Boxing stars pay visit to Hastings

Big names from the world of boxing Rob Reid (left) and Joe Egan visited Hastings last weekend

Joe Egan and Rob Reid made two nights of public appearances in the town, providing a real treat for fans of the ‘noble art’.

After posing for pictures and signing autographs at The Owl & Pussycat Lounge on Friday night, they met local veteran fighters out around town while sightseeing the following afternoon. Later that evening messages came through thanking them for the opportunity to meet them and how it had ‘made their day’.

Having learned of the five-year-old daughter of a local businessman requiring life-changing surgery in America, Egan and Reid were keen to help.

They sat down for lunch with an employee of the company in question, Phoenix Taxis, to find out more and signed boxing gloves to auction off at Bannatyne’s Hotel on Friday May 22.

Egan and Reid then went along to the latest instalment in the Pantheon Fight Series at Sussex Coast College Hastings on Saturday night.

They ended up in the ring being introduced to the crowd and offered their professional predictions for the big fight in Las Vegas this coming Saturday between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.

Egan is a seven-time Irish heavyweight champion and was dubbed ‘the toughest white man on the planet’ by Mike Tyson, a former sparring partner of his.

Reid is a three-time super middleweight champion of the world and won a bronze medal at the 1992 Olympics.

Thanks go to the Pantheon Fight Night promoters, Fighting Tigers Gym, Harts Motors, The Owl & Pussycat Lounge, Kiley’s Karpets, Foremost Lettings and Shades Tiles.