David Jamieson was devastated that his first fight in two years was cancelled last minute in bizarre circumstances.
The Westwood boxer was set to fight Ivo Zednicek on Saturday at New Douglas Park but the Czech Republic fighter was held up at customs and forced to spend NINE hours in a holding cell.
Due to Covid restrictions, sports stars are only allowed to enter Scotland with ‘elite sport status’ and customs officers rejected application.
Despite attempts to rectify the situation by notable figures, Zednicek was forced to fly home and Jamieson will now fight at the Crowne Plaza on Saturday.
He said: “I received the bad news from my coach on Saturday morning and my heart just sank. He told me that Ivo had been seized at Glasgow airport and customs officers were sending him back to Czech Republic.
“He was supposed to fly to Newcastle and get the train over the border but he flew into Scotland.
“We had MSP’s write emails to try to sort it out. Someone knew the CEO of Glasgow Airport so they contacted him but the customs officers were flexing their muscles.
“The Czech boy messaged me on Facebook in broken English and apologised so fair play to him.
“He had a hell of a time of it. He was kept in a holding cell for nine hours and seized his passport so he had a worse day than me.
“He flew over here on his own money and he never got to fight so he’s out of pocket. It’s a total stinker for everyone.
“I sold £15,000 worth of tickets so I turned up at the show and met everyone. They’d all paid their hard earned money to support me and they were more concerned for me - it was brilliant.
“I had to show face because they backed me and some of them are willing to buy tickets for my next event.”
He added: “Sam [Kynoch] managed to get me a fight on Saturday so I’m just raring to go after a long camp.
“I’m fighting Elvis Dube from England and it’s all geared towards a big fight against Iain Martell. He stopped Dube last month so this can be the turning point if I can stop him quicker than Iain.
“It’ll just be good to get back under the lights after a long wait and get some work in. It’s the most consistent that I’ve ever been in a training camp.”
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