My Passion With Neil Thornton

With the recent sad passing of former heavyweight boxing champion, Joe Frazier, I started reflecting on the passion in my life, professional boxing.

I can trace it back to a single night – October 30, 1974. Sitting down as an eight-year-old boy with my dad to watch Muhammad Ali defeat George Foreman and become only the second man ever to regain the heavyweight championship of the world.

The fight was labelled the Rumble in the Jungle on account of being held in Kinshasa, Zaire. I remember marvelling at the punishment Ali was able to take from this monster of a man who had previously smashed Joe Frazier to defeat in two rounds.

Many experts beforehand had questioned the wisdom of the fight and were genuinely concerned for Ali’s health fearing he would be annihilated. From that moment on boxing became a major part of my life. I remember on a family holiday my dad winning a round of drinks on the back of me being able to recite every heavyweight champion from John L Sullivan in 1892 to Ali in 1976.

I believe boxing is like no other sport where contestants have to overcome the fear of punishment and potential humiliation to perform in what can only be described as a pure and gladiatorial meeting. It is sport in its rawest form. To play badly at football or tennis simply means a loss of points or a trophy. To be exposed in the ring can mean injury or much worse.

Having had the privilege to train alongside some of these athletes I can only stand in admiration at their ability to keep pushing themselves on, knowing they will have to dig deep in that final round to prevail. 

I also have huge respect for the many who have literally fought themselves out of abject poverty to amass vast wealth. There are too many sad stories to recount but one which sticks in mind is that of Matt Franklin (now Matthew Saad Muhammad). Unable to provide food for the family, his mother asked an older sibling to take the then five-year-old Matt into the centre of Philadelphia and leave him near the care centre knowing they would take him in. His rise from there to become champion of the world leaves me humbled and really helps to put daily work pressures into perspective.

Over the years I’ve been lucky enough to attend many big fights including Lennox Lewis, Evander Holyfield, Ricky Hatton, Naseem Hamed and Joe Calzaghe. These were memorable nights, the excitement difficult to articulate as the fighters make their ring entrances.

Inevitably my childhood dream was to become heavyweight champion of the world. I didn’t realise being a seven-stone ginger kid might inhibit my plans.

Anyway, I became an insurance broker instead. Not as glamorous but a lot less painful.