Buddy McGirt

[taansend]

He's currently in Spain training Matthew Macklin. An old mate of mine lives in Marbella & there's a gym under his office. He's been popping down there after work to watch. Says that Macklin looks incredible & very fast. When I told him that the little bald black dude training him was a top level champion he couldn't believe it.

McGirt definitely under-rated by many. He had problems with his shoulder & also against fast fighters but he beat so many top guys & also was one of the last - at his level - to fight 5/6 times a year.

I'll readily admit rooting against him in the Meldrick Taylor fight as I thought the 21 year old Taylor was going to be THE NEXT BIG THING. Funny but you could argue that Buddy went on to have the better career.

[Scott9945]

He's currently in Spain training Matthew Macklin. An old mate of mine lives in Marbella & there's a gym under his office. He's been popping down there after work to watch. Says that Macklin looks incredible & very fast. When I told him that the little bald black dude training him was a top level champion he couldn't believe it.

McGirt definitely under-rated by many. He had problems with his shoulder & also against fast fighters but he beat so many top guys & also was one of the last - at his level - to fight 5/6 times a year.

I'll readily admit rooting against him in the Meldrick Taylor fight as I thought the 21 year old Taylor was going to be THE NEXT BIG THING. Funny but you could argue that Buddy went on to have the better career.

I agree that McGirt is underrated now (as a fighter, not a trainer). Taylor gave his career best performance when he fought him. Very few fighters will ever have as many wins in the US as Buddy did.

[taansend]

I agree that McGirt is underrated now (as a fighter, not a trainer).

Yeah, funny about him being a trainer. When he gave Gatti a late career transformation he got all the plaudits & we thought "ah, a classic thinking mans boxer becoming a great trainer" but he faded off the scene after the initial 2/3 year bloom. Still, he has another 20/30 years ahead of him so plenty of time.

[Anthony342]

Yeah, I hope he comes back with another tough fighter. Speaking of rooting against him, I did the same both times he fought Whitaker, as I was a big Sweet Pea fan. but not in his other fights. Didn't McGirt fight on HBO a lot? I remember hearing a lot of ads on TV for upcoming McGirt fights in the '90s. He was also great in the Ringside episode when they interviewed him for the Pernell Whitaker episode.

[taansend]

Yeah, I hope he comes back with another tough fighter. Speaking of rooting against him, I did the same both times he fought Whitaker, as I was a big Sweet Pea fan. but not in his other fights. Didn't McGirt fight on HBO a lot? I remember hearing a lot of ads on TV for upcoming McGirt fights in the '90s. He was also great in the Ringside episode when they interviewed him for the Pernell Whitaker episode.

I dunno. I moved to the US around the time he was retiring. He was always in the media & well respected. General consensus was he would have been so much better if it wasn't for the shoulder.

[greynotsoold]

Buddy McGirt was one hell of a good fighter: Like Billy Graham, he was as "one hell of a good fighter" as one can be without being a great fighter. How he lost to Meldrick Taylor, I still cannot understand. If you are young and learning to fight, find as much video of McGirt as you can and study it. He does things, like feint with his knees and feet that you very seldom see any more, and he had such an educated left hand. (Until it blew out on him) Watch the first Whitaker fight (which I thought McGirt won) and watch him feed the "greatest defensive fighter ever" right hands like M&Ms.

[taansend]

Buddy McGirt was one hell of a good fighter: Like Billy Graham, he was as "one hell of a good fighter" as one can be without being a great fighter. How he lost to Meldrick Taylor, I still cannot understand. If you are young and learning to fight, find as much video of McGirt as you can and study it. He does things, like feint with his knees and feet that you very seldom see any more, and he had such an educated left hand. (Until it blew out on him) Watch the first Whitaker fight (which I thought McGirt won) and watch him feed the "greatest defensive fighter ever" right hands like M&Ms.

I remember reading (back when he was active) about how his manager (or trainer) was an old Italian American guy who ran a tailor shop in New Jersey which was a hang out for all the old school boxers & he'd feed off their stories.

[BattlingNelson]

He was a good but surely not great fighter. IMO he was a New York media product hyped by the then powerfull NY press. I'm not an expert on the guy and havent seen his fights since back when they happened, but the above is my opinion on him based on memory.

[frosty-g]

When I told him that the little bald black dude training him was a top level champion he couldn't believe it.

yeah your mate has probably seen how bad he is as a trainer - i find it hard to believe that he in fact used to be a top fighter...

[Ray Corso]

Buddy is young enough to do fine as a trainer. He needs to be aligned with a promotion company that has the young studs on the move. He was a very well versed fighter and had the basics down pat and had a great ability to adjust to styles.
Not knowing his philosophies or methods to teach techniques stops me from being confident that he'll do great. You do need the horses to run in the big races and developing them from scratch is a long proccess that most of the well known trainers haven't done. If your in the inner cities and have an established boxing gym you can get lucky and have a young Joe Louis walk in your gym. Chappy was a happy young man back then ha!! Ray.