Glenn McCrory is delighted to see big-time boxing back in the north east on May 2 - even if it is Sunderland!
Sunderland bill will show we're a boxing hotbed, says Glenn
We've seen the UK leg of the big
Sky Box Office bill in May, and I've got to say it looks pretty tasty.
I'll admit now that I'm gutted that it is in Sunderland and not Newcastle but looking at the wider picture it is great for boxing up here in the north east.
No-one has been trying harder than me to get boxing in this part of the world going again. Maybe this will help because you might be amazed to know that I am the only world champion the north east has ever produced.
It was 20 years ago that I managed to win the IBF cruiserweight title - and I was the first! It's bad enough to think we have had nothing for that long, but even worse when you consider there was nothing before that.
Since then I have been busting a gut to re-ignite boxing in this part of the world. No-one is working harder than me to produce that next world champion.
This card, featuring European champion Jamie Moore, Rendall Munroe, Danny Williams and local hero Tony Jeffries, is as good as any that's been put together in Britain for a while, never mind the north east.
Fair play to Frank Maloney as well because a lot of promoters wouldn't dare set foot up here. We're so far off their radar it can get frustrating. As you all know from the football, the sports fans up here are mad for it and trust me, the boxing fans are no different.
Believe me, if we can get the right fighters - and I happen to think my Cubans are the right fighters - we could be staging the main leg of a pay-per-view bill in a few years' time. The people up here would get right behind a local lad as you will see with Tony Jeffries and Sunderland.
OK, so the rivalry between Sunderland and Newcastle means he might not attract all of the football crowd - he used to have a hot dog van outside the Stadium of Light and now has a box, I think - but he will get every boxing fan in the area behind him.
It is a chicken and egg scenario though. We have a decent amateur scene with Tony and Bradley Saunders both making the Olympics, but if I tell you that last year there were NO licensed pro boxers in Newcastle, that shows you exactly what we're up against.
It can be quite disheartening for a young boxer coming through, because they know no-one is going to take a punt on them.
Maybe I was different because I kind of bridged the Newcastle-Sunderland divide with a bit of County Durham and Middlesbrough thrown in and I was stupid enough to take myself off to America to spar with Mike Tyson at the age of 20!
People kept telling me I couldn't win a world title coming from where I did, but if I can do it, I am sure there is a future world champion out there.
My Cubans are adopted Geordies and should go all the way, but as you will see with Jeffries on May 2, it's not hard to get this area buzzing.
And we've not even started the build-up properly yet!
