Boxing icon Charlie Nash craves regular pro boxing in north west

The rhythmic creaking of the plywood took Charlie Nash back to a different era.

As he leaned against a pillar at Letterkenny Shopping Centre watching the class of now strut their stuff, the now 72-year-old was transported back in time.

Nash attended an open work out for this weekend’s Rumble In The Hills show at the Aura Leisure Complex in Letterkenny.

It might be 42 years since Nash danced beneath the lights of the Guildhall in his native Derry, defeating Frank McCord in a lightweight bout, but the memories remain as vivid.

“It takes me back,” Nash smiles. “It was just unbelievable in front of family and friends in your home town. People still remember me for things I did in boxing. I really enjoyed it and people still mention those flights.

“Fighting at the Guildhall was a dream come true.”

North west boxing fans have been starved of pro shows since. It made an all too brief return with three shows between 2007 and 2010 in Letterkenny. Dungiven’s Paul McCloskey defeated Barry Morrison for the EBU super lightweight title in October 2010 at the Aura.

Charlie Nash in the ring at the Aura Leisure Complex with Paul McCloskey in 2010.

Nash told Donegal Live: “I would love to see this become regular. The open work out was one of the best things I was at in a long time. To see the boxers come in and see the amount of people watching them was great for the sport.

“There haven’t been many boxing shows in the north west since that night in the Guildhall. Boxing isn’t as strong as it used to be and there aren’t as many clubs as there used to be, but it’s great to see a buzz about it now again.”

Nash was a regular in Donegal during his formative years.

In 1962 at the Four Masters Cinema in Donegal Town, he defeated Patsy McGroarty from Ballyshannon in a support bout for a north of England versus north of Ireland tournament.

In March 1970, Nash was representing the St Mary’s club in Derry when he defeated Gerald Sweeney, stopping the local favourite at the AOH Hall in Annagry in the second round.

That was just two years before Nash represented Ireland at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, where he lost out to the eventual gold medalist, Jan Szczpanski of Poland, in a quarter-final.

Nash won the British lightweight title when beating Johnny Claydon in 1978 at the Templemore Sports Complex with the European lightweight title following, thanks to victory over Andre Holyk, also at Templemore.

After successfully defending his European belt against Ken Buchanan in Brondby, Nash was beaten by Jim Watt at the Kelvin Hall in Glasgow for the WBC World lightweight title. Nash regained his European title with victory over Francisco Leon, but lost out to Giuseppe Gibilisco at Dalymount Park.

Nash retired with a 25-5 record and later coached at the Ring ABC in Derry and has fond memories of the days when Donegal was like a second home.

He said: “I had a great career and Letterkenny was always a very important town for me. Living in Derry, I used to come up and do some training and sparring in Letterkenny. I would come up to the club in Letterkenny and I used to train in there. I really enjoyed it. I would have been in Donegal a lot to spar with different boxers.”