Ricky Gervais once had celebrity boxing fight on BBC and fought Anthea Turner’s HUSBAND in bout slammed by Frank Warren

RICKY GERVAIS is used to delivering hilarious punch-lines – but he has also thrown a few of them in the past too.

The Golden Globe-winning actor had a boxing match in 2002 for charity, going up against Anthea Turner‘s then-husband Grant Bovey.

It was a pretty torrid affair, despite both ‘fighters’ taking on extensive training for the bout.

Gervais vs Bovey was broadcast on BBC, dubbed as The Fight.

The two clobbered each other for three 90-second rounds, with The Office star Gervais announced as the winner.

That meant the funnyman, now 60, won £5,000 for his chosen charity – but that was viewed by many as the only positive from the unlicensed bout.

Legendary boxing promoter Frank Warren fumed that he was ‘p****d off’ with the BBC for showing the clash.

Speaking at the time, he said: “One thing I don’t want to be seen as is a killjoy – I know they’re doing this for charity.

Multi-award winning actor and scriptwriter Gervais is 1-0 as a boxer

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“But there are certain ways of going about this. What I’m unhappy about is that it’s unlicensed boxing.

“It’s a very dangerous sport and it needs to be regulated properly. You can’t just go to the gym for six weeks and think you are a boxer.

“It takes a long time and a lot of dedication.

“The brain doesn’t distinguish whether it’s being hit by a professional or an amateur.

“If, heaven forbid, something should go wrong, people won’t be saying let’s ban The Office or whatever Grant Bovey does, they’ll be calling for a ban on boxing.”

Gervais was trained by boxing legend David Haye for his bout

He added: “I’m surprised the BBC got into this at all. I’m also p****d off with the BBC – I wish they’d spend their money on proper boxing.”

It was more bar-room brawl than noble art – but still watched by 5.5million viewers on terrestrial TV.

The first ‘celebrity fight’ that year was in the summer, for Sport Relief.

Bob Mortimer secured a points win against Les Dennis.

But following the widespread criticism after Gervais’ victory, BBC scrapped the show ‘The Fight’ despite another seven bouts planned.

There continued to show boxing bouts for Sport Relief however.