"At first I only wanted to fight for an Irish amateur title, then I wanted to win two."

Charlie was the first Derry man to win an Irish senior title. Those dreams then progressed to see Nash represent Ireland and Derry at the European and Olympic finals. In each instance he exited the competition to the eventual winner.

"I had no huge career plan, I just knew how to win one round at a time. Needing a new challenge, I only turned professsional in 1975, so to be coming out in front of 2,000 fans, at the height of the Troubles in my home town with a European title on the line, was unbelieveable.

"The truth is I owed much of it to manager Jack Solomons. He made record purse offers to get the fight to Derry."

Holyk had 45 fights to his career wereas Charlie had only 20 although three of his first eight fights had been wins over former British champions, the undefeated Tommy Glencross, Jimmy Revie and Joey Singleton who had made the Lonsdale Belt his own.

"I knew Holyk wasn't going to be easy but I concentrated on winning one round at a time. That is how I approached the fight with Holyk, one round at a time."

It was a style, Charlie's trainer Tommy Donnelly instilled in him.

"He taught me to be an aggressive counterpuncher. We knew that we couldn't afford to wait on him to come forward. My sparring partners Damien McDermott, Billy Ferguson, Mickey Duddy, Patsy Ferguson and Terence Donnelly as well as John Daly in my corner, were instrumental in that style and that victory. That is not to say the magnificent backing of the crowd didn't help. You always get a tremendous lift with a crowd cheering your name. The Derry public have always been brilliant support. I always tried offering them value for money in my style of boxing because of that."

Charlie recalls being in control for most of the fight. The 'Journal' fight report records a "Devastating performance by Nash...the best performance of his career to date...and that the damage was done by his potent right hand."

When the bell went at the end of round 12 Charlie's hands punched the air: "I knew with two rounds to go that I had won.