Brendan Ingle: The man who was pure gold and deserves a statue - Christa Ackroyd

I don’t mean the light fluffy types who extol the virtues of this or that brand because of how they look and get paid for it.

I mean those who have gathered true wisdom by living life as it should be lived. And leading by example. They are the modern day philosophers every bit as relevant as Socrates and Aristotle.

One of those men was Sheffield’s Brendan Ingle, an Irish immigrant who arrived on these shores unable to read and write yet whose impact on the city of Sheffield, where he made his home and raised his family, is as important as any multi million pound development the council has dreamed up, including the super tram, the Crucible, and the winter gardens put together.

He gave those without hope self belief and made the arrogant humble – or tried to.

Brendan educated himself after being called a thick ‘paddy’ when he found work in Sheffield’s steel works. His thirst for knowledge unleashed, he discovered a passion for philosophy.

And with that passion he built not empires of bricks and mortar, living in the same humble home he had shared with his wife and family for decades.

No, instead he built an empire of discipline and potential for those who found a way to his door not just to learn the art of boxing, but also to be taught that no matter the titles and trappings, staying humble is vital and community is everything.

Since his death eight years ago this year I have been one of many who believe a statue should be erected in his beloved Wincobank as a reminder anything is possible with hard work and kindness.

He has a street, a walkway and a plaque beside his beloved St Thomas’s gym but it would be more than a statue, it would be a monument to human endeavour. The timing couldn’t be better.

Last week a film about Brendan was released in cinemas nationwide focussing on the rags to riches story and his relationship with Prince Naseem Hamed, a relationship I followed first hand from eager youngster to world champion and the bitter fall out which followed.

The film’s one world title Giant could refer to either one of them at the time. I am hoping and presuming it refers to Brendan. He truly was a giant among men.

And he produced many more world champions than the Prince, each one who got there because of their talent yes, but also because of his care and wisdom.

He was in truth probably one of the most fascinating people I have ever met. And the sharpest.

When I first had Naz and him in the Calendar TV studios Brendan took me to one side.

Naz was a teenager who had just won an intercontinental title which meant he was one step away from a crack at the world champion.

‘Give him a tough time,’ Brendan said. ‘His arrogance will take him far but he needs to learn respect.’

So I did. And if truth be known Naz responsed better than either of us expected.

So much so that he he promised to come back a world champion.

And he did, on the first Calendar programme after winning, with a told you so attitude, but also wearing his total respect for Brendan as proudly as he wore the belt around his waist.

That was the first of many victories. Together they took on the world. Until it all went sour. And I was sorry, because Brendan was devastated.

‘Christa’ he told me, ‘I knew he would lose eventually, because he stopped listening.’ And he had.

The fall out a few years later was something I discussed often with Brendan amid the sound of punchbags and ridiculously old fashioned music that his fighters still learned their well documented agility and lightness of movement to.

Brendan’s fighters could hit. The aim of the game was not get hit in return. But I often smiled to see them working to tunes from the ink spots and Neil Diamond.

He would chuckle too: ‘They can play what they like in their own homes or their own boom boom music in their own cars. It’s my gym and I like it.’

If you measure Brendan’s success by champions he produced he was the king. If you measure it by money he was wealthy, though totally deserving of his share of purse, having often financed his fighters out his own pocket along the way.

Brendan certainly never measured his success by money but by the character of those who came through the door and left a better person because of it.

Did they all become great boxers? Of course not. But they almost all discovered a sense of place and purpose, that so many were seeking.

The fallout with Naz was about money which is sad. I know Brendan never got over it and in the run up and subsequent to the release of Giant it appears Naz hasn’t either.

The imagined final scene of reconciliation never happened. But a lack of respect for all that has been achieved destroyed that relationship, not the 25 per cent Brendan took from his purse.

Naz ended up defeated, yes with millions in the bank but also serving time in prison for crashing his super car into a van, the occupant of which was left with life changing injuries.

Even this week in all the interviews Naz can’t bring himself to admit he was wrong and humbly remember one of Brendan’s favourite sayings ‘be kind to those you meet on the way up because you sure as hell will meet them on he way down.’

But I know he has regrets. That at least he would admit. And that is sad to hear and see.

It is a long time since Brendan Ingle sat with me in his gym, a privilege very few women had at that time and discussed how he could make a kid whose family ran the corner shop, outsiders from another country as he had been, box office.

I was sad this week to watch Naz admit some scenes made him feel uncomfortable. And yes he had regrets. Brendan taught many people many lessons.

Even if you never met him make sure that is his legacy. Live your best life. Look after others as Naz certainly did with his family. and make amends for anything you may regret in later life.

Brendan Ingle you were a giant among men. You legacy and your gym live on. But what I wouldn’t give to hear your words of wisdom on hitting the big screen.

I suspect you would have had some quip about a former James Bond fellow Irishman Pearce Brosnan playing you, along the lines of is he handsome enough?

Yes there would have been a twinkle in your eye, but also a tear too for all the memories both good and bad portrayed on the silver screen.

But then even that would never get the true measure of a man who in my book was nothing other than pure gold. And a man who deserves his statue.