BOXING – He beat Steve Collins, almost lost his life against Sam Storey and won a commonwealth title, and in this week’s Mourne Observer Noel Magee recalls his time in the ring.
IN the first of a new series of interviews with local sporting stars who have made their mark over the years, former light heavyweight fighter Noel Magee spoke to the Mourne Observer about his life in boxing.
Noel, who is originally from the Ardoyne area of Belfast but has lived in Newcastle since 1993, was one of four brothers in a boxing-obsessed family.
Two of his brothers, Terry and Eamonn, would become pro fighters, with Eamonn going on to win the WBU welterweight title and the Commonwealth light-welterweight title twice.
So even at the age of ten, the pressure was already on, Noel explained.
“I started boxing when I was ten years of age,” he said.
“My older brother Terry had already started (boxing) and one of my school colleagues kept saying about this boxing club (Sacred Heart), so I said ‘Ok, I’ll give it a go’.
“I boxed from ten years of age up to 15 and in that time, I kept getting beaten in semi-finals and finals.
“All my brothers had been champions; my older brother was actually Irish champion at the time.”
Noel would eventually claim his first title fighting for Sacred Heart Boxing Club and a series of regional and eventually national accolades followed.
“I was the last brother to win his first title, at 15, but once I won one, I started winning everything; Antrim, Ulster, All-Ireland.”
Boxing captured Noel’s imagination from the start, but the success of his brothers also drove him on.
“It was the whole thing of training, discipline and getting the endorphins and enjoyment out of it (boxing).
“I just got a buzz from it. Also, because my brothers were all winning things, I wanted to visualise myself doing that and become champion of Ireland, that was my only goal back then.”
After a series of fights, Noel would eventually get his shot at the Irish National Senior title in 1985, at the age of 18.
Noel would beat Steve Collins in that light heavyweight fight.
Collins went on to become a two-weight world champion and he’s a man widely regarded as one of the finest boxers Ireland has ever produced.
Noel regards it as one of the highlights of his career.
“My son put the fight up on YouTube and I still watch it maybe once a year, it was a fantastic feat beating Steve Collins,” Noel said.
Later that year, Noel went on to beat the man known as ‘The Celtic Warrior’ once again, in a trial bout for the Irish national team, this time in his own backyard.
“I didn’t just beat him once either, I beat him again in Dublin, in his own stadium. When you went down to fight in Dublin back then, you had to win the fight well on points.”
The pair would go on to become sparring partners and remain on good terms to this day.
“We became sparring partners when I joined the Eastwood stable and I got the better of him in sparring as well, I thought anyway!
“He actually phoned the house once before he was going to fight Nigel Benn asking me to spar with him somewhere in Europe but by that time I was retired.
“He opened a boxing club in Belfast a few years ago and me and him got a few photos together, so we’re still on good, friendly terms.”
Following his double success over Collins, it wasn’t long before Noel turned professional, traveling to Stoke-on-Trent to prepare for his first pro bout, with Englishman Nigel Prickett, at the age of just 19.
“I was signed by Pat Brogan, who was already managing my older brother, Terry, who had turned pro. At the time I was out of work and my future wife, Frances, was pregnant with my son, Jimmy.
“Pat phoned me and said he was interested in taking me on as a pro.
“He said: ‘Come on over and we’ll help to get you a house and a job’.
“Fair play to my wife, she came over and joined me.”
Although short of fans on the night of the fight against Prickett, in Stoke on the 22 of May 1985, Noel made light work of his opponent.
“I had one fan in the whole stadium and that was my Granda Quinn, who was also an ex-pro (boxer). He came in to me just before my fight and wished me all the best.
“I won in 49 seconds with a first round KO. The experience was unbelievable.”
19 fights followed between 1985 and 1989, with Noel winning 15, drawing two and only losing two.
Eventually Noel would get his first pro title shot in November of 1989, facing Sam Storey for the British super middleweight title.
However, in hindsight, it’s a fight the Ardoyne native feels he should never have been involved in.
“I was a natural light heavyweight from the age of 17.
The fight was at 12 stone.
“I was a stone underweight at 11-7 weighing in on the day of the fight. I was a natural 12-7 fighter, so I was drained and ended up getting stopped in the ninth round.”
It’s a fight that Noel contends he was lucky to survive.
“I was lucky to come through the fight with my life at the end of it.
“Had the fight been at light heavyweight it would have been a different result.”
It was a lesson learned and he went back to light heavyweight.
The three-time Irish Senior champion also made the decision to switch to the Eastwood stable, led by bookmaker and promoter Barney Eastwood, who at that time had boxers like Barry McGuigan and Dave ‘Boy’ McAuley in his ranks.
Noel won his first seven fights under Eastwood, including another career highlight, a famous TKO over three times British light heavyweight champion Tony Wilson.
Things were looking up again, but a title fight for the British light heavyweight belt against Maurice Core didn’t go Noel’s way and two further title losses, against Dariusz Michalczewski in 1993 (Intercontinental light heavyweight title and Fabrice Tiozzo in 1995 (European light heavyweight title) followed.
“There were no easy fights there. I was winning the fight against Maurice Core, the ref actually said that he had me three rounds up in the ninth round (before he was stopped) but it’s boxing, you can’t avoid all the raindrops in the rain, I just got caught.
“I asked for a rematch, but I never got it.
“When I fought for the Intercontinental title in Germany, the guy I stepped into the ring with (Michalczewski) went on to become two-weight World champion, at light heavyweight and cruiserweight.
“When I fought for the European title the guy standing in front of me was Tiozzo, who went on to become a two-weight world champion as well (at light heavyweight and cruiserweight).
“They were all exceptional fighters.”
Following this series of losses, Noel became disillusioned with the sport and heavily considered leaving the Eastwood stable.
“I actually phoned Barney and said to him that I was thinking of looking for another manager. Yes, he was getting me title fights, but they were against the best in the world.
“He said to me ‘Look Noel, hold on, let me make a couple of phone calls and see what I can get for you.’”
Barney Eastwood used his connections to set up a Commonwealth title fight with Garry Delaney.
If the former Sacred Heart boxer was expecting an easier opponent for this title showdown, he was to be disappointed.
Delaney was the WBO Intercontinental champion and unbeaten. Noel was given odds of 10/1.
Despite being the underdog, he fancied his chances.
“This was the only guy I fought who I really looked at on video.
“I watched him fighting on the TV and I said to myself ‘This guy is too slow for me’.
“He was a big puncher, and he had a lot of knockouts but to me he looked too slow.
“So, my thing was to get in, get out and try and make sure he doesn’t hit me with his big KO punches.
“I would just push him and try and keep him on the back foot and under pressure, that was my gameplan.“
It was a gameplan that worked to perfection as Delaney was stopped in the seventh round.
The victory was the pinnacle of the Belfast man’s pro career and the belt that he won that night still takes pride of place in his living room.
“When I turned pro, I didn’t think I had the capabilities to become European champion, world champion or even Commonwealth champion, I just wanted to win a belt of some sort.
“My whole goal was to go and win a belt and I eventually achieved that in May 1995.
“It’s my proudest moment as a professional.
“Before I fought, it was a cup that you won, I was one of the first to ever win a belt for the Commonwealth title and it still sits proudly on the wall in my house.”
A title defence against Welshman Nicky Piper followed in September of 1995 but much to Noel’s frustration, the fight took place in Cardiff.
It’s a feature of his time in the Eastwood stable, with all of Noel’s title bouts up to that point taking place elsewhere in the UK or further afield in Europe.
“I wasn’t managed brilliantly. If I had been managed better I could have got more fights at home.
“Even the first defence of my Commonwealth title, Barney let it go to Wales in Piper’s backyard in Cardiff.
“I felt Barney could have got an easier defence for me in Belfast in front of a home crowd and my family.”
Piper, despite struggling in the early rounds, would go on to win the fight in the ninth round in Cardiff.
“I was completely disheartened at that point. I was winning the fight against Piper, I caught him with a cracking overhand right in the second round and I had him. But Piper had a big heart and he was a big, fit lad.
“In the eighth round I got a cut and I came out in the ninth a bit distracted because of it and eventually got stopped.
“Again, I was ahead on points. So it really knocked the heart out of me,” Noel explained.
He retired after that fight, although an attempt at a comeback followed two years later, taking on Darren Corbett in an Irish cruiserweight title bout in Belfast, but admitting his “heart wasn’t in it”, the former Commonwealth champ ended up breaking his ankle before being knocked out in the second round.
Following his loss to Corbett, Noel decided to call it a day and leave the unforgiving world of boxing for good.
“I wanted to leave the game with my health.
“Boxing is a dangerous game. There was a couple of fights, especially the Storey fight, where I could have come out brain-damaged or worse.
“I fought two world champions, one for a European title and one for a Continental title and I beat the number three in the world, the undefeated Gary Delaney, to win the Commonwealth title.
“When I was a kid coming through the ropes for the first time, if you would have said I would be three-time Irish champion and Commonwealth champion, I would have been delighted.
“I achieved all my goals at amateur and professional level.”
Ten years after his retirement, Noel decided to set up his own boxing club in his adopted home of Newcastle, running the gym alongside his son James.
Newcastle Boxing Club ran from 2005 to 2008, with Noel and James helping to produce a series of Ulster champions, including Kallum King, Ciaran Smyth, Gary McAvoy, Damian Adair, Stephen Sweeney and Phillip Sloan, with Sloan also becoming Irish champion in 2007.
“We ended up producing 12 champions. I trained one kid, Phillip Sloan, to becoming champion of Ireland.
“I got a big buzz out of it, bringing a kid in Philip who knew nothing about boxing and taking him down to the National Stadium in Dublin, with me on the other side of the ropes and seeing him do what I did (win the Irish title), was a fantastic experience.”
Nowadays, Noel has taken a step back from boxing, although he still helps to set up shows and promotions in and around Newcastle.
In a career that featured triumphant highs and crushing lows, Noel said he wouldn’t do anything differently.
He added that his biggest disappointment, which was losing to Sam Storey for the British super middleweight title, turned out to be a crucial turning point.
“When I joined the Eastwood camp, the next thing I know I’m sparring British, Commonwealth and World champions,” he said.
“It helped to push me to the next level.
“I had to experience the defeats before I made the right decisions.”
