"And I’m that Mountain!"
By Terence Dooley (photo by Steve Tolcher)
I set out on a traditional Manchester Summers day to watch Jamie Moore prepare for his fight with Matthew Macklin; the sky was overcast with dark clouds by midday and torrential rains pounded the city that night to serve notice that any plans for a sun-drenched bank holiday weekend were to be dashed like dirt in the rain. The impending, heavy, sense of rainfall was fitting when one considers that I was stepping into the eye of another approaching storm, only this time it will be raining blows as opposed to, polluted, water when Moore meets Matthew Macklin on Friday for the British light-middleweight title.
As I stepped into Oliver Harrison’s gym both Oliver and Jamie were in the main ring talking strategies for the fight whilst Amir Khan waxed lyrical to a visiting TV crew about his respect for Jamie.
Kerry Keyes had expanded on an old cliché in boxing for me when discussing this fight, “For every round these lads do in the ring we’ll have talked hundreds of rounds in this office!” In the final weeks of training the buzz becomes a cacophonous crescendo of intensity.
As I settled down by the ring I tugged on the underneath of my chin to let Jamie know he was looking in fine shape. Ironically Oliver and Jamie were working under the watchful eye of their temporary enemy Billy Graham, across from the ring is a photo of a youthful looking Billy standing proud with some of his early Mancunian acolytes.
After working on some fast combination punching Jamie and Oliver moved into the lower ring and as I settled on the ropes Oliver told me they were currently at Plan X in the alphabet of the beating of Macklin. Jamie came over and gave me a playful tap on the belly; he then smiled “Macklin is in trouble mate!”
Jamie had recently enjoyed a stoppage win over Mike Algoet.
“Yeah it all went to plan, I was expecting it to go eight rounds but was hoping that I could break him down and take him out and it went perfectly.”
“In a way it was good preparation and rounds under my belt. I didn’t get any old rounds either, it was five good competitive and tough rounds.”
“You look at Algoet’s record and only the good fighters have stopped him so for me to go in there and do a number on him – and I didn’t just beat him I beat him up and gave out a bit of a hiding really.”
The Algoet fight took place on the undercard of David Haye’s ultra-scientific/cautious fight/spar with Ismail Abdoul so did Moore feel that he had steamed in there and stolen the show with another stirring fight for his expanding folio?
“To be honest, even in the past, my fights have always been one of the best, if not the best, on the shows. It is my style and who I am; I don’t go out and aim to do it that is just how I fight.”
There is some edge to the Macklin fight though as Jamie had claimed recently that Ian Darke, and by proxy one must assume Sky, is definitely pro-Macklin so I asked if this had been anger or an in-joke.
“It was all tongue in cheek to be honest. You know that I never take anything too seriously and what I said was that Ian Darke is going to be gutted when I beat Macklin because he’ll look stupid walking out the room in his Matthew Macklin tee-shirt, that is all I said and it was a bit of a joke. I don’t get involved in all the other stuff, I’m just here to do a job and I enjoy doing it.”
So the so-far amiable build-up is not about to descend into an orgy of trash-talk and enmity?
“Nah, I didn’t want that because I’ve known Matthew for quite a while now and Billy Graham, well he’s a close mate of mine so it is all a bit close to home really. It is going really good at the moment and I hope it stays like that on both sides.”
There is an edge to the good-nature though as Jamie makes clear he would not allow any disrespect to come his way.
“I respect all fighters as long as they don’t disrespect me.”
Jamie was looking impressive in training and by my second visit he was well and truly ripped, it was a different type of session as Jamie and Oliver worked on what they expected from Macklin and how they would deal with it. After the session I asked Jamie what he had taken from Macklin’s last fight.
“Matthew did what he had to do versus Piatkowski, Matt went in there and beat him up, that is all you can do. I would never say that he wasn’t this or that, at the end of the day they put someone in front of you and you have to go in there confidently and do a good job. Matt was impressive.”
Both Jamie and Oliver told me that they knew what the fight was going to bring so the training had been thematically styled to one single goal, beating Matthew Macklin and moving up a level. Both men know exactly what the other can do and what, they would like to think, the other cannot do. Jamie broke it down.
“I know how to beat Matt anyway - without trying to disrespect him. I know that Graham (pressuring) style, I have done for years. I’ve been around and picked a bit of that style up and added it to my style as well and it is hard to nullify, but I know exactly how to do it.”
Another factor in this fight is the presence of Billy Graham in the opposite corner, both men, Jamie and Billy, had felt that they would work together when Jamie turned pro. Now, in a richly ironic vein, they are indirect opponents fighting for the right to be top-dog in Manchester. It is a fight that is, in the best possible sense, forging a fissure in the Manchester fistic fraternity.
“Billy Graham, he thinks that he knows me more than he does but after the fight he’ll be at a loss because he’ll say “I thought you was going to do this, I thought you was going to do that” but I think they are going to be shocked on the night, I really do. You can’t underestimate me and that is for sure.”
I brought up the third instalment of the series of fights with Michael Jones and floated the idea going around that if Jones can floor Jamie and hurt him Macklin is going to really hurt him when he connects. An added spice is the fact that Matthew has freely expressed to me the opinion that Jones cannot punch.
“I never thought Jones could punch! I wouldn’t look at the fact I got knocked down, I look at the fact that I got up and went on to win. Macklin should be worried about that, not the fact that I got knocked-down!”
One theme that Macklin has touched on is the fact that Jamie will ask him some testing questions. One thing that could happen, for the first time, is that Macklin could take his own downwards journey to that canvas, we know how Matthew will handle it - one presumes he will try and get up - but how will Jamie respond if he puts Macklin on the floor?
“I’ll look into his eyes when he is getting that standing eight count and I’ll see what he is thinking about the questions then…I put pressure on (and) when I’ve got someone hurt I can’t see them recovering. I can’t see this fight going the distance anyway and I won’t be getting stopped so it will have to be Matthew, unfortunately.”
“I’ve been there (on the canvas), I’ve been through a lot so far not just inside the ring but outside the ring and I’ve been through a lot mentally. I was going through a lot before the (third) Jones fight and had to put up with the knock-down as well. The thing is that I pulled myself up. I got my balls out and I had to show them! It takes a certain person to do that and a certain heart. You never know what you can come through until you are coming through it.”
Jamie looked relaxed although his training was Macklin intensive by this point.
“We are working on little bits of technique and stuff like that. I’m working on a game-plan and everything is going brilliant.”
A lot of anticipation is anchored around assumptions that this will be a Wild West shootout with Jamie shelling from the hip and searching for a tear-up.
“(Laughs) I probably will! You know me! I like to fight. Macklin is a strong come forward fighter but I’m a strong fighter as well so what we’ve been working on is pushing him backwards, getting close, bullying him and making the stuff that he does ineffective.”
So is Jamie in that Nigel Benn state of mind that he so admires and gets his fighting blood pumping.
“Oh aye yeah. Benn’s one of my heroes. I never back down from anyone in a fight and I won’t back down from Macklin, I’m going to stand there and have it with him.”
“If you (fans) are lucky enough to get hold of a ticket you are in for a right good night but whether you get to the venue or watch it on Sky this is it, domestic fight of the year again.”
Matthew claims that he is the fighter with the world-class pretensions and Jamie is a route to that class.
“He is probably saying that to build his own confidence up. I’m going to be the mountain Matthew can’t get over and I’m gonna beat him up and send him back a peg or two.”
“My body feels great, I feel great, it has been a really good training camp and I’m confident and glad that I’ve not got to worry about any injuries as well. I’ve got a clear mind and can’t wait for the fight.”
As Jamie drove me back to my part of Manchester I asked him a final question - save me a difficult job this week and throw your prediction down for Boxingscene readers.
“Me from the third round being in total control and Macklin trying to force the pressure on me, I’ll always be one step ahead of him and I know that for a fact. It is going to be one painful night for him. This is the fight the fans wanted and that is why it is going ahead, I’ve always been a boxing fan myself and I like to give the fans what they want.”
Come on Jamie, some of the fans like to have a flutter on the fights.
“It won’t go past eight; I’m going to stop him inside eight rounds mate.”
