Boxing finds sunshine in the midst of the shadows

The noble art of boxing might be something of an oxymoron to some, given that a good bout involves two skilled pugilists effectively trying the punch the living daylights out of each other – but there is no denying the role it has played in keeping some of his finest away from an alternative, and shadier, path.

That’s reflected in two books of recent vintage with boxing at their core – but with life on the darker side as their considerable backdrop.

One is the story of our own Seán Mannion, the Rosmuc man who fought Mike McCallum for the WBA world light middleweight title on an October night in 1984 in New York’s Madison Square Garden.

The Man Who Was Never Knocked Down, wonderfully woven by author and broadcaster Rónán Mac Con Iomaire, isn’t just the story of a man with a dream who accomplished almost all of it.

It is also the tale of the Irish in South Boston where Mannion made his other home, and where boxing and crime were usual bedfellows; where there’s a small step from right to wrong.

That was something that Belfast boxing trainer Gerry Storey also dealt with on a daily basis throughout the darkest days of the Troubles.

But what made Storey a legend outside of the ring as well as within was that – despite coming from a family steeped in Republican roots – he didn’t have a sectarian bone in his body.

Storey’s story is told in a brilliant new book written by the award-winning sports journalist Donald McRae – and like Rónán Mac Con Iomaire’s work, it is so much more than a boxing book.

It’s entitled In Sunshine or in Shadow, after a line from Danny Boy, the song Barry McGuigan chose as an anthem when either of the official ones would have alienated half of his support base. But it’s also a perfect analogy of the light that boxing shone for so many in the darkest of times North of the border.

Read Dave’s full column in this week’s Connacht Tribune.