Does McCoy manage Anthony Farnell!
Posted: 17 Jan 2004, 15:35
ANTHONY Farnell has revealed how he feared his boxing career was over when a brain scan showed an abnormality.
The 25-year-old was pulled off last September's show at the Manchester Evening News Arena just days before it took place, the promoters citing a "medical query".
That began weeks of agony for former WBU middleweight champion Farnell before specialists gave him the all clear.
Now he is gearing up for the chance to win back his old title, when he faces Lawrence Murphy on his home patch in Glasgow on March 6.
And the fear of thinking his career was over has given Farnell fresh determination, especially with ten-month-old son Frankie to provide for.
He told M.E.N. Sport: "The scan showed that the two halves of my brain had moved apart slightly - that is something that happens naturally as you get older, but they didn't know if it was due to age or due to something else.
"Until they figured it out, I couldn't box and to be honest I was scared to death, really worried.
"But my manager Tom Jones and the Board of Control worked hard at sorting it out for me. I had to have another scan and the pictures were sent to specialists. It took a few days for them to look at the scans, but they finally said it was just due to age.
"It had taken quite a few weeks, and during that time I was so distraught that I wasn't answering the phone.
"I wondered if my career was over and it was a really hard time, but luckily I have a great family who gave me a shoulder to cry on and someone to moan at. But they have told me my brain is 110 per cent, as good as any other person, and I am over the moon."
He returned to the ring, and the light-middleweight division, last month with a rust-shaking six-round points win at the M.E.N. Arena, and now he has another title shot lined up.
Farnell has much unfinished business - starting with the retrieval of his old WBU middleweight title, when he faces holder Lawrence Murphy on his home turf in Glasgow on March 6.
Farnell lost that title in a shock points defeat to Wayne Elcock last April, just a fortnight after the birth of Frankie.
But Elcock, having refused a rematch with the Failsworth fighter, promptly lost it to Murphy on a first round knockout in his first defence.
"It's a chance to get right back in the big time," says Farnell, who still yearns for a return with Takaloo, the man who ended his 26-fight unbeaten run in 2001, for the WBU light-middleweight title.
The 25-year-old was pulled off last September's show at the Manchester Evening News Arena just days before it took place, the promoters citing a "medical query".
That began weeks of agony for former WBU middleweight champion Farnell before specialists gave him the all clear.
Now he is gearing up for the chance to win back his old title, when he faces Lawrence Murphy on his home patch in Glasgow on March 6.
And the fear of thinking his career was over has given Farnell fresh determination, especially with ten-month-old son Frankie to provide for.
He told M.E.N. Sport: "The scan showed that the two halves of my brain had moved apart slightly - that is something that happens naturally as you get older, but they didn't know if it was due to age or due to something else.
"Until they figured it out, I couldn't box and to be honest I was scared to death, really worried.
"But my manager Tom Jones and the Board of Control worked hard at sorting it out for me. I had to have another scan and the pictures were sent to specialists. It took a few days for them to look at the scans, but they finally said it was just due to age.
"It had taken quite a few weeks, and during that time I was so distraught that I wasn't answering the phone.
"I wondered if my career was over and it was a really hard time, but luckily I have a great family who gave me a shoulder to cry on and someone to moan at. But they have told me my brain is 110 per cent, as good as any other person, and I am over the moon."
He returned to the ring, and the light-middleweight division, last month with a rust-shaking six-round points win at the M.E.N. Arena, and now he has another title shot lined up.
Farnell has much unfinished business - starting with the retrieval of his old WBU middleweight title, when he faces holder Lawrence Murphy on his home turf in Glasgow on March 6.
Farnell lost that title in a shock points defeat to Wayne Elcock last April, just a fortnight after the birth of Frankie.
But Elcock, having refused a rematch with the Failsworth fighter, promptly lost it to Murphy on a first round knockout in his first defence.
"It's a chance to get right back in the big time," says Farnell, who still yearns for a return with Takaloo, the man who ended his 26-fight unbeaten run in 2001, for the WBU light-middleweight title.
Took me a while to spot the line!
