When Barry McGuigan turned 63 two weeks ago, he remained the stand-alone undisputed No 1 trainer in his family. Not any more.
On St Patrick’s Day, Shane McGuigan – son and protege – won his second British Boxing Board of Control Trainer of the Year title, so it’s now 2-2. And you sense it might not stay that way for long.
Barry, of course, was one of the most popular fighters of his era. A former featherweight world champion, a BBC Sports personality of the year winner, he cannot walk along a street without someone mentioning Loftus Road, Eusebio Pedroza of Panama and that title victory in 1985.
But at the McGuigan’s gym, this is where Shane leads the way.
World champions Chris Billam-Smith and Ellie Scotney are listening attentively from the corner as the father and son discuss their new fly-on-the-wall documentary ‘STABLE: The Boxing Game’ that will air on BBC One and reflect on their relationship with each other and their fighters in and out of the ring.
Watch the full interview with the McGuigans on Mail Sport’s Boxing YouTube channel.
Barry McGuigan (left) and Shane McGuigan are the focus of ‘STABLE’, a documentary charting their huge success as boxing trainers
The BBC documentary involving the McGuigans will air on BBC One over the Easter weekend
In the documentary, Barry and Shane reflect on their relationship with each other and their fighters in and out of the ring
While there is no doubt the McGuigan name opened the doors for Shane, it also placed him under scrutiny and raised expectations even higher.
‘I didn’t want any of my children to box because it’s pretty difficult to follow your old man if they are good at something, whether that be athletics, football or boxing’, Barry said ahead of the release of the documentary – which has been produced by Lorton Entertainment.
‘You live under a microscope and you are just constantly compared to them. You are constantly criticised and ridiculed. I didn’t want any of them to have that sort of pressure.
‘But, Shane won the National Senior Novice Championship, he won the Irish Under 21 Championships and he won the Ulster Senior Championship. He was a little bit self deprecating saying “I won a couple of titles”. He won a lot and could have been an excellent amateur but the alternative was training.
‘I don’t think he ever wanted to turn pro because of the magnetism and always being compared. He took over doing the pads for one of my fighters while I was away and when I came back they said he’s really good at it, you’ve lost your job.
‘I was happy to lose my job. He is meticulous about what he does. It’s where talent meets commitment that decides between good and great.’
Despite his father’s concerns, Shane’s involvement in boxing was inevitable. It was in his DNA. Not to mention the fact the weight of the family name followed him everywhere he went.
‘I didn’t know anything different. We would always be walking down the street and people would be going “alright Barry! Can I have a photo?”.
‘Everyone was very nice but also dad is a people-person as well so he never wanted people to have a lasting impression that he was rude so he would stop for absolutely everyone.
‘We couldn’t go to a restaurant without someone coming up and asking for a photo, then it was autographs or mainly just a long conversation about boxing. I knew it wasn’t a normal family but that’s all I knew.
‘In terms of boxing, I always knew the pressure was going to be there. But, turning professional is different. Everything is just heightened. I feel like people get built up to then fall down. You see it time and time again. In professional boxing you can be so sheltered and I knew that would be the incentive for me, with a famous name, to keep winning.
Shane McGuigan has trained a host of boxing champions, including David Haye (above)
He also worked with former world super-bantamweight champion Carl Frampton (right)
McGuigan also trains Ellie Scotney (right), who is gearing up for a unification title fight
‘There would have been the whole, put him in with this person, put him in with that person. Then if you did take the risky fights it would have just been a bigger fall. It was a bit of a lose-lose situation.
‘I got into this sport eight years ago to see if I could channel my energy into something and see if I could handle myself, but promoters were coming around it started to get serious.
‘I either had to fully commit myself to become a professional fighter or I think, I enjoyed the discipline it gave me and the process of training. You’ve got fighters like dad that are so determined and talented and my job now is to give them a helping hand.’
Shane’s gym has become a breeding ground for champions. He has made a huge impact on George Groves, Billiam-Smith, Scotney, Carl Frampton, Josh Taylor and Lawrence Okolie, all world champions in the last decade. He’s managed to carve out his own identity separate from his father’s legacy.
Scotney is gearing up for an unification title fight and promising talents like Adam Azim and Caroline Dubois are under his wing. But the well-being and safety of his fighters remains a top priority for the Kent-born trainer.
‘I know of the long-lasting effects of brain trauma’, Shane told Mail Sport. ‘It’s awful seeing boxers suffer with such injuries and even pass away in the worst case scenarios. Honestly, if that happened to one of my fighters, that would be it for me.’
Barry elaborated on boxing’s acceptance of lethal force.
‘Many trainers in years gone by have said it’s the only sport in the world you can legally kill someone. That’s the sort of responsibility you have on your hands. From Shane’s perspective, he has to make those calls.
‘Do we throw the towel in or not. Do we give them the chance to get back to the corner, see how their heads are and how they recover in those 60 seconds before deciding do we let them out for another round. It is so important. These kids are human beings.’
Shane followed his father’s footsteps and became Ireland’s national Under-21 champion in the 71kg division back in 2008
The BBC documentary delves deep into the relationship between the McGuigans
Shane added: ‘You’ve got to fight for your life in professional boxing. There have been accidents that have happened unfortunately. There are lots of people who have lost their life or been really seriously damaged.’
The ability to recognise when a fighter is no longer able to continue is a skill that comes with experience, intuition, and a deep understanding of the individual in the ring.
Trainers must be attuned to subtle cues and instinctively know when their fighter has reached their limit, as beneath the cheers of the crowd and the allure of fame and fortune at the highest level, professional boxers face the risk of developing ‘chronic traumatic brain injuries’.
‘A lot of the time, if you don’t know that individual well and they’re blinking or don’t seem like themselves, that can be a underlying concussion or something can be going on internally and you just don’t know about it’, Shane explained.
‘If you’re a egotistical person as a coach, just thinking about you and your reputation, you could be leaving that person in there too long. You might not be thinking about what they are feeling.
‘Or, if you are a former fighter that has been absolute granite, hard as nails, never been dropped, never been hurt, you don’t know what it feels like. Your boxer might have some serious damage going on internally. That’s when accidents happen.
‘Touch wood we’ve never had anything bad happen, but that’s because we are very in tune with our fighters.’
The McGuigans spoke exclusively to Mail Sport’s Charlotte Daly in their gym
Shane has, however, been on the other side of the ring when things took a turn for the worst. George Groves, the now-retired WBA super-middleweight champion whom he trained between 2015 and 2018, beat Gutknecht on points in 2016.
The German was taken to hospital following the bout and slipped into a five-week coma before being told he would never recover to a point where he doesn’t need care.
For Shane, witnessing Gutknecht’s injury was a harrowing experience that weighed heavily on his conscience and promoted him to reflect on the nature of the sport and the risks involved.
The passing of his own sister Danika in July 2019, to cancer, also underscored the fragility of life and shifted his focus from merely winning bouts to prioritising the safe return of his fighters.
‘At the end of the day, nothing is as important as life. A win just gets written down on paper or put on the internet. The most important thing is family. These boxers have children. I have been involved in fights, like George Groves vs Eddie Gutknecht, he has three children and he’s not able to function.
‘He’s permanently damaged for the rest of his life and is in a wheelchair. That, on my conscious as a coach, even as the fighter that had to go through that, especially as a father, it makes you feel horrendous.
‘But, at the same time, we are in a sport that if it’s done right and the safety procedures are there it can be a safe sport. You could be driving a Formula 1 car and someone’s tires could come off and be on top of you. Accidents happen in all sports. For us, we have to be very, very on it.’
STABLE: The Boxing Game, produced by Lorton Entertainment, will air on BBC One over Easter weekend, and will also be available to watch on BBC iPlayer.