Ingle was one of the greats
BRENDAN’S BIG LEGACY
BRENDAN INGLE was a man who would give back the world champions he created if he could save another kid from a life on the streets.
That tells you everything about the type of a man he was.
Dublin-born Ingle died yesterday aged 77 and left behind a legacy that will live long in the Wincobank area of Sheffield.
In an old church hall called St Thomas’, the Irishman created some of Britain’s finest boxers.
But he did not set out to become one of the greatest trainers the sport has ever seen.
Ingle felt that everyone deserved a chance no matter where they came from or what they had done in the past.
Sheffield gave him an opportunity of a life he felt he couldn’t have in Ireland after he arrived in the 1960s to work as a labourer.
When a local vicar asked him to give youngsters in the area something to do, he didn’t hesitate – and ended up giving more than anyone could ever imagined. He was as proud of the kids that turned their life around to get an education and full-time work as the world champions he mentored, if not more.
Ingle had passed the gym down to his son’s Dominic and John but was still there most days.
Saving
He would talk with anyone who visited whether they were a world champion, another soul that needed saving or even a fresh-faced journalist waiting to interview one of the many talented boxers there.
Everyone was treated the same. No matter their background, religion, colour or anything else.
The gym hasn’t changed much over the years, the famous lines are still there that he painted on the floor to teach the fabled footwork of his fighters.
He wanted his boxers to be flash, confident and to entertain. They had a trademark style and Prince Naseem Hamed was the epitome of what the gym created.
Hamed was one of four of Ingle’s world champions along with Johnny Nelson, Junior Witter and Kell Brook, while Herol ‘Bomber’ Graham is one of the finest boxers never to win global honours.
It was a doubly sad day for boxing yesterday as former British, Commonwealth and European champion Dean Francis lost his brave battle with cancer at the age of just 44.
Ingle will be comforting Francis as they look down on us, telling him he lived a great life even though it was cut short. He was that sort of man.