Good Pat Barrett Interview.....

Very long so i'll have to split it up. Intersting points about Hatton, Chavez Etc .


BBN's Terry Dooley recently caught up with former British and European light-welterweight champion, Pat Barrett, for a chat about his career.

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On a rainy summer's evening I found myself sitting in a car in Salford waiting to meet former British and European light-welterweight Champion Pat Barrett. We eventually managed to pinpoint Pat's whereabouts; his stated location seemed odd at first due to the fact that it was the exact same spot where we had been sitting for half an hour. A few conversations later we realised that we were on opposite sides of the same building.

Upon meeting, Pat directed us to his flat so that we could make up for lost time. As we stood in the elevator making chit-chat Pat told us about his apartment, it was situated on the ninth, and final, floor of the building. At this point we looked at the elevator buttons and noticed that there were nineteen floors in our current building. Pat had brought us to the wrong building. At this point I realised that we were going to get along tremendously.

Pat Barrett is one of those boxing figures that mean many things to many people. For some a potential world champion who never quite made it, in the eyes of others one of boxing's real ‘characters' (with a capital C), or a mystery figure who some thought was dead, or in jail. In reality he is trying to make his own moves in the sport of boxing by helping out Brian Hughes in his Collyhurst gym, whilst also trying to get off the ground as a promoter. Before moving onto his current situation I asked Pat about his first memories of the sport:

“I started (boxing) at the age of sixteen. My older brother got me into it. He was an amateur boxer. When you're a young kid you have someone that you just follow and my brother was the person I liked to follow. I used to watch him do a bit and tried to copy him. He came everywhere with us when I turned pro, every fight except for the (European) title fight (against Efrem Calamati) in Italy. Every fight I had in England he came (to) and my sisters (did) too.

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“Then Brian (Hughes) took an interest in me and showed me how to do a bit more with my talent. I had a few stoppages as an amateur but wouldn't put myself down as a puncher then. All that came later, as a pro.

“It was just after my mum died that I decided to turn pro [in 1987]. I was not highly touted and turned over without anyone really behind me.

“I had very little experience and no knowledge at all but I would fight anybody. Brian got me an early fight [Iskender Savas] that people thought I was supposed to lose as it was his turf [Switzerland to be exact].

“We get to the ring and there are two pairs of gloves, one of those old pair of straw gloves and a nice set of 8 oz gloves. We tossed for the gloves. I lost the toss but Brian picked up the nice gloves. I was saying “Brian we lost the toss” but he was away with the gloves. They kept saying stuff to him and pointing at the gloves but he said “speaky no English” and put them on me. Their kid was meant to win this fight – it was his show – and I was brought over to lose but I knocked this kid over and there was a ****ing uproar. When you go with Brian it is these little things (that) you always remember.

“Listening to Brian I would be so relaxed before a fight that I never cared about getting into the ring. With all his stories, even if you were shitting yourself, you would step out to (the) fight relaxed – not even in your hometown – and you would feel you are going to win. It is hard to explain. You pick up things from him when you are around him.”

 

One of his earliest fights came against Paul Burke. I asked Pat if that early name stood out on his record:

“Nah, it was more like I stood out on Paul's record because he was the only one to actually beat me properly in my career. It was one of those controversial decisions really where either of us could say we had won it. It was very close and I suffered a late knockdown that tipped it in his favour.

“I'm glad it (defeat) happened in the early stage of my career because later on in my career I don't think I could have taken defeat that well. I then went 31 fights undefeated.”

That undefeated run did feature a blemish; five fights after the Burke loss Barrett drew with Sugar Gibiliru in 1988. A run of wins soon glossed over these setbacks and Barrett faced Gibiliru once again in 1989, this time with the Central Area title at stake, as Pat explained:

“I fought Sugar Gibiliru then fought a return with him for the Central Area title, he was meant to be a puncher but I stopped him in the eighth round. From the Sugar Gibiliru fight something clicked. From there on I was knocking people out.

“This all happened to me like “boom!”. (I) turned pro at 18, won the British title at 21 went onto the European and before that I'd been winning the Central Area (title) so there is a picture there, Central Area to European.

“Then I fought Roberto Trevino [in the meantime Pat won the British title with a ninth round KO over Tony Willis] and that was another knockout. I wasn't inspired by boxing at first. It was about getting paid. I remember that I had just taken over my sister's apartment and had to fix it up so I needed money to get it all done. It was all about money at the time.”

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A draw is often a good thing for a fledgling fighter. It helps them understand that perhaps they are doing something right – enough at least to get them a half of a result – as well as enforcing the fact that they are doing something wrong. James Toney's draw with Sanderline Williams saw him bring in Bill Miller, who gave him the perfect style to roll with, literally. An early draw against Sugar Ray Seales gave Marvin Hagler a means by which he could test his progress, he later hammered Seales in a single round. The first fight with Gibiliru showed that Pat's technique had yet to gel physically and stylistically, his movement was good enough to get him into position but his bursts of shots on the outside often hit the gloves of his opponent, this in turn allowed Sugar to work inside; the draw being the fair result.

In the second fight Pat had taken a leaf out of Sugar's book in the hairstyle sense – Pat Sugar had a trendy mane in fight one and Pat a short back and sides, roles were reversed in fight two – yet in the early going his punching was still not truly settled. However Barrett began to move on the outside to find decent spots and would then lure his opponent in before pouncing his spot with short hooks, one such hook, a left, flattening Gibiliru for a good few minutes.

Pat's form then enabled him to step into a British light-welterweight title fight against Tony Wills, who had represented Britain at the 1980 Olympics and had already won a British title himself, albeit at lightweight. A late replacement for Clinton McKenzie Pat won the fight with a vicious left hook KO. It served as a turning point for the guy who had turned pro without any title dreams. As Pat explained:

“I was knocking people out and got the Tony Willis fight after one of the McKenzie brothers pulled out. Brian said, “I've got good news and I've got bad news”. The bad news was that it was going to be a British title fight but the good news was that Tony was there for the taking. Brian said that opportunity only knocks once and I was ready to take this title. He said we had only just fought for a title so I only had to tick over in the gym. I had done the hard work. He told me my weight was ready so we took the fight and it paid off.

“After the British title fight I realised that I could go somewhere. My mentality wasn't to win a world title (at the start). I was not inspired by the idea of becoming world Champion (I) just needed the money at that time. It wasn't until later on when I realised that people were taking a big interest in me and that I was going places that I decided to go for it.”

As mentioned Barrett was a fighter who was put on the road early in his career, initially being brought in as the opponent, this ‘road warrior' start meant that when the time came to go abroad for significant fights Barrett was already used to the experience:

“Going abroad was part of the job for me. With Brian (Hughes) training me I always believed that I was ready to win anywhere.

“With Brian it is an inspiration. He gets you more mentally ready than physically. If you are physically ready but not mentally ready you are going to lose, because you don't know which version of you is going to turn up on the night. If you are mentally ready, even if you aren't fit, you have about a seventy percent chance of winning. Once your mind is strong and determined it won't let the body give up. You will always stay in there.

“I turned pro as a nobody. I was only there to be used by up-and-coming fighters. You pay those journeymen guys a bit more and put them on to lose. So every early fight I had I was meant to get beaten. This is what you don't realise.

“Today you see how things are in boxing. Take Amir Khan – who is a great fighter, don't get me wrong – (but) he gets fed guys. I didn't get those types of fights until I was champion and by then I didn't need them anyway because whoever they would have given me to fight (it) would have gone the same way (a KO win).

“I wasn't looked after by anyone but Brian. If it weren't for Brian I would have been thrown in with anybody. Brian had faith and trust in me. He saw the talent in me even though I couldn't see it. I see my kids coming up now and see the talent in them and I tell them “listen, if you work hard you can become world Champion” and they probably think “yeah, whatever” but you need someone with faith in you.

“Me and Brian are like father and son. You do have your little disagreements, everyone has their ups and downs, but I would never disrespect him because anything he has done for me he did for the best…everything else is down to me because you get to an age where you think you know everything and you stop listening. That is when you become a head banging into a wall.”

However, in a few of his fights Hughes was suspended from Barrett's corner and this loss seemed to impact on the performances of Barrett at a crucial time in his career, particularly during the Dwayne Swift fight, a tepid points win over ten rounds. In the mind of Barrett, though, Hughes was in the corner in spirit:

“Brian was suspended from my corner but was still there at ringside for my fights. Once you've worked in the gym there is nowt else you can do with the fighters. I'd had my work with Brian before the fight so that is the main thing.”

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During his successful run Barrett signed with manager Mickey Duff, presuming that Duff, a fading force at the time, would bring him the world title shot he craved. Duff guided Barrett to a European title win over Efrem Calamati in 1990, and subsequent defences, only to fail to bring him a shot at the light-welterweight title, this left Barrett feeling dejected, and increasingly flat in his performances:

“I thought (after signing with Duff) that things were going to elevate, definitely. Mickey Duff could not produce a world championship fight at the time though. I defended the European title a few times and it began to get a bit boring. Someone like me needs new interests. You get bored quickly.

“I went from the Central Area, to the British, to the European, and you know what should come next don't you? It should have been a world title. When you've got a fighter into that zone you have to feed them. But it was “European title this, and purse bids this” and I was getting bored. I wasn't being moved up that extra level.

“I eventually moved to Frank Warren. I had a meeting with him and once we had that meeting he said he would get me so many fights and get me a world title fight. He delivered. I had to move up a weight (to welterweight) to get it but he delivered the fight with Manning Galloway.”

A successful champion looking for pastures new often makes a move up in weight. In the case of Barrett it was a pragmatic move, he wanted to fight Julio Cesar Chavez but there was a major queue, in lieu of that fight a bout for a welterweight title was the next best step. Even though Pat himself was reticent about his chances as a welterweight:

“I didn't want to move up a weight at all. Everyone said “move up a weight you're struggling to make weight” but I honestly preferred the hard work of stripping down to the weight. When you have to work hard to make the weight you are properly in the zone. You get stripped and ripped. Carrying that extra few pounds I felt strong but it wasn't natural. I was mentally strong but not physically strong if you know what I mean.

“At 10 stone I knew I had all the advantages – like Ricky Hatton does – but at welterweight I didn't have them – like Ricky Hatton again. At welterweight Ricky doesn't have it. He beat Kostya Tszyu at light-welterweight with his strength but look at him in his fights at welterweight. Certain weight categories suit you and you have to stay in them. You can move up and make millions but once you move up in weight you lose that strength.”

A loss against Manning Galloway in 1992, a fight in which the stylistic approaches favoured the southpaw title holder, was later followed by a loss for the British welterweight title, on points versus Delroy Bryan in 1993:

“I fought Delroy Brian at welterweight for the British title and lost on points. It wasn't (just) the strength it was the fact it was not right for me. I trained hard for the welterweight fights but there was something missing. I had to train extremely hard to make light-welterweight, extremely hard. Skipping in saunas and all that to shift pounds [as was the case prior to the win over Willis]…that to me was part of the training. It wasn't right for me if I didn't have to train like that. Does that sound mad? At welterweight I was already there (at the weight) and would come into training 2 lbs over the weight – this is nothing – I had more impact at the lower weight.”

Thrown into the mix was the fact that the Galloway fight was called off a number of times. Barrett felt then, as now, that Galloway used the delays to deflate Barrett and work on a way to defuse his style:

“First time I was supposed to fight Galloway I would have knocked him out. I was down to fight him three times. One time it was (cancelled) bang on the press conference. Imagine, you're at your press conference waiting to fight for the world title. You have your meal and are getting ready for the biggest fight of your life only to get told “the fight's off”. I was like “what do you mean the fight's off?” The guy had to go back to America – I think his brother got shot or something like that [Galloway cited gastroenteritis as the reason for the delay]. It was hard. Do you know how demoralising it feels? You've done all that hard work and it is now your time. You've got the papers, the news and all the people saying “Barrett is going to get his title fight” and next thing you know boom, the fight is cancelled.

“I fought Mike Johnson (instead) [in 1991] but my mind was gone out of it [Barrett was hurt badly in round one before finishing his opponent with a left hook off the ropes]. I didn't want to even be in the ring that night. They asked me if I wanted to fight and I just (shrugs). It ain't no world title fight. It doesn't mean anything. I wasn't even bothered about getting the payday by then. When it was all about the payday I would have cared but it was now about the title and I wasn't interested (in the non-title bout) but had to take the fight to stay busy.”

When they did finally fight Galloway proved what many had suspected about Pat. Pat had often stated that he could box and move but this was only partially true. Less effective as a mover he would land his shots after using movement to lure his opponent forward, setting traps for his opponents to walk into. Pat could box on the move to an extent but he could not box against movers. Galloway lived up to his nickname of ‘The Spoiler' and defused Barret with his lateral movement. Sometimes dropping his gloves in frustration Barrett could not set himself for his shots and never looked like winning the fight.

In Part II we will discuss Pat's KO power, his earlier fights and how he thinks he would have done in a fight with Chavez.

 

BBN caught up with former British and European light-welterweight Champion Pat ‘The Black Flash' Barrett. Eventually a world title challenger at welterweight Barrett had once hoped to take on light-welterweight King Julio Cesar Chavez. It would have been a hard fight to make, undoubtedly Barrett would have to have travelled abroad, but it is a fight that Barrett feels would have suited him:

“When I was with Mickey Duff the talk was about me fighting Julio Cesar Chavez. That fight was like Ricky Hatton fighting Kostya Tszyu. It was a big fight. It was in my division (light-welterweight). Chavez at that time had had 70 odd fights undefeated and (he) had a great percentage of knockouts but to me it was the type of fight where it would be wild. We never know what would have happened so it stays a myth but to me – in my head – I think I would have beaten him. As a 10 stone fighter I was ripping anyone apart.”

This led to the question of regret, the stock in trade of the retired boxer, I asked Pat if he held any regrets about the way his career had flatlined at a crucial point:

“The way it is with me, the way I see it, is that I went as far as I should have gone. I was supposed to achieve nothing. Anything else after that – the title fights and the eventual WBO title fight (against Manning Galloway at welterweight) – was above what I expected and when (the time) is gone there is no looking back. I don't ask myself if I should have done anything different.”

One thing Barrett did do differently was to pack his gym bag and venture to the States to breathe life into his later career; for Barrett, however, it was a fruitless experience:

“I fought in the States [in 1994] but the States did not show me anything that I didn't know already. As a British kid it is all about America but I went to the States twice…I used to spar with a fighter called Eugene Speed over there and me and him used to stop the whole gym with our sparring. I thought to myself “is this what it is about? Constantly having gym wars?”. Everyday I used to get up for a run and go to that gym for a fight. Everyday it was a fight. That is not good, it is not healthy to go for it in the gym the way you go for it in the ring.

“If you have all-out wars like that everyday and then go into the biggest fights of your life – which will probably be wars as well – imagine the toll that takes on your body. You need sparring every so often to sharpen-up but not everyday. Me and Speed used to knock the living **** out of each other, honestly. He was a division below me – lightweight I think – but he was strong and he could bang, plus he lived up to the name of Speed. He was Speed and I was ‘The Flash'.”

The ‘Black Flash' moniker was bestowed by Brian Hughes as a tribute to Ghanaian featherweight Roy Ankrah, also known as ‘The Black Flash':

“I knew of Ankrah but Brian had watched him and thought he was a little like me. Like he watched Michael Gomez and it reminded him of Wilfredo Gomez. Brian comes up with certain little things and they stick.”

Now, though, Barrett is the man hoping to hone fighters, hoping that one day they will speak of the little things he has shown them, and how he helped them to develop as boxers:

“Knowing what I know and having been there and got the knowledge (of boxing) I can pass it on instead of wasting it. If I can get to the point where I think “I can't teach these kids anything more” than I'll have given something back…in the same way (that) I was given something.

“I just try to be the way Brian was with me. Positive and assertive. I ask the fighters “don't try and bull**** me, just tell me what is real.” I can tell them that and we get that little understanding and the big respect between us. Hearing them say they've gotten guidance off me is my inspiration – it is bigger than any title – I like to get those little kids and give them the courage (to box).”

Despite this he once again maintains that he is a student in the training business, and will be for some time, especially with Hughes around:

“As far as I am concerned Brian is the Godfather of British boxing. The only way I'll ever know more than Brian is if he is no longer on this Earth and I'm on this Earth at the age Brian is now, then I might have nearly as much knowledge, might. While Brian is here I'll always be picking at his brain and learning from him.

“Instead I'd like to get into promoting and bringing fighters on. That would do me nicely. I want to bring my own fighters through rather than wait on anyone else to help me. Working with (promoter) Wally (Dixon) is a learning experience. Being on the other side you don't realise how hard and complicated promotions are. (We) work on the ticket selling in Manchester so that when the lads fight somewhere else it makes it easier for them because the loyal fans will follow them the way they follow Ricky Hatton. Scott (Quigg) and Ryan (Reese) are the next generation.

“Basically I want to concentrate on giving fighters a chance to fight. I want to do a show a month and get my fighters busy. If you get 10-fights undefeated you can get them known. We want the fighters to get the credibility and we want to be known as a team.

“You see that Amir Khan ‘Team' stuff and it is all bollocks, it is not a team, a team is something that is strong and is there forever. You're not a team just because you've got a bit of an entourage. He (Khan) split with his trainer so where is the team there? Oliver was doing well but everyone thinks the grass is greener and they need to get these American trainers and go to America but that is bollocks, it is rubbish. The only thing America does is give you the confidence that you can go it alone; it doesn't teach you anything you cannot already learn as a fighter.

“When I went over I was with John Davenport, who was the worst trainer ever, god rest his soul, by that I mean he was a good trainer but he thought he was still in Vietnam fighting a war. Apparently he was one of the only people to volunteer to go back over to Vietnam when the war was on. He actually volunteered to do that, and this is the guy I'm over in America with for nine to ten months!

“I lived in the training camp…I went over in November (to Pennsylvania) and it was the coldest time of year…I'm not thinking that America has got seasons I'm thinking that America is hot…so I'm there with a few sports tops and coats and that but I'm not properly prepared for winter…I went for a run and had to put a jumper on, a ski suit on, and a thick hoodie on, but when I came back my feet were freezing…I've done a five-mile run and I'm still cold? The snow was like this high, and the slush…So you have to try and stick to the main roads but at five in the morning it is pitch black…you've got cars coming at you and everything so you step onto the curb and you're going through the slush. That was the worst part.”

 

The American fight came against Donnie Parker in 1994, although a winner it seemed that the thrill had gone for Barrett, the American comeback dream ended, then a documentary team inflicted what Pat felt was the final blow:

“They did a documentary on me over in America to cover my comeback. I had a fight there and won it but you know when you want to just come home? At the end of the documentary it says that I never went back to America, it said that I went back to jail for non-payment of fines. They could have said something better. Anyone watching the documentary sees all that stuff about me and then there is the little pettiness at the end about me not paying my fines and missing out on more fights in America.”

The earlier mention of Hatton enabled me to ask Barrett if the gym rumours about him decking Hatton with a left hook body shot were indeed true:

“That should stay in the ring. Even if it was true it is nothing to be boasting about because Ricky Hatton was a kid. I was a fully-fledged fighter so it is nothing to be talking about. It compliments me because Ricky has already said in his autobiography that he learned how to throw such good body shots by going around the gyms and working with pros such as myself. He got hit with a body shot and had never felt that pain before so he wanted to learn how to do it.”

Known as a quintessential left hooker I asked Pat if he felt his right hand, often thrown wide, was a big weapon in his arsenal, by this point he had put on some highlight footage of his fights, the question came as he was dispatching Efrem Calamati with the right hand. Later footage, against Racheed Lawal in 1991, again showed him setting up the left hook finish with the right in a fight that had seen Pat strip off his jewellery in order to make the weight:

“I think the right was a good punch for me yeah. I didn't like to be known just as a left hooker because I could hit with both hands. You can watch that DVD and tell me if you think it (the left hook) is good and everyone has their opinion but there was more (to me) than that left hook.

“I set him (Willis) up here with the right hand – as you said – and then finished him with the left hook. People saw me winning a few titles with the left hook and forgot I had a right hand [it also dispatched Italy's Salvatore Nardino].”

Knocking a man out must be a hell of a thing, especially the way Pat knocked them out. Barrett was an exclamation knockout artist. I asked Barrett how it feels to deliver such a shot:

“When you hit a shot like that you know it is over but I just wanted to go home afterwards. I always enjoyed the day after the fight more (than the fights). Especially when they were televised. It is pure relaxation because things have been so hard leading up to the fight. In this one (Willis) I was skipping in a sauna the day before. I remember this one against Mike Johnson! There was no force in any of those shots. Everything I threw was natural. I can see it now because I'm looking at myself as a trainer. If you would have asked me about the fights back then I wouldn't have had a jar of glue mate.

“Some of these fights are so long ago but the memories are so clear. Ask me what I did last week and I won't have a clue but these memories are so real. I was going through different phases with the haircuts though (laughs).”

Pat's good cheer prompted the question of how he felt when on the other side of the fence, although never KO'd he was put down twice in his career – versus Paul Burke and Mark McCreath – plus he was badly hurt in the first round against Racheed Lawal, I asked Pat what he remembered about being on the receiving end:

“I'll never forget the knockdown against McCreath [in a British title defence]. One of the biggest fears in my whole life was getting into the ring and getting knocked out – and I never did get knocked out. I was put down but never out. It was such a big fear that – and like I said about training your mind mentally – I must have gone over and over it so much that I was more surprised than hurt when it actually happened.

“When I went down I was thinking, “Oh my god, I can't believe this has happened on national television.” I was thinking about this when the referee was counting, he gets to about eight and I realised that I had to stop talking to myself and get up. I was so mad and so angry that it woke me up. It was the best thing McCreath could do, for me, not for him!

“Watching these clips is good. This is McCreath now. There goes the right hand.”

Whilst waiting on Chavez Barrett came close to the type of fight that can open doors for a contender, a contest with former world titleholder Livingstone Bramble was mooted but never made:

“That is another one that got away. Mickey took me as far as he was ever going to take me. Frank delivered but I should never have fought at welterweight [In the background the European title fight against Efrem Calamati appears on the screen].

“This guy here (Calamati) has swallowed his tongue. They're trying to get the gumshield out. They had to escort me out of the ring in Italy. I was one of few people who had gone over to Italy and done that (won the European title). Lloyd Honeyghan had done it. All the critics had said I wouldn't do it and all that was going through my brain (when I won) but I couldn't celebrate properly. We had a police escort out of the ring and we got called everything under the sun. The next day, at the airport, they all loved us and were asking me to come back. At first I grabbed the belt and shouted “Brian they're coming” but they were Ok with me.”

At the end of his career there was one final fight, one more chance to prove to himself he could return to title winning ways, in reality a fight against Marino Monteyne in1994 turned out to be Barrett's concluding fight, Pat took up the story:

“The last fight I had was on Christmas day in Belgium. I went over on my own. I remember it as the worst day of my life. Christmas day and I'm in Belgium having the last fight of my life. Brian didn't want me to make a comeback but I was told to go over to Belgium and make a load of money. It was good to be told that I was just as good as I used to be…you just want that hype of someone telling you that you still have it but Brian was telling me the truth.

“I went over there and beat the kid on points but I realised then that those types of kids wouldn't have lasted with the old Pat Barrett and I was kidding myself. I was disappointed but I had to tell myself that I was no longer as good as I thought I was. I had to accept the truth myself and that was one of the hardest things to cope with and deal with.”

Now, though, he is coping fine with the post-professional boxing landscape, once again his talk turned to what he can bring to boxing, both in the gym and behind the scenes:

“People can come into our gym and see how we train a fighter and if they don't like it (then) it is up to them. I'm not saying our way is the best way but I believe if you teach boxing you have to teach safety-first. One of my fighters can lose a fight…as long as they don't get knocked-out and they don't come out with marks on their face. I don't like it when they come out looking like a loser. So we sit and work on defence over and over. Everything comes off that.

“I see myself as helping Ryan (Rees) and Scott (Quigg) and they are my future, like my own little children. I got out of jail and got into the promoting. I turned things around and did it by using my head. I met this drunken guy who said that he was a promoter but I thought he was off his head [that will have been the first time Pat met Wally Dixon then]. He gave me his number that day and I thought it was not going to work. Then I got a phone call off Wally at the exact time he said he would phone me [my mistake, maybe it wasn't Wally then] and I helped him with his shows.”

I asked Pat if his own past indiscretions meant he could make sure the fighters he comes into contact with stay on the straight and narrow:

“Nah, nah, that is not my job. I can't tell people how to act right; I'd be a hypocrite. The only thing I will do is tell them (that) there are two ways they can do things. This way (the right way) and that way (the wrong way), then the choice is theirs. The more you tell a fighter not to do something the more they will do it. My mates used to say, “Pat, you shouldn't come with us because you can be a world Champion” but I felt that they were fobbing me off. I would rebel against things even more but what they meant, in the nicest way, was that I didn't need it (the running around). You then have to go through it and cope with things yourself.”

As our time wound down I asked Pat what he hoped this interview would achieve, his answer was to the point, certainly better than any conclusion that I could furnish:

“People talk about me and say I'm either dead or in jail so I wanted to let people know that I'm still around. We've had the banter and it went well so hopefully people can read this and make up their own minds about me by getting to know me a bit.”

 

Ah right, you interviewed him ? Top interview mate well done .

 

How do you think he matches up to Hatton Terry ?

 

I agree with him regarding the Tszyu fight . Absolutely sensational performance .
Interesting reading that he has no regrets and that he went as far as he was meant to. I reckon his talents merited a world stage , although i have never seen his loss in the title fight .
Anyway, great interview . I have met him once and he seems to be a different kind of character to what i thought