Auckland’s Urge bar co-owner Alan Granville says he’s survived his premiere boxing bout “with facial features intact”. The judges at Auckland’s ASB Showgrounds decided he won the Saturday night fight by a unanimous points decision. “It was probably the best night of my life,” enthuses the ex-pat Irishman. The newly-trained fighter had an Irish flag round his neck and U2’s 'Sunday Bloody Sunday’ as his theme tune. “Kinda appropriate,” he laughs. His nerves were fine all night until he stepped into the ring, “and then the enormity of the task hit me. “But I did okay, I surprised myself, he got me a couple of good belts, but I stuck to my game plan and managed to smack him a few times too.” Granville says he owes a lot to his partner Paul Heard, who stood by him throughout the “mad” twelve weeks of training. Heard says his partner “thanked everyone including me for supporting him through it. A little gasp and a cheer from the crowd was very positive. “Later in the toilets a guy made the comment ‘Did you hear that guy thank his boyfriend?’ “I turned around and said ‘yup that's me’, expecting the worst. But he and all the guys there said congratulations and that I should be really proud. “It was a very uplifting moment. See how far we have come!" Granville says he had a big table of support on the night “that must have been the loudest in the room. “The organisers put on a fantastic show and made all of us contenders feel really special. It was our night out there. “I still feel overwhelmed by my first, and definitely last, boxing bout,” he declares. A picture of Granville in the boxing ring is available to view on the first link below. Ref: GayNZ.com (m)