North East boxing needs a hero
Have a scan through these names if you will.
Alan Shearer, Jackie Milburn, Steve Cram, Jonny Wilkinson, Brendan Foster, Bryan Robson, Peter Beardsley, Paul Collingwood, Steve Harmison, Sir Bobby Robson and the Charlton brothers.
All World Class sportsmen, all from the North East. A list of heroes if you will. A veritable who's who of sporting excellence, North East produced and all revered in the sporting world.
Looking at this impressive bunch what is noticeable is the lack of a boxing hero.
The North East, to put this in the popular vernacular, is 'mad for it' when it comes to sport and sporting legends. I know. I live there. I live and breathe sport. I do so unashamedly. I live and breathe boxing.
It irritates me that in my lifetime, apart from Glen McCrory (pictured) and Billy Hardy, we have lacked a truly world class boxing hero to get behind. Imagine if the North East had a Ricky Hatton type figure to get behind? It doesn't bear thinking about. If you thought thousands of Mancunians in Sin City was a sight to behold, picture the scene replacing Mancs with Geordies or Mackems, dear me.
As I write this the likes of Stuart Hall, Jon-Lewis and Travis Dickinson, Martyn Ward, Tony Jeffries and Glen Foot are part of a mini North East revival, credit to Frank Maloney for playing a massive part in this.
However, neither can yet be put in the hero category. Manchester, Sheffield, Liverpool and London all have figurehead boxers to get behind, Nottingham, even Bury, the list goes on.
So why no North Eastern hero to get behind? Lets have a stab at the possible reasons why.
Football - it's fair to say while I have acknowledged that the region lives and breathes sport, its also fair to say that the majority of living and breathing is football related. The aforementioned list of heroes is very much football based. Drive down the streets and past the fields and you will see a plethora of footballs being kicked. Despite the relative dearth of success football wise (Middlesbrough's 2004 Carling Cup win the notable exception - Ed.) the region continues to churn out individuals worthy of mention. Andy Carroll and Jordan Henderson two cases in point.
The fact that both ply their trade away from the region could be telling. If the region can produce heroes like Carroll and Henderson who are lauded yet cannot keep them here, and it's football we are talking about here. What chance boxing? If we have no heroes in the first place how are we supposed to inspire them?
Beer - whilst this may sound flippant and at first glance silly, do not underestimate the impact of alcohol here. Now, don't get me wrong - I hate region based stereotypes as much as the next man. I especially hate the 'flat cap, beer drinking, whippet breeding' brush that our region is tarred with. However, one has to concede that alcohol is a big part of our culture.
Boxing, more than most sports requires a level of dedication, training and (unless you're born with the sort of talent that a Hatton or Calzaghe has) a certain level of abstinence from more than a few pints on a weekend. Work hard, play hard. Nothing wrong with that notion. However, it is fair to say it is not conducive to producing top quality boxers.
Population - very simplistic, but if you compare the population of Newcastle which currently is around the 250,000 mark. This is considerably less than boxing hotbeds like Manchester and Sheffield whose populations currently stand at 500,000 and 555,000 respectively. Put simply if you have less people to choose from, then theoretically you have less chance of finding a star, especially in an individual sport like boxing.
So, it's all down to football, beer and population?
Well not really, but whatever the reasons, whys or wherefores, it's a concern to this boxing nut.
You never know - Jon-Lewis Dickinson could win a British title in the next 6-12 months. Travis Dickinson also. Stuart Hall may build upon his terrific performance against Jamie McDonnell. Glen Foot may become the second coming of Ricky Hatton.
Until then, I, and fellow North Easterners will have to wait and hope for our next boxing hero. One day it will happen. I believe it will. When it does I'll be there in whatever capacity I can.
When it does happen, knowing our luck, the boxer in question will more than likely seal a £35 million transfer to a gym in Liverpool. Oh, wait......
