By Terence Dooley
Spencer Fearon retired from boxing in 2003 with an 11-6 (4) record. Spencer, though, was not done with the sport and has since remained active as a boxing writer, broadcaster, historian and promoter. Fearon currently helms Hard Knock Boxing Promotions, who brought the cult featherweight fighter Choi Tseveenpurev back to these shores for a fight against Lubos Priehradnik in July of last year.
Fearon believes that he is primed to fulfil a niche role in the UK boxing market. The loquacious Londoner caught up with us to outline his plans for the future. “Things are cool, we are looking at getting things going this year,” declared Fearon. “I’ve got some exciting things coming up that I can’t go into but I’m fighting the good fight and we’ll see what happens next.”
Choi destroyed the then-unbeaten Derry Matthews in five one-sided rounds back in 2008 to win the WBU featherweight title. Since that night inactivity has blighted Choi’s career and left many people asking about the Shaw-based Mongolian firecracker’s future. Fearon credited his advisor, Ciaran Baynes, with bringing Choi back to these shores.
“It wasn’t even my plan, it was down to my head advisor, Kieran Baynes, who went out and got Choi,” revealed Spencer. “Choi went back home, we contacted him because we knew he was out of contract with Frank Warren but what we didn’t know was that he still had a contract with Jack Doughty, but that isn’t a problem as we can sort that out each time he fights. Choi then hurt his ankle so went back to Mongolia but he’ll be back and we are working on some exciting fights for him.”
Fearon has appeared on Setanta and Sky panels in the past, his punditry work is fuelled by his passion for the sport. Fearon believes that his fervour shines through and gets the fans onside.
“My passion for boxing is what got me a job on Setanta, people know me as a historian of the sport of boxing,” he said. “I have a big passion for the sport and love it. I love the history of the sport, that is what gets me excited, but I also love the histrionics. I love going out to a promotion because I’m always on the hustle. You want entertainment? Come see me. You want full houses? Come see me. I give people what they want to go and see.”
Indeed, Fearon’s larger-than-life character was a perfect match for Steve Bunce’s persona during the heady days of Steve Bunce’s Boxing Hour and, on the rare occasions when the world was considered able enough to support this meeting of colourful characters, they bounced off one another well. Fearon, though, believes that his current incarnation is a different proposition from the Spencer of the past.
“My character isn’t full on”, argued Fearon, “people used to ask my wife if I ‘was always like this’ as I used to be really hyper but I’m a father now so you pipe down a little bit and learn how to direct your energy into the right channels. I’m still learning but know in time, from being a boxing fan, that I’ll come good as I know what I want to see.
“The drum rolls right now are for a young crowd, a hip crowd and a music crowd. The promoters right now are not incommunicado with what is hip right now, what the trends are. That is why people say the game is dying. So we thank God for David Haye going out and doing what he did against Valuev because he will bring in that younger crowd. What will happen is that people will eat from what David brings.
“The pundits say that my last show was good and they know I’ve got the X factor. We needed a tube of Vaseline just to try and get more people in! There was energy that night and that energy is disappearing from boxing so we need to bring it back in a new form. I can go anywhere in the world and hold my own, that is not a blag, it is reality. It is not just about the slickest suits, though I do like those types of suits, it is about the links, when Lennox Lewis’ PR company brought him to town who did they phone to do X, Y and Z? They phoned me and I was happy to do it as Lennox is a legend in my opinion.”
Spencer helped facilitate Lewis’ visit to the Real Fight Club gym prior to David Haye’s showdown with Nikolay Valuev; Fearon was in the thick of things that day.
“We brought Lennox into town just before Haye fought Valuev. Lennox talked about the gameplan Haye needed and it was perfect advice that David followed to a t,” revealed Fearon. “Energy never disappears, it is just transferred from one place to another, and if you have positive energy you attract positive people - the energy has spread from Lennox to David.”
Spencer raises a good point as far as boxing promotion is concerned, the constant encroachment of UFC is forcing boxing to reassess its future; a younger crowd is needed, as they will keep the sport going. Calls that we need to appeal to the youth been sounded before, sadly people think that putting a ‘Z’ on the end of wordz that should end with ‘S’ is enough to bring in the younger punters. Attempts to make boxing ‘trendy’ are often the equivalent to the dad who comes into your room, listens to some MF DOOM and declares, ‘This has got a good breakbeat!’ Fearon, again, believes that he is the man to strike the right balance.
“No one has got my swagger or my chat and if you join that with living in the City then you have a lot going for you. Traders tell me that I should have been one of them but I’m into my boxing. My aim is just to be successful and not take anyone’s space. We’ve done business with Frank Maloney, he is cool, and Frank Warren is as well but they are two different guys who are doing their thing. These are the older cats doing their thing as they’ve been around. You can’t just walk into boxing and say you want to take it over.
“Give me a little bit of time to come through. I won’t be turning around using my colour by saying, ‘I’m the only black guy doing it right now’, because at the end of the day it ain’t about that, it is nothing to do with colour it is about the young cats doing it. I also understand the detail and complexity of the sport. No point trying to get into something when you can’t fathom it. No point saying this and that about something you don’t understand. I can fathom boxing. I sat down with Don King when I was with Danny Williams and I took liberties with King – I don’t care who you are. I’m not overawed by anyone.
“I’ve just to continue doing what I’m doing and try to rock and shock ‘em. No one is going to take over the business overnight and I’m not for that. I just want to give people competitive fights. Why bring in a guy who is 17-0 to fight a guy who is 17-12? You can’t always make fifty-fifty fights but you can make competitive ones. We also need the promoters to put their lads together. Do the fans come out to see unbeaten records? No, they come out to be entertained - so we should give them entertainment.”
Fearon was a fighter himself and he has done the nuts-and-bolts work over the past seven years; he believes that the most fundamental basis of the sport is the fights and, by extension, the fighters - and Spencer understands boxers.
“The relationship you have with fighters is often based on emotions”, he opined, “as they are emotional characters - I know this because I’ve boxed. I was very extroverted in character and that was part of my emotional capability. Fighters are emotional beings and with certain fighters you need to have kid gloves. I’ve been there when a fighter breaks down crying two days before a fight or when a fighter is crying after a fight, there ain’t any training for that – you need to know it for yourself.
“You need to know what it is like to get punched in your mouth and feel the blood in your mouth. You can’t replicate that feeling and if you don’t feel it how can you relate to me as a fighter?”
Speaking of complicated fighters, Spencer is a childhood friend of Danny Williams; the ‘Brixton Bomber’ has bemused many a pundit in the past, could he be one of the emotional boxers that Fearon is referring to?
“I regard Danny Williams as one of my brothers, see? I won’t be commenting on Danny in anyway,” stated Fearon. “I was always say this when talking about Danny Williams – I’m not at liberty to say anything about Danny.”
Fearon was not for turning on this issue. Spencer, however, was happy to talk about another Williams, Richard ‘The Secret’ Williams, a boxer who promised so much only to fall at crucial moments, most notably when losing to Sergio Martinez in 2003 and 2004.
“Let me tell you about Richard Williams, we sparred many, many rounds and Richard is a really good guy, one of the best. A quality operator. I would say so, I would have to say so”, answered Fearon when asked if Williams had genuine world title level ability, “he was a fantastic boxer.”
Spencer’s own prowess in sparring saw him match his skills against the best Britain has to offer. Indeed, Spencer rolled back the years when sparring with Anthony Small ahead of Small’s 2008 fight with Freddy Curiel. Fearon, however, believes that what happens in the gym should stay in the gym.
“Come on man, it don’t matter what you’ve done in sparring,” he declared. “Ask them other guys about what went on in sparring. I was the king of sparring. I was the best sparrer in the world – I would have kicked Shane Mosley’s arse in sparring.”
Fearon also likes to delve into the history of the sport; he attracts a lot of comments on his Facebook ‘Fantasy Fights’ news feed. Fearon, a big Haye fan has also spoken about his admiration for Lewis, our last, some would say only, truly great big man. So, who would Spencer plump for in a fantasy match?
“Lennox would be too big,” he answered after a brief pause. “When Vitali is saying to you that you are the strongest human being he’s faced then I think you can see how strong Lennox is, and Lennox was an old man then. Lennox also had the explosive power to go with that size; he had it all going on. Lennox Lewis is an all-time great and he’s an all-time big great. Lennox is one of the best big guys. Haye is my boy but my loyalties go with Mr Lewis on that one.”
Fearon also believes that there are budding future greats in the current boxing crop. “I’m very interested in Chad Dawson,” revealed Fearon. “He was rubbished by Buncey after the first Glen Johnson fight because he’d been hyped as the second coming of Ezzard Charles but I’ve watched him, and he could be the second coming of Ezzard Charles – I really do rate him. That Adamek victory is looking better with every fight.”
Spencer’s ‘the old ones are the best’ theory also crops up when discussing one of his current favourites, he thinks that Bernard Hopkins more than justifies his ‘old school’ tag. “I love watching all boxers, not just one particular fighter in the world today. I know Bernard Hopkins as a friend and no guy in the game is as tough as he is. He is off the hook and makes you think of those old timer fighters,” said Fearon.
“Floyd is up there, obviously, but I think he did badly against RA Tha Rugged Man, he got stopped in that one!”
To return to Charles, known to many as the man who went life and death with Marciano but also a fighter who was, in his day, one of the top light-heavies of all time. Fearon believes that Charles sets a legacy that is hard to top at 175lb yet the ‘Cincinnati Cobra’ does not make the final cut when it comes to Fearon’s all-time top three.
“Ezzard Charles?” he mused. “Definitely number one at light-heavyweight. My top three of all time is a tough one as they are always changing. I’d probably say Ray Robinson, everyone says him and when they do they look at his middleweight fights but he was at his prime at welterweight, especially when he won that title against Tommy Bell in December 1946. Ray was incredible in those days. Ray had tenacity and that mixed with his skills made him beautiful to watch. He’s number one. Not a lot of people look at Ray at welterweight. Look at him, look at the records and read the old reports on him, he was blowing minds.
“Ali and then Roberto Duran would make up two and three. Duran was multi-faceted and you have to remember how perfectly he could slip a shot. How can a ferocious guy slip shots so well? Duran personified that type of defence. Ali just transcended the sport, he made a lot of mistakes but was great despite them, and he was fantastic at what he did.”
Still, Fearon made his own mark on the domestic history books when engaging in a bitter struggle with David Walker in 2003, Fearon lost by fourth round TKO in a fight that was voted ‘fight of the year’ by the BBC. Spencer, though, believes that the fight, although a knockdown strewn thriller, did not deserve a mention in the context of the rarefied air of our conversation.
“I’m not going to talk about that in the context of a great fight as it wasn’t that great,” he stressed. “People talk about it on websites and that is cool but I’m not being too critical over the fight, it is just that there is more to me than that fight. If I’d have won it no one would have talked about but that is the way it goes. Walker is a good guy. I did a piece talking about how he should retire and don’t know if he was upset but he retired shortly after. Sometimes you have to speak the truth.”
Finally, Fearon predicted that he will move onward and upward in 2010, his personal journey is on course as far as he is concerned. “I’m trying to improve, second by second, and look to the people around me as well. I’m human, I’m vulnerable and I make mistakes but I always smile and people think I’ll always find a way,” he revealed.
“Doors open up for me because I’m a go-getter. Give me a look in and I’ll make things happen. People may be envious of the swagger that I carry as there is envy in boxing but that is cool. Look at the sport, two guys competing against one another, and outside (the ropes) we are all competing against one another but I don’t need to compete – I’m the best Spencer Fearon in the whole wide world, ain’t no better Spencer Fearon than me, so I’m cool with that! (Laughs). People need to be the best of who they are first and be the best at it. I’m just trying to do my thing.
“I am the man with the links and I’m good at making those links. I don’t want to be the bright new face, because my face ain’t bright, but I’ll continue to do my best and be the best I can be.”
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