TONY ADAMS, the former Arsenal and England soccer legend, turned boxing manager for the night at the iconic York Hall venue in London last month.

Adams brought together a team of boxers from the Gabala Sports Club as the European Azerbaijan Society (TEAS) organised a landmark gala charity match against Repton, one of the UK's most respected clubs.

Adams managed Gabala FC of the Azerbaijani Premier League for 18 months from 2010 and still has strong links with the club.

His visiting team of boxers lost out to their Repton counterparts but there were a number of split-decision fights.

And the star-studded audience, which included Frank Bruno, John Conteh, Joe Cole, Gary Mabbutt and a host of Adams' former Arsenal team-mates, saw the kind of boxing skills which enabled Azerbaijan's national team to bring home two medals from the London 2012 Olympics.

A cheque for £10,000 was presented to the Mo Farah Foundation during the interval and the remaining proceeds were donated to charities assisting Azerbaijani refugees and their Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) due to the conflict with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Adams, who lives in Coates near Cirencester, said: “Gabala Sports Club has got a fantastic boxing team that has been training a very hard for tonight, and I am delighted to be their manager.

"It’s great to support the Mo Farah Foundation. Let’s also remember something that is dear to the hearts of the Azerbaijani guys – there are 875,000 refugees and IDPs and they should have the chance to return home.”