By Lee Collier
David Barnes has had a frustrating 18 months. Firstly, he had to give up his British light-welterweight title after suffering injury after injury. He was due to return on the Michael Brodie comeback card in August only for his opponent to pull out. Barnes then had another fight lined up only for his opponent to pull out again, leaving the former British champion frustrated.
Barnes was then offered the opportunity to fight in Prizefighter 9, and since then he has been working on winning the tournament to put himself back in the title mix. Barnes talked to BoxingScene.com about how his preparation was going.
“My preparation has gone very well to tell you the truth. It’s gone fantastic and it’s the best camp I’ve had because I’ve not been injured throughout the training this time,” revealed Barnes.
Prizefighter nights normally see fast paced action, with many fights ending up as slug outs. Would this be an issue for a counter puncher like Barnes?
“People say Prizefighter will be fast paced, but it won’t be”, explained Barnes, “people are going to come at me but that suits my style as I’m a counter puncher so to me it’s just like a normal fight. It’s not any different to any normal fight, be it a 12 rounder, a four or six rounder, it doesn’t make any difference to me.”
The last 18 months have been frustrating for Barnes, but with Prizefighter less than a week away the fighter seemed focussed on the job in hand. “It’s been very frustrating but you have to get over these things. You have to look forward and see what comes next and that is what I’ve done. And then Prizefighter came up and I took it and its time to show people how good I am,” declared Barnes.
Barnes admitted he wasn’t concerned with facing one of the favourites, Colin Lynes, in the first round. “They are all tough fights, it doesn’t matter who you get in the first round as there are no easy fights. Its new to everyone - you have to take it by the balls and do it,” he said.
Barnes continued: “It all depends on the night. I’m not paying attention to the other side of the draw. I’m paying attention to one fight and that is Colin Lynes, and I’m not looking any further.”
If it wasn’t for the injuries, the talented Barnes may have fulfilled his ambitions and been knocking on the door for a world title; he aims to use Prizefighter to set himself back on that track.
“Hopefully I’ll get a shot at the European title, or any world title shot, it doesn’t make any difference to me. As long as I progress in my career after this then I’m happy,” beamed a confident Barnes. “Every light welterweight who has a title is on my radar. If a chance comes like a European title you have to take it, if it doesn’t I’ll just have to wait.”
When pressed on how confident he was of winning the tournament Barnes boasted, “110% I’ll be lifting the trophy and winning Prizefighter.”
Barnes is trained by the well-respected Bob Shannon in Shannon’s gym alongside Andy Morris, Denton Vassell, Prince Arron and Jonny ‘Rocco’ Hussey. Shannon has been in the boxing business for many years, following on in coaching after his father.
Ricky Hatton’s former trainer, Billy Graham, credits Shannon with teaching him how to throw a left hook, after Shannon floored Graham with a left hook to the body during a sparring session early in Graham’s career.
After following his father into boxing coaching, Bob was proud when his son, Robert Jr, followed him into coaching. Tragedy followed when Robert Jr was killed in a tragic accident, but he is still fondly remembered in the Manchester boxing community and especially in Shannon’s gym. Bob took time out from training his fighters to pass his verdict on David’s Prizefighter chances.
“His preparation has gone really well, all trainers always say that but he’s in great shape, he’s done the sparring and now we know that he’s fighting Colin Lynes first we can prepare a little bit more for that style of fight,” explained Shannon.
“It’s not the easiest of draws but we’ll get Colin Lynes out of the way, and Lynes will be saying the same, ‘Why did we get picked against David Barnes’, but that’s life. We will definitely win.”
Whilst Shannon is confident his fighter will win, he admits that the nature of the event, a knockout competition, means that anything can happen.
“Anything’s a possibility, it’s like the FA Cup in that’s its all on the day. This competition is so exciting because any one of the eight could win. I think I have the best of the bunch but it all depends on what happens on the night,” admitted Shannon.
He continued: “I rate Colin Lynes, especially in this type of competition, he is very sharp and we have to be at our very best for David to win this. Only time will time on the night whether being out the ring will affect him in this type of competition. We’ve done the sparring and training so it’s all down to Friday night now.”
Shannon admits that with Barnes’ inactivity there could be a chance his fighter could get caught cold, but he knows his fighter has the skills to reach the top regardless of Fridays result.
“We put him in the competition as we were struggling to get him fights, so we took the chance. David never lost as a British champion, he gave up the title due to injury so if worst comes to the worst and he loses its due to ring rust and not ability. It’s not the end for David, we are professionals and we get our sharpness in the next fight and move forward form there.”
Shannon has trained some quality fighters in the past; he made his name with Wayne Rigby before having more success with Gary Hibbert and Ali Nuumbembe but feels that Barnes is up their ability wise with his best fighters
“David is one of my most talented fighters with Andy Morris and Gary Hibbert, who I used to train. He has so much talent,” beamed Shannon. “David just needs to get a big win and winning this should put him at a European title shot, which he is good enough to win. After that we can sit down with Hatton promotions and hopefully go for a World title, which is what I would really love to get for him.”
Shannon could find himself in an unusual situation come Friday night. Another of his fighters Jonny ‘Rocco’ Hussey is a reserve for the tournament, and an injury or bad cut to another fighter could see Rocco step into the fold for the trophy.
“Johnny Rocco is in the situation where he is on standby, but he has trained like he is starting in it. It only takes a bad cut or injury and he could be in it. He has an outside chance to win as he is really relentless, he is very sharp and he reminds me of Colin Lynes, but aggressive. If he could get in the competition, although I don’t wish an injury on anyone, he is an outside bet.”
Shannon joked about the impossible situation he would find himself in if Hussey were to meet Barnes in the final.
“Can you imagine him getting in the competition and meeting David in the final? I would have to be the referee for that fight,” joked Shannon.
