Barry McGuigan

Finbar Patrick "Barry" McGuigan , MBE (* 28 February 1961 in Clones , Ireland ) is a former Irish boxer and WBA world champion at featherweight . He was Ireland and Great Britain's Athlete of the Year 1985 and was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2005.

After his active career, he became a sports commentator, trainer and promoter, where he founded the promotion company Cyclone Promotions in 2013 . As the winner of the TV cooking show Hell's Kitchen 2007, he became known to a larger group of people.

Amateur career

Barry McGuigan won the 1978 Irish bantamweight championships and the Commonwealth Games in Canada . He was also a bronze medalist in featherweight in 1980 at the European Junior Championships in Italy and participant in the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow , where he was eliminated in the round of 16.

Professional career

The 1.68 m left boom was managed by Barney Eastwood and trained by Eddie Shaw. His battle name was Clones Cyclone . Between May 10, 1981 and May 31, 1989 he played 35 fights with 32 wins, 28 of them prematurely. He fought 33 of his fights in Ireland and Great Britain, two more in the USA , with 25 of his opponents showing a positive match record. He was British champion and European featherweight champion.

In the course of his career he defeated, among others, the multiple European champion and WBA challenger Jean-Marc Renard, the multiple European champion and WBO world champion Valerio Nati , the WBA and WBC challenger José Caba, the WBC world champion Juan La Porte , and the WBC challengers Felipe Orozco and Nicky Perez.

On June 8, 1985, he boxed in London's Loftus Road stadium , in front of over 26,000 spectators, for the WBA Featherweight Championship and surprisingly defeated the title holder Eusebio Pedroza , who had previously held the championship belt for over seven years and defended it 19 times . McGuigan won unanimously on points over 15 rounds and had his opponent down in the seventh round. The British Boxing Federation voted the duel for fight of the year, and McGuigan was voted Ireland and Great Britain Sportsman of the Year .

In September 1985 he defended the title in Belfast by TKO in the eighth round against the undefeated US-American Bernard Taylor, who was led by the WBA to number 1 in the world rankings of the challengers. Taylor was a 1982 World Cup challenger to Pedroza and had then reached a draw. In February 1986 McGuigan defended the title in Dublin by TKO in round 14 against Danilo Cabrera, who came in the following year and a half to two more World Cup chances.

On June 23, 1986, he lost the WBA title in Las Vegas by losing points to Steve Cruz . McGuigan had been in the lead on points until round 15, but was twice on the ground in the last round and had also received a point deduction in the twelfth round for low beating. The duel was named Ring Magazine Fight of the Year . Cruz, a 5-1 underdog and ranked 9th among its challengers by the WBA, had replaced the Argentinian Fernando Sosa, who had previously dropped out of the fight.

After this defeat he did not fight for almost two years before he ventured a comeback in April 1988. After three early victories, however, he lost himself prematurely in May 1989 due to a cut injury to Jim McDonnell and ended his career.

He was inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 2000 and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2005.

Next to and after boxing

For over ten years he wrote a weekly column for the British newspaper Daily Mirror and also worked as a commentator for the TV channels Prime Network, Star TV Asia, Eurosport , BBC , Sky , Screen Sport, Setanta, Wire TV and ITV . He was immortalized in a few songs, including the song Jonny Boxer by Udo Lindenberg . In 1994 he was awarded the title of MBE .

He is the founder of the Professional Boxing Association (PBA) , which is primarily concerned with the sporting development of professional boxers and represents their interests. He looked at 1,997 published film The Boxer from Jim Sheridan with, coached the actor Daniel Day-Lewis and was choreographer of all Boxszenen the film. In 2007 he won the British TV cooking show Hell's Kitchen under the guidance of Marco Pierre White and then presented the Northern Irish TV cooking show The Fabulous Food Adventure with Jenny Bristow.

In November 2009 he founded the Barry McGuigan Boxing Academy and in 2013 the promotion company CWM Cyclone Promotions , in which his three sons also work. His supervised boxers include Carl Frampton and Josh Taylor .

family

McGuigan is Catholic and in 1981 married his Protestant childhood sweetheart Sara, with whom he had three sons and a daughter. His father, Pat McGuigan, was a singer and represented Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1968 . Before some of his son's fights, he sang the song Danny Boy in the ring .

His son Shane McGuigan was also a boxer and is one of the most famous boxing coaches in Great Britain. In 2016 he was named World Coach of the Year by the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA) with the Eddie Futch Award .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Results of the Irish Championship 1978
2. ↑ Results of the Commonwealth Games 1978
3. ↑ Results of the European Junior Championships 1980
4. ↑ Results of the 1980 Olympic Games
5. ↑ BoxRec profile
6. ↑ Eusebio Pedroza vs. Barry McGuigan
7. ↑ Barry McGuigan vs. Bernard Taylor
8. ↑ Barry McGuigan vs. Steve Cruz
9. ↑ Barry McGuigan vs. Jim McDonnell
10. ↑ Barry McGuigan biography

Web links

• Barry McGuigan in the BoxRec database