Rose
Dingaan Thobela takes on Glenn Catley in a world title bout this weekend. But the Rose of Soweto’s opponent is not your average pugilist
Gavin Evans When you see Glenn Catley in the ring you might decide this is the kind of fellow who expects you to drop your eyes when you pass him in the street. The shaven head, broad shoulders and tattoos speak of English male with attitude aplenty and yet, outside the ring, those gentle eyes tell a different story: that his reputation for being the most likeable fellow in British boxing is fully deserved. “I feel very honoured when people say I’m nice,” he says. “I suppose it’s true. I don’t have a criminal record or anything like that. It’s just the way I am, even in relation to other boxers. I sometimes want to go over before the fight and shake their hand. I’ll never slag them off.” His father was a diesel fitter and his mother a cleaner, and although divorced they provided “great family backing”. Fighting, however, was part of his early diet in Bristol. “My older brother used to knock my milk teeth out; my grandfather had been a services champion and I loved watching it on the telly, especially Marvin Hagler, so one day my dad asked me if I would like to do it myself and from the start I enjoyed it.” At the age of 14 he had his first fight and went on to win 44 out of 50. In 1993, after completing his five-year electrician’s apprenticeship, he turned professional as part of Chris Sanigar’s Bristol Boys stable as a sprightly light- middleweight. He suffered an early setback – a cut-eye stoppage – but shot to national recognition in November 1994 by stopping the conqueror of Roberto Duran, Kirkland Laing, in five rounds. The following year he was offered a job as a sparring partner for Ireland’s World Boxing Organisation (WBO) super- middleweight champion Steve Collins. “I wasn’t sure whether I was even big enough to fight at middleweight, but I held my own and learnt a great deal. Steve was using the hypnotherapist David Newton and I saw how much it helped him to focus, and how confident it made him.” In 1997, when reaching his peak, he was handed a routine assignment for the World Boxing Council (WBC) international title against Hungary’s Andras Galfi, but after building an early lead, walked into a solid punch in the seventh round which had him out on his feet. “I was taking creatine, so my weight ballooned and I just couldn’t lose it,” he explains. “I had to dehydrate myself to make the weight and I felt terribly weak. I had nothing to offer. It was a fluke, but my mistakes caused the fluke.”
Seven months later, without creatine and with the help of Newton, he pulled off his first upset by overwhelming British middleweight champion Neville Brown in eight rounds. “The hypnotherapy helped me cut everything else out when I got into the ring. In a way I won the fight on the couch.”
But Catley became frustrated because despite promises from his promoter Frank Warren, the months passed without a fight. He seriously considered retirement. “There were times when the money was really sparse, and this was one of those times. It’s easier when you’re a single guy, but when you’ve got a family it can be tough to be a full-time pro.” Finally, after eight months’ inaction and at a mere 10 days’ notice he stepped in as a late substitute to challenge for Richie Woodhall’s WBC super-middleweight title. Few outside his camp gave him a chance against the man who beat Sugarboy Malinga for the title, but he had no trouble slipping the jabs and countering on the inside. Woodhall knew he was a beaten man and congratulated Catley on his victory. Then came the shock: “The winner, by majority decision, and still champion …” Catley was devastated. “I was very, very upset. I felt like I’d won the lottery and then someone had stolen the ticket. And although I really appreciated Richie’s honesty, I was gutted and I really cried after the fight.” Sanigar gatecrashed the WBC convention in Johannesburg pleading that his charge deserved a mandatory slot after being robbed against Woodhall. Instead, the WBC offered a final eliminator against the top- rated and highly regarded Canadian Eric Lucas. Despite being viewed as a no-hoper, and fighting in Lucas’s hometown of Montreal, Catley boxed with confidence – starting well, easing off in the middle rounds, and then using his left hook to end the fight in the 12th. Germany’s unbeaten Markus Beyer relieved Woodhall of his title and Catley got his second chance in Frankfurt on May 6 – once again he was the underdog, fighting in his opponent’s backyard. Catley, who started aggressively, took a cracking left on the chin in the second.
‘He really hurt me but that’s where the hypnotherapy helped. I disguised it and then overcame it.” After 11 rounds all three judges had it dead even but Sanigar wasn’t convinced. Catley recalls: “I thought it was even but Chris pleaded with me: ‘We’re in Germany. We’re not getting any favours. Just do something.’ I suppose I over-respected Beyer but I knew I had another gear, and I didn’t want to end the fight still full of energy, so I went out there ready to unload.” When Beyer came in Catley unleashed a perfect short right to the edge of his jaw, which caused the German to slump forward. “I knew it was a great shot because I felt it in my hips, and he fell like a brick,” he recalls. As Beyer dropped, Catley landed a left hook to the temple. Beyer rose but had nothing left and after a few more unanswered punches it was over. In his 29th fight (26 wins, 20 knockouts) Glenn Catley, the nice guy who had almost chucked it in a year earlier, was suddenly the holder of the most prestigious version of the world super-middleweight title. The champion looks small when up against most super middleweights, and says that if he loses to Dingaan Thobela on Friday he might well have to return to middleweight. Although he tries his best not to sound blas’ about his South African adventure, it is clear he views his trip as no more than an easy earner – one which he deserves after two outings where he’s been a prohibitive underdog. The fight Catley really craves is with unbeaten Welshman, Joe Calzaghe, who holds the WBO title. Calzaghe beat Catley as an amateur, but Catley says things have changed. “I know I am capable of beating Joe. Southpaws don’t pose any real problems for me nowadays.” But just in case I suffer under the misapprehension that this could be a grudge fight in the making, Catley, as always, is quick to disabuse me. “I’ve got no axe to grind with him, or with Dingaan Thobela, or with anyone – really, I don’t. With me it’s never personal. I prefer to shake their hand and then take care of business. Basically, it’s all about money.”