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A Sporting Chance - Part One |
| Written by Philip Neale | |
| Sunday, 13 July 2008 | |
 When you are cold, homeless and alone with no job to provide a source of income you are inclined to desperate measures in order to make some kind of a living, and Colin Sharp fitted all these criteria. At 17 years of age he had come down south from Manchester to make his fortune. His parents were both dead and he had no other relatives, so shaking the northern dust from his feet wasn't a problem, but the fact that he had bragged to all and sundry that he would return some day a rich man meant that he couldn't go back now that things were drastically different from how he anticipated. He hadn't eaten for two days as a result of a lack of money, so desperation was now forcing him to take the kind of action which repulsed him. It was dark and he had been watching the house from a concealed position for over an hour. There had been no lights showing during that period and he decided that it was time to make a move. Walking to the rear of the property, and keeping all senses on high alert, he forced an entry into one of the back rooms. Pausing briefly just inside he listened for the tell tale sounds of footsteps approaching and was relieved when all he heard was the ticking of a clock. All he needed was something he could sell quickly in order to buy food and some better clothing than the stuff he was wearing. Moving swiftly through the downstairs without much success, he found himself in a room filled with glass cabinets, but was unable to see their contents clearly until the light came on. "Can I be of assistance?" A voice from behind shook him rigid, and after what seemed an eternity he turned to see a man in his mid forties standing by the light switch. "Don't think of running, you wouldn't stand a chance" He continued. Colin looked around the room, the trophy room to be more exact, at display cases full of boxing awards and memorabilia. His blood ran cold as he realised that he was inside the house of none other than Eddie McGiven, former British, European and Commonwealth welterweight champion - he was unlikely to get away from here unscathed. McGiven approached him slowly with a boxer's assuredness until they were standing just a few feet apart. Colin met his gaze, but couldn't hold it and resigned himself to a thrashing before being unceremoniously dumped out on the streets somewhere. McGiven looked him up and down and offered him a startling choice. "I can either make call to the local police which will involve a prosecution and likely jail sentence, or offer you a job to get you off the streets and out of the reach of the low-lifes who run them. Let's call it a sporting chance." Colin looked at him in puzzlement until Eddie explained the similarity in their situations. Back in the 1970s he too had been out of work and destined for the scrap heap until someone gave him the chance to make something of himself, and the opportunity which he grabbed with both hands propelled him to fame as undefeated champion by the time he retired in 1981 at the age of thirty. Colin's immediate reply was a resounding ‘yes', but Eddie cautioned him that it wouldn't be easy, there would be sacrifices to make in the form of his free time, the food he could eat and the tough and extensive training required to bring him up to the level of fitness needed to last in the boxing ring. To Colin this was a gift horse and he was staring straight down its throat, there was no changing his mind. The first job McGiven gave him though, was to replace the broken window he had used to gain entry. Over the following six months with Eddie as his trainer, Colin went through the usual routines of road work, weights and sparring in the ring. Building up his strength had been an initial priority and the normal boxer's diet soon had him approaching the 147lb weight category for a welterweight - one of the glamour sections of the boxing world. Eddie pointed out the now familiar legends in this category - Sugar Ray Robinson, Jose Napoles and Sugar Ray Leonard, telling Colin to focus on them for inspiration, but for the moment it was all down to sheer gut-wrenching hard work - the finer skills of the art of boxing to come at a later stage. Eddie had quickly seen potential in the young man's ring work, but he was raw, clumsy and predictable. These were the kind of traits which had to be eliminated in order that Colin wasn't picked off at an early stage in his fledgling career. In an attempt to demonstrate the art of defence, the former champion had both his arms tied behind his back during a sparring session and invited Colin to land a blow. The lad couldn't touch him and Eddie seemed to know instinctively where every blow was coming from, forcing Colin into to more and more desperate attempts. In the end Eddie called time out and showed how it was done. From that day Colin picked up every technique very quickly, and from defence they went on to the various forms of attacking strategy. By the time they had been training for nine months Eddie decided that Colin was ready for his first test. All the necessary paperwork had long been sorted out to enable Colin to box competitively and one of the local gyms where Eddie used to train was holding an evening of amateur contests. The owner was a friend and agreed to put the lad in against another young prospect over three rounds. Colin was understandably nervous and was caught a couple of times in the opening round, but with Eddie in his corner he settled down and took the second with some delightful defence and counter punching. In the third he stepped up a gear, landed a few tasty blows and finished the contest with a right cross which appeared to come from nowhere. He was elated and it took Eddie the rest of the evening to bring him back down to earth. On the way back home (Colin now regarded Eddie and his wife as family) they talked over the fight and the youngster was made to understand that a more experienced opponent would have finished him off in round one. Notwithstanding this first expedition into the world of boxing, Colin's education continued with increased effort and the skills Eddie taught him were used to maximum effect in the next contest two weeks later. This time the opponent was a real bruiser, and the training was all about close contact and how to avoid it by using jabs in conjunction with the defensive weaving that Eddie had used in the training ring. From the first bell he was faced with an onslaught of attempted punches, shoulders and elbows. Nothing touched him, and the first round was all about keeping out of the way whilst using a stinging left jab to maintain the opponent off balance. The opposing corner had no answer to the tactics and half way through the second round a short distance uppercut took the bruiser's head back, stopped him in his tracks and set Colin up for a finish with the now familiar right cross. Out of his initial ten fights only one went the distance, and he won that on points. Eddie decided that it was now time for more serious competition, and having attached Colin to the local boxing club, he was entered for the upcoming ABA Championships. Now all training was refocused and Eddie pointed out that this was the big opportunity which could lead to a place in the next Olympic squad. Success at that level almost guaranteed a career in the professional ranks. They had three months to prepare and fights were limited to one per month only. At the end of this period Colin was as physically and mentally prepared as Eddie had seen him, and was unrecognisable from the waif who stood in his trophy room less than twelve months ago. Colin Sharp was becoming one of the names in amateur boxing and meteoric success at the ABA's which saw him win all contests, including the final, inside two rounds catapulted him into the Great Britain team for the next Olympic Games. The competition was tough and training reflected that fact with Eddie making up ever more demanding work routines. Colin's overall fitness was giving him the stamina for performance way beyond the three round limit set by the amateur game, and his eventual victory in the welterweight category was a foregone conclusion. His name was in all the papers, and he was hailed as the golden boy of British boxing............(to be continued)
More Storis Available at www.lulu.com/content/2712200 Copyright 2008 Philip Neale |
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