Pro boxing back after 50 years
By Frank Haynes

BOXING: RINGDOM OF FIFE

Daily Record
May 19 2005

PROFESSIONAL boxing is returning to Fife for the first time in 50
years

Promoter and manager Tommy Gilmour is turning back the clock and
maintining a family tradition by staging an event at Fife Ice Arena
in Kirkcaldy on June 11 – half a century after his grandfather ran
the last show in the town.

The night will be headlined by promising local youngsters, Celtic
welterweight champion Kevin Anderson and light-heavyweight Steven
McGuire.

Gilmour is hoping fight fans will come out in force to back his
promotion and help kick-start the boxing scene in the area.

He said: ‘It is the first fight night in Fife in over 50 years and
although I wasn’t there at the last one, it was my grandfather who
ran it.

‘My son Christopher has followed in my footsteps as a promoter recently
so it’s a sentimental path I’m taking back to my grandfather’This is
the first time Kevin and Stevie have had the opportunity to have a
local support as opposed to a travelling support.

‘At this stage we’re trying to see if we can get Kevin an IBO
Intercontinental title fight against Vladimir Borovski who was
previously the Ukrainian welterweight champion.

‘The main support will be Stevie against Varuzhan Davtyan, an Armenian
who is known for giving people ‘fright nights’.

‘There have been a lot of good names in Scottish boxing who have
appeared in the past at Kirkcaldy Ice Rink.

‘Guest of honour on June 11 will be an 85year-old fellow called Jim
Gallagher, a former middleweight who boxed the last time there was
a show there.’

Gilmour encouraged fans in the east of Scotland to help make Fife a
regular boxing venue by supporting the event.

He said: ‘We are seeing if we can build up a following in Fife and
already the boxers are getting a great response from the local public.

‘We believe we are going to get a really good crowd because when
Kevin comes to Glasgow he brings a support of 250-300 people. Stevie
and Kevin have taken 1000 tickets between them so they must hope they
are going to move them.

‘We’re always looking for new venues for television and if we can get
arenas where we can get thousands rather than hundreds of people in,
then you’ve got to look at it.

‘Especially in the case of Kevin, if he can perform well then we are
looking at a major title in the next year.

‘It would be better for us if he can do it in his own back yard
without people having to take a day off work or leave work early to
travel to Glasgow.

‘That is the incentive for the fans to come out