Mike Towell. The fight will take place at the Lagoon Leisure Centre in Paisley, with right hand man Ron Rowe stating that he is delighted that Craig has been given this opportunity and is fully confident his man can come back victorious, as well as securing him the best pay day of his career to date.

All in all, the new Fighting Chance promotional venture and exclusive TV deal has left us feeling extremely enthused. They are an extremely professional and slick organisation, with a dedicated team who work closely together and are clearly determined to bring the good times back to North East boxing and produce a core stable of champion boxers.

We more than echo Ron Rowe’s sentiments – the North East is an area of huge untapped boxing potential and there is no reason the region can’t produce English, British and even World champions. And with organisations such as Fighting Chance on the scene, they won’t go far wrong.