Southampton fighter set to fill Royal Albert Hall (From Daily Echo)

Southampton fighter set to fill Royal Albert Hall

7:00am Thursday 12th April 2012 in Boxing By Adam Leitch, Chief Sports Writer

Tony Hill is set to be roared on by an army of travelling Southampton support for the “performance of his life” after selling out an initial batch of tickets for his title fight at the Royal Albert Hall.

The city’s middleweight hope has had to request even more tickets from promoter Frank Warren after his original allocation were all snapped up within days of him receiving them.

Hill is set to have a huge following at the famous London venue as he aims to defeat Billy Joe Saunders to become Southern Area champion.

“We can’t get enough tickets at the moment which is fantastic,” said Hill’s trainer Wayne Batten.

“The supporters make the difference on some nights I think. I always try to rally round and get as much support as I can because it really can make the difference to some fighters.

“Some fighters are mentally tuned in but some thrive on it, they love it.

“To be honest in my career in professional boxing at the moment this is the biggest stage I’ve been as well – I’m thriving on it and Tony is.

“It’s what we’ve both wanted.

“We’re on the bill of a world title fight with Nathan Cleverly (right), who we know personally and have been involved in training with him, and he’s top of the bill.

“And we’re at a venue like the Royal Albert Hall where the greatest of boxers have performed there like Lennox Lewis, Frank Bruno, Nigel Benn, Joe Calzaghe, Prince Naseem Hamed; they’ve all boxed there and what a stage for Tony to go out and put in the best performance of his career to date and I’m sure he will. I really do believe in him.”

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