Greens just edge it

THEY came in all shapes, sizes, ages and occupations. And that's just in the ring which also saw the two ends of the scale: leggy young board girls and a temporary replacement in the form of one, very pickled, stag night groom in a three-quarter-length green dress with pink wig.

But as 'white collar' boxing moved into new surroundings at the ICG for its fourth round, the atmosphere generated by 500 punters, 30% of which were probably women, was positively raucous.

The new craze whereby novice boxers don 16oz gloves at the end of a 12-week period of intense training, brings all sorts to the ring, each one of them carrying a pseudonym of their choice.

On that score, at least, the overall winner from a show containing six all-Guernsey bouts and a further nine inter-island, was a Jerseyman, 25-year-old 'artist', Ben De La Haye-Maker. The 'Haye-Maker', 25, enjoyed an eight-year age advantage on local lawyer Adam 'Yid Vicious' Cole, and it cannot have done any harm as he won the decision.

Few bouts disappointed, although not all the results went the way of the passionate home audience.