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Steve Bunce: As Barry McGuigan knows, if you need to beat the heat get a very big man in your corner

COLUMN: Carl Frampton to fight in El Paso, Texas - thankfully indoors

Steve Bunce
Wednesday 01 July 2015 18:25 BST
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There are some famous fights that have taken place in the blistering heat of the summer and they often involve desperate men who agreed to take the money to boil at a time when others sensibly hid in the shade.

The summer was traditionally a time of rest in the boxing business, but during July and August four more British boxers will fight for world titles and attempt to add their names to the improbable list of nine that currently hold a version of the many world belts that are on offer.

In 1970, Ken Buchanan’s father persuaded a ringside spectator to part with her parasol in San Juan, Puerto Rico, when his son was fighting for the lightweight world title in temperatures recorded as high as 120 degrees. The tiny shade, held at different angles in the break between rounds, helped the palest of men from Edinburgh survive the heat, 15 rounds and Ismael Laguna’s fists to win on a split decision.

“I thanked Ismael for keeping me in the ring so long and giving me the best tan I ever had,” said Buchanan. A year later the pair packed Madison Square Garden for a rematch at a time of genuine excellence.

It is hard to forget the haunted look in the eyes of Barry McGuigan during another summer fight one stupid afternoon in Las Vegas when his world title was lost in 15 rounds of scorched torture against a Texan called Steve Cruz (pictured above). McGuigan described the heat as “frying-pan stuff” and picked the corner with less direct sunshine for the 110-degree encounter; Cruz simply hired a very big man to work as a human shield, blocking out the sun between rounds.

McGuigan had a good start but was dropped by a short left hook in round 10 and that is when the heat started to shape a savage ending. There is a famous picture of his “dead man’s eyes” staring into nothing and not showing any sign of pain at the end of the 14th as one of his cornermen bit his ears to try to revive him. The photo is best viewed through your fingers as it captures a boxer’s many sacrifices better than a blood-stained image of a broken face.

There will always be a debate about the 15th round that day, when adults fainted in the cheap seats and somehow wee Barry had to stand and fight for three more minutes to keep his world title. It was too much and he was dropped – or fell or collapsed or whatever you want to call it – twice to the canvas; he survived to hear the final bell but Cruz was the slenderest of winners because of that second so-called knockdown. He was taken off to hospital exhausted, dehydrated and in tears from the fight of his life.

McGuigan will be back in the heat as Carl Frampton’s promoter on 18 July for a world title defence in El Paso, Texas, where just making the weight is a battle and the need to rehydrate can spoil any last-minute efforts to drop the final pound or two. Thankfully, it is taking place indoors but there will no doubt be bad memories of that awful day in 1986 when the heat beat him.

Also this summer George Groves, Terry Flanagan, Ant Crolla and Frank Buglioni, a mixed quartet of dreamers, will all fight for slithers of world titles inside venues where the air conditioning and a switch from 15 rounds to 12 rounds will shield them from the painful lengths that Buchanan and McGuigan had to travel under the sun.

This column will take its own break and will return in September when, no doubt, the current list of nine British men holding a version of a world title will have changed.

The summer in boxing is no longer a time to rest, it is a time to fight – and it can be a risky time.

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