On the seventh of September Tommy Owens Promotions will celebrate there 50th show at the Holte suit Villa Park. The show will be called “Civil War" and headlining the show will be a 10 round Lightweight Midlands area title fight between 2 unbeaten fighters. Shaun Cooper (10-0) will take on Jack O’Keeffe (9-0) in a cracking main event with the undercard looking good with Waqas Mohammed taking on Louis Fielding and Ryan Kelly, River Wilson Bent, Anthony Manning also making up the home corner, fans are in for a cracking night. After the show the celebrations will continue as the bars at the Holte suite will stay open so people can celebrate Tommy Owens Promotions 50th show.
I contacted the man himself Tommy Owens to talk to him about his Promotion and its history. Tommy (36) is no stranger to the game as he fought as an amateur and pro, Mr Owens fought most of his fights at Cruiserweight and Heavyweight and had a 50/50 record winning 4 out of 8 fights as an amateur and 2 out 4 as a pro. My first question to Tommy was, what made you turn your hand to promoting after retiring from the pro game? He told me “I’ve always had a passion for boxing so when I found out I couldn’t box anymore I didn’t want to just walk away from it. I started with my trainers license then my mangers and it just progressed from there”.
It was on October 19th 2012 at the Holiday Inn Birmingham that Tommy Owens Promotions had there first show, I asked Tommy who headlined the show? Tommy informed me “It was Andrew Patterson against Steve Spence with Tommy Langford making his debut and Craig Cunningham also boxed”. I then ask him want events did you use before bring your Promotions to Villa park? He told me “I put shows on at the Holiday Inn, the Institute, the Paragon hotel and the Tower ballroom”. My next question was “When did you make the decision to be based at Villa Park? Tommy said “They approached me through LinkedIn and invited me to have a look around. After my tour they offered me it, it was a no brainer I had to put a show on there. Our first show had Sam Eggington against Dave Ryan with the Froch vs Groves fight shown after on the big screens".
I then asked him “What in your opinion has been your best show so far? Owens said “Our best show all round would have to be when Dan Breeze fought Natty Howell brilliant fights and an awesome atmosphere”. We then got on the 50th anniversary and asked what they had planned after there 50th show? Tommy said “We plan to keep putting on entertaining and value for money shows”. My final question to the successful promoter was there are rumours of you putting on a show on the pitch at villa park is this in your plans? Tommy replied “Yes this is definitely our plan, we are just awaiting a date to work towards which I should have very soon”. Tommy finished by saying “We just hope all the fans that attend our events continue to support us as we can’t put these shows on without them plus we have the best fans”.
Dexter’s Thoughts
As Tommy Owens Promotions head towards its 50th show Mr Owens has to take a lot of credit for giving some of Birmingham’s finest there chance to hone there skills in the squared circle. With the likes of former British and Commonwealth Middleweight champ Tommy Langford making his debut on these shows. Also former British, Commonwealth and European Welterweight champ Sam Eggington winning his first area title on Tommy’s shows and a number of fighters claiming area titles on his shows T.O.P have really helped Midlands boxing progress over the passed 7 years. I have been going to the Tommy Owens shows for the passed 3 years at Villa park and have seen some great fights. The shows have gotten better and better and with Jon Pegg matchmaking some cracking 50/50 fights the shows are just going to get even better. The Column has a big affiliation with TOP as they were our main sponsors for over 3 years which we thank them for. I can say already that the “Civil War" show on the 7th September will be a cracking one. The Birmingham boxing Column will be present at the show to give a full report.