BOXING TWINS KEEP RISING TO THE TOP
WASHINGTON TWINS - PAT AND LUKE - ARE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS BOUND
When the McCormack twins, Pat and Luke, first stepped through the door of Birtley Boxing Club as energetic 12-year-olds a decade ago, they arrived with losing records and a less-than-glowing reference from a former coach.
“He told me not to bother about them because they were a waste of time,” recalled Birtley coach Graeme Rutherford, under whose guidance the Washington twins would begin their remarkable rise to become British boxing history-makers.
In Hamburg this month the McCormacks will be the first twins to represent Great Britain at a World Championships. Along with their clubmate Calum French, they are also the first trio from the same club to qualify for the tournament.
Rutherford, a former boxer and local scrap metal merchant who reluctantly took over coaching at the club when his predecessors suddenly quit, is frank about the potential - or lack of it - of the trio when he first saw them lace on gloves.
Luke had won his first fight, only to be subsequently disqualified when it was revealed he had forgotten to put on any hand wraps, while Pat was fresh from a bout with French - then representing a rival club - so wild they claim it threatened to put out the ring lights.
Rutherford said: “They were awful boxers when they first arrived, terrible. They hadn’t had many fights, they all had losing records and they were a bit misguided.
“But this club is about giving kids a sense of belonging and purpose, and proving if they put in the work they can get whatever they want out of it.
“Not everyone who comes through the door will be a champion, but we’ve shown they can do it if they live a dedicated life and devote themselves to the club.”
Pat won the world junior title in 2011 and went to the Rio Olympics, and Luke has never been far behind him.
Full-time members of the GB elite squad in Sheffield, where they train four days a week, all three came home from the European Championships in Ukraine with medals round their necks and world qualification in the bag.
“Graeme is an unbelievable coach,” said Pat, who has moved up to welterweight since his Rio campaign was ended via a controversial split decision to Cuban Yasniel Tolede in his second bout. “When I first came here and he told me I could box for England, it wasn’t even something I knew was possible.”
Luke also went to Rio, albeit as part of the team’s pretournament preparation camp. “We’ve done it all together through our careers so having to sit in the stands and watch Pat in the Olympics broke my heart,” he admitted.