IT’S been 45 years since Danny Wells last set foot inside Shoreditch Town Hall, but the retired bantamweight remembers it like it was yesterday.

He faced Dixie Dean over eight rounds but, despite giving a good account, lost on points.

Wells, now a 72-year-old great grandfather who lives in Laindon, said: “It was a decent scrap. I thought I might have done enough to win it but it went his way.

“But I always loved fighting there. It was the best venue I ever fought in. It was a small boxing hall – it held less than 1,000 and they were packed into balconies all around you and it felt like they could touch you.

“It was a unique experience and I’m looking forward to going back.”

Wells, a retired factory worker, is one of 150 ex-pros who will receive a commemorative medal at the East London venue on Saturday.

Old adversaries will come face to face for the first time in years at the event, which is raising funds for the 36 Ex-Boxers Associations nationwide.

Other local fighters who have been invited include Southend’s Johnny McKenna, 67, a former featherweight, and Canvey Island’s Mick Cain, 68, who fought as a middleweight.

Wells, who trained at Belhus Park Boxing Club before turing pro at 22, said he walked up to the old boxing hall in Shoreditch last week, but could not get in because it was closed.

He fought there four times and had two draws and two defeats. During a 31-fight career he had nine wins, 18 losses, and four draws before he retired in January 1966, aged 28.

His career high came in January 1962 when he challenged Don Weller for the ABA Southern Area Bantamweight title at the Royal Albert Hall. He was disqualified in the seventh round for head-butting.

“I thought I was a bit unlucky and I was hoping to get a re-match — but it never happened,” he said.

The fights he remembers the most are his five bouts with Dave Whittaker, the man he lost to in his debut pro fight in April 1960, but went on to draw with him twice and beat him twice.

Wells said: “I’m looking forward to the reunion but it would really make my day if Dave is there. I don’t even know if he is still alive, but it would be great to walk in and see him standing there.”

About 600 people are expected to attend the event at the hall, which staged the UK’s first televised boxing match on Anglia TV in November 1955, and staged many showcase fights until it closed in 1975.

For more information, or to book a ticket, call Tommy Burling on 07917 142409