Awesome Barry McGuigan Interview

**JuicyJuice** · 06-22-2006, 07:10 AM

DC: Do you miss home?

BMG: Yes, certainly. Particularly now as my little girl isn't well. She's well at the moment, but I'd love to have my family around me.

DC: Many people thought you retired too young - this move was widely respected but is increasingly uncommon in boxing. Many fighters carry on for too long...

BMG: Regretfully so, from my point of view. Not that they all become denigrated into embarrasment, but many do unfortunately. A lot more fighters should invest their time in education and life after the ring. But some of them are short - sighted and it just happens time and time again (fighters carrying on for too long). This is a real sadness for me because I started the Professional Boxers Association a couple of years ago, and quite honestly we're struggling at the moment because we don't have any financial support and we don't have support from the fighters. Boxing, by definition, doesn't lend itself to unity and a union because it's such an individual sport. We find it difficult to get guys together and boxing managers, becuase they view us with su****ion, paint a bad picture of us to their fighters. We have to deal with a great deal of apathy and indifference. It is regretful to me that many fighters don't take advantage of what we have to offer them. We're there, but they just don't avail of our services in general.

DC: What is on offer at the Professional Boxers Association?

BMG: Most importantly, education. We encourage boxers to play an active part in their careers and learn to handle their financial affairs in conjunction with their managers - let them know that they're entitled to see all the records and all the financial papers relating to them. But fighters, by in large, are not interested in the finer financial details. They're only interested in getting on with their careers and making money and leaving the paperwork - which is the most important aspect when all is said and done - to their managers. Many of them get, let's say, disappointed when it's all over.

Every aspect of boxing is very important to me, but most of all I care about the fighters. We saw Edwin Rosario being found dead by his Mum and Dad, just in his thirties. Mercedes was shot dead on the streets, Estaban De Jesus died in jail, Bowe's wife left him and he needs psychiatric help, Wilfredo Benitez needs 24 hour care....A lot of great fighters over here are sad shadows of themselves also. It's just a catalogue of disasters and a litany of sad stories. I simply wish more fighters would get proper advice and think about what happens when the curtain comes down on their careers. Too many of them don't, and end up bitter, twisted old men. And more importantly, the vast majority of fighters don't handle their money correctly. They don't get proper advice, and often don't get any financial advice at all. And to be fair to managers, many won't take advice.

DC: Do you ever regret retiring when you did, and can you understand the plight of the Rid**** Bowe's, Frank Bruno's, etc...

BMG: I can understand it, we all miss the roar of the crowd. It's much more than that though, and mabye it's unfair of me to make that statement. However, there's such a void in a figher's life when he retires. Boxing consumes every minute of every day when you're active as a professional, and fighters should try make allowances for other things. A great many fighters are so involved in their careers that everything takes a back seat, including the family, and they spend long months away in camp and travelling from fight to fight. They really should consider that when they're fighting and think about when it's all over. I'm starting to repeat myself now, but the fact is that I honestly wish the P.B.A. had been around to talk to when I turned pro.

Fighters should consider spending 3 or 4 hours out of their day doing a computer course, or training as a mechanic, or doing an apprenticeship as a plasterer, or whatever. Four hours a day over a couple of years, even at your prime, would not be a large sacrifice. And it's great to be able to get away from boxing and to switch off. You've got plenty of educated guys boxing these days. It would just mean that when the shutters come down you're not left in a black hole, you have some light at the end of the tunnel. It is distressing for me because I can see it happening. I can spot the guys who will run into trouble, and I can pull them aside for five or ten minutes, but a lot won't take advice. I'm not trying to say that I'm perfect and that everybody should be like me, but they should try to have a little more foresight - stop being so cocooned in their own little twelve - month - ahead world: "Where's my next fight?" I know that sounds a little bit dictatorial, but I'm just being a realist.

DC: Do you have any comment to make on Jim Mc Donnell's return to boxing last month in Germany?

BMG: Yeah, I think it's idiotic. And that's an understatement. I think he's being totally foolish. He's pushing 38 now and he draws against a club fighter, he can make all the excuses in the world, he can say it was a bad decision, but where's he going for God's sake? He's going nowhere.

DC: You tried your hand at a lot of different professions after you retired: Formula One racing, chat show hosting, singing, working on "The Boxer" and working as a TV boxing analyst. Which of these did you enjoy most?

BMG: My career is boxing, all the rest were fun. This is serious, and we can all participate in fun from time to time. The TV chat show thing went, let's just say, wrong. As a young man I didn't have any experience in this field, but it's something I intend to go back to, and I'd like to be involved in light entertainment in some capacity in the future. But my life is boxing, and my career is as an analyst. I haven't got it right yet, I'm still improving and getting better as is the whole show on Sky TV. The concept of the show will change as time goes on in order to make it as good as possible.

Music, for example, is my passion. I love it and I'll always be really into music as I get great satisfaction from it. I'd like to be able to do something muscially in the future also, in a small way. The motor racing was great fun, but I was just being a big kid as far as that was concerned. I availed of the opportunities that presented themselves but I won't be doing that in the future because first of all I'm not good enough - I'm too brave on the track for my ability. Or to put it another way, I'm just crazy! I'd prefer to leave racing to the people who are skillful at it, but it was marvellous fun. I'm still crazy about formula one, I was just up 'till the early hours the other day watching the grand prix. I'm a real anorak for formula one and motor sport in general, but I'm just a spectator these days. I'm not involved in any form of motor sport, nor am I likely to be in the future.

**JuicyJuice** · 06-22-2006, 07:10 AM

DC: Tell us more about "The Boxer", and how it came about...

BMG: Well, working on "The Boxer" was marvelous and the movie industry is another thing I'd love to get involved in again. It was very time consuming, of course, but I enjoyed it greatly. The movie was inspired by my story - Jim Sheridan lived in Hell's Kithen in the early eighties and he was head of the Irish Arts Centre over there. He was obviously keeping an eye on the politics of Northern Ireland, and he heard a lot of negative stories. But one day he heard some guy say "leave the fighting to Mc Guigan", and he thought it a bit idealistic but he liked the idea. He saw me fighting, got to know me and ended up living with me for 6 months. He wrote my autobiography "Leave The Fighting To Mc Guigan", which was a bestseller over here. We parted company in 1986 and he said he intended to go into the movie industry and said that if he ever got a chance he would do a movie on me.

The story was not the story he wanted to tell, the guy that he featured as the main character had to have a political history. But it was very gratifying to me to know that it was inspired by my story. There are elements in it which resemble my story, like the love affair Danny Flynn had with Maggie and how boxing benefitted both communities as it was a non - sectarian club. Also the third fight in England where Danny fights the African and almost beats him to death. That actually did happen in my career, I had a tragic fight in 1982 when my opponent Young Ali died afterwards. That was a very traumatic time for me...

However, going back to the story, Daniel (Day Lewis) came to me in 1994, and we trained together since then. The first time we went to a fight together was Benn - Mc Clellan. I trained him pretty intensely and he got very good, he was sparring with some good fighters. He really put his heart and soul into it and I trained him on an ongoing basis during the months preceeding the movie. I was aware of everything that happened during the making of "The Boxer" - Jim would tell me how the script was unfolding and ask me what I thought about it as we didn't have a proper script right until the very end.

They told me they wanted three fights, and I had to find the opponents, so myself and some colleagues found the right guys. They sparred extensively with Daniel during the making of the movie and we did all the coreography during the day. Daniel would come in at 2 o' clock and spar, and I have to take my hat off to him, he was fantastic. The coreography was tough too, we had to train with the boys and Damien Denny (an actual pro, and one of Day Lewis' opponents in "The Boxer") had to lose two stone for the role. We would get up in the morning, have breakfast, go to the gym, work out the coreography, and work it out for an hour or so before Daniel would come along. Then Daniel would do a two hour stint of sparring and training and I'd go through a full routine with him. Then he'd go back out and we'd do the coreography again, show it to Daniel and he'd try to pick it up and practise it.

Then we'd have tea, go to the gym for another two hour session, and it was really tough work. As the fight scenes became closer, we went through the coreography extensively with Daniel - round by round, punch by punch and move by move. Because we agreed that we didn't want to make it like so many other Hollywood movies that had so much exaggerated boxing effects, we decided that we would take it back a step. We inculded the half - hits, the misses and mixed actual sparring with coreography. So a lot of it is proper sparring and most of the salient points in the fights were coreographed.

DC: How do you rate Daniel Day Lewis as a boxer?

BMG: Well, as a fighter, he was a good club fighter at the end of it all. I'm sure people will say, "how could he be that good," but I worked with him for long enough and I know how good he is. I've seen him stun and floor guys in the gym, and I've seen him get hurt himself and come back. I've seen him roll his head, skipping around the ring and keeping out of trouble. I know the middleweights who travel around providing opposition for young prospects and sometimes upset the applecart. Daniel could easily mix with those guys right now. Right after the movie was made, when he was at his best, he could have gone in and fought professionally. Eliminate the top fifteen middleweights in Britain, and the rest he could have fought easily - and beaten the majority of them.

DC: How much does he love the sport?

BMG: He's mad about it, totally and utterly besotted with boxing. He's now an encyclopedia on boxing - not only does he know the up - and - coming fighters, but he also knows the champions of a hundred years ago. I've never seen anybody articulate the way Daniel can, and he's such an intelligent bloke. He can make boxing sound so artistic, he can say the things fighters can't say because they aren't as intelligent and articulate as Daniel. They are often frustrated because they can't put into words why they like the game, but Daniel was able to do that for many of them (in a Sky TV interview, during which Day Lewis made an amazingly insightful case for boxing and reminded us all why we follow the sport so closely).

DC: We touched on the similarity between Danny Flynn's relationship with Maggie in "The Boxer", and your relationship and marriage to Sandra...

BMG: Sandra and I have been in love since we first met, we grew up together. I think that was something which struck Jim also, as he wanted to mirror the relationship between him and his wife Fran also. Most of these filmmakers are actually telling their own stories, and there are direct similarities between Sandra and I, Jim and Fran and the characters in the movie - apart from the fact that Sandra is a protestant and Maggie is an IRA prisoner's wife!

DC: Did you feel the movie was an accurate reflection of life in contemporary Belfast?

BMG: Well it was a little too severe at times, but you need some artistic licence. In many ways, it was very similar.

DC: Did you encounter any hostility similar to that experienced by Danny Flynn in the movie, given that your wife was from the other side of the sectarian divide?

BMG: No, none whatsoever. The obvious difference is that Danny was seeing a prisoner's wife, and as far as I know Sandra wasn't married! I didn't experience any problems, certainly nobody ever said anything directly to me about it. I'm sure there were ********** - minded people who didn't like the idea of me marrying a Protestant, but those guys never worried me in the past and are not likely to worry me in the future either. The extremists wouldn't come and support me as a fighter because they thought I was "Barry the Brit," but they never concerned me.

Everybody's entitled to their opinion, but I never wanted any support from the extremist elements of the sectarian movements in the first place.

* NOTE: Barry won the British and European titles as a rising pro, and his contesting the British title angered some ********** - minded Irish people. Every successful sportsman who is even vaguely connected with Britain (look at Lennox Lewis, who fought for Canada in the Olympics) is embraced by the British public and heralded by them as one of their own (until they lose - just wait for Lennox Lewis to suddenly become a Canadian again when his reign at the top ends). Barry was no exception to this rule, and his being called "British" by everybody in England (even Margaret Thatcher) along with the fact that he held the British title led to him being dubbed "Barry the Brit" by the bitter - minded.

Tune in next time, when Barry goes on to speak about the fighters of today, the state of boxing today and much more..........

**JuicyJuice** · 06-22-2006, 07:11 AM

This month, we conclude our lengthy interview with Barry Mc Guigan. The former featherweight king speaks about boxing safety, Mike Tyson, the future of boxing on TV and the champions and prospects of today.
DC: You constantly devote your scarce time to charity work and work with the Professional Boxer's Association, both of which are unpaid. Why?

BMG: I don't want money for this work. It has always been my ambition to make the fight game fairer for the fighters and to make it more difficult for them to be exploited. Hopefully some of them will look back at their careers and say, "that was really good" instead of saying, "Jesus, what a disaster!"

DC: Do you think your foundation of the P.B.A. was motivated by your own experience as a pro?

BMG: There's no doubt about that - my experience certainly led me into what I'm doing, but there are so many guys currently in the same position as I was back then.

DC: The constant exploitation of fighters by Don King is widely documented but it is suspected by many that exploitation isn't confined to the other side of the Atlantic. Do you encounter many similar scenarios in Britain and Ireland?

BMG: I have to be careful what I say here, I don't want to point fingers at anybody. But to say that exploitation no longer exists in boxing or that it exists only in the US is wrong. It continues to go on, fighters tend to get the short end of the stick sometimes and I wish that weren't the case.

DC: We spoke earlier about Gerald Mc Clellan's fight against Nigel Benn. The tragic injuries sustained by Mc Clellan during this fight re - opened the debate about whether boxing should be banned.....

BMG: Well Mc Clellan isn't the only fighter to be seriously injured in recent years - don't forget Carl Wright, Michael Watson, and Rod Douglas. Having said that, because of the fact that he is blind and his hearing is impaired, Mc Clellan's case is probably the most severe.

DC: What do you think is the way forward for the safety of boxing and how would you answer the abolitionists?

BMG: Well, the abolitionists are completely wrong, and I don't think I need to get into that argument. Boxing is one of the least dangerous contact sports we have. There are so many other sports where contestants are killed and injured. You see jockeys breaking their necks falling off horses, only recently for example the captain of the Welsh rugby team was paralysed - a young man tragically cut down in his prime. All you have to do is ring up St. John's Ambulance or any emergency unit on any given week, and you'll find that a rugby player had their neck broken or their collarbone broken or have cerebral difficulties. My point is that boxing shouldn't be singled out. We all have a right to take part in whatever sport we want, even if there is a risk attached.

As administrators of boxing however, we have an obligation to protect these guys as much as we can. Now, how can we make boxing safer? We can make boxing safer by first of all setting a very high standard for referees. Secondly, we need to have anaestethists ringside rather than just paramedics. This is something we have been fighting for for a very long time, and it hasn't been set in place by the British Boxing Board of Control as yet. It's compulsory in Wales because Wales is a smaller area and the doctor over there, a guy called Ray Moncell, is absolutely fantastic. He has boxing safety down to a fine art: He has anaestethists there in case anything goes wrong The experts are there to administer a general anaestethic, the boxer is put into a controlled coma, he is brought to hospital, they get the job done - ****! This should be made mandatory throughout the country.

They should have anaestethists at every single one of the 350 - odd shows we have per year, and the Board of Control should pay for that. MRI scans have now become compulsory thanks to our hounding the Board of Control, which is a great thing. Monitoring of MRI scans has already been shown to be effective in Robbie Regan's case (Note: Then WBO bantamweight champion Regan was forced to retire earlier this year when he failed an MRI scan). Very sad for poor Robbie, but the guy even accepts it himself - he's at risk and he's not going to take the chance of suffering permanent brain damage. There's now going to be what's called psychometric testing, which means fighters must undergo a psychological test as well as a physical test. This is basically an IQ test where you compete only against yourself, and this will be put in place very soon.

Thanks to the P.B.A. hounding the Board of Control, they have accepted that MRI scans are a necessity and they've accepted psychometric testing. But a regulation which should be imposed also is that no professional boxing should be staged more than 30 minutes away from a neurosurgical hospital. Not all hospitals are neurosurgical, and any neurosurgeon will tell you that the fighter, the athlete, the accident victim, whatever, must get to them within what they call 'the golden hour.' If they don't get there within that hour, they have different degrees of brain damage.

That's what happened to Michael Watson - he was brought to Middlesex hospital, which isn't a neurosurgical hospital, and then he was brought down to St. Bart's, where Dr. Peter Hamilton - who is excellent - operated on him. Dr. Hamilton's expertise basically saved Watson's life, but had Watson been brought to the right hospital first time around the injury would not have been so bad. If the nearest neurosurgical hospital is less than half an hour away, and if the hospital is notified in advance that a boxing show will be taking place on any given evening nearby, then we safeguard the fighters.

In general terms, we need to make the gloves smaller and we need to make the composition of the gloves harder - they should be packed with harder, more dense, shock absorbent foam, maybe even felt, depending on what the experts say. We need to put more focus on the gloves. I did an experiment recently with a girl called Dr. Sandra Bell who developed a computerised head which had a skull in the same shape as a human skull with electrodes attached to the inside of it. The electrodes relayed messages back to a computerised recorder and the inside of the head reacted in exactly the same way as a human head reacts to a punch. I wore four different gloves to see how they differed: Amateur gloves (bigger, more bulbous gloves), smaller gloves, normal professional gloves and Reyes gloves. The results were interesting, but not conclusive unfortunately. The bigger gloves did more deep damage to the brain - they damaged the back of the brain more than the smaller gloves, but the shock from the Reyes gloves to the front of the brain was dramatic in comparison to the amateur gloves. The amateur gloves caused less initial shock but more deep damage. What I'm saying basically is that I think the bigger gloves are actually counterproductive. They do more damage than smaller gloves.

We put a headguard onto the computerised head, and hit it with these big 10 oz. amateur gloves. There was more deep damage to the base of the brain than there was when we took the headguard off. So what does that tell you? We have to concentrate on the content of a boxing glove - this is something which has never been looked at in any great detail.

I'm not an advocate for rounds being shorter and breaks being longer, I think that's wrong. Twelve rounds is certainly short enough - you've got to draw the line somewhere. If we go along with Jose Sullaiman's proposal then world title fights will eventually become shorter as well. I don't want to see the dissipation of boxing, and it will if we go down that road.

**JuicyJuice** · 06-22-2006, 07:12 AM

DC: Boxing has evolved a lot, even since you retired, and most would say it has evolved for the worse. In your rise to becoming world champion you were forced to meet truly dangerous opponents in order to prove yourself, which is not usually the case today. Are you glad you fought in the era which you did?

BMG: In many ways I am, but from a monetary point of view I wish I were around nowadays. I know I would have made a lot of money, and the fighters are just not as good - certainly in my division. However, there was more validity attached to the title back then thanks to the fact that there were only two titles and a third one which had just appeared and wasn't being taken seriously. We also fought for fifteen rounds. I liked the championship distance, 0I liked the fact that we were only fighting for a couple of titles and I wish boxing would go back to that. I'm not saying that there are no good fighters around nowadays, but there are guys walking around now with world titles that would certainly not have been champions in my day. The way we're going, we'll end up having more fighters with titles than without titles, and it's becoming a joke.

So what I have asked the people at Sky to do is to recognise only four titles (WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO). To hold some of the titles coming out nowadays is less worthy than being called champion of the street. I think it's a disgrace - I can't stand the sight of these guys strutting around emblazoned with their WB-whatever or IB-whatever.

DC: What do you think of the growth of Pay - Per - View and the virtual disappearance of boxing from terrestrial TV over here?

BMG: That's another story, and it's something which concerns me a great deal despite the fact that I work for Sky TV. Sky are the best in the business, and in many ways they've done for boxing what terrestrial TV was never prepared to do. They give boxing time, they show live events on a weekly basis, we have a magazine show every week, and we put on a second boxing show during the week if we feel it's credible. We give fighters the chance to appear on network television every single week. We follow fighters, we do library footage on them, we build up a profile on them, we spend time on fighters and we give the show over completely to boxing. This is unlike terrestrial TV, who would join a fight in round four. We go from start to finish, we believe in boxing, and it has become an integral part of Sky Sports. And say what you like about Sky Sports, they work their asses off. I work with a team of ten guys, and we work like hell to make sure these kids get a chance to make a name for themselves. We give them an opportunity, and all credit to them if they take it.

DC: Were you surprised at the figures released for last year which showed the highest viewing figures for boxing to be not Naz on Sky, but a non - title fight featuring light middleweight Paul Burke which was shown delayed on terrestrial TV?

BMG: Yes, but I think figures can be manipulated. You have to allow for the amount of people in a pub, the amount of guys who would have had their mates around to their houses to watch the fights. I'd like to see boxing back on terrestrial TV, I'd like to see the heads of sport from the terrestrial TV stations taking boxing seriously again. Unfortunately most sports have now disappeared from terrestrial TV and are being shown on satellite TV. Terrestrial stations just weren't prepared to put enough time and money into boxing in the first place. Even in provincial areas, they weren't prepared to help build up the smaller fighters that are the Eubanks, Benns and Naz's of tomorrow.

I can understand why Frank Warren signed up with Sky - the terrestrial stations were putting his shows on at 12 midnight, they weren't giving him any time, and he was becoming increasingly frustrated. I remember talking to the head of sport at the BBC when Wayne (Mc Cullough) was coming along, and I said, "what's going on? What is it with you guys? Why don't you spend some money, give these fighters some time and in no time you'll have a hero again who will be drawing ten, twelve million people." When I fought Pedrosa in 1985 I drew twenty million viewers - think about that, twenty million people. When Eubank was fighting on terrestrial TV he was regularly drawing fifteen million people, and when he fought Benn they drew nineteen million. How can TV chiefs say that's not a profitable enterprise?

I made this argument to the head of sport at the BBC, and he said, "well, boxing's not a priority anymore." So I said, "you're making a big mistake." And you know what it was? It wasn't that boxing was no longer a priority, it was that he had already lost it (to Sky). Just like the terrestrial TV stations have lost nearly every other sport. I mean, you can't argue with the big buck, and that's the problem. I know Sky is supposedly going out to only 30% of the TV audience, but I don't believe that and I think people will inevitably come around to buying Sky and it will probably level out at around 45 or 50% of the television audience. It will become cheaper, and terrestrial TV will become so devoid of proper live sports that people of only peripheral interest will have to buy satellite TV to see what's going on. This is a sad dilemma, but it's the reality.

DC: Are you optimistic about the future of boxing given how it has metamorphisised?

BMG: No problem - boxing will always be big time, it will always be huge. People like to watch fellas fighting. It's a violent world out there, and there'll always be voyeurs. People like to see a spectacle and there's no greater spectacle than big-time boxing. And no matter what people say, it's the greatest, most exciting one - on - one sport in the world. Ask Sky TV, they'll tell you: The five biggest audiences they've ever had were for boxing shows.

DC: Mike Tyson is the most famous boxer in the world, and he's been making news for all the wrong reasons. What did you think of his rematch with Holyfield, his suspension by the NASC, his venture into pro wrestling and his recent attempt to cut ties with Don King?

BMG: Well, he should have cut ties with King a long time ago, he should never have signed with him again when he was released from prison. Having said that however, I think King, no matter who he gets involved with, has a stranglehold over them. He doesn't sign short - term contracts, he signs long - term contracts. He's a big player, and you can see the reasons why Tyson would have found it attractive to sign with him. But you can't buy experience - if Tyson had stood back and looked at things from a distance...he was always going to be bigger than Don King, he didn't need King to be massive again. But they got on well together.

Let's take away Don King for a second and talk about Tyson - Tyson was never going to be the same when he got out of prison. To my mind, he was sliding downhill before his incarceration. Even against Razor Ruddock the second time around he looked shabby, he didn't look sharp, he didn't have the head movement or quick combinations and he was relying too much on one big punch. Four years in the slammer wasn't going to do him any good.

He came back to boxing, and saw how desperate the heavyweight division had become - Frank Bruno had become world heavyweight champion! He had a couple of good wins over nondescript opposition and then he ran into Holyfield. Everyone has their bogeyman out there, and I think Holyfield would always have beaten Tyson. He took away his speed - he was just as fast as Tyson. This was the one advantage Tyson had over all these other guys, he has a low centre of gravity. He was extremely powerful, and he was fast. He'd make opponents miss and catch them ten times where normal heavyweights would only counter once or twice. Tyson pounded his opponents from body to head with rapid-fire combinations. That's why Tyson ploughed through most heavyweights, but Holyfield had moved up from light heavyweight to cruiserweight and then to heavyweight and he was just as quick as Tyson. And he wasn't intimidated by him in any way.

That second fight with Holyfield was horrible. What Tyson did in the ring just destroyed people's view of him. Many people were just sickened by it. For me too, I had so much respect for the guy, I never thought he would do something like that. There are unwritten rules within boxing rules, and you just don't step over them. But Tyson broke all the rules that night. He was going to get beaten, and he was going to get beaten in similar fashion to the first time so he got himself disqualified. And it was premeditated - he spat his gumshield out when he came out for the two preceding rounds, and when the referee spotted it he thought, "well, I'll do it with the gumshield in." So he did have it in mind, which I find shocking.

Maybe it's a good thing now he has gotten rid of Rory Holloway and John Horne. I know these guys were just hangers-on. People are blowing his involvement with WWF wrestling out of proportion though, there's nothing wrong with that. It's just a bit of fun - I had fun with motor car racing, and I enjoyed it. Apparently Tyson is a fan of WWF wrestling, but that's all choreography, don't take any of that to heart. I think the real issue is whether he gets his licence back or whether he should be allowed have his licence back.

**JuicyJuice** · 06-22-2006, 07:13 AM

DC: This is regarded as a foregone conclusion....

BMG: Of course it is, from a financial point of view at least. But don't forget that King will now go out of his way to blacken Tyson's name because of the fact that Tyson is now suing King. King has allegedly taken $45m. off Tyson! I read that he took $9m. from his last fight off the top. The issue of a promoter holding options over fighters is a pivotal one in this case. I spoke to a Boston journalist called Jim Brady last week and he said that options on fighters are illegal in the state of Nevada and the state of New Jersey. But I spoke to Matt Tinley tonight and he says it's more difficult than that - what the promoters use is called a 'personal service contract,' which overrides the options laws. The fighters sign the options and then sign this contract which negates any state legislation.

DC: Do you think Naseem Hamed has the potential to become an all - time great?

BMG: He has the potential to become a very good fighter. But the thing about Naz is that he needs to change his PR man. You know and I know that he doesn't have a PR man, but you know what I'm getting at. He needs to be more humble and less ****y and conceited. But he's a great fighter, and I'm sure he'll go on to become an outstanding fighter. He may jump a division, he may jump two divisions, but because he fights with such recklessness I don't think he can go beyond lightweight.

DC: Can he live with the likes of Gatti and Manfredy?

BMG: He can cope with Gatti because anyone who he's faster than, he will beat. Manfredy is quick, he has a good chin. He's not the most explosive of punchers, but he has a reasonable shot. I don't know if Naz could beat Manfredy, but I think he can beat Gatti because Gatti's very vulnerable and he's slow. He's a heavy-handed guy but he's slow.

DC: From your work with Sky and work within boxing you must have spotted a few young prospects. Who should we look out for in the future from Ireland and the UK?

BMG: Richard Hatton at light welterweight: Exceptionally talented, lovely jabs, beautiful body shots, impressive footwork and some quick hands. He moves in and out of range well and is going to be a top fighter; Spencer Oliver is the next big thing over here, he's at super bantamweight*; Richie Evatt is a hard-punching featherweight, he could do well; There's a guy called Scott Harrison from Glasgow who is a very good featherweight, but needs to get some more variety in moves; At light welterweight we have Mark Winters who is developing into a very good fighter - he could be European champion, and might even fight for the world title. He lacks a bit of power, but he's a beautiful boxer - good skills and quick hands; Howard Eastman is worth watching at middleweight, he's going to be good; Cathal O' Grady is a good prospect at cruiserweight, although he's still a baby as a professional; Damaen Kelly at flyweight is not a great puncher, but he's a very good thinking boxer. He's very determined, very fit and has great experience from the amateur ranks which will help him as a pro; At heavyweight we have Danny Williams who has a great deal of physical potential, but seems to have mental and emotional issues which may hold him back; Wayne Llewlyn is also a big, tough heavyweight; Michael Sprott is another heavyweight coming through. The only reservation I have about him though is that 217lbs. is a little light for a heavyweight, and maybe he's not rugged enough.

DC: Wayne Mc Cullough is another fighter from Northern Ireland who has been compared to you a lot. Do you think he can pick up the pieces of his career and regain a world title?

BMG: I think he can, but he needs to get on with it.

DC: Who would you go out of your way to watch fighting?

BMG: Ricardo Lopez, master technician; De La Hoya against Trinidad; Roy Jones Jr. against any cruiserweight, preferably a good one. I'd like to see him clean up the light heavyweights first though, and despite what people say I think he can go on to fight Holyfield. The other guys may be too big at heavyweight, but I think Holyfield will suit him because he's quick, and he's the sort of guy who is going to give Holyfield trouble.

DC: Are you happy in your current role as boxing analyst and columnist, and do you have any more exciting projects coming up?

BMG: I am very happy in what I'm doing. Because my wee girl's not well, I don't want to stray too far away. I'd like to get another role in a show on terrestrial TV, I think I have more to offer than just my boxing knowledge. However, I love boxing and I love doing what I do. The ultimate job is to do what you enjoy and get paid for it. I have that, and please God it will continue.

We wish Barry continued success in his career and his vital role as President of the P.B.A., and we thank him for giving up his time to speak to the Cyber Boxing Journal.

* This interview was conducted before Spencer Oliver sustained the well - publicised injury which will sadly prevent him from fighting again.

**JuicyJuice** · 06-22-2006, 07:14 AM

Originally posted by JuicyJuice

DC: From your work with Sky and work within boxing you must have spotted a few young prospects. Who should we look out for in the future from Ireland and the UK?

BMG: Richard Hatton at light welterweight: Exceptionally talented, lovely jabs, beautiful body shots, impressive footwork and some quick hands. He moves in and out of range well and is going to be a top fighter

Richard Hatton at light welterweight: Exceptionally talented, lovely jabs, beautiful body shots, impressive footwork and some quick hands. He moves in and out of range well and is going to be a top fighter

**JuicyJuice** · 06-22-2006, 07:19 AM

I wish Ricky would go back to boxing.. he was a top international in the junior ranks and boxed his way to wins, and in his early pro career he wasn't an all-out pressure fighter - he was a composed boxer who showed off his talent.

**DLT** · 06-22-2006, 07:25 AM

Why did you go out your way to post a long "old" interview like that? Just because of the Hatton statment? You wouldve been better off just posting that part or the few parts you wanted people to read

**Guest** · 06-22-2006, 08:04 AM

Barry McGuigan always says the third round is his least favourite, you know.

Awesome Barry McGuigan Interview