A controversial middleweight fight that police tried...

A controversial middleweight fight that police tried to ban went ahead in Wembley, England, and turned into one of the most explosive fights in many years in a British ring.

Mark Kaylor twice got off the floor, then knocked out Errol Christie in the eighth round of a scheduled 12-round bout.

At a press conference last month, the fighters had come to blows outside a plush London club. Police feared that might spark racial tension in the wake of several recent incidents of mob violence on Britain’s streets, and asked boxing officials to ban the bout. Kaylor is white and Christie black.

After getting pledges by the promoters that extra security measures would be taken, the British Boxing Board of Control ignored the police request.

To defuse tension in Tuesday’s supercharged atmosphere, both boxers entered the ring together without the traditional fanfare and spotlights, and spectators were separated from ringside by a wooden barrier. Kaylor’s notoriously hostile fans--200 of whom were evicted from the same arena at one of his previous fights--booed loudly when Christie’s name was announced, and midway through the fight someone set off a firecracker, but there were no other incidents.