Barry McGuigan
Barry McGuigan
Finbar Patrick McGuigan MBE, known as Barry McGuigan and nicknamed The Clones Cyclone, is a retired Irish professional boxer from Clones, County Monaghan, Ireland who became a World Boxing Association featherweight champion. Barry was a fan favourite for Irish and British audiences, as he represented neutrality and peace in a time when Northern Irelandwas divided as part of The Troubles. He founded, and is the current President of, the Professional Boxing Association.McGuigan is the CEO and founder of Cyclone Promotions...
NationalityIrish
ProfessionBoxer
Date of Birth28 February 1961
CountryIreland
There is nothing like wealth for dulling desire.
The trouble with boxing is that too often it ends in sadness.
I train very hard, either rowing on the cross trainer or running. Not only do you feel tired afterwards but it relaxes you, it completely clears the head. But to sort things out I also like to walk.
A pit bull is like a fighter. Every so often it needs to taste blood.
I get people to this day - I won my title 25 years ago - saying how wonderful a time they had during that dark period in our history when they came to watch me fight.
I've spent my life navigating through sensitive issues. Not wanting to upset people.
I wanted to bring people together, and most importantly not feel threatened when they came to watch me box.
Boxing is changing and training methods are slowly being dragged into the 21st century.
I'd had 35 professional fights and mentally I was tired of it. I'd sort ot fallen out of love with the sport.
What I would say about Barney Eastwood is that when our relationship worked, it worked extremely well. He had a lot of strengths as a promoter and a manager.
If somebody had told me in the 1980s that Gerry Adams would shake hands with Ian Paisley or Peter Robinson I would have said put that man in a white suit and lock him up in a padded cell.
I don't want to sound obnoxious, but I like to think I brought it another step. I was able to bring people who were casually interested in boxing together.
Work hard, think fast and you'll last.
Every fighter has a story that could break your heart. We lose, we get hurt and everything comes apart. That's when it's so difficult to stay on the straight and narrow.