Frank Warren, who is promoting tonight’s rematch at the same venue, had promised to make it clear to both boxers that a repeat of the game of statues that sometimes passed for entertainment last year would not be acceptable, but he was probably not expecting it to boil over so quickly.

Williams started the scuffle when he deliberately bumped into the 2000 Olympic super-heavyweight champion, who responded with a shove, before it descended into chaos. “It might be bad for the image of boxing, but there is a lot of pent-up aggression between the pair,” Warren said.

Yesterday’s brawl was some excitement after a fortnight of bad news for the show. Last year’s Harrison-Williams bout pulled in a remarkable 8 million viewers — bigger than for any sporting event, apart from the Champions League final, on the network in 2005.

Harrison, whose defeat 12 months ago was followed by a loss to Dominick Guinn, should need no reminding what is at stake. The furore over the 2000 Olympic super-heavyweight champion’s lacklustre displays is widely credited as bringing an end to professional boxing being shown on BBC television. Another loss will probably mean the end of his career.

Williams, despite taking the bout at only eight days’ notice, is slimmer than when he lost to Matt Skelton in the summer, having given up his junk-food diet. “People say beating Mike Tyson was the best thing that happened to me, but it was also the worst because I went mad with my eating,” Williams said. “I’ve been too heavy since then, but losing to a virtual novice in Skelton made me wake up to that.”

The show has been cursed from the start. First, Skelton, who had been scheduled to face Harrison, broke a hand, then Scott Harrison pulled out of his WBO featherweight title defence against Nicky Cook.

But in his hour of need Warren could at least nudge Amir Khan to centre stage. Khan’s bout against Rachid Drilzane has been pushed up from being Khan’s first eight-round contest to his first title bout over ten rounds — not the most difficult decision because the Frenchman is unlikely to last either distance. The bout will now be for the IBF Intercontinental light-welterweight title.

Tonight is a big night for Khan, who celebrated his 20th birthday yesterday. He has had only 59 seconds of action since the summer — the time it took him to dispose of Ryan Barrett in Bolton in September — and since then, with a book and a DVD to sell for Christmas, the sometimes uncomfortable balance between being a celebrity and being a sportsman has been leaning the wrong way.

“I know I’m a boxer at the end of the day,” Khan said. “The celebrity side has only come because of the boxing. I’ll call myself a celebrity when I’m world champion.”

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