Week Ending: Fitness boss throws down the gauntlet & more

BUSINESS Heavyweights, the charity boxing event which asks a dozen prominent North West business people to beat each other up in front of a room full of friends and colleagues, is set to return in June.

Richard Millman, boss of gyms chain Total Fitness, is one of the intrepid 12 to literally throw his hat in the ring, and says: “Come and have a go if you think you’re hard enough. I am waiting for you.”

With so much fitness gear at his disposal, and with legendary Aussie scrapper Warwick Ley in his corner, who is going to be brave enough to take him on?

Meanwhile, rumours are sweeping Spinningfields that a second Deloitte v NorthEdge grudge match may be on the cards.

Keen to avenge the battering his predecessor Pat Loftus suffered at the hands of Ray Stenton, Deloitte’s North West senior partner Richard “Babyface” Bell, is rumoured to be pounding the streets of South Manchester in preparation for a scrap with Dan “Double Vision” Wright – NorthEdge’s former rugby playing COO.

Watch this space…. (we can’t wait).

The event, which raised £100,000 for the Factory Youth Zone last year, is set to be a sell-out when it takes place on June 24.

Contact  Mike Perls at MC2 at mikep@thisismc2.com to take part.

::

Week Ending received a worried call this week from someone who wanted to know if I could confirm the news that Richard Hughes is retiring?

“Surely not”, I said, “He’s too young, he’s at the top of his game.”. 

Before I could call the mercurial Manchester rainmaker to ask about this bombshell news, background noise of cheering and music alerted me to the fact the tipster may be winding me up, or had simply had half a glass too many.

But no, a quick Goggle News search soon allayed my fears – Richard Hughes had just announced his retirement, but it was the former champion jockey, not the corporate financier.

Before I could ask why the caller had rung TheBusinessDesk, he said “Isn’t that Betfred?”, at which point wires finally became uncrossed….