‘Every gang was there: ram-raiders, gangsters, football hooligans, with one thing in common – they were from Salford’Boxing fans trade blows at Birmingham’s NEC Arena(Image: ITV)

It was a high-profile world title fight featuring one of Britain’s greatest boxers.

But the violence outside the ring would come to overshadow the action inside it. On September 9, 1994 Nigel Benn took on the Paraguayan Juan Carlos Giminez for the world super-middleweight title at Birmingham’s NEC Arena.

With Benn then at the peak of his fearsome powers the fight was shown live on ITV. But in the build-up, promoters were on red alert.

On the undercard was a British light-middleweight title bout between popular Salford boxer Steve ‘The Viking’ Foster and Birmingham’s Robert McCracken. Both boxers had large and loyal followings.

But their fanbase also had worrying links to football hooliganism. Foster’s supporters, who called themselves the ‘The Vikings’, were drawn from terraces of Old Trafford and the pubs and estates of Weaste, Ordsall and Cheetham Hill.

It’s said they were known to celebrate his victories by pushing burning cars into the Manchester Ship Canal. McCracken, meanwhile, drew some of his support from the notorious Birmingham City firm the Zulu Warriors.

Nigel Benn was defending his world super-middleweight belt(Image: Mirrorpix)

It’s estimated more than 1,100 fans made the trip from Salford to the NEC. Writing in his memoirs The Men in Black, notorious former Manchester United hooligan Tony O’Neill, described it as ‘the biggest mass exodus since the slum clearance’.

“Every gang was there: ram-raiders, gangsters, football hooligans, with one thing in common – they were from Salford,” he wrote. “Two or three coaches went from the Ashley Brook pub, a double-decker from the Weaste, others from the Woolpack in Salford Precinct, the Priory, which was the Vikings’ den, the Church Inn, which was the older chaps, all p***heads but every one of them could fight.”

It had all the makings of trouble. In a bid to avert any violence the bars were closed early and for first time in British boxing history fans were segregated.

But that didn’t stop the two sets of fans clashing in the concourses and communal areas. Then, as Benn and Giminez took to the ring, the violence moved into the main arena.

Gary Newbon reporting live on the trouble(Image: ITV)

With millions watching on at home, spectators ran for cover as chairs flew and hooligans traded blows. Speaking live on TV as the violence raged behind him, presenter Gary Newbon described it as a ‘promoter’s nightmare’.

“It’s the one thing they feared,” he said. “It’s been right on the edge of tension here all night. They’ve been fighting in the bars.

“It’s to do with a British light-middleweight champion Robert McCracken. Some of his supporters here, they’re Birmingham City supporters actually, they’re up against Steve Foster’s supporters, some Manchester United supporters and they’ve threatened to call off the fight.”

“Salford were up in one corner of the arena in the upper tier,” writes O’Neill. “The Zulus came across the floor, through the temporary seating, to attack the main body of the Salford. They had plastic seats and metal brackets. That was the start of the third fight. It was a free-for-all and it was brutal.”

British Gas worker Fred Adams, aged 55, from Solihull, was among those caught up in the fighting. “The tension was there from the very beginning,” he told the Birmingham Mail.

“It was like a volcano ready to erupt and very frightening. We could hear shouting and people from the audience went to see what was happening. Then they all ran back screaming to get out of the way as the fight burst into the arena.

“There were chairs flying everywhere. We ran for safety towards one of the exits and a few minutes later our chairs were thrown at someone.”

A Birmingham Mail headline in the aftermath of the riot(Image: ITV)

The authorities threatened to call off the fight. But after McCracken’s brother Max, himself a former pro boxer, climbed into the ring and appealed for calm and with the riot police were called in the fighting eventually subsided.

As spectators were forced to stand around the ring, their seats having earlier been used as missiles, the main event was restarted and Benn would go on to be awarded a unanimous points decision to retain his title.

Interviewed afterwards the visibly furious champ threatened to turn his back on Britain and move to the US.

“My mind was outside the ring,” he said. “I saw chairs whizzing about in the crowd and it just broke my concentration.

“I’ve never seen anything like it – in boxing or at a football match. They weren’t my fans.

“I have never had any trouble with them but I’m still upset. I think I might just go to America and fight there. I’ll be sitting down and talking with my people about it.”

The violence led to the fight being stopped for around five minutes(Image: ITV)

McCracken also joined in the condemnation. He said: “This has got to stop. The fighting should be done in the ring, not outside.

“It’s tragic. I know a lot of the people involved and we’ll be having a chat to make sure that this does not happen again.”

Promoter Frank Warren was even more scathing of those involved. “These were just low-life scum who have nothing to do with boxing,” he said.

“They were goading each other. It was the worst I have ever seen. If soccer teams had been involved they would have been made to play behind closed doors.”

When the dust had settled seven people were found to have been injured. It was feared one might lose his sight.

In the aftermath of the riot, police launched repeated appeals to track down those responsible. Eventually eight men from Birmingham and Solihull were charged with violent disorder.

It would be remembered as one of the worst nights of crowd violence in British boxing history.