Latest news with #YorkHall
The Independent
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
What is The York Hall, the breeding ground of British boxing?
Small halls are the lifeblood of the British boxing scene, local venues that enable fighters to take the first steps into a professional career. Boxers will have fond memories of their nearest small hall, often making their debuts in ballrooms or leisure centres in their towns they grew up in. But no other small hall captures the imagination like York Hall, a 1,250-capacity venue in east London. Catch all the latest boxing action on DAZN York Hall - breeding ground for world champions Last year, 37 boxing events were staged at the leisure centre, showcasing just why so many fighters get a chance to box at The York Hall. It would be far easier to name the notable British fighters that have not fought at York Hall than reel off the stars who passed through Bethnal Green. Anthony Joshua, Daniel Dubois, Tyson Fury, Joe Calzaghe, Chris Eubank, Nigel Benn, Carl Froch, Alan Minter, and John H. Stracey show that world champions across multiple eras have visited York Hall in the early stages of their careers. First opened in 1929 by the Duke and Duchess of York, explaining its name, York Hall was like many other early boxing venues, in the sense that it was never designed with boxing in mind. Originally it housed baths for working-class locals to use; promoters and boxers realised you could place boards on top and construct a canvas to fight in. Crowds were big enough to justify the expense, with baths used all over the country to stage boxing bouts. The first professional nights of boxing at York Hall sprung up in the 1940s, with the venue just another small arena. But as other baths were replaced and neglected for more suitable venues, York Hall managed to survive. In the 1950s the main pool was completely boarded over to be used permanently for boxing, indicating how the sweet science had ingrained itself into the fabric of the venue. In 2004, it appeared that York Hall had reached the end of its lifespan, with the council feeling that the cost of upkeep far outweighed the benefits of maintaining the venue. Tower Hamlets Council planned on demolishing the venue, with the view of allowing the development of penthouses. After campaigning from notable boxing names, including promoter Frank Warren, Greenwich Leisure stepped in, carrying out a refurbishment that saw York Hall become a leisure centre. Subsequently listed as a grade II building in 2013, York Hall remains a firm fixture in the landscape of British boxing. Watch the very best boxing with a DAZN subscription DAZN is the home of combat sports, broadcasting over 185 fights a year from the world's best promoters, including Matchroom, Queensberry, Golden Boy, Misfits, PFL, BKFC, GLORY and more. An Annual Saver subscription is a one-off cost of £119.99 / $224.99 (for 12 months access), that's just 64p / $1.21 per fight. There is also a Monthly Flex Pass option (cancel any time) at £24.99 / $29.99 per month. A subscription includes weekly magazine shows, comprehensive fight library, exclusive interviews, behind-the-scenes documentaries, and podcasts and vodcasts.
BBC News
23-03-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
'Civil war was awful - I was a kid but it became normal'
"I was eight when I started working. We were selling water, juices, basically anything we could get our hands on. When there's no other choice, that just feels normal."London-based boxer Michael King is describing how he grew up in DR Congo against the backdrop of civil he continues to tell his story, which contains lengthy chapters on becoming homeless and living on London's streets, it quickly becomes apparent there is nothing conventional about his upbringing. Or the welterweight's journey into the toughest sport of all."I was nearly 20 when I first took it up," King says."I had a job at KFC, was living with my parents and making decent money I suppose. But because I was doing between 60 and 100 hours a week, I didn't have any time."Then I saw Floyd Mayweather fight Conor McGregor, read how much they were paid, and thought that's a good way to earn."King and his family had moved to the UK when he was a teenager. Despite admitting he knew "next to nothing" about boxing, King was immediately hooked, in fact, he decided to make it his profession. Even though he knew that would cost him."My dad's a traditional African parent and if you want to stay under his roof, you have to respect his rules," King says."Dad had a vision for me, which was getting educated, and I didn't have the same one, that's all. "Life is very short and I wanted to pursue boxing. So while I had to leave, we always talked and stayed good." King made his first visit to a gym in White City in London, where the family was living before moving to time he began to invest in his new-found passion quickly saw his life threaten to spiral completely out of was working at KFC, but got fired for "eating too much"."I sometimes went back when I didn't have money and they'd give me free food," King says."Maybe I wanted to get fired because I was boxing and working. I couldn't find a balance. When I got told to leave, I thought it was a sign."The only trouble was, that job paid the bills."I couldn't afford a place and so I stayed in my car," King would spend his days in the gym and on the coldest evenings, he would spend the night in the A&E waiting room, in search of a warm boxing was what King wanted to do, so he stuck at it making his professional debut in 2019 at York Hall. He lost the first two fights, but refused to stop boxing. 'Being world champion didn't cross my mind' King feels it was inevitable he would be drawn towards boxing given the opportunities it offers to the disenfranchised."The Congo can be a crazy country," he says. "A great country but a crazy one, that's for sure."I grew up fast. I had to learn responsibilities and to survive. It was sink or swim and when I say survive, I mean survive."The war was awful. But it is always there and becomes normal."An estimated five million people have died since 1996 in two civil has always worked to help his family, including his mum, Safi – short for Sapphire."I want to change my family's financial situation," King says."Sometimes, we were just eating rice or bread and butter. Being world champion didn't cross my mind. I just saw an opportunity to bring hope to the people who care about me."My dad is proud of what I've achieved so far. When he goes back to Congo, he takes pictures of me to show people and tells them about my story."Now aged 27, King's first eight professional outings were all in the UK before a spell competing abroad in Russia."I had to go because nobody wanted to face me but I learned a lot," King says."It was taking around 30 hours to get there, taking three different flights, and I'd arrive 48 hours before getting in the ring sometimes. But again, it taught me to always be ready, always in shape and always in top condition."I'm looking to kick on now and get some really big fights. Who knows? We might eventually even be able to get one back in Congo, which would be something else."King joined Shane McGuigan's training stable upon his return to England and is now sparring with fighters such as Adam Azim in a gym that also includes world champions Caroline Dubois and Ellie Scotney."I came into this for the money but I wasn't making a penny," King says."I'll give myself 10 years to try and do something. If it doesn't happen, at least I know I'll have given it a shot."
Telegraph
17-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Götterdämmerung, Regents Opera: an ambitious, skeletal take on Wagner
Mounting Wagner's massive Ring cycle in a venue that has been described as 'the spiritual home of British boxing' takes some imagination. But Regents Opera has never been short of either imagination or ambition; they previously staged the first three instalments of their scaled-down Ring at the Freemasons Hall in Covent Garden. Now they have moved to York Hall in Bethnal Green (a leisure centre that was formerly a sports hall with a famous boxing ring) for Götterdämmerung as the tortuous struggle for the Ring reaches its climax in a death-filled denouement. It's an effective but problematic venue, since the audience wraps around three sides of the small platform, leaving the reduced orchestra slightly stranded at the back, on the hall's raised stage. The positive result is a quite exceptional level of direct communication between singers and audience, which was galvanised with attention throughout the five hours of this denouement of the cycle, especially as the personal conflicts reached a height of intensity. The skilful reduction of the band (by Ben Woodward, the conductor) down to 23 players from Wagner's gargantuan forces means 6 violins instead of 32, some woodwind and trumpet, though there are five horns and a bass trombone, with an occasional organ to add weight. The music flows constantly, and only occasionally flags in some interludes: inevitably perhaps, the climactic Funeral March for Siegfried does not make its earth-shattering impact in this form. Regents Opera have built a solid following for their ambitions, and their achievement is to be judged on the highest level: they fielded a cast with some outstanding singer-actors, led by the glorious Brünnhilde of Catherine Woodward, resplendent and assured both in passion and anguish, as the opera leads to her immolation. Her Siegfried, Peter Furlong, is commendably accurate but drier of tone, yet she is well matched by Simon Wilding's commanding, evil Hagen, manipulating all around him, disposing of his father, brother, and Siegfried to recapture the Ring, until the three Rhinemaidens (Jillian Finnamore, Elizabeth Findon and Mae Heydorn) bundle him into the river. The other standout singer is Catherine Backhouse as Waltraute, her long accusatory monologue to her sister Brunnhilde perfectly sculpted; the preening Gunther of Andrew Mayor and the red-head siren Gutrune, Justine Viani, are not quite on this level. Oliver Gibbs's Alberich has only a brief return in this opera, firmly grasped; the black-garbed chorus of Vassals, members of the London Gay Men's Chorus, are admirably forceful. It is the gripping personal interactions between the characters in Caroline Staunton's direction that makes her view of the drama work. There is no magic Tarnhelm helmet to enable disguises, and no funeral pyre for Brunnhilde, just a constant fussy rearrangement of white blocks on the platform, and irritating references to Entartete Kunst (the Nazis' Degenerate Art) which seem to be the puzzling reason why there's a fire extinguisher, cans of beans and a cactus on stage. Stripped to its essence in drama and music, this Götterdämmerung has great potential, and needs no elaboration.
