THE MAKING OF A MAGICIAN
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BRENDAN INGLE retired from prizefighting in 1973, after a career that spawned 19 wins and 14 losses. But Ingle was not destined for greatness as a boxer. He was a teacher, an eccentric and a man who stamped his own micheivousness on the boxing world, carving out a legacy as one of the greatest trainers of them all.
His gym in Sheffield, on a hill in Wincobank, was many miles from his Dublin roots and seemingly frozen in time. On the floor remains the coloured tape he carefully measured out to ensure those who stepped into his gym could learn the basics of good footwork.
Ingle, above all, cared for the youngsters he trained. Not all could become champions, of course, but all who entered his gym would leave a better person. The hours he put in behind the scenes, the money he spent and how he opened up his home for the likes of Naseem Hamed and Herol Graham to live happily and flourish so vibrantly says plenty about Ingle. So too does the time he gave to lesser talents.
While writing about Brendan for the Independent last week, Steve Bunce said: “He shaped his fighters at a great personal cost; housing, feeding, teaching them, filling in on a life they might have missed and preparing them for the life he had planned. He saved souls does not really say enough, it’s far more complex than that.”
‘Did you learn much?’ ‘Yeah, I did. I learned a lot, it was a great experience. I’m just gutted they wouldn’t let me box.’
‘It’s for the best, you weren’t experienced enough to box him.’ “I said , ‘Yeah, but they could have let me know last week.’ ‘Don’t get a face on,’ he said, smiling. ‘They wouldn’t let you box him anyway.’ ‘You’re joking, Brendan. I’ve had all that time off work.’ ‘No, I’m not joking,’ Brendan said. ‘Who else was I going to get to babysit the Naz fella!’
“But you can’t buy the experience that I had. Brendan said, ‘If I told you just take them days off work and come down for the craick would you have done it?’ “I said, ‘No.’ ‘Well then’.” Renowned MC Mike Goodhall spent a lot of time in the company of the Sheffield stalwart over the decades. He used to assemble rings for charity events that Ingle ran and after one such festival Goodhall and Ingle went to claim expenses for the equipment from the hosts. The man pleaded poverty, but said he owned a clothing company and would instead kit Goodhall and Ingle out in suits, so that was their payment. They were given a voucher each and went to claim a fresh set of threads apiece.
“Me and Brendan got on like a house on fire,” Goodhall smiled. “It was one laugh after another, we had so many good times. I remember when Johnny Nelson turned professional Brendan came up to me and said, ‘I’ve got this new lad, Mick. He’s called Johnny ‘The Entertainer’ Nelson, and he’s coming in to Scott Joplin’s [song] The Entertainer. And he did. I was MC for the ITV show when he fought Carlos Deleon for the world title in Sheffield and it was the biggest bore you’d ever seen. Johnny worked on the pretence that if he ran round and round the ring for 12 rounds and he threw one punch and the other bloke didn’t hit him, he’d win on points. It was the most boring thing you’d ever seen, it really was. And Brendan came up to me afterwards and said, ‘Mick, we’re going to drop The Entertainer crap now.’ And he never came in to Scott Joplin again.”
Nelson came to Ingle as a lost cause. “What are you wasting your time on him for? He’s useless,” people would say.
Former Boxing Board general secretary Simon Block remembers an early conversation he had with Ingle about the man who would set records as a cruiserweight world champion.
“Brendan told me that when Johnny started sparring if he
was trapped in a corner he would bring his leg up defensively,” Block explained. “That’s how unlike a boxer he was when he started. He was very fit but not a natural boxer and he turned him onto the best cruiserweight in the world of his time.”
Of course, there were less orthodox methods Brendan employed and became known for. He realised a fighter was not just built in the ring but that they needed a schtick, a hook, and that they needed to be well rounded as individuals.
One of the ways he built the Herol “Bomber” Graham brand was particularly unusual.
“He got hold of Herol Graham who had been a very good amateur,” Block went on. “In order to drum up a bit of support for Herol he used to take him round the working men’s clubs and pubs and you know Herol had phenomenal reflexes and he would challenge people and bet them that they could win money if they land a punch on Herol, but of course no one ever could.”
His methods, perhaps the more conventional ones, have been passed down through the bloodlines while other trainers, past and present, have admired from afar.
“We spoke in Sheffield a few years ago and just listening to what he had to say was phenomenal,” said Scottish coach Billy Nelson. “It inspired me to become a good trainer and one thing you can say about him is every boxer he’s had under his care has been a lucky boxer. His guidance and his knowledge is second to none. Look at his success as a trainer. He’s got to go down as one of the best ever British trainers because he’s done it consistently and that’s a small word with a big meaning, consistency, because he’s done it for decades.”
For some, it doesn’t bear thinking about what might have been had fate not intermingled with opportunity and led them to Brendan.
“I would have just been a nobody,” Keeton concluded. “Some people would say I’d have been dead or in prison but if it’s in you it’s in you to do wrong, but the Ingles gave me chances. I had 10 years to win that British title. I should have aimed higher. Drink was always my demon and they tried talking me out of that, it’s the only thing they didn’t talk me out of. But it took me 10 years to win the British title and Brendan stuck by me all that time and kept saying to me, ‘You will win the British title. You will win it. Keep trying. Keep going.’ And he was in the ring when I did – and I’m thankful for that.”
Loyal to the end. A fighter to the end. An inspiration to the future. He touched a great many lives, which is why everyone has a Brendan Ingle story.
I WOULD HAVE JUST BEEN A NOBODY. SOME PEOPLE HAVE SAID I’D HAVE BEEN DEAD OR IN PRISON, BUT THE INGLES GAVE ME CHANCES”