Excuse the title but Friday night saw all round good egg Getty photographer Dan Berehulak have his farewell drinks before he heads out to India. With a slightly fragile head, I rocked up to the ExCel Centre to see a roll-call of chaps prepared to inflict a similar feeling on each other.

Having only shot boxing once before, the undercards are always handy target practise for blowing away the technical cobwebs.  As you can imagine, shooting boxing depends on fast shutter speeds, fast autofocus, high ISO and hoping that you’re on the best side when the knockout blow is thrown.

As usual, I arrived with a whole batch of lenses and ended up just using one.  For those interested, the 24-70mm f2.8 is perfect for boxing.  Wide enough for decent full-lengths but long enough for decent close-ups, it gains the TabascoKid nomination for the ultimate boxing lens.. 

After a series of average matches, Enzo Maccarinelli ramped up the excitement with a somewhat decisive victory over Matthew Ellis. Not being much of a sports follower, it’s always good to see someone who is very good at their chosen field, particularly when you don’t know what to expect from them.

Now.  Audley Harrison.  Never having seen him box before I was expecting to see a decent fight but I was surprised at how nervous he looked throughout the whole thing.  My first impression was that it may be part of his “stage persona” but it didn’t take long to reach the conclusion that he just simply looked scared.

With their bout going for the full ten rounds, Martin Rogan ended up the eventual winner.

Apparently Audley’s a lovely chap but when you’re facing someone like Rogan (below), you’ll need a bit more than that.

Finally, it was Amir Khan‘s time to shine.  Following his shock defeat to Colombian Breidis Prescott in September, Oisin Fagan stepped up to the mark to see whether Khan’s days of victory were over.

Following the obligatory Spearmint Rhino girls, lycra and wolf-whistles, it was time for the moment of truth. Has he still got it?

Yup.  No problem.  One minute and 37 seconds into the second round and after a whole bunch of moments with Fagan on his backside, the referee stopped the fight and declared Khan the winner.  Welcome back, squire!