Gervais and Bovey in charity punch-up
The Office star Ricky Gervais has been roped in for a TV boxing bout with Grant Bovey.
The pair confirmed today that they will follow in the nimble footsteps of Bob Mortimer and Les Dennis in a celebrity punch-up for BBC2.
Gervais and Anthea Turner’s husband Bovey will have a month of training to limber up for the hard-hitting show.
The channel is lining up a number of bouts for a series called The Fight ... after the success of Mortimer and Dennis’s scrap for Sport Relief.
Gervais – trained by Frank Moloney who brought Lennox Lewis to fame – said: “Charity boxing appealed to me – pain and suffering to stop pain and suffering.
“Next year I’m getting involved in a new reality gameshow idea called ’celebrity hanging’.
“I’ve always wanted to put pro-celebrity boxing on the small screen – Frank Bruno versus Frank Bough.
“On a serious note, I can’t believe my luck – a month of training with the best professionals in the game.
They’ve got their work cut out,” added Gervais, known for his cringeworthy management-speak as David Brent in The Office.
He will fight Bovey – trained by former European Featherweight Champion Jim Macdonnell – over three rounds with £5,000 (€7,850) going to the winner’s choice of charity.
Bovey said: “It’s strange going into training knowing that you’re eventually going to get thumped in front of millions of people.”
Bob Mortimer will join a camera crew following the pair as they train.
