Two of Galway’s most famous boxers, world title challenger Sean Mannion and Olympian Francie Barrett, feature in a new book entitled Fight of My Life, now available on Amazon.
In addition, coach Billy Walsh, professional world champions Barry McGuigan, Wayne McCullough, and Deirdre Gogarty, Ireland’s first female professional world champion, long before Katie Taylor, will all discuss their most memorable fights of their careers in the book.
Mannion said his 1982 victory over Rocky Fratto in Atlantic City was the best display of his career. He also devoted his own success to dedication rather than any innate ability. “People say I had talent, but I don’t think I did… I think I was like everyone else, but I was so interested in it. I trained harder.”
The Connemara man said that while he had a certain reputation for hard living, which he played up to, in reality, he was hugely disciplined throughout his boxing career.
“People say that I never trained, but it’s not true. Of course, when they used to say to me, ‘You never train’, I’d play up to it and I’d say, ‘I know I don’t. But I was always training then, since I was a kid, I’d been training, always.”
In 1984, he got his only world title shot against the legendary Mike McCallum, and the fight went ahead despite Mannion having almost no sparring due to an injury. He says that Connolly was adamant that he still fought.
“The fight should have been postponed, but Connolly wouldn’t hear about it. Connolly said, ‘he’ll be alright’. Afterwards, when I was a trainer in the club at home, I wouldn’t even let a kid go for the county championships without sparring, never mind go for a world title fight.”
Famously, Francie Barrett was the first Irish Traveller to represent the country at the Olympics, back in 1996. He said that while he wasn’t thinking about that at the time, there was a huge interest in his situation.
“There was a lot of press, a lot of people talking about it, but I never thought about being the first ever, though it was an honour.
“In 2011, I was doing a documentary called Blood of the Travellers. I met Tyson Fury. Tyson flew over to meet me in the hotel. As I was walking up to him, he said, ‘You little f**ker, you started all of this,’ and he put his arms around me. He’s a lovely fella, Tyson.
Barrett explained that Chick Gillen was a great influence on his career, saying the late Galway barber had a great way of communicating with fighters. ‘It was just the knowledge he had and the way he spoke to you.”
Barrett also says that he personally saw relatively little discrimination. “In general, no, a lot of people in England and Ireland have a good time for me. Look, if you’re fine with people and treat them the same way you’d like to be treated, you’ll never go wrong.
“If someone’s an arsehole and he acts the arsehole, you won’t like him. But if someone is alright, says ‘Good morning’, ‘ Good day’, asks how you’re getting on, it’s different. If you give respect, you get respect. The only time I’d have seen it was going into a pub and you’d get turned away.”
