Barry McGuigan

[ValeTudoF!ghter]

Anyone have some info on him? I never saw him fight, I was still pretty young at the time of his last fight. My dad was telling me about him last night saying he was a good guy to watch.

[Irishlad69]

Mcguigan was a multi-faceted box-fighter, with underrated punching power. Your dad was right in his assessement of barry being an exciting fighter to watch as he would clinically barnstorm over his opponents, constantly digging in short deft hooks to the body, then bringing them up to the head. He was very difficult to hit at his best, as he was a study in perpetual upperbody movement. His problem was having an inadequete, money-mad cowboy for a manager, who verworked him, cheated him, interfered with his personal life, and ultimately ruined his career by sending him out with a sprained ankle, and a perforated eardrum, in the sweltering heat of las vegas against steve cruz, in condtions barry was as accostumed to as a polar bear.

[Jaclem]

I have the complete tape of that fight with Cruz, and it is obvious from the start that Barry is not himself, and "himself" was a hell of a good fighter.

[googoogachoob]

I agree that Barry would have had problems with Nelson, his title defence against Bernard Taylor showed that he could be outsmarted & frustrated (luckily Taylor couldn't punch). If the McGuigan that beat Juan Laporte was matched against Nelson then it would be a very interesting matchup.

Barry's all action style probably contributed to his relatively short career at championship level but on his best night he would have been a handful for any featherweight.

Scott Harrison/McGuigan would have been a great fight.

[Dickhead]

For me, Barry was one of this century's most meaningful sportsmen. He used his title to attempt to unite a country torn. He is one of the fondest characters of any sport I have had the pleasure of witnessing in my lifetime. I'm glad someone remembered, and started this thread.

[Lickszz]

I used to love to watch McGuigan. His head was never still. Excellent work rate.

[the power]

great fighter to watch. try & get hold of a tape of him beating Eusebio Pedroza to win the title in '85. You won't be disappointed. McGuigan is in excellent health, still keeps himself in shape & is regularly seen on Sky in the U.K imparting his wisdom as one of the best analysers in the game.

Cheers,champ.

[steve689]

McGuigan was a very exciting fighter and used is belts as a political tool to try and unite Nothern Ireland.

[Bockser]

I hate to disrupt this, but he was kind of annoying.

I'm actually from Ireland and I know that no one who knows enough about him even in Clones likes McGuigan. He was a good fighter but he was slightly annoying.

Some people may be annoyed at me for insulting him but it means more to me than others. He's percieved as a national hero which is quite frankly a load of bullocks.

He always called his manager Mr. Eastwood and always brought it up in interviews, such a kiss-ass. The late Dermot Morgan(Father Ted) wrote a song, "Thank you very much Mr. Eastwood" and it did great justice. Instead of taking it as a joke McGuigan got mad at him and as far as I remember he said some threat like, "If I see Morgan....". After he broke up with Eastwood(note: "broke up"), he told interviewers, "no, it's just Eastwood now".

This is stupid about him "uniting Republicans and Loyalists". As I've said, they both disliked him equally. He made up BS about it.

He couldn't decide on whether to wear the Irish colours on his flag or not, so he used a compromise. He wore blue and yellow, the EU colours. How annoying.

He dodged Nelson. Nelson was really funny talking in his accent, "She's a girl. Hee-hee-hee. She doesn't want to fight, hee-hee-hee. She's a girl". Something like that.

I found the lyrics to Morgan's song:

Barry McGuigan: ..So I'm saying thank you, thank you, thank you very, very much Mr Eastwood. Thanks mum, and dad, and my brothers and sister, But the man I thank most is the man I call Mister. Mr Eastwood. Thank you very, very, very much Mr Eastwood. Thank you very, very, very much Mr Eastwood. So I took off my gloves and Ieaned on the rope, thanking the audience. And I picked up the phone, who was there but the Pope.

Pope: Young Barry, I love you and I thank God that you are so good.

Barry McGuigan: Don't thank him your Holiness, thank Mr Eastwood.

Pope: So we say thank you, thank you, thank you very much Mr Eastwood. Thanks mum, and dad, and his brothers and his sister, But the man he thanks most is the man he calls Mister.

Barry McGuigan: (thank you your Holiness) Thanks to Sandra and to Blaine they're a bonus and thanks to the fans here and the ones back in Clones. ...................................

Steve Collins: National Hero
McGuigan: National Disgrace

I'm going to come off very arrogant here but I do not like Barry very much.

I'm sure people will be asking, "Why did you bring this forum back to life". Well, so many books have all this stuff about him uniting Republicans and Loyalists and how he was a national hero. I had to get this off my chest.

[Irishlad69]

While i agree with certain points, i have to disagree with your take on his popularity in ireland. People used to turn up in droves to see him from both sides of the divide, and while its a massive exaggeration to say he brought any sustained unity, he was loved on the shankill as well as the falls. What i didnt like was the circus that surrounded him, i. e. his brother always rushing into the ring, and his father giving it the "oirish tenor" treatment before every fight. The hype that he generated was one of the multitude of reasons that ultimately destroyed him. I see your point, but steve collins a national hero??? At least mcguigan held a real world title, and beat a legendary fighter for it insted of some overhyped, painfully domestic prancing bum!

[Bockser]

I suppose Steve Collins was not a national hero but he was much more likeable than Barry. He did have 7 defenses.

No he didn't really make this hype up for publicity like Prince Naseem or Eubank, he wasn't like that. He was more of a kiss-ass guy.

He once prayed in his corner to god, hoping he wouldn't lose.

But I think you are wrong about the fans. As I've said, he was not a particularly popular fighter, and although he may have made both sides "turned up in droves", a lot of both sides greatly disliked him.

[donnellon]

another irish take on barry
he was good, very good for a while.
national hero... maybe not but very popular,yes.
the uniting northern ireland bit is a lod of bollocks made up for media consumption.
barry was very careful to present a neutral image for commercial reasons and i found his fawning attitude a bit grating. top class fighter non-the-less and a great fight analist.
collins was good too and got the max from limited resourses and is very underated.

[donnellon]

another irish take on barry
he was good, very good for a while.
national hero... maybe not but very popular,yes.
the uniting northern ireland bit is a lod of bollocks made up for media consumption.
barry was very careful to present a neutral image for commercial reasons and i found his fawning attitude a bit grating. top class fighter non-the-less and a great fight analist.
collins was good too and got the max from limited resourses and is very underated.

[Barney Ross' Neighbor]

I recall McGuigan as a strong, hard-hitting entertaining fighter. His assets were stamina and muscle. He could outwork any featherweight of the time. But, that aggressive style played into the hands of a boxer like Steve Cruz. Still, McGuigan delivered memorable performances against tough opponents, most notably Pedroza, LaPorte and Taylor. Some posts are critical of his "all you need is love" PR approach, but I think he was walking a political tightrope. Anything he said would offend one side or the other.