MILES ON THE CLOCK
Scott Cardle reflects on the beginning, middle and end of a boxing career that left its mark in more ways than one
I THINK THE UNIVERSE JUST DIDN’T WANT THAT [LAST FIGHT] TO HAPPEN”
FORMER British lightweight champion, Scott Cardle, 23-3-1 (7), has been keeping a relatively low profile since suffering his final defeat to Ricky Burns, a painful loss (rsf 3) back in November 2018. After that crushing evening in Manchester, he’d returned to long-time trainer and friend, Joe Gallagher, investing time in what he hoped would be a poignant last hurrah, a farewell to those raucous fans who’d followed him and celebrated his success.
Cardle poured every ounce of himself into those sessions, trying to recapture the exciting form that had made him something of a household name on Matchroom Boxing’s Sky Sports shows, but when his daughter was born, boxing relinquished its grasp, releasing the Lytham St Annes native’s obsession with the sport, and allowing him to excel in his new role.
When talking to Boxing News, Cardle knew that this was life now, where other fighters cut lonely figures, pondering a frantic, last roll of the dice, gambling this week’s wages in the slimmest hope of winning the lottery. Cardle is smarter than that. Though his Instagram post following our interview was tough to read, there was hope, and appreciation, that boxing drew its curtains before the sun had fully set.
“I think the universe just didn’t want that [last fight] to happen. I waited until just before Christmas time. I got the news that my wife was pregnant, and I said to myself: ‘I’m gonna get one more fight in, and then I’m gonna call it a day.’ I didn’t want to fight after my baby had been born. It’s a blessing, [fatherhood]. But I’m shattered,” laughs the 32-year-old, who’d just returned from a refreshing family holiday in Ibiza. “I teach people fitness through boxing now. I’m non-stop and I’m hoping to open a gym soon. So, things are going well for me. I’ll never look back in sorrow or in anger, I enjoyed the years that I had as a boxer, and I’m enjoying the years I’ve been retired now.”
It’s hard to speak to Cardle without assuming his upbringing involved playing football in the streets of Parkhead, Glasgow, or visiting friends in his parents’ home town of Barrhead. His accent, despite never being tied down, trained, or tweaked North of the border, is unmistakably Scottish. “I picked up this accent from my mum and dad,” he explains, “and all the way through English schools it just never left me. Where I am in Lancashire, there’s not much of an accent, really, so I’m quite glad I’m a bit different to everybody else. I always stuck out – it wasn’t a bad thing. My dad moved down here when he was 15, he had no intention