Have you ever wondered who would win in a fight between Leon Thomas of Microgaming and Nick Wright of Gamesys? Or if Sergey Portnov of Parimatch could take down Luke Cousins of Koneski? On April 3, you could find out thanks to the SBC Charity Boxing Championship, sponsored by NetEnt and Red Tiger. To learn more about the night for a cause, our Becky Liggero Fontana spoke with two of the night’s boxers, Daniel Beard of Partis Solutions and Michael Brady of Bede Gaming.
The fight night is partnered with Oliver’s Wish Foundation, and hopes to raise a lot of money for three charities. “Oliver’s Wish is an umbrella charity founded by Rob Dowling, who’s very well known in the industry,” said Beard. “Having unfortunately lost his son a few years ago, we were looking for ways to raise money. We decided to utilize that network and bring together an event that could raise a substantial amount of money for some very important charities.”
Michael Brady represents one of the charities, the Cystic Fibrosis Trust (CF Trust), and the reason why is very personal to him. “My little niece, Kate, who’s 5 years old now, has a horrific disease called Cystic Fibrosis,” he said. “It’s a horrible debilitating disease, its very life limiting, and there’s no cure at the moment. The CF Trust raises awareness of Cystic Fibrosis, and also helps families affected by Cystic Fibrosis. There’s enormous hope in fact. Drugs are being developed all the time to try and alleviate the symptoms and even potentially cure the disease somewhere down the line. So for me, it’s been added motivation, on top of the incredible motivation we already had to be able to raise money for cystic fibrosis trust.”
To put on a good show and raise money for all of the charities, which also include SUDC UK for Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood and Sparks Children’s Medical Research Charity, the boxers are going to have to get fit. “So we have a 12-week training camp that involves training from 8:00 pm to 9:00 pm, which obviously a hard push on Tuesdays and Wednesdays,” said Beard. “And then on Saturday, we have an intense fitness and technical sparring session from 12:00 pm till 2:00 pm, which will be all the way up to the lead until the night on the 3rd. I must say on top of that, most fighters have got their own personal boxing coaches as well so to make sure we’re fully ready and prepared.”
Brady noted that he expects it to be a fun night overall. “Well we’re all doing it for the right reasons, right?” he asked. “I think it’s going to be irrespective of what happens on the night. The camaraderie and the fun we’re having together doing this is actually amazing. It’s really bonding experience. I think we’re all in it together.”
Beard emphasized that no matter if you like boxing or not, it’s going to be a fun night for all. “So on the night, obviously you’ve got six amazing bouts, we have some celebrities turned up hosting, we have a phenomenal DJ,” he said. “And I think to quote Conor McGregor VS. Cowboy, ‘There will be blood, there won’t be bad blood, but there will be blood.”
