The fighting pride of Bournemouth Chris Billam Smith

A good win for Lee Cutler too. Mace Ruegg was incredible at the end, well worth waiting behind to watch, he boxed like Prince Naseem Hamed, loads of showboating and everything he threw landed clean.
 
As an occasion it was fantastic ! I've read through the posts condemning the playing of the national anthem and why the need for the fireworks! Unbelievable! Its all part of the occasion and the build up. CBS's walk on was amazing. The noise thunderous and to top it off we had Nonny singing Red Army. What a touch that was ! The fight itself wasn't the greatest but then Okolie isn't the most exciting boxer, however, there enough drama with the knockdowns and the points deductions to give the partisan crowd something to cheer about. Bournemouth has its own world championship boxer! What an achievement. I loved every minute, singing, cheering, jumping out of my seat.
I must say though that the actual stewardship and crowd control inside was dreadful and it had become a free for all by the time CBS fought. We had the full compliment of security with some being Gestapo-esque, some bullyish, some clueless and some totally not interested. Seating rules were flouted, smoking was everywhere inside yet try to take a beer to the toilet and you were forcibly stopped. The food and drink was mediocre but at least the alcohol was reasonably priced .
Still the first event of its nature held there and it generally went down really well.
Again , hats off to CBS. World title holder !
 
Thoughts from last night

As tha Sky commentators said, Dean Court looked fantastic.

The atmosphere as the night wore on was brilliant. Whether it would be the same without CBS is a question for another time. Having said that, the noise was loud.

The pitch was the place to be. As the night drew on the stewards couldn't be bothered and you could walk round relatively freely. I ended up up standing behind the ringside seats. Beer queueing on the pitch had enough zigzags for hundreds of people. It took longer to walk the queue than it did to get served and walk back to your seat.

It was a bit wild west during Pigleys fight. Really like football back in the eighties in all 3 stands. Quite obvious that some of the stewards couldn't wait to get stuck in.

We are still reassuringly tinpot. My seat was in row 19 on the pitch which was apparently removed for safety reasons during the day, so after a wait ended up being bumped forward.

Finally great to see the emotion on the face of CBS at the end. We certainly have another sporting hero linked to AFCB.
 
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I really enjoyed the evening as love watching my boxing, so went for a seat close to the ring, there seamed to be a lot going on it the stands from where we were sat. At the bar area we had access to ran out of spirits early in the night which I thing was probably a blessing as there were a lot of messy people about. As a show for the first time at our stadium I think it went off well as an event for our clubs first attempt to bring something new to the town, you have to remember it was not just last night it was the build up which makes it as well and they showcased the pier on it as well which brings free advertising across the world. Hopefully there have a review in-house with questions asked and help to iron out the problems!
 
Sounds like a great evening, really pleased it went off well. Hope there's not to much negativity from locals with no interest in boxing or the club. I'd love to see more "marquee" events in Bournemouth, whether it's sporting or entertainment. Let's have it on our doorstep, rather than travel around the country for it : )
 
My first boxing match, thoroughly enjoyed it. The boxing was brilliant as was the ringside entertainment until a few were escorted to the door. A memorable night very well organized one guy even had an old usherettes table loaded with beers. Well done to CBS now come on the Cherries
 
RobWells said:
did they have additinional bars? how much, and what, were those big jugs of stuff?!
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No extra bars and the one time I grabbed a drink, the staff was apologising because the were understaffed - with the amount of people standing around behind the bar, I'd say it's a lack of organisation or understanding how to run a busy bar. The big jugs were just two pint cups, £10 for Fosters. Shame there wasn't something half decent to drink.
 
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I was surprised that the American owners hadnt taken the opportunity to sell those bloody awful beer drinking caps ! Next season maybe , along with t shirt cannons and a Homer Simpson mascot in a cherries shirt
 
kirsikka said:
I'll give them a call. On the stream I saw, one guy was constantly wrapping his arms around another in some kind of hugging wrestling move, despite the objections from the other party. Hopefully they can do something about it.
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Ha, we said similar.... No chance is Lawrence Okolie getting arrested for fighting at that event. They might want to investigate the judge who scored it a draw though.
 
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