Bahraini and British boxers will square off against each other in Royal Rumble II, a charity event organised by the Bahrain Boxing Federation (BBF) in association with the Bahrain Rugby Football Club (BRFC), which will see the Bahrain Royal Guard pitted against the British Army’s Parachute Regiment at the BRFC next Thursday.
The black-tie affair, which will have former British light welterweight world champion Amir Khan in attendance, will raise funds to support the good work carried out by the Royal Humanitarian Foundation (RHF).
The event is a follow-up to last year’s Royal Rumble, held at the same venue, which saw the Royal Guard take on the British Army’s Royal Regiment of Fusiliers with the Bahraini team winning the nine-bout contest, 8-1.
And it takes place just slightly more than three weeks after the Royal Guard took on the British Army in an eight-bout contest at the Infantry Training Centre, North Yorkshire, with the home side triumphing 6-2.
“This time, we’ve scheduled 10 bouts,” BBF technical development manager and national team coach, Tony Davis told the GDN.
“That, of course, might change if we have injuries to any boxers between now and then but, hopefully, we’ll get all 10.”
Davis, a former British Army sergeant, former ABA senior light heavyweight champion and former British military boxing coach who also served as the World Class Performance Coach on the GB Boxing Olympic Programme, built the boxing set-up in Bahrain from scratch after taking up his current assignment as head coach of the national team in 2019.
Since then, his efforts have seen a surge in interest in the sport in Bahrain and, over the past year and a bit, a unique series of domestic boxing tournaments that he has organised in the kingdom have increased boxing’s popularity in the kingdom.
“We have held four domestic boxing events since September last year,” he explained.
“I came up with the idea for these events because, even though it takes a lot of work to make them happen, they serve as a feeder system to help me select the better boxers, train them, enhance their boxing ability, help them realise their potential and, eventually, add them to the national team.
“And I’m happy to state that the sport is gaining in popularity here. Since February this year, we have seen a 60 percent increase in registrations from clubs – which is pretty awesome!
“Also, since we put out whatever we do on our social media, people from other countries also want to come and take part in our training camps and coaching courses. So, yes, things are on the upswing.”
Meanwhile, the news that Khan, 36, who held the unified light-welterweight world championship titles between 2009 and 2012, including the WBA and IBF crowns, is coming to Bahrain for Royal Rumble II has generated even more buzz for the event.
“Amir and I are good mates and we go back a long way,” Davis explained.
“We were teammates in the 2004 Olympic cycle – I was a light-heavyweight; he was a lightweight – and we travelled the world together, attended many trips, many camps together.
“After that, I carried on with my military career while he turned pro but we’ve always maintained our friendship. And he isn’t just a former world champion, he is a big celebrity in the boxing world.
“Amir lives in Dubai now and he was kind enough to organise a training camp for us when our super-heavyweight Danis Latypov qualified for the Tokyo Olympics. And he, very kindly, instantly said yes when I asked him if he would like to come for this charity event.”
Davis has solid plans for even more boxing events post the Royal Rumble, with a national championship planned for early next year.
“This will be our first-ever national championship,” he said.
“Obviously, we couldn’t hold one earlier because we just didn’t have the numbers but, now, things have changed. We have many more boxers with a sense of purpose now, with even more likely to register by the time the championship rolls around, so it makes sense to have one now.”
One of the targets that Davis has set for 2024 is to enable a Bahraini boxer – or boxers – to qualify for the Paris Olympics.
“That is obviously a major aim,” he explained.
“But, let’s see how it goes. That’s why the national championship is so important – it’ll help us to see all the boxers’ potential.”
Now, as he focuses on Royal Rumble II, Davis is pleased with the way the tournament is coming together but had to make it an all-male affair because there was no opponent for the Guard’s Maryam Khamis who, last month, became the first Bahraini woman to win a boxing gold medal at a major international event at the World Combat Games in Riyadh.
“She was very keen to take part,” Davis said.
“Unfortunately, we couldn’t find an opponent for her. Maybe, next time.”
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