PURE THEATRE FOR McCRORY
Ex- BOXING world champ the star of heartbreaking play
GLENN McCRORY reckons that acting and boxing are a similar test – but he’s still “petrified” about playing himself in an upcoming one-man play.
The former World cruiserweight champ turned TV pundit and West End theatre star, will be centre stage in ‘Carrying David’ at the Alun Armstrong Theatre in Stanley, County Durham this October.
It tells the story of his boxing career and of his handicapped brother, who he used to carry to school on his back.
McCrory, 51, became the North East’s first world champion when he lifted the IBF belt on June 3, 1989 – and ringside to watch him in a wheelchair that night was brother David, who had a terminal muscle wasting disease.
David was to die aged 29, and the play tells the heartbreaking story of his battle with a muscular dystrophy condition, and the courage he showed that inspired McCrory.
Sky Sports pundit McCrory (below) is no newcomer to the luvvie world – he once auditioned to play James Bond – and likens performing in the ring to treading the boards. He said: “It’s just the same as going under the lights in the ring, boxing is very comparable to performing on stage.
Drama
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“I don’t think there’s a massive difference between the boxing world and theatre. Boxing’s the best drama out there.
“The world of boxing has everything – it has the glamour, heartbreak, death, honour, money, poverty, heroes, villains... I guarantee if Shakespeare was around when boxing was, he would have written a play with boxing in it.
“It really feels like boxing when they come into your dressing room and say: ‘Right, you’re on’ – and you go out in front of the audience.”
McCrory admits he will be fighting back his emotions during the play.
He said: “I only have to think about my brother, and I’m in bits. But I believe that I’ve got a brother who is looking out for me and the time is right to do the play, the film and the book.
“David was my inspiration because he would never give in and he kept me going when things were going terrible, like when I was a journeyman and lost five out of six fights.
“I was brought up watching my brother die. He was supposed to die when he was 15 but he died at 29.
“It’s a big thing to carry with you every day and I used to carry him on my back every day to school.
“I’m a Roman Catholic, and I think he’s still on my back looking out for me. David is with me every single day, though he’s not my brother by birth. “Mum had six kids and we were very poor, living in a little house. Our priest was trying to help my family and told my m mum to have a foster kid bec because we will get some aid an and benefit. So we got David, and didn’t realise he had a massive musclew wasting disease. “I didn’t like him at f first. He joined my family as a six-year-old and he took my b bed, so I had to sleep with my bro brothers. “He got a lot of attention and I couldn’t understand why my mum needed someone else. “I carried him to school from the age of seven to 12, which is what the play is named after. We were close in age, I was one year older than him. “He would not give up – he was trying to live through me. And he inspired me.” But McCrory, who once sparred with a prime Mike Tyson, admits he is finding his acting comeback a scary experience.
“I’m performing in my home town, playing myself 27 years after I won the world title and I’m petrified.
“I didn’t think I would ever want to do theatre until I did The Birds lead in the West End last year. That gave me the acting bug again so I said yes when Ed Waugh wrote a screenplay about my story and asked me ‘will you act in it?’
Tough
“I had a tough career, didn’t make any money. At 22 I was sparring with a peak Mike Tyson, and did 96 rounds with him. He was unbelievable back then, frightening.
“He didn’t even get to know the sparring partners’ names – he just knocked them out. I won the world title but they were hard times. I was left with just £4,900 for winning that world title. I signed off the dole when I won.
“After boxing there were a few acting jobs. I’ve been doing it since I was a boy. I did a play with Tim Healy as a kid. I did Casualty, when I worked with Ray Winstone, and something called Quayside.
“I also auditioned for James Bond, with Pierce Brosnan, and was in the last few for that.
“I was t wice offered Royal Shakespeare Company acting roles but I was a married man with a young family at the time, I hadn’t made any money out of boxing and couldn’t go away for eight weeks at a time. I chose to work with Sky instead – and I was also very much scared of acting then.
“But I love it now. We’re getting a film made next year about my life and hopefully there is more acting work after this.”