Former world boxing champion Nigel Benn knocked ’em out when a themed Stockton bar opened.
Charlie Tyers, owner of Charlie’s Bar on Bowesfield Industrial Estate, welcomed the former Number One fighter to greet punters and do the opening honours on November 16, 2001.
Nigel – nicknamed the Dark Destroyer – paid a visit to the boxing-themed pub along with fellow former British world boxing champion Kevin Lueshing.
The pair were given a tour of the new bar and took time out to sign autographs for fans.
The following year, in March 2002, boxing gloves signed by Nigel during the opening went under the hammer at a charity auction.
The owners decided to auction the gloves to the highest bidder to raise cash for local autistic boy, then-six-year-old Billy Price, and his sister Laura, 11, who was nominated for a Child of Achievement Award for looking after both her brother and her sick mum.
Half of the funds made from the night went to the trust, towards a computer for Billy, and the other half was to go the Beverley School for the deaf at Saltersgill, Middlesbrough.
At the opening of the bar, Nigel said he was impressed with some of the rare pictures which decorated the walls. “The place looks great, it’s certainly very lively - some of the photographs in here of me are ones that I thought only I had,” he said.
Mr Tyers said: “It’s nice to have a theme to a pub, and we wanted something different - there are lots of football-themed pubs so we went for boxing.”
As well as photos of boxing’s greatest champions, the pub also boasted a lifesize statue of Mike Tyson.
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