Boxing Bonds Father and Son by Terry Dooley Mar 22nd 2007

Boxing bonds father and son. As football is increasingly diluted by diving, bitching and Prima Donna behaviour boxing now, more than ever, remains the most masculine sport for father-son bonding. If you have a son someday you will probably hope that he shares your love for the sport so you can share that passion. This writer in particular grew-up watching the ITV (Benn, Eubank and Hamed) fights with his father and watching old VHS tapes (Louis, Robinson and Hagler) with his grandfather. I found that boxing was constant connection between the Dooley generations. My first visit to the pub with my old man was boxing related as he permitted me to watch the Carl Thompson-Ralf Rocchigiani fight. After Carl lost our first joint drinking session was provoked as we drowned our sorrows. These thoughts drifted through my mind as BBN made its last visit, for the immediate future, to Bob Shannon's Fighting Fit Gym. Over a decade ago Bob Shannon and his son Robert started building-up the gym. Unfortunately Robert did not get to see the strides made recently by his father as he died in a tragic car accident in 2003. As BBN listened to the rhythmic pounding of the bags, underscored by Bob's persuasive barked instructions, the words a clearly moved Bob had spoken about his son drifted into my mind. A while ago I had asked Shannon what kept his furious gym work-rate going and he had told me about his day-job - Bob is a decorator in some of Manchester's exclusive districts – and how during the long periods of working alone he would think of his son. For Bob this is more than a gym: Bob Shannon: “I love this gym. My son Robert was here as well so it is like a family gym, this gym means everything to my family; my daughter Nicola is here all the time helping out and my wife Jean is there with the lads every step of the way. "This place is my two hours a night of getting away from it all after a days work, the gym is fantastic for keeping you busy. I work by myself all day and think a lot about Robert and how he was taken from us. It was hard when Robert died but he always told me not too think too much about things and the gym distracts me; you've got to keep yourself busy and the gym distracts me from the sadness because I do think a lot and when I think of Robert it makes me sad.” Over the past year-and-a-half BBN has followed the ups and downs of the gym. There have been wins and losses; Andy Morris lost his British title in contentious fashion to John Simpson. Ali Nuumbembe then furnished a win that made up for it when he recently added the Commonwealth title proper to his amateur Bronze Commonwealth medal. When BBN first met Ali he was living in a caravan at the back of a pub in the Glossop hills, fast forward a year and half and Ali is now in a flat in the same, exclusive, area and is the proud wearer of the welterweight Commonwealth title he brought home from Scotland after beating Kevin Anderson. Ali had graciously nipped across the city to meet with BBN and discuss the fight with Anderson in greater detail. BBN: Hello Ali, how are you are feeling after the Kevin Anderson win? Ali Nuumbembe: “Very, very good! We had a tough fight but I ended up being the winner and it was great to win a Commonwealth title.” BBN: It was a tough old fight, what got you through it? AN: “My fitness because I had been working very hard with Bob. Before the fight Bob was pushing me very hard and my fitness got higher as the fight went on. I used more boxing than him (Anderson) so my boxing got me through as well and we had tactics to use in the fight. That made it harder for him to get his shots off and the main thing was that I didn't feel my fitness going as the fight went on.” BBN: You boxed on the move a lot in this fight. AN: “Yeah, that is why people nicknamed me Ali. When I was an amateur in Namibia I always fought moving, moving and that is why they called me Ali.” BBN: Was the plan to box on the move for the whole fight? AN: “My plan was box, box and we worked hard on the jab. Kevin Anderson is a good fighter with a hard punch so we had to move around to avoid his punch. I had to take my chances to punch when they came and out-boxed him.” BBN: Some people said it was a great fight to start the year with, is it pleasing when fans enjoy your fights? AN: “Yeah, it is great when people say that, it makes it an honour for me to be here (boxing). I want to show people my best fighting and it is good when two boxers do their best and show their skills. If people are happy with that it makes me happy in my career.” BBN: Did Anderson hurt you with any punches during the fight? AN: “No. He didn't hurt me at all, his punches are very strong but they never at any point hurt me because I was moving and his punches landed very soft because of this.” BBN: Did you know the left hook to the body hurt Anderson in round eight? AN: “I didn't really realise it because I caught him with a body-shot and at the same time he was turning around and I just thought he looked very tired. I started to push him more.” BBN: Could more of that body punching have stopped him or would that have been too risky? AN: “I wouldn't say I could have knocked him out but maybe if we had fifteen rounds I would have! He was getting tired you know and I was getting strong. He was going late in the fight but I never realised that.” BBN: How did it feel when they said you had won? AN: “It was one of the happiest things I have ever heard in my life. When they said “and the new” it was a great night and that was a beautiful thing to hear. To go to Scotland and beat the Champion in his own backyard was a big thing for me, no one gave me any chance so to win it from a good fighter and British Champion was great. "I am the second Namibia ever to be a big Champion and that puts me with Harry Simon in my country. "My fans in Glossop were coming up after saying “well done!” and for me it was great to also win for my trainer who worked hard for me. I feel great now and I am glad I gave happiness to the people who watch me.” BBN: Did people underestimate you based on the Olusegun fight? AN: “People did not see the real Ali Nuumbembe that night. It was a short notice fight with weight coming off but it was my fault because I took that fight and I got knocked-out. That is why I knew I would win this fight with Anderson. I was ready. I was prepared for the Champion. Ajose is a very good boxer but I could just not jab or box, I had lost as soon as I got in the ring. I was not woke-up for that fight. "It is a good thing that I got a second chance to show I can do it. I showed the real me.” BBN: So what is next for you? AN: “For now I want to go home for a holiday and to see my family. Then we will talk to my manager about a Matthew Hatton fight or maybe Young Muttley, there are a lot of people to fight at welterweight and I will do my best to fight them. "I want to keep what I have now (the Commonwealth belt) and do my best to become a world-Champion. "Matthew would be a very good fight, it is an easy fight to make because Matthew says he wants it and I want it so why not fight? It is a very good fight, I have sparred Matthew and respect him a lot.” As Ali left he stopped to chat to Andy Morris and shouted that Andy would bring his title British featherweight title back home to the gym within the next year. Morris has been a constant presence in the gym over the past year, Bob compared Andy's desire to his own son's and in many ways Bob and Andy are hewn from the same boxing rock. Andy also has a father who passionately supports his career. Andy Morris Senior cherishes his sons boxing career yet also shows his fervour for the sport by working for the BBBoC. Morris senior showed this commitment at the weekend by putting the pain over his sons defeat to the side to oversee the fight between Derry Matthews and John Simpson, the man who beat his son. Again boxing is a sport that unites the generations as well as families. This point was underlined as BBN watched hot prospect Denton Vassell spar his cousin Nathan Da Silva. Denton joined the roster at Fighting Fit around the time BBN first arrived. Vassell is now motoring along nicely, his rounds with Nathan showed off the natural upper-body movement Denton has in spades, movement that cannot be taught, only honed. Nathan further tested this by leading with his right at times and drawing Denton's sting before returning fire with wicked body-shots and testing punches, the two cousins certainly did not hold back one bit. Denton also sparred a bigger fighter called Mike Jenno; Mike will make his debut in April on a Wally Dixon show. Jenno gave Denton all-new problems to deal with and with an amateur record of twenty-eight wins and fifteen stoppages Mike will be worth looking out for. His movement and punching gave Denton plenty of chances to slip and counter the straight shots, for his part Mike was eager to exchange when he had the chance. So with Denton making waves, Andy Morris even more determined, Ali Nuumbembe Commonwealth Champion and Rocco Hussey, Mark Nilsen plus Abdul Rashid all active Bob has a lot on his plate right now. As BBN prepared to leave Bob's mind wandered back to his lost son, he pointed to a photo of Robert and talked about how determined his son had been to see the gym attain success. Now that time has come around Bob misses his son acutely yet his family and his boxers surround him, together they ride the ups and downs a gym must go through. Bob posed for a photo, this time with his daughter Nicola who also shares her fathers' passion for the gym. BS: “It took a long time but I've got the fighters I always wanted and we've got Champions in the gym. It is a fifteen year overnight success story isn't it?” Photos by Allan Stevenson

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