ANTHONY FOWLER
It’s time for the updated “Machine” as Anthony Fowler goes back to basics. At Dave Coldwell’s gym in Rotherham he speaks to John Dennen
The outspoken Scouser has his say on Twitter trolls and Olympic heartache
IT’S hard to believe a four-fight professional novice can be on the receiving end of such abuse. But Anthony Fowler has already seen the ugliest side of social media. “People have said they hope I get killed in the ring and everything. I swear. Some people don’t like me. I remember when I was boxing for my Olympic spot and some lad from England put a picture up of my opponent saying, ‘This lad can make my dream come true if he beats Fowler today.’ I thought, ‘Is your life that sad, mate, that you’re sitting there your dream is for me to get beat? Where’s your own dreams and aspirations? Your dream is for me to get beat.’ I just looked at it, laughed and just beat the kid,” Fowler told Boxing News.
“A fellow Brit, supporting a German over myself. What have I done to him? Apart from give my opinion on a few matters he might not agree with. It is what it is. You can’t please everyone,” he reflected ruefully. “If someone I don’t know on Twitter is sitting behind a keyboard saying Fowler’s terrible, he’s got flat feet or whatever, it doesn’t bother me. Because they’re nothing to me, they’re just keyboard warriors.”
“I’ve always had stick. I’m one of those boxers, I always give my opinions. I don’t want to sit back on the fence. I think it’s important to engage with people and get your personality across,” the Liverpudlian added. “I have always been known, before I turned pro.”
Fowler did have an eventful amateur career. He won the ABAS in 2010, when Fowler dropped his hands to walk through Tom Baker at York Hall, the first of multiple titles. He won gold at the Commonwealth Games, flooring and hurting Vijender Singh in the final at Glasgow 2014, to go with the bronze medal he picked up at the World championships the previous year.
And Fowler has always talked a good game. After qualifying for the Olympics he went to Rio 2016 full of confidence. But his hopes came crashing down in his first bout, against Kazakhstan’s Zhanibek Alimkhanuly. It was a humbling experience. “The Olympics was hard. It was hard to take. I’m not going to lie,” Anthony said. “I was heartbroken because I put so much into it. I trained wrong, I trained too hard, looking back. But I did try so, so hard, even in the whole preparation.
“I over-trained. I want to do that little bit more than my opponents. I always think I need to do more than them because what separates us all? We all want to win, everyone wants to win but what separates the man from the other man? I think it’s who works a little bit harder.
“It was hard to take the Olympics, it was very, very hard. I won’t be over it, until I win a belt [as a pro].”
“That Kazakh was elite,” he continued. “That kid was the youngest world champion in history at middleweight. He was a special kid him. He was massive. He’s a light-heavyweight now, I’m a superwelter.”
With a heavy southpaw cross Alimkhanuly put Fowler down. It was a shocking introduction to Olympic boxing. “I did think I won the first round, and obviously he caught me in the second round. He was good. He was very, very good,” Anthony recalled.
“Rob [Mccracken, the GB performance director] said, ‘even though you’ve lost, you showed you’ve got pure mettle.’ Even though the second round he did hurt me. I got up and went right back at him. I didn’t go into my shell. I finished the fight pushing him back. I did show that I’m tough.”
It was the end of an utterly gruelling international run. “We worked like dogs down there. People think GB’S all a life of luxury travelling the world. You live like a dog, I promise. They put you in these horrible hotels round the world. Pro boxing’s so much better than amateurs. You’d stand in a queue in your boxers [for weigh-ins]. Now you’re weighing in with all the cameras [the day before]. You’d fight four times in four days. GB, it’s brutal.