‘IWF’ - it kinda has the ring of a title fight to it, wouldn’t you say? As a matter of fact, the very sound of it takes me back to those two classic battles between Ireland’s boxing great, Steve Collins and the British boxing legend, Chris Eubank.

And what memories they are! You see, those of you who didn’t see either of these two fights were definitely deprived of the ‘high voltage and electric emotion’ that was stirred up during both of these amazing title bouts, in particular, that night in Cork!

Don’t take my word for it - I dare you to look ‘em up online and witness them for yourself!

You see, I was there my friends, along with about fifty thousand others to cheer on and take part in that history-making event! Likened to a real life Rocky movie; it was indeed a huge night for Irish boxing!

I never thought I’d hear myself say this, but ‘for those of you who aren’t old enough to remember’ (there, I said it) Chris Eubank was arguably the most exciting and talented fighter of his time! He was unbeaten for what seemed like forever.

Now this man could put on a breathtaking performance before the first bell even sounded! With the sound of Tina Turner’s catchy rock anthem ‘Simply The Best”,  Eubank would appear out on a Harley Davidson! Along with a shroud of smoke and flashing lights he would ride up along the catwalk to the edge of the ring. Then he’d climb up on the edge of the ring,  just outside the ropes and would stare for ages out over the screaming band of people before jumping into the ring. It was incredible!

I think it’s fair to say that he was as much liked and appreciated by the Irish fans as he was by his own; there’s was no doubt about it - he was great for the sport.

Then of course, I thought that stadium was about going collapse with all the banging and screaming when Steve Collins came out to ‘Oro Se Do Bheatha Abhaile’! The man was draped in the tri-colour as his right fist pumped the air! Yeah, it brings chills!  Anyway, Collins, though the underdog, went on to win the fight! Such pride I tell ya.

Then we all got buckled and were hungover for a week – fun times!

That’s what the Irish Winter Festival has in store for us folks!

It’s here!

Ciaran

This entry was posted on Friday, October 24th, 2008 at 1:40 pm and is filed under Big C. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.