By Terence Dooley (Photos by Allan 'Big Al' Stevenson)
For all the glory nights there are many fights within the sport of boxing that are hard, bittersweet clashes. Away fights, contests between friends, and other so-called ‘tough’ fights pale into comparison when a fighter goes into the ring seeking to architect the downfall of one of his heroes.
Larry Holmes has spoken openly about his regret over handing Muhammad Ali, his idol, a fierce beating back in 1980, Rocky Marciano cried after destroying Joe Louis in eight brutal rounds and now Anthony Crolla, though not on a par with those names, knows the feeling of elation and regret that comes with beating a legend after hammering Michael Brodie to defeat in three rounds at the Robin Park Centre, Wigan earlier tonight.
Crolla, 23, grew up watching Brodie’s fights, copying Michael’s moves and marvelling at his ability. Still, the former ABA lightweight title winner went into tonight’s engagement knowing that a win would set him up for bigger fights down the line; conversely, it would surely spell the end for Michael Brodie’s comeback, one that had captured the imagination and hearts of Manchester’s boxing fraternity.
Indeed, Brodie, 35, was floored twice in the first fight of his final fistic fling but rallied in the fourth to defeat Mark Alexander back in August; Brodie was back, and with a bang. Michael, a British, European and WBF world champion, showed a few vulnerabilities at the Manchester Velodrome that night but the nature of the win left fans with a tantalising belief in his comeback.
However, these beliefs were put to the sword at 3:00 of round three of a scheduled eight-rounder when Crolla (9st 4lb) connected with a left hand and right hook thrown from the southpaw stance, the right slipped through Brodie’s (9st 5lb 1oz) guard and clipped his chin, sending him tumbling to the canvas. Michael, as he did so often in his pomp, beat the count but referee Steve Gray had seen enough; Steve waved the contest, and possibly Brodie’s career, over after deciding that Mike had taken enough punishment over the course of the fight.
Joe Gallagher, Crolla’s trainer, had predicted a third-round KO for his charge, this looked very much on the cards in the early going, with Anthony landing freely and buckling the legs of Brodie, who seemed creaky in the first stanza.
Come round two, however, and Brodie, again, showed his quality and class, threading in neat shots to the body and head of Crolla, who elected to move a little bit more, rather than employing the manhandling approach that had taken the eye in round one. This round turned out to be Brodie’s final stand; he briefly rolled back the years once more to earn the round on the scorecard of Gray.
Crolla, perhaps sensing that he had let the older man back into the contest, started pushing Brodie back with his shots during round three, landing freely in the corner after stunning Michael with a looping right hand from the southpaw stance. Brodie, though, waved the younger man in after taking a solid right hook to the head; Crolla responded by hammering home another right hand, with a left to the body thrown in for good measure.
Crolla was on top, he shoved Brodie to the canvas, a point-proving foul; Brodie was soon on the canvas again, legitimately this time, a neat right uppercut moved Michael around and set up the final shots. Fight over, comeback in jeopardy at the second hurdle, career on the skids.
It was a cruel result, especially given the entertainment and excitement, not to mention glory, that Brodie has provided for us over the years; he gave so much to the Manchester boxing scene. Brodie falls to 36-4-1 (24 KO’s).
Crolla, who moves to 15-2 (6 early), told me that the fight had played out exactly according to plan. “We knew how Mike would come out, that he’d really put it on me, so that is what I prepared for. I didn’t panic; I knew I could take his punches. I knew my time had come,” revealed Crolla.
“My trainer Joe Gallagher came up with the gameplan and it came off, even down to the southpaw shots that we worked on. Mike is a great inside fighter and leans into his left hook, so if I went southpaw it took away his left hook and that was part of our thinking. It was working and I saw that early. I hurt him and then carried on until he had gone. Joe said that the right hook would come. He also said it would end in the third, so it is not just Freddie Roach who can correctly predict the outcome of his fighter’s fights.”
Brodie had stood tall in round two, pushing Anthony back and landing solid, precise shots. Crolla, though, had expected Brodie to look sharper on this night than had been the case back in August.
“I thought he looked better in the second round than he did in the fight with Michael Alexander. People can say what they want about Mike coming back but that was an improved Brodie from his last fight,” claimed Crolla.
“The strength work I did with Kerry Kayes showed tonight. People said I can’t punch but I think a few people may eat their words tonight - I punched hard enough in there. Joe had told me to catch him with the right hand and I caught him with a clean one. I’m heading down to featherweight now, where I’ll be even stronger.”
Ricky Hatton, who promoted the night’s fights, congratulated Crolla; ‘The Hitman’ came to the dressing room and praised his fighter on a job well done. Hatton, so unassuming out of the ring, was a brutal fighter when in his pomp, and he’ll have admired Crolla’s ‘strictly business’ mindset. After posing for photos with his promoter, Crolla revealed that Brodie, even at this advanced stage in his career, had been a tough nut to crack.
“Mark was hard to hit to the body”, revealed Crolla, “I was trying to squeeze the shots through but he tucked up well to the body. Mike has been a massive hero to me. He’s had a great career. It was a weird feeling but it feels great have beaten him. I can’t speak for Mike but whatever he does I wish him well and I’ve got nothing but respect for Mike Brodie.”
Although crestfallen over the result, Brodie was quick to acknowledge that he had lost to the better man on the night. The highly decorated boxer, who pushed Willie Jorrin and In-Jin Chi hard in WBC world title fights, talked about the defeat, and his next move.
“It didn’t go to plan and I got beat by a good kid on the night,” admitted Brodie. “I’ll have a bit of a timeout and think about it. I was shaking him in the second round but I have to take it on the chin and accept it like a man. I’ll look into what I’ll do now.”
Brodie was reluctant to mention the R word; he shrugged when asked if the time had come to retire. “I don’t know. It is too early to say. The weight was a bit of an issue but I felt alright. Good luck to him, he’s not a bad kid and I wish him all the best,” stated Brodie.
Joe Pennington, Michael’s trainer, was more forthcoming when asked about Mike’s future, telling me that Mike should retire and set about moulding Manchester’s future boxing stars.
“I think he was doing alright until the end but I knew in the third that he was ready to go and couldn’t take the punishment. Mike has got the heart but the fitness isn’t there the way it used to be. He landed quality shots but can’t take punches anymore. I don’t know if it was the weight, we did our best with him and tried to do it right,” said Pennington.
“He wants to think about it [a retirement decision] but I don’t think he should box anymore. He is an inspiration to the kids and could coach them a few nights a week and move into coaching, he’s got good footwork and technique and can teach them a lot, go into something else and stop boxing,” he implored.
“I wanted to see him put good performances, not get hurt and take it from there – I didn’t want to see him get hurt the way he did tonight.”
Pennington was quick to praise the performance of Crolla, claiming that the younger man came of age with this win.
He said: “Crolla trained for this properly, running up mountains and everything, you could see it in the fight. He is a dedicated man and can get stronger. You have to ask what happens if Brodie fights someone like John Simpson, who is strong as fuck - well you can see what would happen can’t you. Crolla isn’t a puncher and he did that. Alexander isn’t a puncher and he hurt Mike. I will sit him down and tell him it isn’t worth carrying on anymore.”
Finally, if Mike does come back for more will Joe work his corner? “I wouldn’t do it, no chance,” declared Pennington.
Coda:
Joe Gallagher had to prepare Joe Murray for his contest with Barrington Brown but the trainer had a few words for BoxingScene.
“Massive credit and respect to Michael Brodie but we’d seen that he was open for the right hand. We had Crolla working on turning southpaw to land that [right hook] shot”, confirmed Gallagher, “and Anthony did it brilliantly to win the fight. Joe Murray is next up and he’ll do a job on Barrington Brown.”
