Professional and amateur boxers took to the ring at the weekend to put on a charity-fundraising fight night for a local mental health charity.

A south-west select featuring young boxers from Swindon fought their London counterparts in an afternoon of amateur entertainment before the professional action started in the evening, with the headline fight a gruelling 12-round Commonwealth title bout between Bristol’s Ashley Lane and Michael Ramabeletsa.

Throughout the day, money was raised for Phoenix Enterprises, a social enterprise who support training and employment opportunities for people in the Swindon area with mental health issues.

Mike Bowden, a trustee of the charity, said: “We were delighted to be asked to be their charity of choice for the evening. We ran the main door, taking tickets and things, and it was a good fun evening from our point of view.

“People were very interested in what we did, they were very generous, and it was a good way of raising much-needed funds.

“The generosity of the boxing public was fantastic. It’s a very important sport, it has a lot of history in Swindon.”

Mark Neilson, of Neilson Boxing, who promoted the event, said: “The pro-am side of it works really well, and it’s a great platform for the kids, because they get to fight in a venue that’s all rigged up for professionals.

“It may enable the local amateur club to make a few quid as well – they are not funded. It’ll put some money into their coffers, help them to buy the kit, keep the lights on.”

Mark was also enthusiastic about the impact the event would have on the town. He said: “It was a good crowd, and a lot of guys from out of town came as well because it was a Swindon and south-west select versus a London select.”

Brian Roberts, the head coach at Swindon’s Horseshoe ABC, saw several of his pupils take part, and selected the south-west team, which took three fights to their London opponents’ two.

He said: “The occasion was brilliant, our boys rose to that and thoroughly enjoyed it.

“I think we’ve made plans already for the next one, and we hope to put on a bigger event.

“It certainly gave them a great outlook – most of them aspire to be boxers, and when they see the next level that they could aspire to that will help them be inspired even more.”