Anyone looking to seeing former Spandau Ballet front man Tony Hadley in the boxing ring with BBC political correspondent John Pienaar in the follow up to the Ricky Gervais/Grant Bovey fight that was screened over Christmas, well bad news.
The BBC has put its celebrity boxing specials on hold after the British Boxing Board of Control denounced the charity events as “dangerous and irresponsible” – threatening to revoke the licences of the high profile managers who took part in the show.
Frank Bruno's former promoter Frank Warren was among those in the sport to condemn the show: "It's a very dangerous sport and it needs to be regulated properly. You can't just go to the gym for six weeks and think you are a boxer. It takes a long time and a lot of dedication. The brain doesn't distinguish whether it's being hit by a professional or an amateur. If, heaven forbid, something should go wrong, people won't be saying 'let's ban The Office or whatever Grant Bovey does', they'll be calling for a ban on boxing.”
Announcing the decision to halt the show a BBC spokeswoman said: "It is with regret that without the backing of the boxing authorities we have asked our celebrities to stop training, and put plans for the remaining bouts on hold. Our record for safety and working with the best in business has been paramount throughout production of BBC2's The Fight. We are extremely proud of the programmes and our celebrity boxers' contributions to charity”.
The decision is all the more disappointing as the programme’s makers were promising to put Darren Day in the ring for a fight later this year, which really would have been entertainment.