Johanneson Brings Home the Bacon (on the coach). by Paul Concannon Jul 14th 2006

“As the silent one says, you take your destiny in your own hands…” Those were amongst the many deep and meaningful prose to come out of the excited mouth of Leeds' loud and proud Rick Manners today in response to his man, Carl Johanneson, and his dazzling fourth round stoppage of the tough and talented Billy Corcoran in Wednesday's thrilling vacant British Super-Featherweight title bout in London's York Hall. Rick is never short of a quote or two, and Carl, the epitome of strong & silent, also had a few words of his own when British Boxing.net caught up with the dynamic duo earlier today. “I never take anyone or anything for granted, whatever the odds, we all knew that we had a job to do, and that had to happen in the ring,” described Carl. Since teaming up a little over a year or so back, Carl and Rick both feel, despite the occasional and inevitable difficulties that crop up in close father/son style relationships in boxing, that everything finally came together in the Corcoran bout. “On a shoestring budget, Carl Johanneson is back and on a re-launch! Carl is now a hot commodity, but he remains humble. After winning, I threw a party, and we got Carl a nice chauffer driven Merc to go back (up to Leeds) but the first thing he said was that that he wanted to travel back on the coach, so he would be going back with fans and family and friends. He brought about 60 fans from Leeds to London, thirty amateur kids and thirty family and friends, who came down on the worst day of the week, so he suffered the 4 hour coach journey so he could travel back with the people who had come down to support him, listen, the city of Leeds needs to get behind Carl Johanneson!” Both boxer and trainer, with some justification, feel that both the fight, and the positive reaction they have received since, have gone a long way to proving the Carl Johanneson doubters wrong. “Basically after what happened (when an emotionally fragile Johanneson was shockingly stopped by Leva Kirakosayan back in 2004) people said I cannot take a punch, so I think I proved a lot of people wrong in this fight,” explained Carl. “Carl wasn't there to take punches, though of course there was an element of risk, giving some to take some. When it comes to this level it's all about precision, throwing good precise connections, and everything was connecting and getting through very early,” Rick told us. When asked his thoughts on Corcoran, Manners had nothing but praise for the valiant effort put forth by Johanneson's co-challenger on Wednesday night. “Never in our wildest dreams did we think that Bill Corcoran was going to come and have a fight with us like that. In doing so he made Carl look really good. We figured we would need to take away Billy's jab, but from the start, he was prepared to stand and trade with us. Carl took some body shots, but his own precise punches were the really damaging blows. “We were working on steadily breaking him down, we had an 18-shot plan, but as Carl was getting to him so early, he never had the chance to throw all of them, the first seven or eight (in round four) got the job done. “Billy is a cracking fighter and SKY were shocked and bowled over with how quickly we got him; the pundits said it would go to points, but yet again, we have beaten the odds.” Some, including his own camp, had felt that referee Ian John-Lewis had been a little hasty in rescuing Wembley's Corcoran in the fourth; predictably, Manners doesn't agree. “The referee did a fantastic job; listen, there is absolutely no disrespect here at all, Billy is good fighter from a great camp, and everyone wins and everyone loses, but if the referee had not stopped it when he did, Billy Corcoran was going to get hurt and knocked out badly. This way, he lives to fight another day. We would happily have a rematch with him down the line, but all I would say is let's get Billy a couple of wins and then make that fight happen.” With Carl and Rick being so close and personally involved, this particular victory was far more than just a another notch in the W column, Rick feels every inch the proud father following his man's triumph. “It means so much, like when you have invested every penny in your kid's education, and they go and get that degree, it means that much. It's like when you take a kid to that level and now he's got that independence, that little extra to do be able to more,” waxed the philosophical Manners. As well as being a triumphant moment for his fighter, Rick, who admits to barely having slept for almost two weeks prior to the bout, is on cloud nine about what Carl's win means to his own standing as trainer, and the fighter and manager's home city of Leeds. “It means so much now to be classed up with the top trainers in the country, like Chris Aston, McCracken, Jimmy McDonnell, the Ingles, and all those other trainers. It's been a hard struggle, emotionally and physically, as Carl is like a son, and there have been tantrums along the way of course, but I feel this vilifies me as one of the top men in the country. I still haven't come down yet, it really is like a dream come true. “Carl winning the title means so much for Leeds, taking into account the recent form of Leeds in the football, and likewise the northern and Yorkshire boxers that have been beaten on London soil. This proves we can produce premier athletes. “Carl might be little, but this has made a massive impact, he has single-handedly brought pride back to Leeds, and we are talking about it being 12 years since a genuine Leeds man, won the British title. Henry Wharton was from York and Derek Roche was originally from Wexford in Ireland. Carl is an official Leeds champion, born and bred!” The huge impression made by Carl's visit to the capital means that there are no shortage of choices when it comes to his next move, and right now the world, is quite literally, the oyster, as Rick explained. “All the major TV promoters have been in touch, so it's a case of sitting down with Carl and everyone else and deciding what's next, and that's the very best deal available for Carl. An outside chance still exists that we could fight Alex Arthur, but Carl's a realist, and as much as we would love that fight he knows that Alex may be moving in a different direction just now. “Right now we are soaring high-like the eagles, we don't have to peck corn with the chickens! Carl only wants the big fights and I am very happy to have got him this far and would be delighted to go on the next part of this adventure with him. “We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the other boxers that have helped Carl prepare, our sponsors, fellow trainers, and advisors for their support,” Rick concluded. The last word, fittingly, went to Carl who, while being guarded about who he feels he will be fighting next, said, “I am very pleased with my performance, we had problems with venue changes and politics, but in the end, it went to plan, as Rick said, like turning the pages of a book. I finally buried a lot of ghosts on Wednesday night.” Photos courtesy of Simon Kevan

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