Jimmy Tibbs goes from crazy tales of shotguns and dynamite to teaching Billy Joe Saunders to keep calm

He fought on the card of Cooper and Ali before a classic tale of indifference led him into the company of rogues

Billy Joe Saunders and his trainer Jimmy Tibbs before victory over Andy Lee at the weekend (Getty)

Watching Jimmy Tibbs work a corner in an important fight, a long fight and one where the life of the winner will change for ever is often wonderful. Tibbs can change the life of his fighters and he does.

Last Saturday in Manchester he took control of every second of every minute that separated the 12 rounds of the WBO middleweight title fight between his boxer, Billy Joe Saunders, and the champion Andy Lee.

Tibbs was needed to pull Saunders back occasionally, keep the fighter calm and guide him through the later rounds of a world title fight; Tibbs has taken that crucial four- or five-round journey before but Saunders was in his first world title fight and the last rounds, often called the championship rounds, are cruel.

“Billy is a calm fighter, a good listener and I have always liked a good listener,” said Tibbs, who is now 69. “I was a good listener when I was boxing; the problem was that away from the ring I was not much of a listener.”

He fought on the undercard of the Muhammad Ali and Henry Cooper fight at Highbury in 1966 and lost just twice in 20 fights before a classic tale of Canning Town indifference led him into the company of diverse rogues and eventually to his own room in a prison. He was, he is right, not much of a listener back then.

He fell into the job of training fighters when he was a free man and in his thirties; he started listening again to the fight people that he served what passes for an apprenticeship with. Tibbs was good, the fighters liked him and on long journeys or late into the night in a Hartlepool hotel he would tell a few old tales with dynamite, shotgun blasts and a lot of black comedy.

However, what he really did, and what he has been doing for nearly 40 years, is work on his boxers during harsh hours in the gym at sessions that often had no clear ending. Tibbs taught the men he trained – and continues to train – confidence and belief. “He’s got to have faith in what you are doing and what you are saying – he needs to trust you,” Tibbs said. Nigel Benn, Michael Watson and a hundred others trusted him.

In 2008 Mark Tibbs, a former professional, started working alongside his dad in the gym, making it formal the same week a man called Dean Powell delivered the teenage Saunders to Tibbs Sr. It was a good fit from the start, young Billy learning from the Tibbs double act.

Saunders had faith in Tibbs on Saturday night and, more importantly, during the nine weeks when they relocated to the MGM gym in Marbella to prepare. Tibbs is not a big fan of distractions, he likes his fighters to focus on the job and not have to worry too much about anything else. “Fighters have enough to worry about when they get in the ring, they don’t need a load of aggro in the weeks and days before a fight,” added Tibbs.

It is no secret that in the past Saunders has cut a corner or two, but for his win in 2014 against Chris Eubank Jr the team went to Marbella and it worked. It was necessary then and that is why there was a repeat package for the Lee fight. “We knew that Billy could win, we knew that, but he had to stay disciplined,” said Mark. They also had to stay isolated in their Spanish retreat, a safe distance from the human errors that afflict too many boxers.

“When we say something to Billy it is because we think it will do him good,” continued Mark. “We can discuss it if there is a disagreement, and that is what we have done in the past. What we say makes a difference.” The truth is that what Tibbs says is the difference and that is a boxing wisdom acquired in the sinkholes that prepare all great trainers and fighters.

Last Saturday night Saunders was all ears, his eyes fixed on Tibbs as soon as he sat down between rounds. It was a perfect fight in many ways for Saunders; he had control, he fought at his pace, he dropped Lee twice in round three and at the end of 12 rounds he was the new WBO middleweight champion. It was a perfect fight in every way for Tibbs, a master craftsman operating to precision each time his fighter flopped on to the stall at the end of a round. Tibbs works just 10 minutes in a championship distance fight, but he takes into those precious 600 seconds his life in gyms and rings. There is no way to fake pedigree in the ring or in the corner.