IF YOU get into the ring with Mike Tyson on a regular basis for a pummelling, people will generally consider you either very brave, very stupid, or both.
Yet this is what Irish boxer Big Joe Egan has done on a regular basis over the past 25 years which led Tyson to refer to him as “the toughest white man on the planet”.
Big Joe’s first fight as an amateur at the age of 12 was in Dublin’s Phoenix Club against an then unknown teen boxer by the name of Steve Collins. Some five years later he was in the ring with Tyson with Jake La Motta and Floyd Patterson looking on.
His friendship with some of the most famous boxers in the world has opened many doors for Egan and now he begins a new chapter as an actor. He appears in Galway feature film production Blood, Sweat, and Wars - which also stars Galway Olympian Francie Barrett. This week Big Joe spoke exclusively to the Galway Advertiser.
Big Joe Egan is exactly what he says on the tin. Andy Bull, writing recently about Egan in The Guardian said: “The stories, the glamour, the violence, the pigeon coop - they all roll up into one huge frame, three times larger than me and thousand times larger than life as I know it.”
From an early age people took notice of Joe because of his size and that notice was not always welcome.
“I got bullied,” he tells me. “People think because you’re a big guy you don’t get that hassle. When I was a child I got bullied in England because I had an Irish accent and then when I came back home I got bullied because I’d an English accent.
“I learned how to box and it gave me the confidence to stand up to the bullies. There’s children committing suicide because of bullying and I think people turn a blind eye to it because it’s not directly involving them. People are not facing up to it and not dealing with it and the bullies are getting away with it. It’s horrible!”
In his capacity as a sports personality and successful businessman Big Joe has sponsored an anti-bullying campaign. He has also been involved in charity events to benefit the homeless Irish community in Birmingham.
“I’ve helped a lot of people over the years because I’ve been in a position where I needed help myself and people were there,” he says. “I remember when I had nothing and I’m fortunate now that I’m able to afford a few things and I’m also in a position to do things for people that need things done.”
It is Egan’s rags-to-riches story that has captivated the imagination of many people. In 2005 his biography The Toughest White Man On The Planet was launched in Dublin and London and has since become a bestseller. The book was co-written with screenwriter Ranald Graham, whose credits include The Sweeney, The Professionals, and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.
“Ranald worked on Snatch and Lock, Stock... with Guy Ritchie,” Egan says. “The interesting thing is that he wrote the story of my life almost like a film script. So, maybe one day...”
Central to the story of Big Joe Egan and his rise to the top is his first meeting with Tyson. It was the early 1980s and Mike was a 15-year-old kid from Brooklyn who had been plucked from obscurity by legendary boxing manager Cus D’Amato. Within five years Tyson would be the youngest man ever to win the world heavyweight title.
“When I had the opportunity to spar with Mike I’d never actually heard of him,” says Egan. “I was always big for my age so I was used to fighting older, bigger men. I’d come over from Ireland and I’d a bit of a reputation in America. So when I saw this guy who was smaller than me and younger than me I thought I could have him. Boy, was I ever wrong! He was one of the toughest fighters I’ve ever fought in my life. He physically hurt me really, really, bad.”
While Tyson could knock out other sparring partners he found Egan could go the distance and refused to be knocked out. It was this extreme toughness aligned with Egan’s lightning personality and charm that lead to Tyson becoming best friends with him.
“We’ve been great, great, friends for over 25 years now and I had the great pleasure of bringing Mike to Ireland a few years back,” says Egan. “Mike absolutely loves Ireland and funnily enough he’s always been kind of fascinated with all the great fighters that have come out of the west of Ireland. I was telling him that people grow up tough in the west and even though it’s the most beautiful part of Ireland it’s rural and rugged. I expect Mike to be back again very soon.”
The list of great Irish and Irish-American boxers down through the years reads like a who’s who of the sport - Jack Dempsey, James ‘Cinderella man’ Braddock, ‘Gentleman’ Jim Corbett, and Gene Tunney. Galway, of course, has its own legend in the shape of Francie Barrett, and Joe Egan sings his praises.
“I met him for the first time there recently and he’s just a lovely guy,” says Big Joe. “I think he’s a guy that if he’d have been looked after properly he could have gone on to achieve the same sort of success as Ricky Hatton.”
Big Joe has his own Galway connections with “many close friends and family out in Connemara”. While he’s not related to Irish Olympic silver medallist Kenny Egan, he says “if he’d have won the gold he definitely would have been family!”
Big Joe Egan will host a boxing masterclass in Galway in October. See www.bigjoeegan.com or [email protected]
