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MAYWEATHER AND ALI Floyd is still learning lessons from The Greatest THE WORLD’S BEST FIGHT MAGAZINE EST. 1909

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JUNE 3 2021

THE COMEBACK Dubois under pressure to impress

HOW TO BE A COACH DEVIN HANEY + COLIN DUNNE + TONY DAVIS BRADLEY SKEETE + OLYMPIC QUALIFIERS

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Examining what makes a good trainer

GREAT Ageless Nonito Donaire takes another step towards the Hall of Fame with showcase victory

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Contents June 3, 2021

20

NONITO DONAIRE ‘The Filipino Flash’ adds another layer to his glorious legacy

UNMISSABLE

>> 16 DEVIN HANEY

16

The gifted youngster is taught some valuable lessons by Jorge Linares

>> 22 DUBOIS vs DINU

HIGHLIGHTS

>> 4 EDITOR’S LETTER Mayweather is taking the smart route

>> 8 STEVE BUNCE A bad year for British amateur boxing

Previewing Daniel’s bounce-back fight

>> 26 FROM CHAMP TO COACH

>> 10 FURY vs JOSHUA The fallout from the broken superfight

Speaking to McGirt, Mosley and more

>> 32 TONY DAVIS

>> 12 JEAN PASCAL VADA findings cause fight’s cancellation

How he overcame a horrendous ordeal

>> 36 COLIN DUNNE

>> 19 KASH ALI Tomas Salek can’t handle the uppercuts

The journey from jockey to fighter

>> 24 BRADLEY SKEETE

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Back in the ring after a long absence

>> 40 THE ROAD TO TOKYO The Olympic qualification event preview

>> 44 TONY STUART A British amateur heavyweight titan

>> 46 THOMAS MATTICE He always knew how to throw his hands

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JUNE 3, 2021 l BOXING NEWS l 3

EDITOR’S LETTER

STILL INSPIRING Mayweather learns from the great Ali and takes the smart route through middle age

Cover photography ESTHER LIN/SHOWTIME

EASY MONEY: Mayweather chuckles ahead of his latest circus

HIS week Floyd Mayweather, still a villain to so many boxing fans, returns to the ring for a money-spinning playfight with Logan Paul, an 0-1 novice who lost his only professional contest to a fellow YouTuber.

Floyd’s ‘comeback’ coincides with Matt the five-year Christie anniversary of @MattCBoxingNews the death of the crème de la crème Editor of boxing royalty, Muhammad Ali. I used to think that Mayweather should stay away from the sport unless he’s going to take it seriously again. The toxic Conor McGregor circus triggered that thinking because it stole the attention from more meaningful bouts.

I don’t feel the same way now. Does any sane-minded boxing fan really want to see Mayweather, who was showing signs of slowing down long before he toyed with McGregor in 2017, come back and

T

Photo: EVA MARIE UZCATEGUI/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

face a fighter who will likely do him harm? We can say that MayweatherPaul is a bad look for the sport but I’d strongly argue that a 44-year-old man being bashed up by a fighter like Canelo Alvarez would be markedly worse.

Mayweather’s end-of-career laps of honour are more sensible than Ali’s, it must be said. In the last five years of Ali’s ring life he engaged in a foul-filled affair with wrestler Antonio Inoki that did him no good at all, he took lifechanging punishment in sanctioned bouts and he regularly endured gruelling exhibitions against up-and-coming fighters who hadn’t read the script. And that’s before we get to the depressing losses to Larry Holmes and Trevor Berbick in 1980 and 1981 respectively. Ali’s love for the sport knew no bounds.

Five years on from his passing we still mourn. When one looks back on his career, particularly his greatest years between 1964 and 1975, it remains impossible not to be wowed by his achievements. The champions

he dethroned, like Sonny Liston and George Foreman, were formidable in the extreme. The era he ruled was the greatest in heavyweight history. One naturally yearns for the leaders of today to follow his example and simply fight each other. But Ali’s long and punishing career came at great cost. After the third fight with Joe Frazier in 1975, Ali began to erode at pace.

Floyd, whose uncle and former coach Roger Mayweather died last year after suffering from the effects of brain damage for several years, is taking an altogether smarter route through middle age. He’s earning an obscene amount of money to ‘fight’ someone who will not be able to hit him, much less hurt him. In years to come one hopes that Mayweather will not be rolled out in a wheelchair and encouraged to wave vacantly at his fans.

The notion that Ali, when ravaged by Parkinson’s in later life, was a glowing advertisement for boxing is badly misguided.

Mayweather has long been acutely aware of the damage his trade can cause. The manner in which he fought for the last 10 years of his career highlighted that. So too does his decision to humour Logan Paul’s hopes of being competitive with one of the greatest boxers in history. Even at his advanced age, Floyd will likely do as he pleases with the big raw lump.

Muhammad Ali remains “The Greatest”, no question. Many of us will never forget the tears we shed when news of his death broke on June 3, 2016. He was a man of honour and a fighter who never shirked a challenge, even when those challenges were too great for his body to stand. The sport is forever in his debt. But what he also did, while battling with failing health in his later years, was to inspire athletes like Floyd Mayweather to not be so blindly courageous.

Judge Mayweather all you like. He is no Muhammad Ali, that’s for sure. But in being Floyd Mayweather, the filthy rich gazillionaire with a clean bill of health, he’s doing what so many before him failed to: He’s taking more from the sport than it took from him.

MAYWEATHER IS ACUTELY AWARE OF THE DAMAGE HIS TRADE CAN CAUSE

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THE GREATEST: Ali’s legend will always remain

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REMEMBER WHAT ALI STOOD FOR Muhammad Ali: A word of remembrance by Thomas Hauser THURSDAY, June 3, will be a time for remembrance. Five years ago - on June 3, 2016 - Muhammad Ali died.

It’s hard to believe that five years have passed since then. So much has happened in the intervening years.

One can only speculate as to how Ali as a young man would have responded to today’s challenges. But if history is any guide, the Ali who electrified the world in the 1960s and ‘70s would have stood against militant

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nationalism, spoken out on behalf of the downtrodden, and been a source of hope.

Set aside a moment to remember what he stood for and think fondly of him. l Thomas Hauser can be reached by email at thomashauserwriter@gmail.com. He was Muhammad Ali’s official biographer and is the author of Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times and Muhammad Ali: A Tribute to The Greatest.

l DON’T miss a recent special episode where we talk to Tris Dixon about his book, Damage. l LISTEN (& rate & subscribe) via Apple, Spotify and all major platforms. A new episode is free to listen to every Thursday.

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LETTERS

ON FACEBOOK www.facebook.com/boxingnewsonline

LETTER OF THE WEEK

WORTHY CAUSE MY son, the former professional boxer Lee Noble, passed away from leukaemia on March 21 this year. A JustGiving page was previously set up in order to support the future of Lee’s two young children that he’s left behind, but it had to be shut down due to a technical problem (all of the donations have been refunded). My daughter, Natalie Noble, has now set up another fundraising page. We would be so grateful if you could please make a contribution on this new page, which can be found here: https://www.justgiving. com/crowdfunding/natalie-noble?utm_ term=pm84Nx8Yn. Thank you.

Paul Noble BRILLIANT BANTAMWEIGHTS THE performance of the week, if not the year so far, must go to Nonito Donaire, “The Filipino Flash”. At 38 years of age and 18 months since his last contest, coming out on top in an entertaining

fight against an undefeated and younger opponent in Nordine Oubaali was a great achievement. It sets up the possibility of a couple of mouth-watering fights. One could be against his countryman – the equally exciting John Riel Casimero. Or maybe a rematch with the bantamweight division’s leading fighter, Naoya Inoue, in what could be a repeat of the 2019 Fight of the Year. Both of those potential opponents must come through tough fights first, however. In August, Casimero faces the slick Guillermo Rigondeaux, while Inoue has to beat yet another good Filipino bantamweight in Michael Dasmarinas in June. There are definitely some great fights to look forward to in the 118lb division. There is rightly a lot of talk about how competitive the lightweight and welterweight divisions are, but Donaire has now helped to make it just as interesting down at bantamweight.

Chris Strange

TERRIFIC TAYLOR SO, Scotland’s own Josh Taylor is the undisputed super-lightweight champion!

He went to Las Vegas and gave Jose Ramirez a sound ‘skelping’ (Scottish term for ‘beating’!) How Ramirez got up from that second knockdown I’ll never know. What an achievement by Taylor, but with all the politics involved in boxing, it’s sadly inevitable that he’ll have to relinquish one or two of his four titles, what with the sanctioning bodies having their own separate mandatory challengers. It’s impossible to please all four of the sanctioning bodies, which is why it’s so rare to see one boxer keep hold of all four of the belts for any length of time.

I just felt that I had to write in to express my gratitude to Josh and his team for doing so well. Hopefully he’ll have a homecoming fight in Scotland next, with some proper TV coverage in the UK. John Carlin

PLEASE HELP US: Noble lost his life in March this year

Photo: SCOTT HEAVEY/GETTY IMAGES

6 l BOXING NEWS l JUNE 3, 2021

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10 COUNT THE PANEL

TOP BRITS IN TELFORD

IS THERE ANY MORE NONITO DONAIRE CAN ACCOMPLISH?

Daniel Dubois is following in the footsteps of these notable British boxers who fought in Telford 1. JOE CALZAGHE A super-middleweight great who moved up to lightheavyweight at the end of his career and notched two major stateside wins, Calzaghe outpointed Bobbie Joe Edwards over eight rounds at Telford Ice Rink in 1995.

2. RICKY HATTON The hugely popular Hatton made his mark on both sides of the Atlantic at super-lightweight and welterweight.

In 1998, “The Hitman” halted Paul Salmon in less than two minutes at Telford Ice Rink.

Sunny Edwards IBF flyweight champion Donaire reminded us again how great he is. At this weight he’s not showing any signs of going anywhere fast - I’d like to see the Inoue fight again.

Kal Yafai Former WBA titlist Donaire has achieved so much it’s hard to bet against him. The oldest bantamweight world champion in history and looking for more.

I’m sure he will continue to be in some great fights with the other champions. And I look forward to getting in the mix myself.

Sam Maxwell Super-lightweight contender What a guy.

Absolutely superb.

There’s not much more he can do now. He’s unreal, that’s his proper weight, he’s really good. I remember Oubaali from the amateurs.

He was brilliant as well. That is inspirational.

Andy Clarke Commentator and podcaster A well-timed exit from the sport that sees him go out at the very top is the only thing left for him to accomplish now.

This most recent chapter of his career back down at bantamweight has been extraordinary but at 38 I don’t want to see him box on much longer.

WHO IS THE BOXER TO WATCH AT THE OLYMPIC QUALIFIER? Sunny Edwards The fighter I’m most looking forward to looking out for is big Frazer Clarke had to wait a long time to get to this point and I can’t see him letting it slip. The future of the heavyweight division in my eyes.

Kal Yafai The GB squad has so much talent from my brother Galal all the way up to big Frazer Clarke. It’s hard to pick one, Pat McCormack, Ben Whittaker and Peter McGrail are looking good so watch out for them.

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Sam Maxwell Peter McGrail. He reminds me of a little Lomachenko, his angles, his footwork. I think he’s really good but the whole squad is; Pat McCormack, Galal Yafai, Frazer Clarke. Them four alone are amazing. It’s a good team.

Andy Clarke I’ll go for Ukrainian Middleweight Oleksandr Khyzhniak. It’s tough to wish him too much luck because he’s fighting GB’s Lewis Richardson but Khyzhniak is special. Britain’s own Peter McGrail, Pat McCormack and Lauren Price are at a very high level too though and have the medals to prove it.

3. JUNIOR WITTER Witter was a top-level super-lightweight and famous rival of Hatton, although the two never actually fought.

Telford Ice Rink was the venue for his eight-round points victory over Mark Winters in 1998.

4. RICHIE WOODHALL Fighting out of Telford, Woodhall enjoyed significant success at middleweight and, even more so, at super-middleweight. The local favourite performed in the Shropshire town on 10 occasions, boxing in Commonwealth, European and WBC title contests.

5. NATHAN CLEVERLY Light-heavyweight standout Cleverly competed at Oakengates Theatre in 2005, where he dispatched Lance Hall in three rounds. “Clev” would later progress to big fights in America and Germany.

6. GLENN CATLEY In 1998, Catley challenged Woodhall for the WBC super-middleweight belt at Telford Ice Rink, with the champion retaining via majority decision. Catley, though, would later go on to take the title from Markus Beyer.

7. GAVIN REES After a highly successful spell at super-lightweight, Rees stepped down to lightweight and prospered there, too. “The Rock” made his professional debut at Telford Ice Rink in 1998, outscoring John Farrell over four.

8. HENRY AKINWANDE Heavyweight giant Akinwande was a notable player in the division who boxed in nine countries around the globe. His second-round stoppage of Michael Richards came at Telford Ice Rink in 1992.

9. ROBERT McCRACKEN Now a leading trainer, McCracken made his name as a fighter at super-welterweight and middleweight. He won two out of two in Telford, with his appearances coming at Oakengates Town Hall and the Ice Rink.

10. ESHAM PICKERING Lower-weight talent Pickering produced his best form at super-bantam. He took part in a six-rounder at Telford Ice Rink in 1999 and defeated Ian Turner over the distance.

JUNE 3, 2021 l BOXING NEWS l 7

THE BUNCE DIARIES

Photo: ROSS KINNAIRD /ALLSPORT

THE BLEAK SUMMER David Burke and co never stood a chance at the 1996 Olympics

ONG before the golds, the funding and the centre of excellence, there was the disaster in Atlanta when David Burke went missing and Fola Okesola had no chance.

That was a bad year for British amateur boxing, a very bad year. The Steve British pair never Bunce won a fight and @BigDaddyBunce their performances Voice of boxing were ignored, part of a dreadful two weeks, dipping like so many under a weak radar. It’s the Olympics that everybody likes to forget, the Olympics where members of the GB team sold their kit on street corners in downtown Atlanta; a city with busy corners. The GB team won just one gold medal in Atlanta.

It was an awful fortnight. In the boxing hall there were no wins, no medals, no hope.

This story starts a few months earlier in Denmark, in Velje, the home of Lego.

It starts over a few days and ends early on a Saturday morning in a pair of boxoffs. It was the European championships, the Olympic qualifier, the place for making and breaking dreams. It was late March but I remember there was about six-inches of snow on the ground.

Atlanta and the promise of heat and Olympic glory seemed a long, long way off that frosty week.

At heavyweight, Okesola won his opener and was then beaten by Sweden’s Kwamena Turkson. It meant Fola made the box-off for an Atlanta spot. On the Saturday, he lost to Denmark’s Michael Ibsen. The Olympics for the South Londoner were over.

At featherweight, Burke was one of the best in a serious division. Burke won three times and lost in the semi-final

L

to Serafim Todorov. It meant Burke had booked his place on the plane to Atlanta.

However, also at featherweight, Scott Harrison won three times, lost to Ramaz Paliani and qualified for the Olympics.

England and Scotland, two vests, one place, one problem.

They had to fight for their Olympic place; it was an unconventional little drama and harsh on both. It was also and remains a lost gem.

It was decided that Harrison and Burke would box-off for the one spot. It was not, trust me, ideal; there was talk of it being delayed and both delegations argued their boxer had overcome stiffer opposition to earn their Olympic vest. It is the most celebrated vest in boxing.

In the end, they fought and Burke

IN THE BOXING HALL THERE WERE NO WINS, NO MEDALS, NO HOPE

8 l BOXING NEWS l JUNE 3, 2021

won; a score of 6-3 was certainly not indecent. Both, incidentally, were tired.

They returned with rare European bronze medals. In the featherweight final, Paliani beat Todorov. We are not finished with the Bulgarian, Todorov. And Harrison and Burke, by the way, were exceptional boxers at a time when GB men were still Europe’s softest touch.

Three weeks later, the Danish authorities decided Ibsen had very little chance in Atlanta and Okesola joined Burke on the plane. Ian Irwin, the GB coach, was optimistic for a wild card or two, but nobody else received an invite.

It was just the two of them. Burke was capable of a medal in Atlanta, trust me.

It gets messy and confused after that.

I have a classified document, compiled by a member of the GB boxing team and it is not pleasant reading. The boxers went to Tallahassee, Florida, to prepare for the heat of Atlanta. In the weeks before the first bell at the Olympics they each perform sluggishly, seem

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HOPES DASHED: The underrated Burke loses to Falk Huste in 1996

distant, uncooperative. It can happen now, even with the layers of support; preparing an elite boxer for a major event is not a strict science, there is no definitive blueprint, boxers can lose their way and in Rio several GB boxers underperformed. The men and women in charge of getting the very best - at the right time - from their boxers often have a joyless task. The men in control of Burke and Okesola in 1996 knew their stuff, they had experience. It just went wrong.

With just a few days to go, Burke was seriously constipated and Okesola’s form and attitude remained disturbing. In Atlanta, Burke also went missing and is found the following day. He was staying with his family. The break was probably needed.

Okesola was drawn against American Nate Jones and was stopped with seven seconds left of the third. Jones eventually won a bronze, gained several stone and became the life-long confidant of

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another member of the USA team in Atlanta, Floyd Mayweather.

Okesola’s loss is less than a blip on the boxing scanner and Jones would be close to invisible without a decade or more of his body-bag sessions with Mayweather.

Burke had a hard, hard draw and had his first fight against Germany’s Falk Huste, one of those old-school, veteran boxers that are increasingly rare. Burke lost 13-9, he never really got going.

It was a fight that another version of Burke would have won. His Olympics were over. Huste then lost to Todorov and Todorov beat Mayweather in the semi-final. Mayweather screamed the place down, but there was nothing in it; Todorov lost in the final to Thailand’s Somluck Kamsing. In Thailand, Kamsing remains an idol.

And then the two British boxers were free of expectation and dread. As I said, it’s the Games we all like to forget.

Audley Harrison comes next, then Amir

Khan and then the deluge. Atlanta is lost in time, a bleak time.

After the Olympics, Okesola turns professional, wins three and loses twice.

Mayweather graduates through the world of boxing to face the world’s finest YouTubers. Big Nate is still at his side.

Todorov scuffles on the circuit, winning six of seven as a pro and eventually ends up with a lucrative cigarette stand in Sofia. My gosh, Bulgarians love their snout.

Burke turns professional, wins a Commonwealth title at lightweight, loses just three of 30 and is, I truly believe, one of the most neglected British amateurs from the last fifty years.

And then there is Scott Harrison, a man still dreaming of fights after decades and still battling his demons.

What a fighter he became after Velje. It’s been a long and bloody journey for the kid who secured a place at the Olympics one day and lost it the next. It’s cruel, this boxing game.

JUNE 3, 2021 l BOXING NEWS l 9

BOXING MEDIA REVIEW

Examining the best and worst of the sport’s weekly coverage

NEVERENDING STORY The mudslinging between Team Fury and Team Joshua steals the headlines, writes George Gigney

MOVING ON: But Tyson’s father is not so amused

YOUTUBE THE fallout from the scrapped Anthony Joshua vs Tyson Fury fight continues to rain down on boxing’s landscape, with almost all of those involved speaking out in the past week.

First off, Eddie Hearn spoke with several outlets, including IFL TV, to give his reaction to the arbitration ruling which granted Deontay Wilder a third fight with Fury.

“I saw Tyson Fury on ESPN, happy as Larry that he’d got the Deontay Wilder fight, ‘I’m gonna do this, then I’m gonna fight Anthony Joshua, December.’ Who knows? Right now, the feeling from our camp is; they [Fury’s team] have absolutely no interest in [the Joshua] fight,” he said.

He was referring to comments Fury recently made about how he plans to beat Wilder and then face Joshua in December. Hearn maintains that he and everyone else on Joshua’s side were assured the arbitration would not rule

in Wilder’s favour, and so wouldn’t derail any Joshua-Fury plans.

Speaking to DAZN, Eddie also accused Top Rank - who co-promote Fury alongside Frank Warren’s Queensbury Promotions - of planning the Wilder trilogy fight all along, citing the speed at which they were able to get a deal in place as evidence of this.

In an interview with SecondsOut, Warren rebutted such claims: “All this rubbish about, ‘We didn’t really want it.’

What planet are people on to even come out with stupid comments like that?

That’s the bigger and better fight, why wouldn’t you want that fight? It’s just a mess.”

To be fair to Warren, he never once said Joshua-Fury was a 100 per cent done deal and whenever speaking to the media about it, always expressed caution about hurdles that needed to be cleared.

Then, of course, came BT Sport’s interview with John Fury, Tyson’s father, about the ordeal. He said: “20,000 yes-men around him [Tyson]. What’s happening in America with him -

appalling work. It’s diabolical. You’re geared up to fight one man [ Joshua].

It’s all sorted in 24 hours [Wilder]. It’s a mistake. He can blame his team. No-one else.”

He later went on to say: “I was told arbitration was not a problem. All of a sudden it is a problem. This arbitration could’ve been squashed in December, but they didn’t squash it. I can rattle on all day. The public know, they’re not fools. Garbage.”

In reality, we’ll never get a definitive answer of whether or not anyone knew this house of cards was always doomed to fall, though it seems unfair to claim Fury’s side were always intending to fight Wilder instead of Joshua. If that was the case, there’s no logical reason for them to have progressed negotiations with Hearn et al so far.

As John Fury stated, this potential issue was a known entity for a while, and it’s baffling that promoters and managers with so much combined experience could be apparently blindsided by the arbitration decision.

Photos: GETTY IMAGES

10 l BOXING NEWS l JUNE 3, 2021

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It’s also telling that Tyson’s own father - who isn’t known for mincing his words - is being so outwardly critical of his son’s handlers, and to a major news outlet no less. If the fault does lie with Fury’s team out in America, then that problem needs to be rooted out.

With all this finger-pointing and barbs being traded in the media, worries might start to creep in over how negotiations for a Joshua-Fury fight will go should they both come through their next fights unscathed. One would help everyone involved can put this debacle aside and get the fight made should the time come, but this is boxing, after all.

WEBSITES Bob Arum spoke to The Athletic about a variety of topics, but most interestingly that of his charge, Terence Crawford.

It’s no secret that their professional relationship is strained, to put it mildly, and now Arum almost seems past the point of caring.

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“We could make a big fight vs [Shawn] Porter, but who’s going to pay for it?

There’s a limit to what I can get out of ESPN. And on PPV. Crawford’s never done anything on PPV. Nothing against him. It is what it is,” he said.

Crawford is at a crucial point in his career where he needs big, meaningful fights, but with comments like this it seems Arum does not hold much faith in that happening. While honesty is always appreciated, these points raised by the promotional legend also come off the back of criticism he and Top Rank have received for their lack of build-up to the recent Josh Taylor-Jose Ramirez fight, which was not even picked up by a major broadcaster in the UK. Arum expressed interest in matching Crawford with Taylor, which would be a great fight. With the Joshua-Fury collapse, Crawford’s struggles and the lack of warranted promotion for TaylorRamirez, questions need to be asked about what is happening over at Top Rank at the moment.

PODCASTS According to Shannon Briggs, former unified heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko is making a comeback. Speaking on Sky Sports’ Toe 2 Toe show, Briggs - who lost to Klitschko’s older brother Vitali in 2010 - said he had received a call that very same day with an offer to fight Wladimir. Apparently, he hadn’t even told his wife yet.

Klitschko hasn’t fought since his titanic clash with Joshua in 2017 when he was stopped in the 11th. He flirted with the idea of an immediate rematch before announcing his retirement from boxing.

Several news outlets reached out to his team, who declined to comment. If Briggs was just spouting hot air, that would surely be an easy claim to shoot down.

Briggs had been clamoring for a fight with “Dr Steelhammer” for years while they were both active, and it would be bizarre for that fight to suddenly happen now. Then again, Floyd Mayweather fights Logan Paul this weekend.

READY TO FIGHT: Joshua’s next opponent will soon be revealed

JUNE 3, 2021 l BOXING NEWS l 11

NEWS AND OPINION

N May 28, just nine days before his scheduled June 6 rematch with fellow highly ranked lightheavyweight Badou Jack, it came to light that Jean Pascal had tested positive for three banned substances, leading the fight to be cancelled.

In an official statement posted on his social media account, Pascal insisted that he had not knowingly ingested any performance-enhancing drugs.

“I am shocked and embarrassed,” the 38-year-old Canadian wrote. “I would never voluntarily take illegal substances.

I’ve always fought for a clean sport and will continue to do so. I’m one of the first modern boxers to insist on random testing and I’ve passed countless tests during my 13 years at the highest level of boxing.

“I want to assure all my fans that this is an isolated incident and I’m willing to do whatever it takes to prove it. My strength and conditioning coach was fired last night. I realise that no matter what I say, this is a stain on my name and I’m determined to wash it out. If that means I have to come out of pocket for the most advanced 365 days random VADA testing available to boxers then that’s what I’ll do.”

Writing on his own social media account, Jack gave Pascal’s words short shrift and made his feelings clear on the subject.

“My fight with Jean Pascal is off as he tested positive for three different steroids,” stated the 37-year-old Swede.

“We suspected he was dirty the first time around and VADA confirmed it this time.

I’m still fighting on June 6 [against late replacement Dervin Colina].

“I can’t even pronounce these steroids he took – drostanolone, drostanolone

O

FRUSTRATION: Jack [pictured] will no longer have the opportunity to avenge his defeat to Pascal Photo: MAYWEATHER PROMOTIONS

12 l BOXING NEWS l JUNE 3, 2021

Highlighting the best of the week’s stories WWW.BOXINGNEWSONLINE.NET

‘I am shocked and embarrassed’ Jean Pascal tests positive for three banned substances as Badou Jack rematch is called off, writes Paul Wheeler

metabolite and epitrenbolone. #Cheater. #Coward. ‘I would never voluntarily take illegal substances.’ Yeah right. He just injected three different steroids while sleeping [clown face emoji].”

Pascal and Jack had originally faced off in December 2019. In what was a crowdpleasing, all-action affair, both men were sent to the canvas – Jack in round four and Pascal in the 12th. The close-fought nature of the bout was reflected in the judges’ scorecards, with each of them handing in marks of 114-112. One of the officials sided with Jack, while the other two favoured Pascal, making him a split winner.

Due to the entertainment provided by the fight, and the debate provoked by the outcome, a return clash always seemed likely.

The coronavirus pandemic prevented the sequel from occurring last year, but the decorated veterans were finally set to renew hostilities over 12 rounds this Sunday at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium.

Unlike Jack, who had an eight-round run-out a little more than six months ago, Pascal has not competed since their first contest. Speaking to Boxing News before the VADA results had been submitted,

the Haiti-born boxer was looking forward to getting back into the ring this weekend after a near-18-month hiatus, though this will obviously no longer be happening.

“I’m a fighter and I want to fight as often as possible,” Pascal said. “But I did have three fights at the top level against [Dmitry] Bivol, [Marcus] Browne and Jack all in 13 months, so the rest could be a good thing.

“I didn’t fight last year, so there wasn’t much to deal with.

I didn’t start getting back into camp until the end of 2020. I’ve been training in Puerto Rico, as I’ve done in the past, so the pandemic and the lockdown didn’t really affect me in that sense.

“Jack and I have styles that mesh well for the fans. It’s going to be another war and I expect to shine. I won the last fight and, on June 6, I’m going to win again.”

Pascal-Jack II had been due to act as the chief support to Hall of Famer Floyd Mayweather’s exhibition bout with YouTuber and boxing novice Logan Paul – a curious spectacle that will be broadcast on pay-per-view in both the UK (Sky Sports Box Office) and the US (Showtime PPV).

The relatively recent trend of social media stars stepping between the ropes has attracted considerable criticism from boxing traditionalists and hardcore followers of the sport. However, having seen both of the Paul brothers up close in the gym – Logan’s younger sibling, Jake, is also a YouTuber-turned-boxer – Pascal had been impressed with their dedication.

He told BN prior to the cancellation of the Jack rematch: “Anything that can bring money to a sport as serious as boxing is good for the sport. Despite what the critics are saying, these guys are not circus acts – they’re respecting the sport. Unless you’ve trained with them like I have, you can’t really comment on it.”

Following the news from VADA, Pascal won’t have the chance to share a stage with Mayweather and Paul in Florida.

Investigations will take place, but until these inquiries have been concluded, Pascal’s future remains uncertain.

‘THIS IS A STAIN ON MY NAME AND I’M DETERMINED TO WASH IT OUT’

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Photo: MINAS PANAGIOTAKIS/GETTY IMAGES

REPUTATIONAL DAMAGE: Pascal wants to prove that he is a clean fighter

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JUNE 3, 2021 l BOXING NEWS l 13

NEWS AND OPINION

Highlighting the best of the week’s stories WWW.BOXINGNEWSONLINE.NET

Photo: ANTHONY WALLACE/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

NEW BEGINNING: Ryan’s departure from amateur boxing is bittersweet

GOING OVER Cyrus Pattinson and Sandy Ryan speak to John Dennen about turning pro

THE life of a top amateur boxer is made up of gruelling, hard work, far from the limelight. For former GB boxer Cyrus Pattinson it was exacting spars week in week out with the best in the country and tough tours of the European and international circuit boxing the world’s elite. His relish at stepping into the spotlight to begin a professional career with Matchroom promotions, initially on Sky Sports, is understandable. On June 12 he’ll make his pro debut, on the Lewis Ritson vs Jeremias Ponce undercard at the Vertu Motors Arena in his Newcastle hometown.

“It’s a great feeling. I’ve been thinking about this since the start of my GB days,” Pattinson says. “I’ve been behind the scenes for so long, it’ll be nice to get my face out there.”

His opponent will be 4-2 Bulgarian Yonko Markov a scheduled six-rounder.

“He’s a game kid,” Cyrus added. “We’ve got a lively opponent. I just want to make a statement.

“It gives us more incentive as well.

I think if I’ve got a lively opponent it might bring out the best in us. If he comes to me, it’s not hard to get my

14 l BOXING NEWS l JUNE 3, 2021

shots off, to move off, to look good. I’ve prepared for seven rounds, eight rounds, so I know I can do the six rounds. I’ll be solid for the full six.”

He’s training full time with the head trainer at his Birtley club Graeme Rutherford, one of the best coaches in the country. “It’s refreshing to be back in. I almost forgot how hard he can push you.

So I haven’t missed how hard the sessions are but they’re definitely rewarding,” Pattinson said. “I’m going to be new to this game so I’m not going to get ahead of myself and believe my own hype. I’ve got good people around me that keep us grounded and humble.”

With Matchroom promoting him, Pattinson will also be part of Charlie Sims’ Huge Project management stable, which represents Conor Benn, John Ryder and a host of other athletes.

With the second Olympic qualification event called off and Cyrus’

own friend, clubmate and GB teammate Pat McCormack well on course to qualify for second Olympics with his lofty world ranking (see pages 40-43), it’s time for Pattinson to strike out on this new course. “We started building and thinking of the longer term picture anyway regardless. So we weren’t just set on the second qualifier because we were thinking you’ve got to have plan A, plan B, plan C, plan D anyway in boxing,” he said. “But the plan’s still the same. We’re heading in the same direction.

“Ambition, that’s what it’s all about.

I’ve been waiting a long time.”

Another former GB boxer, Sandy Ryan has also signed to turn professional with Matchroom.

The talented Commonwealth Games champion and World silver medallist, managed by STN Sports, will be looking to compete in the exciting superlightweight and welterweight divisions.

“It’s been a while but I’m really excited.

I can’t wait,” she told Boxing News. “I’m blessed I’m very happy and excited.”

“To have them as my promoter I’m so excited for the future,” she continued.

“Just to show the world my ability and what I’m capable of doing, they can provide the platform to do that.

“I can’t wait. The skills that I’m bringing to the table, there’s only a few that are bringing that and they’re the top female fighters in the pro ranks at the minute. So I’m so excited to show everyone what I’m capable of.

“I’ve been across the world for GB, gaining all the experience. I’ve boxed all different styles, all different countries.

I’ve been in there with them all I would say.”

She had hoped to be competing at the Olympic Games at the end of July.

But a restructure of the qualification system, forced by coronavirus, saw the World qualification event called off, ending Ryan’s Tokyo hopes at the stroke of a pen. Instead at that time Sandy will be making her professional debut.

“I’m not going to lie, it knocked me back. I’ve been on GB for nine years now, been to every major tournament that you can name and just wanted to top it off with the Olympics. I’ve just got to turn the negative into a positive and that’s the way I look at it,” she said. “I’ve got a great team behind me and I believe I’ve got a big future. Turn the negative into a positive.”

“I know I can move fast,” she concluded. “I want to show everyone what I’m capable of and enjoy each fight and then move on to world titles. But they’re coming. They’re coming.”

‘I’M GOING TO BE NEW TO THIS GAME SO I’M NOT GOING TO GET AHEAD OF MYSELF’

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NEWS AND OPINION

HUCK ORDERED FOR JOYCE Photo: BRYN LENNON/GETTY IMAGE

German veteran could step in to face Joe if WBO title shot isn’t next for the Briton, writes Eric Armit

WAITING GAME: Joyce has a date but not an opponent

THE European Boxing Union (EBU) have ordered a bout between Joe Joyce and German veteran Marco Huck. As soon as I put this line on paper I realised I had written it before. In September 2019, when EBU champion Agit Kabayel resigned his title, the organisation stipulated that Huck and Joyce would have to box for the vacant championship.

Team Huck offered the proud sum of €480,000 and secured the rights to the fight with a purse bid. But it didn’t come to that: “The Captain” broke his hand in December 2019 and the match scheduled for January 11, 2020 in the TuiArena in Hanover was cancelled. Joyce would instead fight Daniel Dubois for the vacant belt. We all know what happened next. Yet it speaks of boxing’s barmy infrastructure that Dubois will this weekend fight for an Interim bauble while Joyce waits to see where he goes next.

The rights to Huck-Joyce will be

auctioned again on June 14. Boxing News understands that Joyce and his team have a summer date they are already working towards for his next bout. The opponent, though, is still undecided. The fading 36-year-old Huck is not ranked in the Top 15 by any of the world sanctioning bodies but has a ‘name’ and the chance of a staybusy outing for the Londoner.

Huck has been a rare sight in boxing rings of late. He only fought once a year in 2018, 2019 and 2020. Most recently against Dennis Lewandowski which was a safe, but unspectacular victory.

Joyce had been expecting to face Oleksandr Usyk for the Interim World Boxing Organisation belt to allow Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury to fight for all four belts but that infamously fell apart. At this stage, the status of the WBO title is in limbo until Joshua decides if mandatory contender Usyk is his next opponent.

Frank Warren, Joyce’s promoter, recently told Boxing News that Joyce is still hoping to take on Usyk for the vacant WBO title if Joshua decides to fight someone else and is therefore stripped.

Should Joshua-Usyk go ahead, Joyce will automatically become next in line for a shot at that belt.

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Valuable lesson Haney wins but Linares teaches the young fighter a thing or two while there’s mixed results for British and Irish stars on the undercard, writes Sean Nam

JOB DONE: Haney celebrates his biggest victory

L A S V EG A S M AY 2 9 ★★★★★ MAIN EVENT ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ U N D E RC A R D

ITH the 10th round coming to a close at the Michelob Ultra Arena at Mandalay Bay, it looked as though Devin Haney, the precocious 22-year-old owner of a sliver of the lightweight crown, was well on his way to pitching a shutout over Jorge Linares, the flashy but weatherbeaten Venezuelan contender.

It had been kind of night for the young American they call “The Dream.” Like a flawless piece of HTML code, Haney operated as programmed, plastering Linares with a busy jab, hard hooks and shifty uppercuts as he pirouetted his way out of seemingly every incoming punch. It seemed that for all of Linares’ world class credentials, Haney would have to wait another day to be properly challenged.

But with less than three seconds left in the 10th round, the veteran would land a blistering two-punch combination on his elusive foe – a chopping right cross-left hook twofer on the chin just before the bell rang. It apparently caused a synapse or two to misfire in Haney’s head because just as he started to beat a path toward his corner, his legs gave way to the slightest totter, prompting a gasp

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16 l BOXING NEWS l JUNE 3, 2021

that the other top 135-pounders from the crowd. With his eyes shining are avoiding him, Haney might be brighter than a child’s at Hamleys, encouraged to believe that his latest Linares cheekily held his arms out in dalliance with disaster may coax the the direction of Haney’s corner to usher likes of Ryan Garcia and Teofimo Lopez him back to his stool. Linares may as to meet him inside the ring. Post-fight, well have added, “Welcome to the big Haney was adamant that he had never leagues, young man.” been hurt. Russell Mora refereed.

Haney’s response to the most adverse On the Matchroom undercard, moment of his career, however, was Northampton’s Chantelle Cameron somewhat mixed. Although he recovered barely broke a sweat in what was a from the parting shot in the 10th round, successful first defense of her WBC he would resort to holding Linares women’s super-lightweight title, stopping nearly every chance he got in the final Puerto Rico’s Melissa Hernandez at two rounds. For some, this may be 1-38 of the fifth round after referee a concerning sign; for others, simply Celestino Ruiz decided he had seen another ringing example of Haney’s enough. Although Hernandez was still preternatural guile. In the end, all that relatively in good shape at the point mattered for Haney was that he had his of the stoppage, it was clear she was hands raised for the unanimous decision, headed for a world of hurt. even if he did not exactly win With more than a over the crowd.

TITLISTS decade separating the All three judges two fighters, it was apparently thought the GALORE no surprise that the fight was somewhat BOXING NEWS regard 30-year-old Cameron close. Judges Patricia Teofimo Lopez as THE world dominated the older Morse Jarman and lightweight champion despite Hernandez, who Steve Weisfeld both Haney (WBC), Ryan Garcia (WBC once held a title at had it 116-112, while interim), Gervonta Davis (WBA featherweight, in every Dave Moretti had it an secondary) and Yvan Mendy conceivable category of especially tight 115-113, (WBA gold) also holding this mismatch. all for Haney. belts. Go figure.

Cameron even recorded Up until the 10th round a knockdown in the fourth snafu, Haney, who won the round when she landed a barrage of WBC Interim title back in 2019 punches at Hernandez while the latter against Zaur Abdullaev only to then was on the ropes. get upgraded when the organisation Irishman Jason Quigley made a introduced the nonsensical Franchise significant step toward competing for an championship, had not only controlled alphabet championship – and putting the bout from a distance, but the usually to bed the nightmarish turmoil of his defensive-minded fighter made it a first professional loss – by outworking a point to exchange with Linares several game Shane Mosley Jnr in a 10-round times in the fight. In fact, in what was middleweight bout. an encouraging sign for someone often Judge Max De Luca scored it a draw criticized for coasting, Haney walked at 95-95, but he was overruled by Chris down Linares for the majority of the sixth Migliore and Steve Weisfeld, who had round. it 97-93 and 96-94, respectively, for Although Linares is no plodder and Quigley, who was without chief trainer does not lack for hand speed, he was no Andy Lee because of visa issues; Wayne match for Haney in the foot department.

McCullough filled in for his stead.

Still, it seems like a minor achievement This was the third straight win for for Linares, a notoriously fragile fighter, Quigley since his devastating upset loss that he was neither visibly hurt nor to trial horse Tureano Johnson back in bleeding from the face at any point 2019. In that fight, Quigley was battered during the bout. Indeed, this is the first to a pulp before getting stopped in the loss in which Linares did not suffer a ninth round. A decorated amateur and technical knockout. once highly regarded prospect, Quigley For someone who has complained

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BREAK IT DOWN: Haney and Linares discuss the finer details of battle

GIVE AND TAKE: Haney displays a versatile tool set as he takes the fight to Linares only for the veteran to rebound with aplomb in the final rounds Photos: ED MULHOLLAND/MATCHROOM & MELINA PIZANO/MATCHROOM

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AUGUST 27, 2019 l BOXING NEWS l 15

ACTION

UPSET IN M E X I CO THERE was a huge surprise as unfancied ESTEBAN BERMUDEZ ground down, floored then halted the previously unbeaten CARLOS CANIZALES in the sixth to win the WBA secondary light-flyweight trinket inside Foro Viena in Coyoacán, Mexico on Friday night (May 28).

The Nicaraguan titlist started well but his Mexican opponent, only 25, approached behind a crude but effective jab.

By the third round, Bermudez was also slinging an overhand right that was scoring regularly.

By the sixth, Canizales though landing quality punches, was cut and could not keep Bermudez out. A right to the head shook Canizales, 28, and another sent him down heavily.

He staggered to his feet but looked unsteady.

When the action resumed a right to the head sent Canizales falling to the canvas against the ropes and the referee,Guillermo Pineda, immediately stopped the fight.

Bermudez, 14-3-2 (10), somehow came into the WBA rankings at No.10 beforehand but will now target a shot at the full championship.

Canizales slipped to 22-1-1 (17).

DIFFERENT CLASS: Cameron blasts the overmatched Hernandez

admitted he found himself in a dark place after the loss to Johnson. So when the scorecards for the Mosley fight was announced, Quigley fell to his knees in tears.

“I’ve been through so much to even get to Vegas,” Quigley said post-fight. You know, when I dropped to my knees, it was such a relief. I’ve been through a hell of a lot to get here…Nobody knows what goes on in training camp, what we go through, and then we put it all on the line here.”

The fight itself was a minor barnburner, with both Quigley and Mosley trading starchy blows all night. But it was Quigley who distinguished himself with the harder punches down the stretch. In the first half

of the fight, Mosley had the clear upper hand, outpointing Quigley with the jab and mixing in hard body shots, one of which, in the fourth round, managed to hurt Quigley.

But the tenor of the fight shifted slightly in the sixth round, as Quigley began to connect with clean straight rights, his best punch of the fight.

There were plenty of fierce, momentum-shifting exchanges in the middle of the ring. In the seventh round, Quigley landed an uppercut followed by a right hand and seemed to be on the verge of doing serious damage when Mosley came back to stun Quigley with a right hand of his own. The sequence

MIXED BAG: Quigley [far left] gets the better of a game Mosley Jnr but Ward [far right] struggles to repel the advances of Fuzile in their IBF elimination bout

played out repeatedly in the final three rounds.

Afterward, Quigley expressed his desire to fight the WBO middleweight champion, Demetrius Andrade. “‘Boo Boo’ Andrade, I’m not going to say that I’m going to go in there and kick your ass but I will give you one helluva a fight,” said Quigley.

Leeds native Martin Joseph Ward was no match for Azinga Fuzile of South Africa, suffering two knockdowns en route to getting stopped in the seventh round (set for 12) of a 130-pound IBF elimination bout. The official time was 2-41.

With under a minute in the seventh round, the southpaw Fuzile landed a right uppercut that had Ward seeing double. Fuzile then followed up with a right hook that floored Ward. Although Ward was able to get back on his feet, his trainer, seeing no point in prolonging the beatdown, told referee Mike Ortega to halt the fight.

The first knockdown was relatively minor and occurred in the fourth round when Fuzile landed a right hook that caused Ward to touch the canvas with both gloves. bn THE VERDICT More lessons banked for the improving Haney.

F U L L R E S U LT S Devin Haney (135lbs), 26-0 (15), w pts 12 Jorge Linares (134lbs), 47-6 (29); Chantelle Cameron (139 1/4lbs), 14-0 (8), w rsf 5 Melissa Hernandez (136 1/4lbs), 23-8-3 (7); Jason Quigley (159 1/2lbs), 19-1 (14), w pts 10 Shane Mosley Jnr. (160lbs), 17-4 (10); Martin J. Ward (129 1/2lbs), 24-2-2 (11), w rsf 7 Azinga Fuzile (129 1/4lbs), 15-1 (9); Khalil Coe (176 1/4lbs), 1-0 (1), w rsf 2 Nathaniel Tadd (179lbs), 2-5 (2); Reshat Mati (145 3/4lbs), 10-0 (7), w ud 6 Ryan Pino (146 3/4lbs), 8-7-2 (2) Ramla Ali (124lbs), 3-0, w pts 6 Mikayla Nebel 124 1/2lbs, 4-9; Amari Jones (153 1/2lbs), 2-0 (2), w rsf 1 Jonathan Burrs (153lbs), 3-4 (1).

18 l BOXING NEWS l JUNE 3, 2021

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ACTION

NO CZECH, KASH ONLY Reporting from ringside, Andy Whittle sees Ali twice deposit Salek onto the canvas

FULL R E S U LT S Kash Ali (235lbs), 19-1 (10), w rsf 3 Tomas Salek (237lbs 2oz), 15-3 (13); Conah Walker (146 1/4lbs), 9-0-1 (2), w pts 10 Levi Ferguson (146lbs 7oz), 5-2; Mark Jeffers (167lbs 5oz), 12-0 (4), w rsf 4 Tomas Bezvoda (168lbs 5oz), 9-15 (6); Josh Holmes (131lbs 1oz), 6-0 (1), w rsf 2 Danny Allen (130lbs 9oz), 0-1; Dan Catlin (164lbs 9oz), 6-0 (3), w rsf 5 Kearon Thomas (163lbs), 1-13-1 (1); Ciaran McVarnock (136lbs 3oz), 11-0-1 (3), w pts 4 Jamie Quinn (136lbs), 7-1072 1NC; Zak Miller (138lbs 3oz), 4-0 (1), w pts 4 Kris Pilkington (146lbs 1oz), 2-9-1; Rhys Farnhill (165lbs 7oz), 1-0, w pts 4 Scott Williams (167lbs 5oz), 0-11; Jack Fay (187lbs 5oz), 1-0, w pts 4 Antony Woolery (189lbs 1oz), 2-5.

SHEFFIELD M AY 2 8 ★★★★★ MAIN EVENT ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ U N D E RC A R D

TELLING right uppercuts from Rotherham heavyweight Kash Ali proved the undoing of the Czech Republic’s Tomas Salek on Dennis Hobson’s latest Fightzone event at Sheffield Arena Car Park. After being floored by the third such shot in quick succession late in the second, Salek found himself increasingly under the cosh and looking unlikely to see the end of the scheduled 10 rounds.

Having kept it long and waited for the opportunity to repeat the dose, Ali found the space to rattle home two further uppercuts in the third. Salek, his nose badly bloodied and nursing a cut beside his left eye, renewed his acquaintance with the canvas. The visitor rose only half-heartedly, shaking his head as he did so. Referee Howard Foster waved a halt at 2-39.

A battle of the Black Country for the vacant Midlands Area welterweight title between Wolverhampton’s Conah Walker and Walsall’s Levi Ferguson went the distance, with Walker edging home by the narrowest of margins – 96-95 for referee Darren Sarginson.

I had the busier Walker, who pressed for long periods, a handier winner, taking into account that Ferguson had been counted late in the sixth when only the

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ropes prevented him from going down.

Later action was somewhat closer, with Ferguson getting through with several rights upstairs, but I only ever had this one going one way.

Chorley’s Mark Jeffers needed less than half of his scheduled eight-rounder to see off Tomas Bezvoda. The underfire Czech had been down from a crashing right at the culmination of the second, though referee Andy Brook deemed the bell had sounded just prior to the punch landing, so no count was given.

As expected, the third proved similarly one-sided, before a series of weighty head shots midway through the fourth prompted a perfectly timed intervention from Mr Brook at 1-45.

There was an inside-the-distance win for Fleetwood’s Dan Catlin, who halted the busy Kearon Thomas at 2-48 in the fifth of a scheduled six. Referee Brook decided enough was enough after the Walsall man, counted in the third when only the ropes kept him up, fell victim to another right uppercut.

Plymouth first-timer Danny Allen jumped in at the deep end against Earby’s popular Josh Holmes in a slated six.

Holmes began confidently and took the opener comfortably, before bloodying the nose of Allen early in the second. The towel was duly tossed in by the debutant’s corner with 85 seconds of the round gone.

Mr Brook officiated.

Ashton’s Zak Miller banked a shutout 40-36 victory over Gateshead’s Kris Pilkington. The fast-handed Miller beat a

tattoo on the ribs of his opponent. Picking up the pace towards the later part of each session, he was quick to score when Kris fell short. Pilkington, though, had come for a scrap. He proved feisty throughout, contributing to a particularly watchable encounter overseen by Mr Sarginson.

A pair of new starters ran out 40-36 winners. Burnley’s Rhys Farnhill bossed proceedings against Stretford’s still-winless Scott Williams, while Blackburn’s Jack Fay overcame a sterner test provided by Wolverhampton’s Antony Woolery.

Quickly into his stride, Farnhill caught Williams with a left and sent him staggering sideways in the opening round.

From that point onwards it was one-way traffic.

Fay, meanwhile, tamed “The Bull” Woolery, with a precise right uppercut and an eye-catching right cross being among the best of his work. Respective referees were Mr Brook and Mr Sarginson.

Belfast’s Ciaran McVarnock returned in the show’s curtain-raiser and edged out Stockport centurion Jamie Quinn 39-38 in a bout overseen by Mr Sarginson.

During the evening, awards were presented by the Central Area to Sheffield timekeeper Barry Pinder, who is retiring after over 40 years, and to Preston’s Phil Edwards, who, having recently reached the age of 65, is retiring from refereeing duties but will continue as a judge.

THE VERDICT Ali continues to rebuild after his infamous 2019 loss to David Price.

ON RIGHT TRACK: Ali has now won 19 of 20 bouts Photo: ANDREW SAUNDERS/SPORTING CAPTURES

JUNE 3, 2021 l BOXING NEWS l 19

ACTION

TAKE THAT: Donaire admires his handy work

Legendary CARSON, CA M AY 2 9 ★★★★★ MAIN EVENT ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ U N D E RC A R D

EN years after relinquishing the WBC bantamweight title so he could campaign in a higher weight class, Nonito Donaire – at an astonishing 38 years old – regained his old belt when he upset the odds to crush Nordine Oubaali inside four rounds.

The remarkable feat also means the US-based Filipino has now held alphabet gongs in three different decades; his first one came down at flyweight in 2007 when he crushed IBF title-holder Vic

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20 l BOXING NEWS l JUNE 3, 2021

Donaire’s thrashing of Oubaali is just the latest exhibit in the Filipino’s cast iron case for greatness, writes Matt Christie

Darchinyan in five rounds to announce his arrival.

It was a different world back then.

Twitter was in its infancy and could boast only 50,000 active accounts compared to almost 200 million today. On Saturday night and Sunday morning, as Donaire’s latest achievement filtered rapidly through boxing’s myriad social media channels, a rare thing happened: Universal agreement, as Nonito, one of the most pleasant individuals in the industry, was declared a legend in the sport.

Though it’s fair to write off claims that he’s a ‘nine-time world champion’ as modern day boxing hyperbole, the veteran’s mind-boggling longevity, high quality of opposition and numerous comebacks are undisputable evidence that proves his greatness.

In chronological order, Donaire beat Darchinyan, Moruti Mthalane, Hernan

Marquez, Volodymyr Sydorenko, Fernando Montiel, Omar Narvaez, Wilfredo Vazquez Jnr, Jeffrey Mathebula, Toshiaki Nishioka, Jorge Arce, lost to Guillermo Rigondeaux, beat Darchinyan (again), Simpiwe Vetyeka, lost to Nicholas Walters, beat Zsolt Bedak, lost to Jessie Magdelano and Carl Frampton, beat Ryan Burnett and lost to Naoya Inoue before hammering Oubaali so ferociously.

Also keep in mind that his future in the sport was called into question after each of the losses – particularly the stoppage to Walters – yet Donaire, by dropping back down in weight at an advanced age, continues to defy all logic by getting the very best out of what he has left.

What Donaire has – serious one-punch power and a brain that tells him exactly how to use it – is far too much for the likes of the previously unbeaten Oubaali, the pre-fight favourite. This was Donaire’s

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OFF THE HOOK: Oubaali is powerless to avoid Donaire’s honey punch Photos: ESTHER LIN/SHOWTIME

first outing since that unforgettable 2019 war with Inoue and though he fared so well against the “Monster” before losing on the cards, the rigours of that war alongside a long and winding career made his task inside Carson’s Dignity Health Sports Park appear far trickier beforehand than it proved to be in reality.

Oubaali, a French southpaw who had won five of his last seven inside schedule, started brightly enough with his brisk jab and trailing right hand. Donaire was never flustered however, choosing only to throw when he was confident he would land. He scored to the body but his rival did enough to take the opening session.

Oubaali, a two-time Olympian with over 200 amateur bouts, was the busier in the second, too. But Donaire’s feet were excellent as he deftly stepped back to avoid his rival’s power hand while plotting counters. With 20 seconds left in the round, the veteran timed his rival’s forward motion perfectly and a straight right landed on the chin. Though only a rangefinder, Oubaali certainly got a taste of Donaire’s power.

The Frenchman failed to take heed of the warning shot. Instead, he grew careless. He upped the pressure on Donaire. In turn, the “Filipino Flash” dusted off his trusty left hook and waited for the opportune time to use it. Oubaali over-reached with his own power shot and Donaire, quite brilliantly, feinted with his right and ripped his honey punch into his opponent’s unguarded skull. Oubaali went down hard before regaining his balance and headed straight back into the danger zone. He did catch Donaire with a right hand but on the bell another left hook took Oubaali off his feet.

Referee Jack Reiss ruled it a legal blow – it was thrown before the bell, he believed – and administered a count. Oubaali was seriously groggy as he went back to his corner.

Reiss waived the bout at 1-52 of the fourth. The increasingly menacing and confident Donaire had been countering for fun beforehand. Each time Oubaali

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SAVAGE: Matias tees off on Jukembayev

threw, Donaire knew what to do. A right hand to the temple and conclusive left uppercut sent his opponent to the canvas. There would be no getting up this time.

“The king has returned,” Donaire declared. “Being at this age is not the question, it’s about my performance ... about my ability to grow. I believe it matters not what your age is, but how mentally strong you are. What I learned from the [Naoya] Inoue fight is that I’m back. I can still compete at this level.

The whole time I was not fighting, I was learning. I’m ready for the next one.”

“Tonight was something that I had to prove to the world that I’m back and I’m stronger than ever. He was a very tough guy. I think ultimately for me, there was a level of should I be more patient? Or should I go for it? Something I learned in the Inoue fight was to go for the kill. And that’s exactly what I did. I was patient, but I knew he was hurt enough that I could take him out,” he continued. “I came in here and I felt really good. Today I knew exactly what was going to happen. I knew exactly what I was going to do.”

Oubaali must have known too. He simply could not have been unaware of Donaire’s counter-punching prowess but, like so many fighters have discovered when opposing truly great boxers, he could do nothing to prevent Nonito doing what he does best.

There was another exhibition of how to counter-punch a southpaw on the

undercard. Puerto Rico’s Subriel Matias notched the best win of his 18-fight career when Kazakhstan’s Batyrzhan Jukembayev, 30, failed to come out for the eighth round after an exciting scrap.

Jukembayev started well, accurately slinging his left at Matias. But the 29-year-old seemed to work his man out in the third round, stinging him with a right hand at the end of the session.

Another right, followed by a left hook, decked Jukembayev in the fourth. The Kazak was nursing a cut on his head by the fifth but he refused to yield and got through with plenty of blows of his own.

The bout was fought at a high pace throughout, often in ring centre.

Something had to give. Matias took over in the seventh and roared forward in the eighth, at times hitting Jukembayev at will. At the end of the round, referee Ray Corona was told of the retirement and Matias – now the IBF super-lightweight mandatory – was declared the winner.

THE VERDICT Start engraving Donaire’s Hall of Fame plaque.

K E Y R E S U LT S Nonito Donaire (117 1/2lbs), 41-6 (27), w ko 4 Nordine Oubaali (117 1/2lbs), 17-1 (12); Subriel Matias (139 1/2lbs), 17-1 (17), w rtd 8 Batyrzhan Jukembayev (139 3/4lbs), 18-1 (14); Gary Antuanne Russell (137 1/4lbs), 14-0 (14), w rtd 6 Jovanie Santiago (140 3/4lbs), 14-2-1(10); Kevin Johnson (140lbs), 9-2 (5), w ko 8 Luis David Salazar (139 1/4lbs), 15-1 (3).

JUNE 3, 2021 l BOXING NEWS l 21

PREVIEWS

Previewing the best upcoming fights around the world

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ O U T S TA N D I N G ★ ★ ★ ★ G O O D ★ ★ ★ FA I R ★ ★ D I S A P P O I N T I N G ★ RU B B I S H T h e s t a r r a t i n g s i n d i c a t e h o w w e l l t h e w r i t e r b e l i e v e s t h e f i g h t e r s m a t c h u p, t h e f i g h t ( s ) ’ c o n t e x t u a l s i g n i f i c a n c e , a n d h o w g o o d t h e f i g h t ( s ) w i l l b e Photo: JAMES CHANCE/GETTY IMAGES

HIGH STAKES: Only a win will get Dubois back on track

In Bogdan Dinu, Daniel Dubois appears to be following a tried and tested formula on how to bounce back from a crushing defeat, writes Matt Christie ★★★★★ MAIN EVENT ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ U N D E RC A R D

ANIEL DUBOIS has been compared to Frank Bruno many times. The straight-up style, the musclebound physique, the less is more persona, the studious approach inside the gym, the head-rattling right hand and the impressive run of KO victories. And now, he hopes, the way to come back from a stoppage defeat.

Dubois was last seen in a boxing ring in November when, in the 10th round of his punishing bout with Joe Joyce, he was ramrodded to one knee and didn’t get up until the count tolled ‘10’. The criticism swelled faster than the flesh around his broken eye socket. All kudos that came before, seemingly forgotten.

Bruno knows the fickle boxing business all too well. He too lost his unbeaten record to a dangerous underdog back in 1984. James “Bonecrusher” Smith halted the then-22-year-old in the final round of their 10. It was a devastating loss for Bruno but he would return four months later and thrash the decent but highly beatable Ken Lakusta in two rounds. Bruno would lose again in 1986, in a WBA title shot against Tim Witherspoon in the 11th of a gruelling encounter, only to come back successfully against the decent but highly beatable James Tillis in 1987. Bruno’s bounce back after the first loss to Mike Tyson, versus the woefully overmatched John Emmen, bucked the trend but Bruno would once again go down the familiar path after his 1993 loss to Lennox Lewis. The decent but highly beatable Jesse Ferguson was drafted in to provide Big Frank with his latest confidence booster.

Dubois’ next opponent, Bogdan Dinu, would have been perfect fodder for Bruno and appears, at least on paper, to be excellent matchmaking from Queensberry Promotions’ Steve Furness atop this June 5 bill. It takes place inside the Telford International Centre and is broadcast by BT Sport.

The 34-year-old Romanian has lost two of his 22 outings (with 16 of those 20 wins

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coming inside schedule). Banned from amateur competition after being caught shoplifting with two of his teammates ahead of the 2007 Worlds in Chicago, Dinu cruised to 18-0 as a professional against predominantly poor opposition.

In 2018 he was knocked out in four rounds by Jarrell Miller and then the following year, after giving it a decent go against a below-par Kubrat Pulev, he was halted in seven.

He’s won two since against nondescript foes (Osborn Machimana and Frank Bluemle). In short, he’s decent but highly beatable.

It would be pointless for Dubois – who has surely not turned into a bad fighter overnight – to go down the levels any further and simply too dangerous to reach any higher at this stage. Physically, the 15-1 (14) Dubois insists he’s stronger than ever and the fracture in his skull now fully healed. But there’s some way to

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go, whatever he may tell you, before the mental scars disappear.

Not all heavyweight prospects bounce back. Though Bruno [inset] created the blueprint on the successful relaunch others ignored it. Remember Pele Reid?

The 13-0 (13) Birmingham slugger was stunned by Julius Francis in 1999 before taking on Orlin Norris in an effort to regain some momentum.

Unaware of Orlin’s substantial credentials, Reid was warned over breakfast

by Scott Welch (fighting on the same bill) that Norris was serious business before being blitzed in 91 seconds at supper time. David Price now admits the worst mistake he ever made was going straight back in with Tony Thompson after the American had stopped him in two rounds. In the immediate return, Price was exhausted by the fifth round and the fearless Scouse destroyer of old never really returned.

ON THE FRINGES: Dinu is flattered by being ranked No.2 by the WBA

When the wheels come off, sudenly and unexpectedly, it isn’t easy to regain momentum.

There is also the issue of Dubois being labelled a ‘quitter’ by those who should know better. Anyone who reads BN regularly will know our thoughts on that; the decision to not get up against Joyce may haunt Dubois privately but it will, with the right mindset, strengthen his resolve moving forward. More importantly, it ensured he had a career to come back to.

Dinu has decent feet and a poking jab.

His right hand is a solid weapon and he’s at his most comfortable from range when allowed to dictate the pace and distance.

Dubois will likely need more than the old one-two to break through but Dinu’s defence is far from tight. New coach Shane McGuigan will have drummed into Dubois the importance of body-punching and this will slow down his opponent enough to take his jab away.

Dinu has crumbled each time he’s encountered sustained pressure and Dubois is capable of going through the gears to steal his rival’s heart. The Londoner can win this inside six rounds.

The WBA interim title that’s on the line is truly preposterous, but as a publication of record, we must mention it. So there you go.

On the undercard, the promising Archie Sharp takes on Nicaraguan Marcio Soza. There’s a belt on the line for this one, too. The World Boxing Organisation Global super-featherweight title, no less. As a rule of thumb, if a championship includes both world and global in its description it is bogus.

Sharp, 19-0 (9), is a top prospect but this appears a step-down from his last bout, a hard-fought 10-round victory over Jeff Ofori. Soza, 21-6-2 (12) and somehow ranked No.11 by the WBA down at 126lbs has been living a sheltered life in his homeland in recent fights, escaping with split and majority wins against limited opposition. Sharp, though not a massive puncher, might become the second man to stop Soza with victory in the second half of the contest.

The rest of the bill is lopsided in the extreme: Nathan Heaney (11-0) vs Ilian Markov (6-14-2); Daniel Bucioc (10-0) vs Naeem Ali (2-67-1); George Bance (debut) vs Des Newton (8-18); Adan Mohamed (1-0) vs Luke Fash (2-59-2); while Tommy Fury (5-0), Liam Davies (8-0) and Caoimhin Agyarko (8-0) also appear. bn THE VERDICT Dinu looks like the perfect comeback opponent for Dubois.

JUNE 3, 2021 l BOXING NEWS l 23

PREVIEWS

One more try Bradley Skeete talks to Matt Bozeat about renting a house from Billy Joe Saunders as he relocates in Sheffield, where two Fightzone cards take place this weekend

ON THE RISE: A chance for Schofield to impress in Sheffield

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ F R I DAY S H O W ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ S AT U R DAY S H O W

T 33 years old, Bradley Skeete, the former undefeated British and Commonwealth welterweight champion, returns on Friday night after around two-and-ahalf years away.

Fight Academy promote in the Sheffield Arena car park and fans can watch on the Fightzone app.

Skeete, 28-3 (13), has relocated to the Ingles’ gym after two stoppages defeats in three fights and resumes his career with a six-rounder against Hyde journeyman, Dale Arrowsmith.

“The domestic scene at 154lbs is packed,” said the 6ft 1ins South Londoner. “I’m at a new weight and I’ve got a new challenge. I feel like a kid again. I feel brand new.

“I need this six-rounder to blow off the cobwebs, maybe have another and then go for titles.”

It was beginning to look as though the shock two-round defeat to Argentine southpaw Diego Ramirez (16-2) in

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December, 2018 would be Skeete’s last fight.

That was a second stoppage defeat in three fights. Skeete headed to Bilbao in April, 2018 to face Spanish banger Kerman Lejarraga (24-0) for the vacant European title ranked No 11 by the WBC and WBO and folded inside a couple of rounds.

He returned with a confidenceboosting stoppage of Mexico’s Fernando Valencia (8-6) and then ended up facing Ramirez after several pull outs.

In the second, Skeete couldn’t get his chin out of the way of Ramirez’s back hand swing and ended up on the deck.

Skeete got up, was dazed by Ramirez’s follow-up attack and rescued by the referee.

That was a strange night in Brentwood. There had been rumours the show would be cancelled after several pull outs, but instead, it went ahead in front of a handful of fans.

“My head was all over the place,” said Skeete. “It was hard to focus. I should have pulled out.”

Skeete first headed to Sheffield last October. “I had to take some time out to think and then covid came along and I ended up being out for two-and-a-half years,” he said. “The gyms were shut I was thinking: ‘Is this the end?’

“I started doing some PTs (personal training) once the gyms were open and found the hunger was still there. I sparred my clients and couldn’t walk past a mirror without shadow boxing! That told me boxing was still in me.”

Boxing has been Skeete’s life.

He was seven years old when he first went to the gym and highlights of his 72-22 amateur career included an appearance at the World Junior Championship in 2006 and a run to the 2009 ABA final.

He turned pro in 2010 and given that hit-and-don’t-get-hit has always been the rangy Skeete’s way, the Ingles were the perfect fit when he needed a change of surroundings.

He has moved into a house opposite the gym – and has no intention of missing any rent payments!

“Billy-Joe Saunders is my landlord,” said Skeete, “so I won’t be late paying my rent! We go back a long way, back to when we were amateurs.”

Dominic Ingle felt sparring WBO No 4 Michael McKinson, fresh off a careerbest win over Chris Kongo, would test Skeete’s reactions and appetite and was pleased with that he saw.

“I knew from the first week in Sheffield that I wasn’t done,” said Skeete. “People close to me were telling me to retire, but I know what level I can get to.”

Boxing News rang Skeete the day after Birmingham’s Sam Eggington outpointed former IBF super-welterweight champion Carlos Molina in a good fight to secure a WBC ranking up at 160lbs.

In April, 2016, Skeete jabbed his way to a points win over Eggington in Birmingham to take away the British and Commonwealth belts on possibly his best night.

Skeete had a Lonsdale belt to keep 16 months later after convincing wins over John Thain, Shayne Singleton and Dale Evans.

“The Lonsdale belt is so nice I want to win it twice,” said Skeete ahead of his

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‘PEOPLE CLOSE TO ME WERE TELLING ME TO RETIRE BUT I KNOW WHERE I CAN GET TO’

return, “and then win the European title.”

Skeete isn’t the only fighter to make a comeback on the bill. Former English title challenger John Fewkes, who has been training fighters in recent years, returns for the first time since 2014. The 35-year-old takes part in a four-rounder.

Top of the bill on Friday night is a rematch between Charlie Schofield, 15-1 (1) and Darwen’s Mickey Ellison, 12-3 (4), for the vacant English supermiddleweight championship and promises to be a solid scrap.

In September, 2019, Ashton-underLyne’s Schofield was a 95-94 points winner over 10 and we believe he can do the same again.

There’s another rematch up at heavyweight. The vacant Central Area title is on the line between Silsden’s

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HE’S BACK: Skeete is still hungry for titles Photo: JULIAN HERBERT/ GETTY IMAGES

Danny Whitaker and Stockport southpaw, Chris Healy, 8-8 (2).

Whitaker, 4-2, tightly outpointed Healy when they fought over four rounds in March last year. This one, over 10, is almost certainly going to be tight, too.

There’s more live action on Fightzone from the car park on Saturday night when Salford southpaw Marc Leach,151-1 (3), and Thomas Essomba, 10-6-1 (4), meet in a final eliminator for the British super-bantamweight title that’s held by Brad Foster.

Leach and Essomba both boxed on a Matchroom show in Peterborough last October.

Leach matched 2016 Olympian – and sparring partner – Qais Ashfaq for southpaw slickness and dropped him twice on the way to a 10-round points

win, while Essomba was out of luck against Tommy Ward, who went into the fight ranked No 3 by the WBO. For me, Essomba, a 33-year-old former Commonwealth flyweight champion now fighting out of Errol Johnson’s BCB stable, was getting the better of it until Ward (29-0) was ruled out with a cut after eight rounds. But the judges couldn’t separate them.

Leach takes risks and Essomba can punch, but we go for Leach to be too sharp and win on points.

Grimsby’s Levi Giles can win the vacant Central Area super-featherweight title against tough Midlander, Shaun Cooper.

THE VERDICT Some good trade fights and interesting comebacks.

JUNE 3, 2021 l BOXING NEWS l 25

Not every great trainer has boxed and not every great boxer can train. Elliot Worsell reignites that old debate with four former world titlists who became trainers Photo: DAVID FITZGERALD/SPORTSFILE/GETTY IMAGES

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SUITS YOU: Lee is settling into life as a boxing trainer

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HERE are few worlds as easy to infiltrate or as receptive to charlatans as the sport of boxing, and there is arguably no better description of its open-door policy than the one provided by W.C. Heinz in his 1958 novel The Professional.

“How do they all get in?” he wrote. “A kid is a street fighter, and he’s got a pal. The kid goes into the amateurs and his pal goes into the corner with him.

The kid wins a dozen fights and wants to turn pro, so he brings his pal along. His pal’s gonna train him, maybe even manage him. They’re friends, and it’s a beautiful thing. The kid has a half-dozen fights and gets flattened. He quits, but does his pal quit? Oh, no. Of course not. He’s a trainer now. He’s up in the gym. He’s got a towel over his shoulder. He’s in for life. Some innocent kid comes walking in, wants to be a fighter. Now he’s got another fighter…

“Amateur fights don’t make fighters. They make trainers and managers. Trainers? They know nothing about training. They’re rubbers. Valets. They’ve got a towel and a lot of gall. Dreadful…

“All you need to be a trainer or a manager is

T

fifteen dollars and a license. This entitles you to ruin a kid’s life, maybe end it.”

Sadly, though The Professional is fiction, it is true: despite the sport’s inherent danger, the doors to boxing are those of the swing variety and can be opened with a simple push and an insincere smile.

There are no bouncers, no locks, and no passcodes.

All that’s required is some confidence, genuine or otherwise, a connection, tenuous or otherwise, and a way with words. Possess those things and yes, you really can become anything you want: promoter, manager, or even trainer.

It is, of course, in the context of training fighters that this open-door policy is most alarming and potentially dangerous. More than just men in suits, the trainer will after all be the person responsible for the health and safety of a fighter and therefore needs to know what they are doing, needs to be in the sport for the right reasons, and needs to have some semblance of experience or, at the very least, some understanding of the emotions and stakes at play.

Yet, be that as it may, history will also tell us that some of the sport’s very best coaches never boxed professionally or, in the case of Angelo Dundee, NEW LIFE: Lee and his fighter Joseph Parker pose for a snap with Katie Taylor

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never boxed at all. Instead, these men developed their skills while competing as amateurs, or doing different jobs altogether, and were later able to then implement these skills to help others rather than themselves.

So common in fact is this route to entry, it has become unusual to see former world champions move towards full-time coaching in retirement.

Plenty still do, of course, but many more decide not to, perhaps because they feel burnt out by the sport in which they made their name. Or maybe they stay away because they don’t feel they possess the time, energy and patience to start all over again with another brain and body. Or maybe, in the end, some retired fighters are comfortable enough, financially speaking, to not have to take that route and return to places they would prefer to leave behind.

Whatever the reason, world champions becoming world-class trainers, these rare double winners, have always been few and far between, which means fights like Joseph Parker vs. Dereck Chisora, a recent fight in which both corners featured a retired world titlist, come as not only a surprise but a welcome one. (On that same bill, too, Roy Jones Jnr, a former four-weight belt-holder, guided Chris Eubank Jnr to victory over Marcus Morrison.)

“I never really put much thought into it and never thought I would become a coach,” said Andy Lee, the former WBO middleweight champion and current coach of Joseph Parker, Tyson Fury, Jason Quigley, and Paddy Donavon. “But I always took a keen interest in what Emanuel [Steward, Lee’s old coach] did and what other coaches did and I always had that curiosity.

So, I just kind of fell into it.

“When you retire, your revenue streams just dry up.

You’re used to getting these regular lumps of money come in but that all stops the day you retire.

“A lot of fighters who have been world champions are financially secure, so for them there’s probably no need to stick around in boxing and coach other fighters. Often, they will also have the satisfaction of having reached their goal, so they don’t need to chase that again.

“But if you’re training fighters on the world stage, you’re obviously earning good money as well, which, for some, could be a reason to do it and keep doing it.”

Across the ring from Lee the night he led Parker to victory over Chisora was American James “Buddy” McGirt, a former super-lightweight and welterweight champion. He, unlike Lee, has been training fighters for a long time now, having previously worked with Arturo Gatti, Antonio Tarver, Sergey Kovalev and Byron Mitchell, and saw himself as a boxer-trainer from the very beginning.

“It’s something I’ve always wanted to do,” McGirt, 57, said. “Even when I was fighting, I’d think about it when I was training, I’d teach myself how to do certain things, and I would work with a lot of amateurs in my spare time. It was always in me.

I started boxing on my birthday, January 17, and on January 18 I wanted to be a trainer.

“I get satisfaction when I’ve been teaching a fighter something and they do it and it works. That is a feeling you can’t really explain. That gets me going. Even as a kid I used to love outthinking the next person, no matter what I did. It could be at

basketball – which I suck at – or something else. I was always thinking, How can I outsmart this other person? It might not work the first time, second time, or third time, but eventually I’d get it right. That was always my thing.”

What sometimes makes the transition from world champion to coach so problematic for fighters is the patience required when seeing someone else attempt to do something that once came so effortlessly to the coach during their own fighting life. One can only imagine, for example, the patience required by someone like Roy Jones Jnr – as naturally gifted a fighter as boxing has ever seen – when showing Eubank Jnr, or indeed any of the other fighters he has coached, moves he could perform so easily himself in his heyday.

As well as patience, it is equally important for former champions navigating retirement to humble themselves ahead of relinquishing the pride and ego that previously helped them find success in their own career. Then and only then can they call themselves coaches.

“It’s a mentality thing and it all depends on the type of fighters you are dealing with,” said Shane Mosley, a former three-weight king who, like Roy Jones, was talented enough to break many of boxing’s rules. “When I was coming up, I would learn different techniques to better my ability, but some fighters are just happy getting by with punch power or hand speed and they’re not too bothered about adding anything to that. Me, as a fighter, I wanted to do it all. If you can get a fighter like that, it’s a joy to work with them.”

Mosley, 49, was recently seen working the corner of Ivan Redkach, a Ukrainian super-lightweight described

by Mosley as a great listener; reason enough to give him his time. “But every fighter is different and every fighter’s mentality is different,” he added. “A lot of things you do in boxing, as a fighter and as a coach, don’t really make sense, but if you do it correctly, in the right way, you have a great experience with the things you are trying to do.

“Some fighters can’t get past that. They’ll be like, ‘No, it doesn’t look right,’ or, ‘No it doesn’t feel right. I don’t know if I want to do that.’ It might not feel right in the beginning but then you keep doing it and all of a sudden it clicks and then it works.

“They’ve got to be willing to suffer in the gym. If you don’t want to do that, you’re in the wrong sport.”

“It’s hugely frustrating when they don’t do the things you have worked on for weeks in the gym,” Lee, 37, conceded. “Joseph [Parker] is no problem at all to train, and I’m sorry to dig him out, but we worked for eight weeks solid on a game plan (for the Chisora fight) and a way of moving and punching and he just wasn’t able to execute it on the night.

I understand why but it’s still frustrating. When he did do it, in small glimpses, it was very effective. But that is hugely frustrating, and the same applies in sparring when they’re not doing what we’ve worked on.

“But, looking back, I can remember Emanuel saying no two days in the gym are ever alike.

Everybody has a bad day. You could get one over on someone one day and then he’ll be coming back the next. You have to always be stepping up as well.

One of my guys could be having a bad day in the

IT WAS IN ME. I STARTED BOXING ON JANUARY 17 AND ON JANUARY 18 I WANTED TO BE A TRAINER”

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JUNE 3, 2021 l BOXING NEWS l 29

gym and I’ll just say to them, ‘Don’t let it get you down,’ because I know the next day it could all turn around.”

In essence, Lee, to understand a new process, had to extricate himself from the ways of the old one.

“One of the things you have to realise is that these boxers aren’t you,” he said. “They have different ways of doing things and different thought processes, so you have to ask them lots of questions and find out more about them. Just because you have done things a certain way, or been taught a certain way, doesn’t mean that will work with somebody else.

“Also, when you’re the fighter, you’re in control. You know how you train, you know how you live, and you know that you can determine whether you win or lose on the night. As a coach, you have no control. You just have to try to do everything right and then let go and watch. You have to trust the fighter because you really have no control of the fight once it happens.”

On the subject of ego and control, when former WBC bantamweight champion Wayne McCullough decided to become a coach in retirement he had no problem shrinking his own ego to be at a boxer’s beck and call. However, as a disciple of the venerable Eddie Futch, the “Pocket Rocket” soon ran into problems when discovering respect was a currency in which only he dealt.

“In 2006 I started training Alex Arthur and he became [WBO super-featherweight] world champion,” McCullough said. “He loved the training

I did with him and if I had got hold of him earlier in his career maybe he would have kept his belt a bit longer.

“I then had Librado Andrade, who fought Mikkel Kessler in Denmark for the [WBA and WBC supermiddleweight] belts [in March 2007]. Talk about stubbornness. One thing I did with Eddie [Futch] was listen to him and I did exactly what he told me to do in the corner. I remember I wrote on the wall Mikkel Kessler’s strengths and weaknesses and Andrade didn’t look at them once. I also remember kicking Andrade out of the gym and him then coming back and apologising.

“When we got to Denmark, he had a bit of fame; all the cameras were on him.

I got there the day after him and it was like I didn’t exist.

I remember during the fighter meetings with HBO they were already in there talking to Librado when I walked in.

I didn’t even know they were doing it but Librado was in there with his brother, who was working the corner, and also his friend. I was the main guy, by the way.

“Librado said to the guys at HBO, ‘I do everything myself,’ and Max Kellerman just looked at me.

I then had to explain to them that I had put all the strengths and weaknesses of Kessler on the wall and had done my best with this guy in training but to no avail. I wasn’t going to let him belittle me like that.

I walked out after that and said to my wife, ‘That’s it.

I’m leaving. I’m going back to America.’

“I couldn’t work with him. He got there and

EXPERIENCED: McGirt, seen here with Kovalev, adores his role as a boxing trainer

YOU HAVE TO TRUST THE FIGHTER BECAUSE YOU HAVE NO CONTROL IN THE FIGHT ITSELF”

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MIXED FORTUNES: McCullough and Mosley are yet to enjoy the same success as trainers that they enjoyed as fighters

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thought he was famous. He then goes into the fight and gets the s**t beaten out of him. After one of the rounds, I grabbed him by the head and said, ‘You know what, Librado, at least just try to do the things we did in the gym.’ But he never tried once.

He made 535,000 dollars and 10 per cent of that was supposed to go to me. But he just gave me 15 grand instead. He gave me two per cent.”

As a result of that experience, McCullough, 50, stayed away from boxing for a number of years, vowing never to train another fighter. He then eventually sought solace in personal training and decided he preferred training civilians who knew nothing about boxing to managing the egos of professionals and, from 2014, coached at Tony Jeffries’ gym in Los Angeles.

Unbeknown to most of the clients for whom he held pads, McCullough, having learned from the great Eddie Futch, was overqualified for the job in every conceivable way.

“Eddie wrote me a letter before he passed away,” said McCullough, “and in it praised me for how I listened and how I respected him and he told me I would make a great coach. He signed it. I’ve got it on my wall.

“I’m the only fighter out of all the fighters he trained who received a letter from him and, for me, that was like getting a college diploma. When you see all these different people becoming coaches who don’t have a clue, and have either never boxed or never worked with other great coaches, it really hits home. I learned under the great Eddie Futch and he even wrote me a letter. You don’t get a better endorsement than that. Anyone can put a towel over their shoulder and call themselves a coach.”

In lieu of experience, or qualifications, or even recommendations, some coaches today use their social media presence and willingness to be interviewed by people holding video cameras to get their voice heard and somehow prove their expertise. They talk a good fight, and say all the right things in the right order, but don’t have the achievements – be it as fighter or coach – to either substantiate their boasts and forecasts or, better yet, convince those who know an informed coach when they see or hear one.

“When you see these new people coming along and getting that cosy position, it’s heart-breaking,” said McCullough. “Some people have done nothing to earn it.

“I’ve never taken a shortcut in my life. I always took the scenic route. But the scenic route is much nicer.

It takes longer but you get there in the end. The a**eholes fall flat on their face in the end because they become complacent and they stay ignorant.”

“Sometimes a fighter just falls in a trainer’s lap,” said McGirt, laughing, perhaps at how ridiculous that sounds. “What they do with that gift is up to them.

But eventually there will come a time when they face a certain situation and you will see how they adapt. That’s when you need experience, either as a trainer or a fighter. That’s when you need to know your fighter.”

Though he himself has sampled all boxing has to offer, McGirt refuses to subscribe to the notion that someone has to have boxed professionally to be the coach their fighter needs. He believes, speaking from personal experience, that a career as a pro can in certain scenarios help, but accepts it is not essential.

“Yes and no,” he said in answer to whether proper fighting experience is important. “I say ‘yes’ because I have learned through my experiences as a fighter that when it gets really rough in there you have to stay calm. That goes for being both a fighter and a trainer. You have to stay calm. You have to then figure it out on your own.

“Some trainers get guys who can already fight, so all they do is get them in shape. But then when the fighter faces some kind of adversity the person in the corner can’t help them make that adjustment.”

It seems bizarre to hear a former world champion say they are “fortunate” to be training world-class athletes in retirement but Andy Lee, discernibly humble, is quick to apply that term to his own so-far-brief coaching career. Forget the pro titles, the knockouts, and the gruelling fights in his past, Lee, as qualified as anyone, still feels as though he has benefited from the luck of the Irish in recent times.

“I’ve only been doing it for a short period of time and I’m working with very good fighters and that makes it much easier,” he said. “You get some guys who coach for years and never get to work with a world champion. But I was very fortunate to train Paddy Donovan, Tyson Fury, Joseph Parker and Jason Quigley within the first two years.

“Half the battle in terms of being a good coach is having good fighters to train. I’m sure there are different levels of coach but what I know for certain is that there are different levels of fighter. The level of fighter you work with will determine the level of coach you can be.”

It’s one thing hearing this opinion from a fan, or a reporter, or a fighter, or a coach. But when the answer to this long-running debate – does the coach make the fighter or does the fighter make the coach? – arrives from the mouth of a former world champion now thriving as a coach it surely has to mean a whole lot more. It may also be something like the truth. bn

JUNE 3, 2021 l BOXING NEWS l 31

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TOO

Tony Davis survived a horrendous ordeal with Covid.

He speaks to John Dennen about what he’s been through, what he has to look forward to and his boxing community Photo: ALEX PANTLING/GETTY IMAGES

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JUNE 3, 2021 l BOXING NEWS l 33

ANY people worried for Tony Davis. The one-time England international, former Army boxing team head trainer and ex GB coach was in Istanbul.

He was taking the Bahrain boxing team, that he’d set up, to a tournament. But he contracted Covid-19. He was struggling to breathe.

He had to go to a local hospital. There it only got worse, worse than anyone looking in from outside Turkey at first realised.

“Much worse. Let me tell you, if you get just a sniff of what I went through, then you’d understand it. I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy. To be honest, I don’t know how I got through it. I wish I could say it was because I was thinking of my daughters, I was thinking of this, I was thinking of that… There were times when I couldn’t contact anyone, there were times when I’d just roll over, just hope it would all go away. I’ve never experienced anything like that. I’m just glad to be here and feeling a little bit like normal,” Davis told Boxing News.

Davis is only 47 years old. He leads a healthy lifestyle. But rapidly he declined into a terrible condition. His oxygen levels were perilously low.

Fluid was filling his lungs and he was in real pain.

The first hospital he wound up in was grim. The treatment there just wasn’t good enough. He only continued to get worse.

He said, “I started seeing people left and right disappearing. They weren’t going home like…”

“My lungs were full of fluid it was just crazy,” he added. “It felt like sometimes you were okay and then it would just find another way to do you.”

He was receiving well wishes from all over the boxing world, particularly from a Whatsapp group made up of fellow ex-GB boxers. People like Darren

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NEVER FORGET: Alongside Keith Palmer’s memorial plaque

Barker, Tony Bellew, Matthew Marsh, Neil Perkins, Paul Smith, David Price, Sam Webb, Steve Birch, Steve Burke, Stephen Smith, Tony Jeffries, Tom Stalker, Frankie Gavin, Kevin Mitchell, Martin Power and many more. They kept in touch with him and his family. That meant a lot to Davis, even at his worst. “It does give you a lift,” Tony said. “It feels good you know… It’s just overwhelming.

“Boxing is just one big family.”

That community meant a great deal to him. But in truth he was fading fast. Later an X-ray would show the extent of the scarring on his lungs, a mark of the damage the virus had been doing to him.

It was Bahrain that arranged and paid for him to be moved to another hospital, where he could be rushed into an intensive care unit. That saved his life. “When they put me in the ICU that was just horrendous but it was obviously what got me through it all,” Davis said. “It was the Bahrainis that made it happen in conjunction with my wife.

“They said we have to move him otherwise he won’t make it… I know if I didn’t have them in my corner I wouldn’t be sat here now, I’d just be a statistic.”

He came very close to never going home. But he survived and is now with his family. He is recovering, though that is a slow process. He was still growing short of breath just walking up stairs and for the time being couldn’t take his boxers on the pads. “It just felt a huge relief actually leaving Istanbul,” Davis said. “Getting on that flight was just a huge relief.

“Coming back to Newcastle, it was like a different type of air. It was like a gift… There were a few tears when I come and seen my girls.”

It was striking that while in such dire circumstances overseas Tony Davis received practically no support, not even translation services in the hospital, from the British government. Davis is a former soldier who was, though he never uses the word, a hero

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in the Westminster terror attack four years ago.

Davis was first person to attend to Keith Palmer, the police officer killed outside the Houses of Parliament in 2017. It was just a coincidence that Tony had been there. At the time he was one of the GB coaches with the British Lionhearts World Series of Boxing team. The squad was at a charity function in parliament the day before a match. On their way out, Tony stopped by a tray of cakes. There he heard a commotion on Westminster bridge. He only discovered later that this was the terrorist driving a car into a pedestrians on the bridge, causing the deaths of four people.

“I could see people running,” he recalled.

“Obviously now I know people were running for their lives because he [the attacker] got out with two knives. He comes through the gates with two knives and I’ll never forget this, even though it was drizzling that day, a bit of sun trying to break through, I just caught the shine off the blades. And I’ll never forget that. I just seen him start attacking the policeman.”

His instinct was to run towards the chaos. “I just want a gap so I could jump the fence,” Davis said. “When I landed on my feet I thought s**t I’ve made the wrong decision… There’s pandemonium everywhere.

“Behind me there was a bodyguard sat there, he’s seen it happening… He ran up past me, within inches, and he put three rounds into him [the attacker]. A double tap and a single tap. So straight away I knew he was out of the equation.”

Davis ran over to the fallen police officer. He knelt by him to try to assess his condition. Keith Palmer had wounds on his head, his arm and a terrible cut in his side above his stab vest. “I’m trying to reassure him, check his airway, his circulation… His eyes are starting to go so I thinking he’s going into shock. So I go, ‘Come on mate, stay with us.’ I didn’t know his name at this point. Then I start looking at his other wounds,” Tony said. “I can see blood just seeping into the cobbles. Army training kicked in in a way…

I know he’s starting to go. He’s in severe shock, his pulse is getting even weaker… I try and stem the blood with the GB jacket, to try and close his wound.

“It was just horrendous… It seemed like a lifetime.”

Paramedics eventually arrived and despite their heroic efforts, Keith Palmer did not survive. “I never realised what a knife can do to the human body,” Tony said. “It was horrendous really.

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TOKYO-BOUND: Davis with his Olympic hopeful Latypov

HORRENDOUS. I NEVER REALISED WHAT A KNIFE CAN DO TO THE HUMAN BODY”

“I was proud of what I did in a way, but the outcome just wasn’t what I wanted.”

“If I didn’t have them cakes we might have been out,” he added.

It was in Davis’ character to help. He hopes he can do that as a boxing coach. That’s why he took the job to build, from scratch, a boxing programme in Bahrain. Remarkably he has got one of their boxers, super-heavyweight Danys Latypov, qualified for the Olympic Games. “He’s got one opportunity of a life time to try and change his life, not only for him but for his family. That’s what it’s all about,” Tony said.

“This is a mammoth task [to develop the Bahrain programme], not just because of what you’ve got to do but it’s the mindset, the lifestyle and everything like that.

“It’s took a lot of structure and direction but when I look at that now I think it has been some journey and one I can be proud of in a way.”

“The way I look at it, it’s about changing people’s lives,” he continued. “Now we’re planning on trying to be successful. Anything can happen at that weight [for Latypov]. There’s a lot of work to be done. But two bouts. He wins two bouts, he wins a medal “ As a boxer it had always been Davis’ dream to go to an Olympics. He had boxed before his time as a solider. He’d been on tours in Northern Ireland, Bosnia and Germany. After being asked to train his regimental team, he rediscovered his passion for the sport. “I went to the Army individual championships, I boxed three guys there and ended up stopping them all. They asked me to come back to the team,” he explained. “I ended up, probably not my wisest move, I ended up boxing in the Ulster championships for Monkstown. I did take a bit of a chance because where the championships were was called the Dockers club in Belfast and it’s an out of bounds area and if anyone had found out I was a soldier I could have been, you know, [but] when it comes to sport over there, they don’t allow politics to get involved as much.”

It was actually a spar with David Haye back home in the north east that inspired him to enter and win the ABAs in 2002, and eventually join the international squad. Davis had been asked to come into an England training session as a sparring partner. “I’m just watching David Haye in the ring with a local guy called Carl Dukes, and David Haye is punching the hell out of him and I’m thinking bloody hell. I’m starting to get the nerves because I’m in next. So I went in there and because I thought I’ve got decent feet and this that and the other, I did alright, I did well against him,” Tony remembered. “He did let me know he was still there… He just whipped a body shot in and it folded me in half nearly.

“I was just doing more technical work with David Haye [the next day] and he says to us you should go in the ABAs. You’d win them. It filled me with a bit of confidence and that.”

The last Englishman to beat Irish Olympic medallist Ken Egan, Davis missed out on Olympic qualification as a boxer, “the ultimate dream”. He hoped to go instead as a coach. “I thought I’d given up the dream permanently when I left GB,” he said.

But instead now he is due to go with Bahrain. “It’s Guiness Book of Records stuff. That’s how I feel.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d achieve this. Now I’ve got to try and push on make him successful and change his life,” Tony added.

He’s come so close to death. Today Tony Davis has a lot to look forward to. Home, training his boxers and a new kind of Olympic dream. “I cannot believe how close I was,” he says. “I’m going to get some fresh air and just breathe it in.”

JUNE 3, 2021 l BOXING NEWS l 35

BOX IN Colin Dunne didn’t know what to do when his growing body betrayed his dreams of becoming a jockey. He tells John Evans how he replaced his beloved reins with boxing gloves

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VERY athlete has moments where they are in total control of themselves and everything going on around them. The moments when even the fastest action seems to happen in slow motion. “It’s the most fantastic feeling you can imagine,” Colin Dunne told Boxing News.

“I haven’t experienced everything in the world obviously

but, God, that would take some beating.”

Those moments are etched in Dunne’s memory. He can still feel the thrill of elbow to elbow competition and the tightening of the reins in his hands. Yes, the tightening of the reins. Dunne isn’t remembering his high quality victories over the likes of Phillip Holiday and Billy Schwer. Those would come later. The Liverpudlian is remembering life as an apprentice jockey.

Liverpool was almost cut adrift from the rest of the country in the 1980s. Teetering on the precipice of ‘managed decline’, unemployment rose as investment dipped.

For youngsters leaving school the outlook was bleak. Sport and music provided escape rafts for some but for the vast majority, the

36 l BOXING NEWS l JUNE 3, 2021

last day of school was swiftly followed by the first day of unemployment.

At just six-and-a-half stone and unable to hold a tune, Dunne could easily have been swallowed up and lost in the malaise but his size afforded him a unique opportunity.

Dunne had never even treated the donkeys that trudge along Southport beach to a well-deserved sugar cube. Suddenly, instead of joining the masses and praying for a place on a plastering or catering course, he found himself in leafy Oxfordshire fixing nosebags for potential Derby winners.

“I was a slow maturer. I was tiny,” he said. “In the part of Liverpool where my dad grew up there was a guy called Billy Newnes. He’d been to Henry Candy’s stable

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JUNE 3, 2021 l BOXING NEWS l 37

yard and ended up riding an Oaks winner on Time Charter. My dad saw that I was tiny and coupled that with the fact that there was no work in Liverpool. There was the YTS and people on catering courses who couldn’t boil an egg. That’s how desperate it was. If you got on a YTS, it was all about who you knew. It was a miracle if you could get an apprenticeship in any kind of trade.

Liverpool was on its knees in the 80s.

“I wanted to make it. I was from a poor family and brought up on benefits and had a massive amount of ambition. If leaving home and going into racing was going to be it, then that was going to be it.”

Apprentices the world over tend to start their career with a broom in their hand.

Dunne found himself sweeping out stables rather than factory or site floors but he fell in love with the life. The priceless moments on horseback made the early mornings and endless shovelling worth it.

“They had me on a pony called Justin for about six months,” Dunne said. “Anybody who knows horses knows that ponies are the most mischievous of all the breeds and this one used to throw me off regularly whenever he’d had enough of me and you’d have to run all the way back to the yard.

They’re very intelligent and know when there’s somebody on their back who hasn’t got a clue.

“I did almost two years at Candy’s and then went to Peter Walwyn’s. There was a horse there called Zamat and every time we went on the gallops this thing would piss off

with me. A Welsh lad told me to give it its persevere through injury and an all too head and throw the reins at it. I was doing intimate relationship with the weighing scales. the opposite. I was gripping them as tight as The Stable Lads boxing tournament wasn’t I could to try and stop this thing. This went some novelty event. Until the year 2000, the on all week and by Friday all the lads were annual fund raiser gave apprentice jockeys laughing at me. from across the country the chance to earn “I decided to give it a go. I had nothing to a bit of notoriety and enjoy finals night at a lose. It stopped still and was looking around glitzy night at a top London hotel. waiting for me. I tightened the reins up and Dunne dominated, adding his name to it upped the pace. I changed my hands again role of honour that includes Terry Spinks. and it went faster. It was like going through The competition was a godsend for Dunne. the gears. You loosen the reins and it slows As a young boxer in Liverpool, he found it dow. It’s an amazing feeling when you’ve difficult to find fights because he was so small. learned how to control a horse.

Now, it dawned on him that it would be next “My crowning glory was being put on to impossible to get a ride as a flat jockey the yearlings. That means you’ve got good because he was too big. hands and you’re a good horseman. Those “I gave up the dream. I was 18 and eightyearlings are potential Derby and Oaks stone. That’s not a good weight to be a jockey. winners and they won’t put you one one There was a point where I knew. You need to unless you know what you’re doing. be a strong mature man but you also need to “Forget winning The Derby or The Oaks. be seven stone. It’s not normal.

Just having that life,” he said. “They call it the “I won the Stable Lads three times out of sport of kings and people show you so much four. Winning it was always a little feather in love and respect when you’re doing well. As your cap with the trainer. That kept my hand long as you can keep your weight down, I in. It was like being at a pro training camp. think becoming a jockey has gotta be one of You’d only train for about two months a year. the best ways you could ever live.”

You had a mix of lads who’d boxed and those It wasn’t to be. who’d never had gloves on in their life.

There tends to be a deep-seated level of “I think it’s a travesty they stopped it. What respect between jockeys and boxers so it a gift that was because it could have all is unsurprising that their paths occasionally gone. Being in racing I could have gone years cross. Both racing and boxing offer without putting gloves on because there was smaller athletes a route into nowhere to do it.” professional sport and both Dunne was strong and clever CLOSE AFFAIR: professions demand discipline enough to control a racehorse Dunne and Schwer in and bravery, the willingness to but not robust enough to be a fight to remember

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let loose as a professional fighter. Colin Lake “I thought I was going to London to turn knew exactly what he needed. pro. I’d just won the Stable Lads but Lakey The former jockey and British title kept me back for two-and-a-half years. It challenger was sat at the end of a Newmarket was a hell of a long time but he timed it to bar with a cigar and pint of lager when Dunne perfection. Just before my 23rd birthday I first met him. ‘Look, lad, if you turned pro.” want to come to London I’ll sort Whereas his first weeks at you digs out and get you a job,’ Candy’s yard were cushioned by GREAT MEMORIES: Dunne celebrates Lake said. ‘I’ll train you too.’ the presence of other streetwise another victory A few weeks later, new recruits from Dunne found himself Liverpool, this time in the passenger Dunne was alone in a seat of a rickety Ford big city, working as a Cortina on his way to removal man during Lake’s curtain tassle the day and boxing maker’s studio in north by night. Yet again it London. For the second would have been easy time in his life, Dunne for him to slip through had uprooted himself the cracks, but by the from his comfort zone, time he was defending leaving behind a place his WBU lightweight where he was happy title against the quality but knew had limited Phillip Holiday at the horizons. His second most London of venues apprenticeship was - a rowdy York Hall underway. in front of one of the Maybe Lake wanted most recognisable to reassure Dunne Londoners imaginable that he was in the Johnny Rotten, right place, maybe he frontman of the Sex wanted to convince Pistols and ardent himself that the young fan of “The Dynamo’”scouser was worth the his graduation from effort he would need to apprentice jockey to put in over the coming world class boxer and years. Whatever the from lonely scouser to reason, it is often said adopted Londoner was that the best way to get complete. to know somebody is It hadn’t been to share the ring with straight forward. Dunne them. Dunne quickly fought regularly, eager found out that he to make up for lost would be learning at time. In 1996 Michael the shoulder of a time Ayers capitalised served craftsman. on his inexperience “I’m sat in this and stopped him in car driving down to a British lightweight London, full of life and title fight but with testosterone and he’s Lake overseeing every driving me like I’m Miss aspect of his life, Terry Daisy. He said, ‘We’re Toole and John Hyland gonna do a bit of guiding and advising sparring, lad. If I want him and thousands you to go left, you’ll go of rounds of sparring left. If I want you to go under his belt, Dunne right, you’ll go right. Oh began to operate with yeah, and one more thing. You won’t be able that familiar feeling of control he first felt on to hit me.’ the gallops. He would go undefeated for six years and 17 fights.

“I’m sat there thinking, ‘Who the f**k does Although only a year separated them, Billy this guy think he is?’ Older fella, drinker and Schwer had won the British lightweight title smoker. I was twice schoolboy champion, for the second time a month before Dunne won the Junior ABAs, boxed for England turned professional. The pair met in October twice, won the Stable Lads three times. I 2000, Dunne desperate to be acknowledged know my way around a ring. I just thought he and expand his horizons again, two-time was having a laugh. world title challenger, Schwer, desperate for “We get there, he slips a pair of gloves on another shot. and lo and behold I couldn’t hit that man Dunne won a split decision after 12 rounds with bag of rice. Unbelievable. His footwork which are sorely neglected when lists of great was fantastic. You’ve got Pernell Whitaker, British fights are compiled.

Lomachenko and Herol Graham and hear “I’ve had a number of people say that to stories of Benny Leonard and Charley Burley me. It was deserving of the fight of the year,” but at the age he was when he did that to me, Dunne remembered. “All respect to Billy. At I’d have put Lakey in the ring with anybody. the end of the fight I thought I’d won and They wouldn’t have hit him.

I’M IN THIS CAR, FULL OF TESTOSTERONE AND HE’S DRIVING LIKE I’M MISS DAISY”

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there was no way I lost but I watched it back and its a closer fight than I gave it credit for at the time.

“I just think other names roll off the tongue a bit easier. When people talk about the best fights of the 90s or 2000s, my fight doesn’t get mentioned. People bring up Hatton and Tszyu and Benn v Eubank but the people who count and people who know boxing – the connoisseurs of boxing – acknowledge it and that’s enough for me.

“Holiday on paper is my biggest and best win. It’s quite comical when you listen to the commentary and they say he’s on the slide.

He’d only lost one in 34 and that was to Shane Mosely. I beat him hands down. That validated me as a world champion. He’d defended his IBF title six or seven times and beaten Ivan Robinson on HBO, knocked out Jeff Fenech in Australia and then gone back to America and fought Mosely. I know people call out the alphabet titles but I can hold my head high.”

Dunne couldn’t capitalise on beating Holiday after a cut eye became infected. He didn’t capitalise on beating Schwer because, well, he isn’t exactly sure. His career slowly petered out. Over the next two years, he would win six times but a superb display to dismantle Wayne Rigby on a Naseem Hamed undercard was as high profile as it got.

“This is the sad thing. I maybe regret not going with somebody like Frank Warren because he would have got me the fights.

Terry Toole was with John Hyland and got me on ITV for the Holiday fight though. You’ve gotta remember, being pro from 1993 to 2003 got me the worst ten years. Bradley Stone died, Gerald McClellan, Michael Watson, Paul Ingle got hurt. There were a lot of injuries.

Sky was in the embryonic stages and a lot of my fights were on Eurosport. I think the only people who made proper money were people like Lennox Lewis and Naseem Hamed. ITV only dipped their toe in the water and there was no social media.

“There were let downs in my career with fights not coming off and stuff but you’ve gotta go with what you’ve got.

“I’m not gonna knock Terry or John Hyland, they did their best. I would like to have been involved in some of the discussions - especially after the Schwer fight. Surely it’s my right to know what they talked about? Who knows, they might have been offered fights for what they thought was low money but I might have decided to take the smaller amount.

“I look back and I’m grateful for what I achieved.”

The circle is now complete. Dunne is back in Liverpool. The ambitious slip of a teenager who left home in search of a trade eventually got one of those precious apprenticeships.

In fact, he completed three of them and returned home as a time served jockey, a master boxer and, now, a qualified electrician.

He achieved everything he wanted to. Well, almost everything.

Would he rather have ridden the winner of the Derby or won his world title belt?

“It’s a good question and I can’t really answer it,” he laughed, accent as thick as the day he left more than 30 years ago. “But I think to ride the Derby winner would have been absolutely unbelievable.” bn

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THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD John Dennen previews GB’s Olympic hopefuls as they enter the qualification event once again Photo: JAMES CHANCE/GETTY IMAGES

HERE has never been a more tumultuous road to an Olympics. The Tokyo Games were postponed for a year and now the European qualification event, suspended mid tournament in March 2020, picks up from where it left off. It restarts June 4, running until June 8, at Le Grand Dôme in Villebon-sur-Yvette on the outskirts of Paris, France.

The restructuring of the qualifying process, enforced by the coronavirus pandemic, means that there won’t be a second one. The World event, for those who hadn’t qualified through their continent, had to be cancelled. It means those remaining Olympic quota places will be allocated simply on the Boxing Task Force’s world ranking system. For the boxers most highly ranked within their continent that is good news, they are likely to be granted a place at the Games through that second wave of allocations. But for those who do not already have a high world ranking, everything comes down to this qualifier. Some will only have this one chance in France to win a place at Tokyo.

GB have several boxers going into must-win bouts at this event. At 63kgs, just over a year ago, Luke McCormack was doing his final preparations for his Olympic qualification bout, only for the tournament to be cancelled the night before. Now after this long hiatus, he’ll go straight into a contest with Turkey’s Tugrul Erdemir. All is on the line for him, win it and he’ll be through to the quarter-finals and an assured place at the Olympic Games. George Bates will compete for Ireland in this division.

GB 75kgs Lewis Richardson will need to finish in the top six to qualify. But he has one of the toughest bouts of all lined up for him. He’s drawn to go in next with Oleksandr Khyzhniak, a most formidable obstacle between Lewis and his Olympic dream. The fearsome Ukrainian is a European and World gold

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medallist, heavy handed and relentless. He cleaned out Olympic medallist Kamran Shakhsuvarly in one round in the last bout before this tournament was suspended. Richardson has had over a year of waiting for this specific bout. But he is undaunted.

“We know who is and we know what he’s done and everything like that. But nobody’s had this length of time to really focus on beating him and I believe my style and my attributes could be good enough to beat him,” Richardson told Boxing News.

“It’s not been a burden at all. I feel like the way I’ve been developing and have developed, even leading up to the qualifier the year before, that was a real year of progression and improvements. I think that’s continued and it showed in the Bocskai, having five fights out there in five days and winning.”

“I’ve been growing and improving as a person and as a boxer,” he continued. “I’m feeling good. We all know what he’s about. He’s only human, two arms, two legs.

He’s been beaten before.

He’s been beaten by a Brit before [by Joshua Buatsi].

There’s no reason why it can’t happen again.”

At lightweight Caroline Dubois is also going into a huge bout. The youngster was Youth Olympic and Youth World champion and only suffered her first loss, ever, at a warm up tournament in Serbia earlier this year. In France she must immediately box Mira Potkonen, the tournament’s top seed, a World medallist who famously eliminated Katie Taylor from the 2016 Olympic Games. It’s a significant challenge, but victory would be a major statement of intent for Dubois. One that would put her on course the top six finish she needs to qualify at 60kgs and the potential to star at the Olympics themselves. Highly decorated Irish star Kellie Harrington will be in the mix too in this weight class.

There are also six Olympic places available in the women’s 51kgs division at this event. Charley Davison, another new face on this GB team, is

HE’S BEEN BEATEN BY A BRIT BEFORE, THERE’S NO REASON IT CAN’T HAPPEN AGAIN”

40 l BOXING NEWS l JUNE 3, 2021

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THE HARDEST BOUT: Richardson has had a year to prepare to box dominant Ukrainian Khyzhniak

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JUNE 3, 2021 l BOXING NEWS l 41

AMATEURS

close to one of them. She boxed well to reach the quarter-finals, with Poland’s experienced Sandra Drabik lying in wait for her there.

For super-heavyweight Frazer Clarke the pressure must be acute. Not only has he had the same additional year delay as everyone else, this is his third Olympic cycle in pursuit of his place at the Games.

He needs to reach the semi-finals to qualify and his first bout comes against Croatian southpaw Marko Milun. “For me this is probably the toughest bout of the tournament. The next bout is probably the toughest competition in the whole tournament for.

He’s the second best fighter other than me in this tournament. Boxed him before, in 2018 when I wasn’t in good form to be honest. I went to the EUs in Spain which I won in bad form,” Clarke said. “I’ve improved a lot since then, he’s improved a lot since then.”

But Frazer is fired up. “This game is like Snakes and Ladders. I’ve had the ups, where I’ve felt top of the world, then I’ve hit the snake, straight back down again. I’ve been in shape, out of shape. In form, out of form.

And I’ve loved every second of it because there’s no job quite like it,” Clarke said.

“We’re downplayed so much but I love this job, I love this environment.

The time is now for me. Everything that’s happened in the last two years, three years, four years, six years, eight years, it doesn’t mean nothing. It’s about now. I feel like I’ve come into good form. I’m going to say it: I feel like I’m the forgotten man. Because I’ve been here for so long. Yeah I had a dip in form a couple of years ago and results weren’t going my way…

People feel like I’m an amateur journeyman.

I’m not. I’m not. Everyone that thinks I’m not a serious medal contender for Tokyo, they’ve lost their minds.

Since Christmas I’ve been to two tournaments, I’ve won two gold medals. Six wins.

Some good opponents.

Some demons I got rid of and I’m in a good position. I like this. I like to be just quietly, quietly creeping along, getting on with my business in a good position. The Russian, the Kazakh, the Uzbek, the American, let them have the limelight all they want. Little fat Frazer Clarke from Burton-on-Trent, he’s going to put on a shock and people are going to say, ‘Oh my God, that guy that’s been on there 10 years, he wasn’t just here to take part. He’s going to win the Olympic Games.’ Because that’s what I’m going to do. People are going think I’ve gone crazy. ‘Oh you can’t beat [the Uzbek, Bakhodir] Jalolov.’ Yes I can. I beat him before and I’ll beat him again.”

And, as if the weeks before his first Olympic qualifier couldn’t have been even more dramatic, Clarke is also celebrating the birth of his baby son.

He is inspired. “It’s been an emotional week,” he says, “with the birth of my son and we’re literally

getting down to the business end now. He’s really motivated me.”

At 91kgs Cheavon Clarke must also finish in the final four to make it to Tokyo. That means Cheavon is two wins away, with Armenia’s Narek Manasyan next and the winner of Belgium’s Victor Schelstraete and Greece’s Vagkan Nanizanian after that. It’s a good draw for him.

GB’s Karriss Artingstall has a tough division and a tough draw, kicking off her tournament in France against Belarus’ Helina Bruyevich. But Artingstall is a force at 57kgs, with powerful long straight punches and mobile footwork. Six Olympic places are on offer in her weight class at this event but also with a high ranking in her continent, Artingstall can be confident too of being allocated an Olympic quota place even if this competition doesn’t go according to plan. Ireland’s Michaela Walsh is another great competitor at 57kgs, she enters this competition with brother Aidan Walsh at 69kgs.

At 81kgs, 75kgs and 69kgs respectively Ben Whittaker, Lauren Price and Pat McCormack are the most highly ranked in their weight class in Europe.

That means their places at these upcoming Olympic Games are all but assured. They can rubberstamp that themselves at this competition.

Price, the reigning World and European Games champion, is likely to meet Nouchka Fontijn of the Netherlands once again in the final. These great rivals have been battling one another at tournaments throughout the build up to this Olympic Games. “She doesn’t do anything different. How I can perform better is down to me and what I do. Obviously at major tournaments I’ve kind of got that little bit more will to win as well because so much is on the line at major tournaments. I suppose the Nouchka situation is always going to be one of them.

One and two in the world, it’s always going to be whoever performs best on the day,” Price said.

Her first bout though will come against host nation middleweight Davina Michel. “I’m just concentrating on myself. I know if I’m ready to go, trained hard, then I shouldn’t have no problems.

As long as I perform I should be fine,” the Welsh star said. “I can’t wait, I’m excited, nervous but I’m looking forward to going and qualifying and get the word ‘qualifier’ out of my head now.”

Peter McGrail, at 57kgs, and Galal Yafai, at 52kgs, qualified for Tokyo last year before the boxing was suspended, as did Irish flyweight Brendan Irvine.

But this tournament is still more than a formality.

Success here will contribute to their seeding for the Olympics themselves, which could prove vital for setting up a medal-winning run. The road to Tokyo is heading into its final straight. bn

ANYONE THAT THINKS I’M NOT A SERIOUS MEDAL CONTENDER HAS LOST THEIR MIND”

42 l BOXING NEWS l JUNE 3, 2021

BIG MOMENT: If Caroline Dubois can beat Potkonen she will set herself up as a star for the next Olympics

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l THE action will be streamed live on the Olympic Channel and can be viewed at https://olympics.com/en/

TARGET ACHIEVED Olympia Boxing now delivers to over 50 schools in their outreach programme OLYMPIA Boxing CIC was set up in Kent on the back on the success from London 2012 to deliver outreach programmes bridging the gap in communities and taking boxing back into schools. It has reached a milestone of 50 schools in their programme per week. Surpassed it in fact, with 53 schools at the time of writing. Director and coach Wayne Smith said, “I used to run around delivering five to six school programmes, community sessions during the day before heading to my club, St. Mary’s ABC, in the evenings and used to dream and joke of taking boxing into 50 schools and now it is a reality. It is absolutely amazing. We now have a fantastic team of 10 which is enabling us to expand the great work of boxing and we’re now mentoring more young people to join our team to expand even further. In total with our community and school programmes we are now delivering a total of 89 programmes per week.

“Our next goal is to be delivering 100 programmes per week. In schools we’re delivering before-school clubs, curriculum PE, lunchtime clubs and after-school clubs.

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In the community our age range is 5-88 years young!

Our range of programmes are Rookies 5-8 years, Youth 9-18 years, Community BOX Fitness for the adults and specialist programmes; Thera-Box for children and young people with additional needs, Boxing 4 Dementia and Boxing 4 Parkinson’s. We work with lots of funding partners and community organisations to break down all barriers for participating in boxing, sport and physical activity. Nearly all of our community programmes are completely free to our communities.”

Coach Wayne added, “I am pretty sure this hasn’t been achieved before in boxing or community sport. We are continuing to grow and expand over the south east, delivering our work to as many as possible. Every school or area we deliver our programmes in we give the details of the nearest England Boxing affiliated club so we help continue the growth in boxing clubs.”

To get in contact see www.olympiaboxing.co.uk or @ olympiaboxing on social media.

JUNE 3, 2021 l BOXING NEWS l 43

YESTERDAY’S HEROES

The Fighting Fireman Four-time ABA champion Tony Stuart gave leading pros more than they bargained for when they shared a ring with him

Alex Daley @thealexdaley Historian & author

N my last column I looked back on a memorable victory for a British ABA team over a group of America’s elite amateurs in a special show at Yankee Stadium in 1935. The Brits were lauded for their triumph over the “Golden Glovers”, especially the two heavyweights, Pat Floyd and Tony Stuart.

With an emphatic win each they had made vital headway in eroding the humiliating “horizontal British heavyweight” tag that plagued our big men.

I wrote about four-time ABA heavyweight titlist Pat Floyd, but spatial limits prevented me from saying more about his great rival and friend, the fighting fireman Tony Stuart. Like Floyd, Stuart won the ABA heavyweight crown four times and between them they dominated the division in the decade before World War II. It’s intriguing to ponder how these two would have fared as professionals, but they both turned down all offers to go pro.

They did, however, share gym rings with leading pros. As prominent British sportswriter Ben Bennison wrote of Stuart in 1937 (the year of Tony’s fourth ABA title win): “He is probably the most travelled amateur and the richest in boxing knowledge. Whenever a possible champion requires to be tried out, Stuart

I

is the man to tell the best or worst.”

Max Baer and Tommy Farr both used Tony to prepare for important fights, as did “The Blonde Tiger” Walter Neusel, a German titlist and top-notcher on the European heavyweight scene. Neusel had beaten world-class men like Larry Gains, King Levinsky and ex-world lightheavy champ and world heavyweight title challenger Tommy Loughran.

In November 1936, Walter was in Britain for his much-hyped first fight with Ben Foord, a dangerous South African who, like the German, was a big draw on our shores.

Walter set up camp at the Star & Garter in Windsor, a pub topped by a boxing gym that was the preferred training base of many champions. Astutely, Neusel brought in Stuart as a sparring partner, but got more than he bargained for.

As fight scribe Charles Darby recalled for Boxing News: “Neusel went in with obvious intent of showing who was the boss. Two heavy clouts shook Stuart’s head, and a right uppercut took the friendly smile from Stuart’s face. But that was as far as Neusel was allowed to show who was the pro and who was the ‘mere amateur’.

“A real English left hand was driven into the German’s face like a ramrod time

after time... Neusel went all out to drop the London fireman but was treated to a barrage of lefthanders and thudding rights... Stuart cracked home a right to the jaw that sent the German blonde across the small space to collide with a bunch of excited spectators holding on to the ropes for dear life... Although Neusel outpointed Foord in the tough fight that ensued a week later at Harringay, it was not a patch on the short bout of ‘sparring’ with Tony Stuart in the gymnasium at the Star & Garter, Windsor.”

Two months later, Tony was back at the Star & Garter to help Neusel prepare for the third bout in his trilogy with Britain’s Jack Petersen. Petersen lost for the third time, but in his gym wars with Neusel, once again Stuart shone. This time Tony made headlines when he floored Neusel with a left hook in front of the sporting press. “This was the first time that I had ever seen Neusel knocked off his feet in England,” remarked renowned Daily Mirror columnist Peter Wilson.

At the height of his success, Stuart was reportedly offered £1,000 – a large sum in the 1930s – to turn pro, but he would not be swayed. Boxing, he said, was a sport to him. He would stick to fire-fighting as a profession.

‘HE IS PROBABLY THE MOST TRAVELLED AMATEUR’

‘MARVELOUS’ MEMORIES The CEBA take a look back at Marvin Hagler’s glorious career

Simon Euan-Smith simonoldtimers @googlemail.com EBA correspondent

THE latest Central (Midlands) EBA newsletter has an in-depth look at the career of the late “Marvelous” Marvin Hagler, who died in March this year. To quote author Craig Birch: “It’s been well over 30 years since he last stepped into a ring, but Hagler’s accomplishments still fly high in the annals of history.”

Craig deals with Hagler’s remarkable amateur career ( just one loss in 56 bouts) and the various frustrations he suffered after turning pro in 1973. Of course it all came right in September 1980, when Hagler beat Britain’s Alan Minter on cuts in three rounds to claim the undisputed middleweight championship of the world.

But his triumph was shockingly marred by the rioting Wembley crowd, causing Hagler to be hustled out of the ring to the safety of his dressing room rather than savouring the moment, as he should have

44 l BOXING NEWS l JUNE 3, 2021

been able to.

But Hagler – whom Birch quotes at length – was full of praise for his vanquished opponent. “Minter was the champion and, believe me, he didn’t want to lose. I hit this guy with a lot of punches and he took a couple on the chin.” Marvin would dominate the division for six-anda-half years, finally losing to comebacking Sugar Ray Leonard on a controversial split verdict (BN editor Harry Mullan, at ringside, thought Hagler won clearly). He never boxed again.

Birch quotes several tributes to Hagler – from opponents Leonard and Thomas Hearns, and world champions Lennox Lewis, Mike Tyson and Barry McGuigan – but for me the best quote comes from the man himself. “When I look back, boxing was the best thing that ever happened to me. It gave me an outlook on life and was

my best teacher.” I’m sure a lot of boxers and ex-boxers will agree with that.

There’s also a tribute to the late Roy Addison, who passed away in February. A former RAF and Inter-Services champion, Roy won the ABA middleweight title in 1960 and boxed in the Rome Olympics that year. He never turned pro, but his ABA final opponent, Bob Nicolson, would become Southern Area light-heavyweight champion and challenge for the British title. Roy finished with a very creditable record of 142 wins in 150 contests.

In 1965 he founded Addison Tyres, which is still going strong today. His favourite charity was Birmingham Children’s Hospital, and anyone wishing to donate in Roy’s name can do so via www.justgiving.com/fundraising/ royaddisonmemorial. He actually began his career at Wolverhampton Boxing

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CHAMPION: Stuart clutches his first ABA trophy after beating Garda O’Driscoll [second from right] in 1930 Photo: LARRY BRAYSHER

TRUE LEGEND: Hagler is fondly remembered

Club, where he later became a wellrespected coach. The newsletter reports that following the easing of lockdown restrictions numbers have increased there, and there is now a waiting list to join.

That’s good news. Club Secretary is CEBA Chairman Gary Bate – a great example of an Ex-Boxers’ Association supporting today’s scene.

There’s also a plug for a charity event – “A Night in My Shoes” – set for Orlando, Florida, on October 15/16. This year’s event will be supporting Ringside Rest & Care, and Kids Beating Cancer – two very worthy causes, and how nice for the former to get such support from overseas.

A real boost. Ex-champions from Britain already booked to attend include Steve Collins, Michael Watson, James Cook, Tony Sibson, Billy Schwer, Chris Pyatt, Duke McKenzie, Jimmy Batten, Robbie

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Regan and Eddie Avoth. Further details can be found at www.anightinmyshoes. com.

Time to dig into the archives again.

From the June 2012 issue of Mug’s Alley, the Merseyside Former Boxers’ Association newsletter: “Film star George Raft came out of New York’s Hell’s Kitchen, and he tried many routes to affluence. He even had a total of 17 professional fights, and was knocked out in seven of them. In his last contest, against Frankie Jerome, he received 22 stitches to a wound on his face, and five dollars as his purse. He spent the five dollars on a pool cue and became a professional hustler, before taking to dancing and then stardom in the movie business.”

EMAIL simonoldtimers@googlemail.com with your ex-boxer association news.

JUNE 3, 2021 l BOXING NEWS l 45

SIXTY SECONDS

THOMAS MATTICE Paul Wheeler talks to the best driver in the world Photo: STEPHANIE TRAPP/SHOWTIME

I like NASCAR driving. I’ve always thought that I’m the best driver in the world!

Last film/TV show you saw: The last thing I watched was the Aaron Hernandez documentary series [Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez].

Who would play you in a film of your life: That’s a good question. My life was rough coming up, so it’d have to be someone who came from a struggle.

Have you ever been starstruck: I’ve never been starstruck. I’m a fan, but not that type of fan.

Last time you cried: I can’t remember exactly when it was, but I was riding in my car, listening to music. I think the song reminded me of my dad, who’s passed away. I started dropping tears thinking about him.

Best advice received: Save money because boxing won’t last forever.

Worst rumour about yourself: I’ve never heard a rumour about myself. I mean, maybe there has been some talk, but it’s never made its way back to me.

Something not many people know about you: One thing a lot of people don’t know about me is that I’m as shy as hell. I hate attention.

FAST FACTS

When and why you started boxing: I knew a few people who boxed and they always told me that I knew how to throw my hands, even though I’d never done any boxing before and didn’t know anything about the sport. So that’s why I started.

Favourite all-time fighter: I always loved Roy Jones Jnr’s style of boxing.

Best fight you’ve seen: The first fight between Jose Luis Castillo and Diego Corrales is always a great one to look back on and watch.

Personal career highlight: My first televised fight was big for me. [A seventh-round stoppage of Rolando Chinea on Showtime in February 2018.]

Toughest opponent: I’d say Zhora Hamazaryan [w sd 8 – July 2018 & d sd 8 – September 2018]. He was able to hurt me and make me figure out how to survive.

Best and worst attributes as a boxer: My best attribute is my jab. As for my worst attribute, I don’t really believe that I have one.

Training tip: Never cheat yourself because no one can help you once you’re in the ring.

Favourite meal/restaurant: I honestly don’t have a favourite meal or a favourite restaurant.

I just love to eat! I mainly eat home-cooked meals.

Best friends in boxing: Montana Love is really the only boxer that I actually hang around with outside of boxing.

Other sportsperson you would like to be:

Age: 30 Nickname: ‘Gunna Man’ Height: 5ft 9ins Nationality: American From: Cleveland, OH Stance: Orthodox Record: 16-2-1 (12) Division: Lightweight Next fight: Mattice is set for a six-round run-out on Saturday June 19 in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.

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