The Rocky Road

Welcome to Part 2 of our interview with Kieran Farrell. In Part 1 we spoke about his part in Daniel Dubois’ stunning destruction of Anthony Joshua at Wembley Stadium, how he came to work with the heavyweight knockout artist and where he thinks DDD is going next. Here, Kieran talks about growing up in Heywood, also known as Monkey Town (you’ll find out why, and there’s an Irish connection). Kieran has an Irish connection of his own, with his people coming from here, and he found boxing at an early age and quickly got to know the big dogs on the Manchester scene, from Michael Gomez to Ricky Hatton. His bout with another Manchester idol, Anthony Crolla, changed his life. Farrell said he’d die for the English belt, and he almost did. The young boxer suffered a subdural hematoma during the fight and was rushed to hospital, where the doctors removed 30 per cent of his brain during life-saving surgery. Farrell, who’d become a dad for the first time just two weeks previously, earned just two grand for the fight. At the time Farrell was boxing out of John Breen’s Gym in Belfast, where he’d worked alongside the likes of Paul McCloskey, the Conlan brothers and Andy Murray. He retains a link to the island to this day and his story is the epitome of The Rocky Road. I'd say he'd do it all again if he could.

“Jimmy is a great coach, loved him when he travelled to international training camps with Ireland, great pad man.” When you’re getting praise like this from the notoriously hard-to-please Paddy Barnes, then you must be doing something right. And today’s guest Jimmy Halpin has been doing something right for 40 years now. Before that, the young Dubliner had talent as a boxer but didn’t quite manage to match that with a bulging collection of medals, with his last fight coming in 1981 when, three years out of the ring by then, he ‘got a hiding’ when he returned for one night only on a benefit for the Stardust victims. However the lessons he learned still stand to him to this day. Jimmy is loved by his boxers and adored by other coaches, but he takes no bull either and his forthright honesty (or constructive criticism) sometimes leads to disagreements along the way. He trained Ireland’s first female fighter (and first female world champion) Deirdre Gogarty when she first walked through the doors at St Saviours in Dublin, and taught double Olympic champion Kellie Harrington many of the moves that led to her topping podiums in Tokyo and Paris. Jimmy worked his magic with Cathal O’Grady, Darren Sutherland and Emmet Brennan - Olympians all - at club level and worked alongside Billy Walsh with the Irish high performance team for over a decade. Now, at 72, he’s still giving back as a volunteer, touring clubs all over Dublin, mainly, and giving pointers to coaches and boxers alike. As he says, his mission was to create universal boxers before there was even a term for it. His passion for boxing is infectious and as Jimmy says, once you’re in the club - whether you’re a novice or a potential world champion - you’re deserving of his time, and he’ll strive to help you improve. As for the best fighter he worked with during his time in Ireland? I’ll give you a clue - it’s someone who’s got the full set of medals, anyway. 

Kellie McLoughlin is a three-time Irish champion boxer who’s looking to make the breakthrough to win her first Elite crown. Standing in her way is two-time Olympian Michaela Walsh, who’s ruled her division in Ireland with an iron fist for over a decade. But with McLoughlin and featherweight rival Kelsey Leonard determined to unseat Walsh this year, will there be a changing of the guard in this corner of Irish boxing? McLoughlin is certainly a fighter and she sat down with The Rocky Road to detail her incredible story of survival. There was no trigger for her mental health crisis but when it hit her, it hit her hard. She and her loving family tried everything; from sessions with Pieta House to medication, hospitalisation and electroconvulsive therapy. Eventually, McLoughlin went home and attempted to rebuild her life, and her boxing career. That year, 2019, she won two Irish titles and immediately set her sights on a slot at Paris 2024. But a combination of Covid and Walsh’s form holding tight meant the Belfast boxer became a double Olympian, with McLoughlin still striving to make the breakthrough. Is this her year? Boxer of the tournament at the Emerald Box Cup, winner of two bouts in America on the Bridges Beyond Boxing programme, she’s entering these championships full of confidence and ready to make a dent, trained by the master Jimmy Halpin and his assistant coach Paul Griffin. With guardian angel Sean Carton on her shoulder, she might just do it. This is an incredibly powerful episode and I was left speechless on a number of occasions as the brilliant McLoughlin told her story in expressive detail.  If you have been affected by anything discussed on this podcast, please contact the Samaritans on 1850 609 090 or Pieta House on 01 6010000.

One kid’s named after former world heavyweight champ Joe Frazier, another’s named after… Irish Olympian Jude Gallagher. That’s Kieran Farrell, a boxing man to his bones, and this week’s guest on The Rocky Road. After Manchester Irishman Liam Gallagher had warmed up the 96000 raving punters at Wembley a few weeks ago, Daniel Dubois marched into the ring and pulled off a superb upset win over Anthony Joshua and walked off with the IBF heavyweight world title. Another Manchester Irishman, Farrell, was a key man in his camp throughout and was seen buzzing about the canvas in the aftermath of Dubois’ destruction of AJ. What a story Kieran has. A former professional fighter whose career was cut short by a brain injury following a 2012 Manchester derby with Anthony Crolla, he’s a boxing lifer who picked up where he left off on the other side of the ropes. He’s a manager, a promoter and a trainer and when his world title dreams were heartbreakingly culled as a boxer, he vowed to get there in his new role – and guide a fighter to championship glory. But, as we hear in Part 1, dirty nappies have taken centre stage for now…

This week’s guest is doing things a bit back to front. Mostly boxers will finish their careers before going into the media – but Lurgan man Lee Gormley has done it the other way around. Lee has a degree in sports journalism and has covered the bloody business for outlets such as the Boxing News and Boxing Monthly. That passion for boxing ultimately led to him putting on the gloves as an amateur – and now he’s about to have his fifth professional fight. Bolton-based Lee’s back out on November 9 at the Sunderland Live Arena as he looks to build towards BUI Celtic and Irish title shots. Here, he tells The Rocky Road about the fighters that inspired him, why Carl Frampton is a hero of his and how boxing for real informs his work as a journalist in the field.

Steve Bunce has spent 40 years writing and talking about boxing for just about every newspaper and magazine in Britain – and just about every TV and radio station as well. In his career he’s reported at ringside in over 30 countries and rubbed shoulders with hustlers and hoodlums, kings and clowns, journeymen and Hall of Fame fighters. To use one of my favourite lines of his, that’s boxing, as they say in the trade. Steve’s new book, Around the World in 80 Fights, follows on from Bunce’s Big Fat Short History of British Boxing. We go through it all here, charting the crazy journey women’s boxing made in his time from the likes of Deirdre Gogarty and Jane Couch starting out to Katie Taylor headlining at Madison Square Garden against Amanda Serrano, a Kiko Martinez love-in in Belfast as he returned to reminisce ten years on from his world title fight with Carl Frampton, and a cheeky text from Kenneth Egan that ensured he got the armband on an all-Irish boxing football team. There’s his legendary showdown with a raging Bernard Hopkins, a discussion of how the media landscape has shifted massively during his four decades in the business, memories of his dalliances with the hardmen of Russia and a poignant story about the late Gary Mason where there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. Like his book, this interview has got a bit of everything. Here’s to a few sequels. 

In Part 2 with Ryan Burnett, he's a man on the brink. After years of hard work, bordering on obsessiveness, he's about to reach the pinnacle. But winning the world title doesn't give him contentment because it doesn't give him financial freedom; not yet anyway. Here, he talks about becoming world champion with victory over Lee Haskins back in Belfast, where sparring partner Carl Frampton has built an empire. He unifies against Kazakhstan's Zhanat Zhakiyanov - with his former mentor Ricky Hatton now in his opponent's corner - and he's on his way. But the payout doesn't come without a price, as Ryan is brought to hospital after suffering for his triumph. Becoming a champion hasn't dimmed his desire - upon his return to camp, he's instantly beating his pre-fight times in the hill sprints, which gives him a new nickname but, as he believes, the effort nearly kills him. HIs entry into the World Boxing Super Series looks like it's going to lead to an ultimate clash with Japan's Naoya Inoue. But in a set-up showdown with Nonito Donaire, Ryan suffers what ends up being a career-ending back injury. Asked to describe the pain he feels when trying to fight on against the Filipino star, his answer makes me sick to my stomach. At 27, his career as a boxer is over and while there may be regrets and what-ifs, he's a boxing success story - coming out healthy in the knowledge he'll be able to play with his kids when they come along. Now, after being able to buy his house and start a business, he's been bitten by the boxing bug again. And, as he explains, the obsession has started all over again... Ryan Burnett's is the ultimate Rocky Road story. 

Mercedas Taaffe-Cooper is an Irish boxing pioneer. A competitor in the 90s when female fighters were thin on the ground, she sparred with Deirdre Gogarty and boxed alongside Jane Couch. She was also one of the first female coaches in the country, guiding the Reynolds brothers, Stephen and Alan, who won a combined 12 senior titles at the National Stadium. Here, Merc talks about the struggle for recognition in the early years, how she and others helped knock down the door to allow Katie Taylor to fight Alanna Murphy in a groundbreaking 2001 contest, being part of the coaching ticket for the men’s World Championships that same year and much more. After a move to Australia, where she continued in an education which was encouraged by the great Nicholas Cruz, she developed further as a psychologist and exercise scientist, combining her practical skills with her boxing background to ultimately develop CounterPunch. Per her own notes it’s an ‘effective, fun-filled, evidence based program to guide young people toward achieving their undoubted potential’. CounterPunch has become a success story Down Under, recently celebrating its first national champion, and now Merc is looking to spread its influence and bring it home to Ireland. Here, she tells The Rocky Road all about her journey which started kickboxing and is now changing lives by educating kids through the medium of boxing.