The return of boxing.

80,000 fans were at Wembley last night to see Carl Froch v George Groves, proving that there is still a huge appetite for the noble art. But boxing has been driven televisually underground. Big fights were routinely screened live on ITV or BBC1 but, for the last 20 years, they’ve only been available through pay-per-view. If last night’s fight had been on ITV, at least ten million people would have tuned in. As they did to watch Bruno, Benn, Eubank and Watson. I remember Nigel Benn’s flamboyant arrival in the ring to fight Michael Watson with this track booming out of the speakers. My dad said to me, “He’s going look a bit silly now if he gets knocked out”. And he did. Last night, George Groves’s arrival was equally spectacular. And he got knocked out too. At its best, boxing is the ultimate in sporting bravery and entertainment. It needs to brought back to the people.