Carl backed to join select club
I’d love Frampton to emulate my success as a three-weight champ, says Duke Mckenzie
DUKE Mckenzie knows all about making history — and will have a keen eye on Carl Frampton’s bid to emulate his success on the night of October 15, 1992.
Mckenzie became the first post-war British fighter to win world titles in three weight classes and now, 29 years later, Frampton has the opportunity to join the Londoner and Scotland’s Ricky Burns as a select band of UK boxers to achieve such a glorious feat.
The 57-year-old is mainly known on this side of the Irish Sea for the loss of his world flyweight title to Dave Mcauley in June 1989. A heavy favourite, it was a defeat that stung but also brought relief and then the focus to push for bantamweight and super-bantamweight honours. He even had a shot at a fourth weight, losing in 1994 to former WBO featherweight champion Steve Robinson.
Moving through weight classes, particularly for the smaller men, will often lead to the point where size really does matter and it is one of the clear questions being mulled over when it comes to 5ft 5” Frampton squaring up to 5ft 10” WBO World super-featherweight champion Herring this Saturday night in Dubai.
Mckenzie has been through just about every challenge a fighter can face and when he ponders the Belfast man’s quest for history, it is with hope, respect and some concern.
Speaking exclusively to the Belfast Telegraph, Mckenzie said: “When I fought Steve Robinson for the featherweight title, a fourth weight division, he was just too strong for me.
“It wasn’t about skill-set or mindset — he was just too big. I would hit with my best shots and he’d just blink and walk forward. When that happens, it’s heartbreaking.
“There’s no doubt Herring is very, very big for the weight so it is going to be interesting to see how Carl deals with that.
“It’s certainly a bigger ask than it was for me to become a threeweight world champion.
“I have to say that I don’t think Frampton is the fighter he once was, he’s about 10 per cent less than the guy who fought Leo Santa Cruz. Those fights with Santa Cruz and Warrington take a lot out of you. If the fight was in Belfast, I would be picking Carl because that passionate support makes you fight 10 per cent above yourself. That’s the difference between winning and losing.
“Herring isn’t an exceptional champion but we don’t know how good he is and there is no doubt he has to be tight at the weight. That’s why I think if Carl is to win, he has to put the pressure on from the start, set a hot pace and maintain that frenetic pace until the end. When you’re fighting a guy who is bigger, you cannot afford to stand off him and Herring is technically quite smart.
“Looking at Carl’s fights between Santa Cruz through to Warrington, he is not as fresh as he once was but if he can maintain a good pace then he has every chance of winning.
“That would set him up for a massive fight with Shakur Stevenson but if he were to pull this off, it would be a real milestone. I know Carl has spoken about legacy and as a three division champion, he would automatically be thinking about entering the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
“To be the only Irish fighter to win titles in three different weights and the third British fighter would take him from being a good fighter to a great fighter. We would then have what sounds like the start of a joke — an Englishman, a Scottish man and Irishman with titles in three divisions.
“I do think it would be a fitting way for Carl to walk away. He would have a nice pay-day and could leave at the top of the sport with all his faculties. Not many fighters have the chance to do that.
“If I was in Carl’s shoes, that’s what I would do.”
Just like Frampton, who badly suffered the strain of weight-making when a super-bantamweight, Mckenzie felt it badly when a flyweight.
Boiling down to eight stone, and standing two inches taller than Frampton is currently, was never easy and leading up to that IBF title loss to Mcauley at Wembley Arena, he felt it as bad as ever.
That, along with the belief from his manager Mickey Duff that Mcauley was a spent force, brought about his downfall.
Mcauley’s manager, the late great BJ Eastwood, had convinced Duff that Mcauley — who had lost in two previous world title fights — was simply seeking a boost to his pension pot. A unanimous points victory followed by five further title defences was the totality of an Eastwood masterstroke.
Open and honest, Mckenzie said: “I don’t hide away from the fact I lost seven times in my career.
“I only ever say out of the
‘A win would take him from being a good fighter to a great fighter’
fights I lost, one fight I would dispute was the super-bantamweight loss to Daniel Jimenez. I was at home and lost by a point — how was that possible? The defeat to Mcauley, I have no problem with.
“I knew two rounds in I wasn’t going to win because he was hurting me with every punch. I just went into survival mode. I’m not sure I could have beaten Mcauley on my best day but I’d liked a rematch at bantamweight.
“I took my eyes off the prize. Two weeks before the fight, I was in Barbados at my brother’s wedding.
“I should never have been there and when I got back I was a stone and four pounds over weight but Mickey had told me when we made the match that Mcauley was done and that he had bounced off the canvas that many times that we called him Picasso.
“Even when I was struggling with the weight, Mickey told me not to worry, he said ‘Mcauley’s finished’. Then when it came to the weigh-in, Mickey looked at me and said, ‘Duke you look like a black pair of braces!’
“I cannot tell you how happy I was when I lost the fight. Of course it was a painful experience for me but all I could think about was eating again. Food had become my god and I was setting my alarm so every four hours I would eat.”
As Mckenzie ponders the outcome of Herring-frampton, it is with pride that he reflects on the night he overcame Jesse Benavides in Lewisham Theatre to become a three-weight world champion.
The American came with an impressive record and favoured to make a second successful defence of his title.
“Mickey always said that a happy fighter is a good fighter and I was very comfortable at the weight.
“Because I’d lost my bantamweight title, I just looked at it that this fight with Benavides was my last and that I would leave every ounce in the ring.
“That’s what I did and at the end I was elated. But as the years have gone on, it has become even more significant what I achieved on that night.
“Mickey Duff did a great job with me. He took me from being a nobody as an amateur to a three division champion.
“When all is said and done, that’s how I’ll be remembered. I may be cash poor but I’m championship rich.
“Mickey was the best manager/promoter around. I believe I have the worst amateur record of any professional world champion and when I first asked Mickey to sign me, he refused. He just said he didn’t have time to manage me so I had to torture him. He was living in LA for a lot of the time and I’d ring him at 2am asking him to manage me but he refused.
“Then by sheer accident I broke the nose of Kelvin Smart in sparring, who Mickey was managing, just a couple of weeks out from his title fight. I thought I was in big trouble when Mickey told me to come to his office but he had a contract on the table and told me to sign.
“If I had to do it all over again, I would do it exactly the way it was with Mickey. He made me a three-weight champion and I have tremendous respect for the man.”
So will Frampton join Mckenzie and Burns as a three-weight king?
“I would love to see Carl pull it off.”