'Strictly Knockouts' DVD Review
Published May 31, 2009 by Boxing Capital
‘Strictly Knockouts’ the DVD brings together a compilation of 101 great knockouts in British boxing over the 20 years from 1985 though until 2005. The action has been put together by Steve Holdsworth, who is best known for his commentary work on Eurosport.
The boxing action itself is pure quality as it brings together some rare gems of footage from small hall, non televised boxing shows that have rarely been seen by anyone who wasn’t in the hall on the night.
In addition to great knockouts by British boxing stalwarts such as Gary Logan, Michael Sprott, Ensley Bingham and Jon Thaxton we also get to see world champions such as Shea Neary, Carl ‘The Cat’ Thompson, Johnny Nelson and Chris Eubank. We actually get to see the British debut of Chris Eubank on this DVD, just to highlight how rare some of the footage is.
As you’d expect on a DVD of this type, 99% of the knockouts come from stunning one punch finishes. There are a couple of rather innocuous and unspectacular knockouts and I found myself wondering how these made the ‘final cut’. However, these are few and far between so don’t call in to question the quality of the DVD.
Undoubtedly the highlight on this disc is the finale, which feature Steve Holdsworth’s favourite 10 knockouts; all 10 are a joy to behold for boxing fans and including an emphatic one punch, first round finish by Paul Lloyd.
But, as good as the action is, the presentation is poor. Holdsworth himself appears alongside comedian Ricky Grover aka ‘Bulla’ in what is meant to be a bit of light hearted comedy to break up the highlight reel knockouts. The idea is good but the execution is shocking - I found Grover’s incessant rants far from comical and much too repetitive. I’ve seen Grover doing his comedy act live in the past and there is no doubt he is a funny man but on this DVD he is out of place and predictable.
I think we’d have been far better served with the action being interspersed by Holdsworth telling us what we’re about to see, as there is no doubt he is one of the most knowledgeable men in the British fight game.
All in all, its certainly worth a look and at just £7.98 from Amazon it’s an absolute bargain.
Judges Scorecard - 8/10
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