Aston Villa Stadium Villa Park
Former Leeds United and Aston Villa striker Ross McCormack is set to enter the boxing ring for a charity event titled ‘A Night to Remember II.’ Organized by Pro Project Promotions and spearheaded by former Arsenal goalkeeper Graham Stack, the event will see McCormack face off against ex-Leeds and Sheffield United defender Matthew Kilgallon. Scheduled for April 17 at the Titanic Hotel in Liverpool, the event aims to raise £120,000 for Children’s Charity Merseyside and Autism Merseyside. McCormack, who has only a few weeks of training, is more concerned about his entrance music than the fight itself.
Ross McCormack said: “I’ve never obviously, never had a boxing fight, but I’ve always had a huge respect for sport. It’s tough. I’ve got to admit I haven’t done much in the last, I don’t know, six years or whatever since retirement. I played the odd charity game, but If I’m being totally honest, you just let yourself go and you fall out of love with training. You can go to the gym, but see for me you go to David Lloyd, whatever it may be, no one speaks to you, everyone’s got their headphones in. Everyone looks down in the dumps. Whereas you walk into a boxing gym, it’s similar to walking into a dressing room in football. You can’t replicate the football dressing room anywhere else in any workplace. Listen, it’s been tough, there’s no two ways about it, it’s been absolutely tough but I’ve got to admit I am absolutely addicted to it.”
McCormack has found the transition from professional football to retirement challenging, particularly the loss of routine and structure. Reflecting on his career, he expressed that it didn’t end on his terms, which has been difficult to reconcile. Despite breaking the Championship transfer record twice, first moving from Leeds to Fulham and then to Aston Villa, McCormack’s time at Villa was marred by off-field issues, including a publicized dispute with then-manager Steve Bruce.
Ross McCormack said: “I think me as well, I believe that my career obviously didn’t end in my own terms. It probably stopped a few years shorter than it should have done, so that was probably the difficult part for me. If you just look at what happened, I broke the Championship transfer record moving from Leeds to Fulham, and then moving from Fulham to Aston Villa, I broke my own transfer record again in that league. So you would think that moving to Aston Villa, what would happen is I would go on again and keep doing well because I had done for the last four or five years. Everything that then transpired at Aston Villa, I believe that there’s probably clubs out there that would have taken a chance on me, that didn’t because of things that happened at Aston Villa.”
Despite these setbacks, McCormack holds no resentment towards Bruce, emphasizing that the issues at Villa were beyond the manager’s control. Instead, he is focused on his upcoming boxing challenge, albeit with some nerves about the public nature of the event.
Ross McCormack said: “What’s actually freaking me out the most is the walkout first of all. Giving a song which ain’t too cringey. And the second part is you’re standing there on your own and the full room is just looking at you. What do you do? Do you dance? Do you bounce on your toes? I’ve got no idea what will happen.”
The charity event not only aims to raise funds for worthy causes but also provides former professionals like McCormack with a new focus post-retirement. The night will feature five three-round bouts, including one between Lee Trundle and Chris Iwelumo, promising an exciting evening for both participants and spectators.
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