Bobby Rimmer and Michael Gomez plot to kill the Golden Goose by Terry Dooley Jun 20th 2008

Bobby Rimmer opened the doors of his boxing academy well over a year ago. During that time there has been plenty of water under his bridge, enough to let the trainer know that if you want to have success training fighters you have to be in it for the long haul. In recent times Rimmer has seen Michael Gomez suffer a stoppage defeat at the hands of then British Champion Carl Johanneson. Fledgling fighter Brian Rose was almost derailed by Iranian man-of-war Manoocher Salari – Brian managed to grab a draw from the jaws of defeat – and all the while Jack Arnfield has been quietly learning his trade. Next-up is the small matter of a mission impossible job against Amir Khan, who faces Gomez this Saturday. BBN caught up Bobby and Michael to catch-up on recent events: Bobby Rimmer: “There is a nice buzz about the gym now. I've got help with the business side of things now from a girl called Uma. That leaves me able to get on with training the boxers, which is fantastic. If there was a title for worst businessman in the world I would win it. I'd be the world Champion at that so I'm best out of it. “Everything else is going great. Jack (Arnfield) is undefeated. Brian (Rose) is undefeated despite the blip on his record against Manoocher Salari. By his own admission Brian hopes to put that right as he didn't give a good account of himself that night. We've got Danny Harding training here now. Chris Barnett is here. Obviously we also have the big question of Gomez boxing Amir Khan.” Rose fought Salari in Blackpool in February, forced back early by the swings of Salari Rose was forced to dig deep in order to salvage a six-round draw. A result that left the fighter disappointed: BR: “Brian was literally inconsolable. He won't mind me saying this but the kid was breaking his heart for a good half an hour after the fight. I told him there were so many questions answered that night. I didn't know if Brian Rose could take a punch. I didn't know if he could respond after getting hurt. I didn't know any of that but the questions were answered that night. I'd rather not have them answered in that way but when those questions are asked you have to know if you can answer them and like I said to Brian when you put in a bad performance it is supposed to hurt. If it doesn't you not a winner. “If you are happy with losing, or coming close to it, in any way at all then you are a loser. I don't mean to disrespect journeymen but that is the type of mentality you need to have. They need to be able to think “I don't mind losing as long as I get paid” but I told Brian that in boxing or any part of life you can't turn back time so you've got to apply yourself to your best ability the first time around. Brian didn't do that from the first round onwards and he nearly paid for it. He came back and dug-deep. I was pleased with that.” Salari had Rose all at sea with a wild swing in the second round. With his fighter wobbly-legged that early in the fight, and still relatively inexperienced, Rimmer must have feared the worst for his charge: BG: “After that second round in all honesty Brian did not know where he was. As the minute went on his head cleared and I could send him back out again with a clean conscience. He went out and got a right tanking in the third round. Luckily for us the big punch had landed at the end of the second round. If it landed earlier who knows what could have happened? We'd have had some more questions answered. “I thought another round and he might have had the guy out of there. A draw was a fair result. I've looked at it a number of times and the draw was fair.” It was a steep learning curve fight for Rose, one that it is good to have at this point in a career: BR: “Yeah, I think Brian learned a hell of a lot and it helped him grow up a lot. You can see it in the gym. He applies himself a lot more now because he has seen the consequences of not applying yourself. Some of these kids breeze through early fights not getting hit, then they get hit against an opponent who can bang and they can't apply themselves to the situation. Brian showed true grit and that was good on his part.” Motoring along in the background Jack Arnfield has been winning fights and looking dominant at his level. His form has been a constant for Rimmer over the past year: BR: “Jack is fantastic. He is really weird Jack. He doesn't watch boxing and has nothing to do with boxing. He reminds me of Clubber Laing in that Rocky film. He just turns up, does the business and goes home. He had a good rest after his last fight and he will be back in the gym soon. Jack won't stay at light-middle, he makes it easy but he is only nineteen. When he fills out he will be a solid middleweight. Right now he looks a little bit like Johnny Owen he is so skinny. Last year I had asked Bobby if he had already felt the impact of the rigours of training: BR: “I think I've lost a lot of weight since getting into it. With it being the early stages I'm doing boxing classes and I'm here from nine in the morning to ten at night.” Last year we had discussed Michael Gomez's final fling in boxing as he prepared for a shot at Carl Johanneson. On this visit talked turned to Gomez's final final (honest guv') fling as he prepares for a bout against British boxing's golden boy Amir Khan. A fight that must have come right out of the blue: BR: “Steve Wood phoned me after Mike had fought Baz Carey [at lightweight] so Mike was already looking at being a lightweight. We had been offered the Peter McDonagh fight, which is a fight I still think will redeem Mike in the eyes of some of his Irish fans. Then they offered Mike a fight with Khan and we never hesitated. I said “yes” because I know Mike had spoke about that fight. I phoned Mike to tell him they had offered the Khan fight and he was doing somersaults and screaming in the house. Mike can do this job.” Call me a cynic but upon hearing the news I assumed that this fight merely represents a big payday for the recently married Gomez. A chance to feather the nest before a final retirement: BR: “No it is not a payday. Mike sees this as a way to get onto the big time in boxing. You can't make any bones about this as it is a massive fight...a hard fight for Mike. It is one he can win though.” The winning opportunity, it seems, will only come if Gomez can detonate a sharp shot on the fragile chin of Khan. Given that Gomez's punching seems to lack sharpness even this hope seems forlorn. However, Rimmer thinks there is more to the fight than this: BR: “I don't take notice of the idea that Khan is chinny. He gets chinned and he gets up off the floor. He doesn't stay down. If Mike hits him on the chin brilliant but we've worked on other things as well. We are looking for Mike to pull off a great performance like he did against Alex Arthur. Mike has this funny knack of putting a spoke into people's wheels so he might do it again. “Amir is a really talented fighter. He is a kid that has come a long way in a short time. I'd be a fool to say he is not talented. I think in this fight he is going to be taken places he has never been before. “Both you and I know that if Mike stands in front of Amir Khan he will get hit. Mike has to force him into positions he is not used to. He is looking great. All the pad work, bag work and sparring has gone great. When things are going well you have all these good days but you are waiting for all the bad days to come. We had a bad day the other day and that was it...we had a bit of a row as we do. I got in his nerves and he fucking got on my nerves and that was the end of that. When you have a working relationship with people things get like that. Mike has been dieting, Brian has been dieting and I've been dieting so one day you are all going to come in and not see eye-to-eye. That was the only bad day in this camp and we rectified it straight after.” This was the kind of talk Gomez had given to BBN prior to the fight with Johanneson, only for the result to go the other way. Did Rimmer really believe that Gomez could produce anything different during Saturday's contest?: BR: “For me the Johanneson fight was a case of Mike training too hard. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and looking back I think he left a lot of himself in the gym. He looked great for a few rounds then stopped. Mike found it tough making that super-featherweight limit. It was tough for him and he took too much out of himself. “Mike feels great at lightweight. You've seen today that he is laughing and smiling...you never see that from him a week out from a fight. We have the little fiery temper moments now and again but we ignore them.” Rimmer offers a first hand attestation to the fact Gomez is sharp, telling me that early in the camp Gomez let loose with a shot that caught his trainer unawares, busting his nose and mouth in the process: BR: “I got one on the nose, the scar is still there, and I've had a couple to the head. He has got his sharpness back and a couple of the shots took me by surprise. He is always sorry afterwards but there it is no good telling me that when my nose is pissing blood. I'm 48 so I don't expect to be getting hit anymore. I had a few choice words for him. So the power is still there. I can verify that.” With both Gomez and Khan hailing from the North West, although occupying different planets personality wise, it comes as a surprise that the fight is taking place in Birmingham: BR: “It is a fight at the end of the day. There are two fighters in the ring and it doesn't matter where they are from. It is a pity it couldn't have happened down here but it is in Birmingham instead. Why I don't know. “Look, Amir has a lot on his plate. It is a lot to live up to and at times it must get on his nerves. I hope all that is praying on his mind when they get in the ring. Mike has shot the Golden Goose before. He derailed Alex Arthur. I hope Michael wins this and Amir comes back from it. “Mike has got his own style and he will fight the fight how he wants to fight it. We know what Mike brings to the table. Who am I to predict a fight? It is a no-win situation but I think Mike can do it.” This will be Khan's first fight since leaving Oliver Harrison. Dean Powell is the man in Khan's corner for this one. Something that came as a surprise to Rimmer: BR: “I thought Oliver Harrison and Amir Khan were in it for the long-haul. They looked so good together and it must be so hard for both of them. Oliver turned him from a good amateur into a good professional. It is a shame but that is what happens, that is boxing for you. It is always ‘change of crew' time in boxing. I've yet to experience and don't want to experience it. Things like that must hurt so it is a sad thing to see.” All in all, then, Rimmer still has a taste for the training game, it is a tough career in a tough sport but Rimmer sees himself as being in it for the long-haul: BR: “I absolutely love the game. I had a break for a long time and working with Billy Graham got me back into it. Things went from strength-to-strength. There were times when the gym was quiet and you are wondering how you are going to pay the rent but things are going well now with the boxers and the classes. New kids are coming through all the time so there is new blood.” With that said one of the older kids hovered into view as Gomez stepped took a seat next to us. Gomez is quite the enigma. If you read about him and watch him fight you could be forgiven for thinking he would be a real handful, in reality he is pleasant to be around and always good for a word or two, here are some of the best of the ones he gave that day. Michael Gomez: “I feel good about this fight. I've made weight a week out. I made it properly this time. I fought Baz Carey and a lot of people thought I was just having a quick fight up there in Scotland because I'd lost to Carl Johanneson but I boxed his (Carey's) head off.” At this point Gomez paused for a moment. This writer had been dubious about Michael's chances of beating Carl Johanneson last year; the Khan fight seemed an even bigger step in my eyes, sensing this Gomez decided to put his case forward: MG: “Listen, I can tell you until I'm blue in the face that I'm going to do it and you'll sit there listening and nodding but I am going to do it. The proof is in the pudding and only time will tell [after this cliché one-two I swear a little smile flickered across his face]. “I've been asking for the Khan fight a long time and now it has come I have got to do what I've got to do. People say I'm finished. I've been finished for the last ten years mate. “You know what? Craig Docherty's people told me they took the fight against me because they thought I was finished. I looked shocking before that fight then came back to beat Docherty…I looked shocking after that fight and then got Arthur and did him. A better class of opponent brings out a better Michael Gomez.” I asked Gomez what his motivations for taking the fight were, his initial answer surprised me: MG: “I'll fight Amir Khan because it is my thirty-first birthday. Ten years on from my twenty-first birthday and you know why I remember that birthday for all the wrong reasons.” Before I could answer Gomez apologised and took leave to take his supplements. Upon returning he was coated up and ready to leave. After both I and Bobby had pointed out that the interview was not over yet Gomez seemed surprised but, contrary to what many would do, stayed: MG: “Are we finished? I thought we had finished the interview. Yeah, it is going to be my thirty-first next week and ten years ago I was up on a manslaughter charge. I want to remember this birthday for the right reasons. It would be a big thing if I won this fight and it would show the family of the victim that I've not forgotten about him. I want to show them that I could move on from that type of life and do good things to show that it wasn't something I just did and forgot about. I want to show I'm someone.” Closer to home there are boxing reasons as to why Gomez wants to win the fight: MG: “I want to upset the applecart. I like to upset British boxing. I buzz off it. Amir Khan says he is going to blow me away and I'm glad he is thinking like that. He is going to get the shock of his life. They wouldn't put him in with anyone like Michael Gomez. Who hits like me and fights at the pace I fight at? No one. No one that Khan has fought anyway” With that said Gomez expressed his admiration for Khan, with the odd proviso thrown in: MG: “I think Amir is a top-class amateur with world-class vulnerabilities. Willie Limond is a very close friend of mine but he hasn't got half the power I've got. People say Michael Gomez's power is gone. They say look at the shots he hit Johanneson with and Carl was still there. I put that down to making 9st 4 lbs. You name me a fighter who has been making the same weight for ten years [at this point I was about to offer the name Joe Calzaghe but the point was moot as the conversation took a different turn]. Ten years! So from the age of nineteen up to now I've been the same weight. I was killing myself to make the weight.” With that said Gomez has been up in weight in the past: MG: “Yeah, I moved up to lightweight for the McDonagh fight but that was totally different. I wasn't right. I felt right against Baz Carey. This is the time. Do you understand that? This is the time for the old men. Ryan Rhodes has done it again and Michael Gomez will do it again. “I love Ryan. I'm glad to see a man boxing past his youth and using an educated brain. I've got that. I've got the spark. I'm talking boxing all the time. I never even used to watch it but know I talk boxing non-stop and I get things straight. You watch this weekends fight. Dean Francis. Talented boxer who can punch. He is going to knock Tony Oakey out. You watch Henry Castle. Had some tough fights but guess what? He is going to knock Lee Cook out. Trust me on that. You watch tonight.” In the event Gomez was right, both his predictions came to fruition. I asked him what his predictive powers told him about the Khan fight. Could a man who had lived Gomez's life derail a young fighter like Khan?: MG: “Michael Gomez is a known fighter. Let's be honest. You all know me. I can go off the rails for months on end. I tried life outside boxing and it is hard. Dough starts running out so you come back to the ring to make some dough, and I love making dough. I'd make dough and then I'd go off the rails for a bit but I can't do that anymore. I'm thirty-one years of age. “This is my last chance to make a better life and I'm going to do it and you know what? You say to any boxing fan to name any top class British boxers over the last ten years (and) Michael Gomez will get mentioned all the time because I'm exciting and I can do things. I can do this and before I go out this time I'm going to smash Amir Khan like I did with Alex Arthur and that is me remembered in boxing history. “I'm in a great frame of mind. Winning this Khan fight could set me up for life. It could help me with my book and my film. What more drive do you want? Frank Warren knows me better than anyone else. I am money orientated...he said that to me years ago and I am. That doesn't make me a bad person; it makes me a good father. “You might see Michael Gomez with holes in my socks or holes in his shoes next week but my kids haven't got holes in their socks. My kids have got the good books and all that when they go to school. A guy might brag “I've got this and I've got that”. Good! My kids have got what they need. I'm a provider.” With that said a loss against Khan, surely, will spell the end for Gomez, then again his training programme that particular day had included a long monologue during which Gomez had told us that he will only retire on a win, and retirement will not necessarily come even if he defeats Khan: MG: “There is a lot of talk about retirement, from other people. I have to retire on a win. Losing ain't an option. Let me tell you one thing. Amir Khan has been very disrespectful. I'm not going into details. Let's just wait and see what happens.” Gomez paused, and then went into some detail as to why he feels disrespected: MG: “He hasn't been slagging me off but he's talking about Gavin Rees or Nate Campbell next. Nate Campbell! People are telling Khan (that) Michael Gomez is about to get knocked out and he can fight the likes of Nate Campbell next. It makes me laugh. Michael Gomez had a bad experience against Peter McDonagh and Carl Johanneson but let me tell you one thing. Michael Gomez on fire would beat Marco Antonio Barrera, and Barrera is one of my favourite fighters.” Gomez had been generous with his time, especially considering that in his mind he had given me two interviews that day. As he put on his rosary beads and readied to leave I asked him if the beads, coupled with his habit of performing a sign of the cross when training, were a sign that he had become religious. His answer surprised me, he seemed to at once acknowledge God before then denying him for something more tangible, in many ways it summed-up the deceptively cohesive nature of Gomez's thought process: MG: “One thing about Michael Gomez that you don't realise is that I've always been very religious. I've been religious for a long time but I'm not a part of the God squad or all those things. My little sister died, that is why we moved from Ireland to England, and I'm always blessing myself and thinking about my little sister. It is nothing to do with religion, nothing to do with God; it is me showing respect for my sister in my own way. See you later. Photos Courtesy of Bobby Rimmer

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Too close to call!! Jun 20th 2008, 15:35:17 by dcoyne May i begin by congratulating Terry on a fantastic interview. I've said all week at work that Micky G could cause a big upset on saturday night. When the real razzamataz of the big lights,stage and cameras are on him this kid knows how to perform. Gomez is probably the artist of mental tactics with the heart of a lion. Take nothing away from brother Khan he too deserves his "stripes". ITV 3 come Saturday night is the place at were its at !!! (Really? Is it on ITV3? - Ed.) May the best man win God Bless. Danny Coyne