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| Terence Murphy |
Long before terrestrial broadcasts made TV stars of British fighters, attending a live show was how most fans saw their boxing.
In the immediate post-war years, live boxing was widespread and fight followers were happy to venture out to shows. But as TV’s popularity exploded (licence take-up rose from 763,000 in 1951 to 3.2 million in 1954), boxing promoters capitalised on the new medium.
In the early 1950s, there was just one (BBC-run) British TV channel, with haphazard coverage of boxing and little thought given to what fights were shown. That all changed on 22 September 1955 as Britain’s first commercial TV station, ITV, made its maiden transmission.
