Former
British, European and World Featherweight Boxing
Champion and commentator.
Undisputedly,
Barry McGuigan was one of the best boxers of his
generation. As an amateur he won a multitude of
titles and at the tender age of just 17, he took
the gold medal at the 1978 Commonwealth Games.
As a Professional he won the British, European
and World Titles. On a memorable, balmy night
in June 1985 twenty million people watched as
McGuigan captured his dream against Pedrosa in
what was voted ‘Fight of the Year’
by Ring magazine. His amazing performance later
captured him another title of BBC Sports Personality
of the Year.
Barry
transcended the sport of boxing; his fights became
family occasions and united the people of Northern
Ireland during a troubled time in the country’s
political history. McGuigan, a Catholic, married
his Protestant childhood sweetheart, Sandra Mealiff
in 1981. An Irishman, he fought for the British
Title and united the people in their support of
him. His boxing shorts were made in the colours
of the United Nation’s Flag of Peace and
his father sang ‘Danny Boy’ on many
of the emotionally charged occasions. McGuigan
was voted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame in
2000 and the International Boxing Hall of Fame
in 2005.
This energetic 46 year old has achieved much in
his life thus far. For almost 20 years, McGuigan
has been commentating and writing on boxing and
has developed into one of the leading figure heads
of the sport. He has commentated throughout the
world; in the USA for Prime Network, in Asia for
Star TV, in Europe with Euro Sport and in the
UK for BBC, Sky, Screen Sport, Wire TV and currently
for ITV and Setanta. He is also president and
founder of the PBA, an organisation set up to
protect the interests and promote education and
skills development for professional boxers.
However,
Barry has much diversity to offer, he collaborated
with the twice Academy Award nominated film director
Jim Sheridan and Academy Award winner Daniel Day
Lewis to make the movie ‘The Boxer’
which was inspired by his life. As well as training
Day Lewis over a two year period, McGuigan choreographed
and edited all the boxing scenes for the Golden
Globe nominated movie. His role as a trainer continues
however, as he has recently dedicated much of
his time to working with his youngest son who
is a promising talent in the boxing ring and who
has gone on to win a National Boxing Title in
his first year of competition.
Barry’s
most recent success has been as champion of this
year’s ITV reality show ‘Hell’s
Kitchen’ where under the tutelage of world
renewed chef Marco Pierre White, he discovered
his culinary talents and won himself a new generation
of fans along the way.
Barry
is a compelling and highly entertaining after
dinner, keynote and motivational speaker.
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