Exclusive Bobby Rimmer interview; Farewell to Barry Knight by Terry Dooley Nov 22nd 2007

Over a year since opening his own gym, Bobby Rimmer, who previously worked with The Phoenix Camp, has experienced the ups and downs customary to a boxing trainer.  This role is probably one of the toughest in boxing in that the trainer often has to work for years without financial reward in order to find that special fighter, or two if they are really lucky, who makes it all worthwhile. Over the past year Bobby has experienced the ecstasy of seeing two of his fighters – Brian Rose and Jack Arnfield – impress while winning as well as seeing another of his fighters – Michael Gomez – suffer the agony of a KO defeat to Carl Johanneson for the British super-featherweight title. Rimmer, as all trainers must do, did all he could to ensure that Gomez furnished him with his first title win as a solo trainer but the reality was that, in Gomez, Rimmer had a fighter who was analogous to an opera singer who knows all the notes and cadences but cannot coax the same scale and resonance from his fading voice. So much, then, for Rimmer's first British title fight, he must now learn what he can from the experience and try to get himself in that position again, this time using the fresh canvas' of Rose and Arnfield. Rose recently faced his stiffest test yet when winning his sixth pro fight against Lee Noble, albeit by a single point. Despite seeing his fighter regress a little in terms of putting his shots together Rimmer is certain that the experience will prove a positive one for Rose: BR: “Brian has fought every one straight-on and the last fight was a big test for him and he did well. He won the fight but not by a massive margin. He throws so many clean shots but at times he could put a few more (shots) behind them. “I don't think Brian will mind me saying this – because it's the truth – but if there are two glasses on the table and you ask him to get the glass he'll just pass the one glass. He just does enough.  “He is not lazy but obviously we have to move him onto the level where he becomes an attacking fighter as well as a clever, slick, boxer. We need to get a bit of venom into him. We both know he is not naturally that type of kid but boxing is a tough old game.” Bobby worked with Billy Graham and Ricky Hatton for many years. Now, though, Rimmer is his own man and is enjoying it thus far: BR: “I'm finding it fantastic to be honest. It is great. I'm under no illusions that I'm a great trainer yet. I'm just counting myself as very lucky in training Michael Gomez, Brian Rose and Jack Arnfield.  “I'm charmed really to have some good kids. Some lads start of training and don't get the chances I've got and have had. Working with Ricky Hatton and Billy Graham is the perfect type of education.” Rimmer was a fighter himself so he is under no illusions as to how harsh this sport is: BR: “When I was boxing I could have a fight and was pretty tough but that's about it. I was never going to get anywhere. I could only fight and I think that is why I like training the likes of Brian and Jack. “I used to find it very tough when fighting lads who were slick boxers and that is why I like my kids because I know how hard it is to beat those kinds of guys.” “I think I can get a bit of pressure into their styles but in a good way. As Brian gets better he can develop and learn and realise that not all fights are won off the back foot.  “Believe it or not but Brian is a really hurtful puncher. He is fast as well. I think he'll be a bit different the next time. Now he's had a tough fight it can act as a kick up the arse. “I don't see Brian fighting anything less than 6 x 3 (minute rounds) now. He strolls through training so the longer rounds will suit him. Let's face it he is a master of conserving energy; he's been doing it all his life. He hardly lost any amateur fights, which is amazing when you consider that he hardly ever did any roadwork then. It tells you that his style and class has been getting him through.” Despite the fledgling nature of their careers, Bobby feels that he can give both Rose and Arnfield the help they need to maximise their talent: BR: “I think there are three main things in boxing – heart, talent and fitness. Fitness is the main one.  “A talented kid with plenty of heart can fiddle his way through boxing but fitness turns you into Championship material. Billy (Graham) always said that he'd never let his lads get into the ring if the other fighter was fitter than them. If your lad is 100% fit you are halfway there. When you have to go to the trenches your lad must be ready. “I make it impossible for Brian not to do roadwork now. He works at the gym in the day and I make sure that I leave before him so he has to run home. He runs home every night.” I wonder aloud if this may have lead Brian into buying himself a weekly bus pass: BR: “I've not seen him on the bus yet, no! There was an occasion when my daughter saw him in his girlfriend's car but he'd ran home then gone out with her. He was immediately grassed up even though he did nothing wrong.”  Rimmer feels that, as the chief second, the onus is on him to make sure his fighters are 100%, and he feels the responsibility keenly: BR: “Yeah I do. If you are one of those people who blame themselves when something goes wrong it is harder to be a trainer.  “Now I understand how Billy felt and why he is such a perfectionist. The buck stops with him. Now the buck stops with me and if something goes wrong people can blame me.” For the Gomez-Johanneson fight nothing went wrong per se. Gomez caught Carl with clean shots but the pop and fire of his younger days was lacking. A mislaying of his jaunty Mexican entrance music had set the scene for a performance lacking his prior fire.  Gomez is going to continue in his career, his relationship with Bobby will continue also; Rimmer fleshed this relationship out for me:  BR: “Mike has been a pro for forty plus fights and he knows what he is doing. I do it with him and help him with what he knows he has to do. It is not just me telling Mike what to do or the other way around. We are a team. I've worked with Mike for a very long time. “Mike is a fighter and he has his faults but he also has his good points. You have to know how to handle him. Some days he comes into the gym and he is really happy and some days he comes in and he is not quite as happy. Some days you have to stand off him. Leave him to his own devices so that he comes to you. “These kids are under a lot of pressure so you have to know when to bother them and when not to bother them. With Mike the closer it gets to a fight the worse it gets. Little things will start to bother him. He can upset you a little bit at times if you don't know him, you think, “what the fuck is wrong with him?”, but he is Mike Gomez if you know what I mean.  “If he says something you don't like, or if he snaps at you, he will always come to you afterwards and say he is sorry.” With his other fighters the theme is to build on what they already have rather than forcing them to adopt a style they are uncomfortable with.  I recently reviewed Larry Holmes' farcical fight with Marvin Frazier, son of Joe, and it was painful to see Marvin, physiologically and, by virtue of his amateur pedigree, stylistically incapable of fighting like his father, loosely imitating Frazier Senior with that pressuring style. Rimmer is adamant that he will not force a fighter to fight in a style unsuited to him: BR: “Brian is never going to be a Ricky Hatton. He is a box-fighter. The left jab. The movement. I need to get them (Brian and Jack) planting their feet. As amateurs it is all about scoring with straight shots but professionals have their feet firmly planted. “One thing I tell the kids, and found out myself, is that in the amateurs you get beaten and in the professionals you get hurt. That is the difference. You are fighting men and they hit you hard.” Arnfield left the amateurs feeling aggrieved over a perceived sleight on the part of the England selectors: BR: “Jack went into the England camp and they said he did great job in sparring. He then got a short letter telling him to come back in six months and try again.  “That is all well and good but for fuck's sake. Sit the kid down and explain to him what he did wrong instead of sending him a Dear John letter. “He could be thinking a million and one things about why he got the letter and (he could be) missing the one thing he did do (wrong). These kids go away with the England squad, they get fuck all out of it and then get a letter like that. What do you expect them to do? They give their lives to the amateur ranks and get a stupid little letter. “Don't leave a kid out in the dark with stinking thinking and all types of things.” Once again we talked about the fresh responsibility being placed on Bobby. To these fighters he will become the centring cause of their boxing world – teacher, friend and, when it is right, an auxiliary thought process.  A good trainer lies diagonally across the outspread map of our boxing world; the responsibility is further exacerbated by the danger of the sport itself: BR: “I've had a lot of sleepless nights since going it alone! I understand why trainers are the way they are now.” Keen to tread carefully through Manchester's boxing minefield Rimmer is adamant that he will not get involved with lifting fighters from other gyms or agitating for new blood: BR: “I set out in this game to try not to fall out with anyone. I don't want to upset anyone. I don't want to fall out with people so I keep to myself and to my own gym. I concentrate on my fighters. “If you take fighters that have been with other coaches it is a problem because they've got other thoughts on things but Jack and Brian's boxing computer's are blank. They listen to me. These kids trust me the way I trust them. We know it is a massive job. “Brain wants to be world champion and so does Jack. They are fresh young kids and listen to me about boxing. When it comes to things outside of boxing they just fuck me off! They both live in the flat I own and I've got them in a boxing cocoon. The neighbours grass them up if they are messing about.” Finally, as is usually the norm, I asked Bobby if he had any heroes in boxing. After reflecting for a while, perhaps dragging names of fighters across his mind, Rimmer answered: BR: “Every fighter who climbs into a boxing ring is a hero, for my money anyway. It is hard to decipher what a hero is but every boxer is a hero for me.  “You've got these lads who get into a ring and know by the third round that they are not going to win but they are still there by the twelfth. The journeymen are heroes. I find it very hard to think of my personal hero. At the moment I'd say Brian, Jack and Gomez because I think they're fucking great.” To his fighters he may one day be The Hero, the coach who has brought them all the way, with patience administered to their flaws and attention lavished on their strengths: BR: “I'm going to try and be as good (at coaching) as I possibly can. My library has gone up since I started coaching. I'm reading a lot and, again, I learned that off Billy Graham because he is always reading. I don't think you can ever have too much knowledge. I've just got Joe Calzaghe's book, a Jack Johnson book and another Ali book.” With a hectic year behind him, as well as another one shaping up before him, Arnfield fights in Colne this Sunday on a VIP bill, Rimmer has a moment to pause for thought. This trainer seems completely immersed in the hopes and aspirations of his fighters, forgoing talk about the past greats of the game or the ceaseless meandering through pound-for-pound lists.  This fact was illustrated during a car journey with Bobby. Our boxing talk turned towards my old club, West Gorton ABA, and my former trainer, Barry Knight.  Knight loved boxing and, as many boxers must hope, had two sons who followed him into the sport. Jason, the elder, was a proper boxer, a counter puncher with smarts. Adam, the younger brother, was a solidly built powerhouse with a penchant for Mike Tyson - this when Tyson was at his peak. This writer sparred the two many a time and Rimmer asked me who the better boxer was. It was easy to answer. Jason was the better boxer but it was a nightmare sparring Adam.  Rimmer talked briefly about the history of the my old club whilst I recalled the man, Barry Knight, who had taught me the first principles, and, therefore, the possibility of grasping further principles, of the sport of boxing.  Knight would stand on the ring apron, smoking cigarettes whilst watching us spar, advice would be given, our flaws would be pointed out and he would tell us that sparring fortified our character. “Move in behind the southpaw jab. Use your reach and skills. You'll need to up your fitness and dedication or this game will find you out.” It was a retrospectively poignant conversation between Bobby and myself. Retrospective in the sense of showing me that Bobby has been around long enough to take the rough with the smooth.  It was poignant, also, due to the fact that, two weeks ago, Barry Knight died after suffering from lung cancer. It may not be an event that has streaked across the boxing firmament as strongly as the latest stage-managed press conference fight or the nth heavyweight conversation but boxing truly lost one of the unsung heroes. The men who make heroes out of the boys who come to them with Championship dreams.  It also marked the passing of a man who towered over my early boxing development and who, along with my family, kindled an early love of the sport. BBN dedicates this interview to the memory of Barry Knight.

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Sorry for your loss, Terry Nov 22nd 2007, 12:02:13 by mcneilly A typically lively interview with a great subject, Terry. Just wanted to offer my condolences for your loss and I feel you have paid a fitting tribute to Barry. R.I.P. Barry Knight