A ringside seat

In a few months’ time, the channel is going to take part in an alternative style of ducking and diving at the CRN Channel Fight Night at the Brewery in Chiswell Street, in the City of London.
Sixteen contenders from all sectors of the channel will be punching it out in the ring to earn the first ever Channel Fight Night accolade, as well as to raise money for their chosen charities.
Mark Burton, CRN publisher, said: “We have some great resellers, distributors and vendors boxing in the first CRN Channel Fight Night and I hope we can all raise a lot of money for the chosen charities. It promises to be quite a night to remember.”
Between now and 29 May, the date of the final showdown in the ring, our brave fighters will be put through rigorous training by expert trainer Mark ‘The Burf’ Burford at his high-tech private gym, the Ring Boxing Club in Ewer Street.
Speaking to CRN, Burf said: “The candidates will be going through 12 weeks of boxing boot camp. We are going to test them physically, spiritually and emotionally. They will be going through gut-wrenching conditioning.
“Boxing is mountaineering for the city. We are going to take them into an oxygen-free zone and expect them to keep climbing,” he said.
All the fighters have been advised to cut back on alcohol and cigarettes and each will have a specially tailored diet and training programme to follow in the run-up to the event.
Burf said the line-up is already proving to be exciting. “In all the years I have run boxing events in the City, I have never seen one for which the competitors have been so up for it. This could spill into anarchy. They want to fight for CRN, for their company and charity, and their country.”
The event is also generating some excitement in the industry. Ash Patel, country manager at vendor Stonesoft, said: “This is a great idea. It is completely different from anything that has been done before in the channel and it is raising money for charity, which is a great thing.
“Boxing is on TV a lot, with the likes of Ricky Hatton and Amir Khan, so it is generating a great deal of interest. We will definitely be booking a table at the event.”
Richard Eglon, marketing manager at Comms-care, said: “It is certainly very different from the usual golf day. We will definitely be there to see how it goes.”
In the coming weeks, CRN will be profiling each of the boxers ­ so watch this space for pictures, updates and everything you want to know about the contenders.

Tables for the 29 May event are now on sale. For more information please contact Nathalie Perez on 020 7316 9586, or visit www.crnfightnight.com.