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By George Gigney

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Broadcasts

JORDAN GILL did not owe us the admission he made on Saturday night after he had just stopped Michael Conlan in Belfast. He did not need to admit that he had dragged himself back from the brink, that in June he was going to take his own life, but in a moment of staggering honesty he did just that. When interviewed by DAZN in the ring after his win, he said: “After the [Kiko] Martinez loss, I lost touch with myself. I broke up with my wife. On 30 June I was in a field…and I was going to kill myself. Somebody came and saved me that day.”

Gill lost his European super-featherweight title to Martinez in October of last year, his most recent fight prior to facing Conlan.

His comments in the ring came as a complete surprise to those of us watching. Gill’s struggles were likely only known to those closest to him, yet he still found the courage to share them with the world. In doing so, Gill more than likely helped countless others dealing with similar issues, a reminder that you are never alone and you never need to be defined by your lowest moments.

In the coming days and weeks – and we’ve already seen it from some outlets – there will be talk of how boxing saved Gill’s life. And there’s no doubt that the purpose and structure the sport provides him will have helped him immeasurably. But to solely credit boxing with Gill’s recovery is to do a disservice to the man himself.

He wasn’t just thinking about ending his life; he was actively planning to do it. To be in a mental state where oblivion is preferable to living is something I would not wish on anyone. To come back from it takes an incredible amount of work and patience. In fact there aren’t words – certainly not any that I can muster – that would sufficiently describe the journey Gill would have been on to get from that place to the one he found himself in on Saturday night. It is nothing short of heroic. And he probably didn’t do it alone, either. Family, friends, his training team – they will have all helped him get better and deserve to be recognised for it. There’s also the person he alluded to saving him on that day back in June – we don’t know who that was and we don’t need to. Those are the people who will have felt the most pride when his hand was raised at the weekend.

Jordan isn’t the first boxer to admit to suicidal intentions and, sadly, he won’t be the last. But each and every one of them makes the world a better place by staying in it. Every time one of them shares their story in public, the conversation grows and those in similar distress can realise that it will pass. That they never need to find themselves alone in a field ready to make a final, fatal decision. Jordan Gill did so much more than just win a fight on Saturday night.

Another fighter who has been vocal about their mental health struggles is Ryan Garcia, who also got back to winning ways at the weekend when he stopped Oscar Duarte. Garcia has previously taken a hiatus from the sport to focus on his mental wellbeing, and this win over Duarte saw him bounce back after being stopped by Gervonta Davis earlier this year.

But the win also came amid Garcia’s ongoing tug-of-war with Golden Boy Promotions, with whom he is under contract. He and Golden Boy execs Oscar De La Hoya and Bernard Hopkins aren’t even trying to keep it behind closed doors anymore.

At the final press conference for the Duarte fight, we saw them trade barbs in what was something of an unprecedented media event, even in the wild west of boxing. Hopkins, at the podium, looked directly at Garcia and his trainer while delivering cryptic warnings. Garcia himself accused De La Hoya and Hopkins of wanting him to lose against Duarte and called Hopkins out for previously speculating on whether or not Garcia should retire from boxing altogether.

But it was De La Hoya who turned things truly toxic. He posted on social media: “I have to say I’m really concerned about Ryan Garcia’s state of mind. Considering his history of mental instability (which he’s documented himself) his current erratic behaviour shows he’s clearly not focused on Saturday’s fight. You won’t take my calls, Ryan, I hope you’re okay.”

As someone who has publicly struggled with addiction and other issues, De La Hoya knows all too well the toll mental illness can take on a person, let alone a famous fighter. Using it as a tool to undermine someone he promotes is cruel and beyond the pale. If he was truly that concerned he could have reached out to Garcia privately – he might not have been able to get him on the phone but there are other ways. It was a needless low blow.

Clearly the working relationship has soured beyond repair; the best thing for all involved would surely be to part ways as soon as possible. That doesn’t look to be the case as De La Hoya posted on social media after the fight that he is “proud” of Garcia and “looking forward to putting on the next major event whoever it is for Ryan.”

Thankfully De La Hoya’s manipulation tactics don’t seem to have impacted Garcia much, if at all. He got the win and continues to be defiant in the face of the animosity.

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Boxing on the Box

 

December 10

Devin Haney-Regis Prograis

DAZN

Coverage begins at 2am

Robeisy Ramirez-Rafael Espinoza

Sky Sports Arena

Coverage begins at 1am

Chris Billam Smith-Mateusz Masternak

Sky Sports Arena

Coverage begins at 6pm

Following the recent news that women’s world champion Amanda Serrano has opted to relinquish her WBC title following a disagreement with the organization over sanctioning three-minute rounds for women, WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman spoke to Sky Sports to defend their decision.

“There is not much to say. The WBC has changed the world of boxing in many ways to make our sport safer and will never compromise safety for popularity. This is not discrimination, this is not sexism, this is not about equality it is about safety and safety only. WBC has specific guidelines and rules for women in boxing, including not charging any sanction fees to any female boxer.”

Sulaiman would continue by saying his organization has made a strong commitment to fighter safety based upon their studies, and says two-minute rounds in women’s boxing has allowed for a faster pace, greater action, while also protecting the fighters. And should the WBC sanction three-minute rounds for women, he believes it will only create more danger due to fatigue and dehydration.

And because Sulaiman doesn’t want you to think he’s only singling out the women here, he mentions that the WBC is also considering piloting a new event for male boxers to fight in two-minute rounds, to see how that works out.

Euro 2024 ticket sales for Scotland fans have been delayed after many who were not eligible to make a purchase were mistakenly sent codes.

Scotland Supporters Club members have been allocated 10,000 tickets and the first of those were due to go on sale at noon on Wednesday to those with 12 or more loyalty points.

That group of 7,869 fans were due to get a 24-hour period to purchase tickets before the offer was extended to another 7,102 supporters on 11 points.

However, some of those fans on 11 points were mistakenly sent codes early, meaning less than an hour before the sale was due to begin it was delayed until further notice, with the Scottish FA now liaising with UEFA to resolve the issue.

An email to fans read: “Due to a technical error, UEFA EURO 2024 codes have been sent out to Scotland Supporters Club members who are not eligible to buy tickets at this stage.

“As a result of this error, the sale scheduled for 12 noon will be delayed until further notice while we liaise with UEFA to resolve the issue.

“The Scottish FA would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused to supporters at this time. We will communicate further information on the sales schedule as soon it is available.”

Scotland will face Germany, plus Hungary and Switzerland in Group A – but the opening game against the hosts on June 14 comes at a premium with tickets ranging from around £43 to £514 (50 to 600 euros).

There are around 3,000 tickets available to Scotland fans at that lower price, with 3,345 tickets costing £167 then 2,541 fans having to pay £342 for a ticket, while more than 1,000 supporters will need to pay around £514 for a ticket to attend the opener at Munich’s Allianz Arena.

Group games against Hungary and Switzerland meanwhile will cost the Tartan Army between £26-171.

Clarke: All matches in our group will be competitive

Scotland manager Steve Clarke to Sky Sports News:

“The draw is what it is. I’ve got to go away and do some homework, look at the opposition and prepare the team properly, that’s the most important thing.

“The good thing about the draw is we now have clarity – we know who we play and when we play them so we can prepare for it.

“All the matches in the group will be competitive. It’ll be a tough group and we look forward to the challenge.

“In terms of preparation, there’ll be two friendlies in March, two friendlies in June and then we should be ready for kick-off.”

Scotland’s group stage fixtures

Friday June 14, 2024 – Group A: Germany vs Scotland (Allianz Arena, Munich)

Wednesday June 19, 2024 – Group A: Scotland vs Switzerland (RheinEnergieStadion, Cologne)

Sunday June 23, 2024: Group A: Scotland vs Hungary (MHPArena, Stuttgart)

The top two in each group plus the four best third-placed teams go through

By Elliot Worsell

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HAVING waited two decades for it, Emiliano Marsili would have been forgiven for fearing his first defeat as a professional would be a far more decisive and damaging experience. The older he got, after all, the more the likelihood of this scenario increased and the younger the opponents naturally became, which, for obvious reasons, only added to any sense of foreboding.

It was perhaps a surprise, then, that Marsili’s first defeat as a pro – and maybe, should he now retire, his only one – arrived very much on his terms, with him sitting on a stool between rounds eight and nine. In control, both of the fight and his own destiny, Marsili signalled his inability to continue against Gavin Gwynne on Friday night (December 1) and duly accepted his fate, grateful at least that the choice was his and that, unlike most ageing boxers, he had not been disconnected from his senses or discovered on the night that his legs, faculties, and punch resistance had betrayed him in one fell swoop.

Instead, at the ripe old age of 47 he was let down not by his brain or technique but rather his body, which, of all the inevitabilities in boxing, was one Marsili, 20 years after turning pro, fully expected.

“I don’t feel good about the first defeat, but I didn’t feel like I lost the fight in the ring,” the former European lightweight champion told Boxing News upon his return to Italy. “Only an injury stopped me. I was winning the fight.

“The (injured) shoulder is getting much better now, but I felt it during the fight after the fourth round. I think I was doing good and I think I was ahead, but that was only my sensation in the ring at the time. You never know for sure with the scorecards. But I felt good during the fight. It is normal to worry about the judges when you fight abroad and that is why I try to finish with a knockout or stoppage to prevent the fight going to the scorecards. When you fight abroad it is always more difficult.”

Twice now Marsili has boxed abroad – that is, outside his native Italy – and twice he has emerged with his reputation enhanced on account of impressive performances in the role of underdog. Eleven years ago, he rocked up in Liverpool to stop Derry Mathews inside seven rounds, while on Friday, when considered over the hill and too small to prevent Gavin Gwynne winning the vacant European lightweight title, Marsili shocked British fans all over again. This time he rocked Gwynne early with a left hand and then proceeded to show an ease of movement which belied his age and suggested there was still plenty to give, both physically and mentally.

“Yes, I hurt him,” he said, “especially in the first round. I also hurt him again in either the fourth or fifth round with a hook to the liver.

“When I was moving, Gavin complained to the referee, but the reality is, he didn’t know how to cut off the ring or stop me. In the eighth round, I started to punch again after feeling the pain in my shoulder in the seventh, but the pain became too much.

“Everything surprised him, I think. At the press conference he said he was the bigger man – a welterweight against a lightweight – but I showed him that also inside I was the better boxer.”

Though less shocked than some, Marsili’s manager, Christian Cherchi, admits he continues to be awe-struck by the feats of a man who somehow gets better with age. “It was an incredible performance from Marsili because nobody believed, at 47, he could perform like that,” Cherchi told BN. “This was especially true after people saw pictures from the press conference and the weigh-in and saw the difference between him and Gavin in age (Marsili is 14 years Gwynne’s senior). Very, very few people were giving Marsili a chance in that fight and he proved them all wrong. Okay, yes, on paper he lost the fight. But I think, in the eyes of the people, he won the fight. He gave him a lesson.”

Be that as it may, Marsili, according to the record books, did indeed suffer his first professional loss on Friday in Bethnal Green. That it came the way it did, with Marsili ahead on two of the three judges’ scorecards and causing Gwynne, the victor, all manner of problems, should not be ignored, but still it changes very little.

Similarly, what should also not be ignored is the fact that it has taken Father Time over 20 years to catch up with the fleet-footed Marsili and deliver him a lesson most boxers receive at an age when there is still time for them to learn from it. In Marsili’s case, he has tasted defeat right at the point at which he has stood up from the table, retrieved his coat from the back of his chair, then tucked the chair back in beneath the table. It has arrived, in other words, with him both well-fed and on his way out the door.

“Let’s say ‘yes’ for now, but we’ll see,” Marsili said on the subject of retirement. “I didn’t have to prove anything at the end because I have already done what I set out to achieve. If I had the chance to have the rematch with Gavin in Italy and beat him, that would be the perfect scenario, but I don’t have any complaints if I have to finish like this because I showed what a true Italian boxer can do.”

If lucky enough to have no complaints, the same, alas, cannot be said for regrets. Specifically, what appears to irk Marsili more than anything, and what was maybe driving him to continue boxing deep into his forties, is the fact that despite reigning in Europe for so long he never managed to secure a shot at a version of a world title. This, given the sheer quantity of them available, will forever be a bugbear for the otherwise content native of Civitavecchia.

“I will probably regret that all my life,” he said. “When I had the opportunity to fight Dejan Zlaticanin for the WBC (lightweight) title, as official challenger, I didn’t do it because I had health problems in the last week. I had to pull out.”

“To be honest with you, I didn’t see any sense in Marsili taking this (Gwynne) fight, because he was already a two-time European champion, and there was nothing to gain,” added Cherchi. “It was not a big-money fight or whatever. But after the fight I can say that this fight gave him more credit than all the other fights for the European title. The only one that compares is (Luca) Giacon (in 2012) because Giacon was the new big prospect in Italy at the time and he didn’t go anywhere because of Marsili. He also went to Liverpool and won against Mathews but unfortunately he didn’t get to fight for the world title. It was supposed to happen in 2016 against Zlaticanin at Madison Square Garden but he had to pull out the week before because he had the flu. It was a pity because he could have won. He never got another opportunity for a world title after that.”

To put Marsili’s achievement in context, the southpaw, while never mixing with the very best, has managed to stay unbeaten for over 20 years and through 44 professional fights. For even more context, consider this: Sven Ottke went unbeaten for seven years, Rocky Marciano for eight, Andre Ward for 13, Joe Calzaghe for 15, Ricardo López for 16, and active undefeated boxers Terence Crawford and Tyson Fury have both so far avoided being beaten for a total of 15 years. Meanwhile, if you discount the Conor McGregor farce, Floyd Mayweather managed 19.

“I turned professional quite late at 27 and at the time my goal was to become Italian champion and nothing more,” said Marsili. “I am very happy to have achieved more but I must always keep my feet on the ground and focus on my work even if I have achieved more than I expected.”

If you’re looking for secrets as to how Marsili has managed to achieve what he has achieved, you may end up being disappointed. For there is, he says, no magic well, no fountain of youth, and no special elixir. In fact, his incredible longevity can be attributed to things more rooted in the soil of his sport: competition, a willingness to learn, and an even greater willingness to sacrifice everything.

“The difference between me and other boxers is that I spent a long time training and sparring on the same team as Sandro Casamonica, Gianluca Branco and Stefano Zoff when each one of them were fighting for either European titles or world titles,” he said. “I would do lots of sparring with them and learn a lot. When I was sparring, I was not doing badly and that gave me a lot of confidence. I also live very well. If you don’t do that, you will not be fighting for the European title at 47. Most days I go to bed at nine o’clock and then wake up early. Thanks to my family, I have been able to keep straight and lead this kind of life.”

After a certain point honesty helps, too, with experience allowing one to be at peace with one’s limitations and to also do away with the delusion that fuels so many younger and more insecure pros. By 47, you pretty much know what you can and can’t do, Marsili says. Moreover, by 47, you know what parts of you no longer work as well as they once did.

“Mentally I am better now (at 47), yes,” Marsili said. “But physically you lose the resistance you had before when you were young. But I am more experienced and calmer now; I take time to make decisions and I am clever.”

He will of course now need all his experience and intelligence to make the right decisions going forward. For if he is unable to lure Gwynne to Italy for a rematch, the most sensible option, which Marsili himself concedes, is probably retirement. And yet, in light of the fact he has done nothing other than box for the last 20 years, and in light of the fact he has triumphed in every professional fight bar one, his last, one wonders how a man like Marsili, 42-1-1 (16), will handle a cruel beast like retirement when the time eventually, and inevitably, comes.

“I will probably stay in boxing,” he said, which comes as no surprise. “I want to open my own gym. My wife has got a promoter’s licence, so it would be good to keep the boxing tradition going in Civitavecchia. I want to help new boxers from there. If I do that, I think I will be okay in retirement. I will have new guys to focus on and I can spar with them and help them and try to teach them what I was taught.”

Just as good fences make good neighbours and good listeners make good therapists, good students make good teachers, with the best of them often selfless, smart, and prepared to lead by example. For the students of Emiliano Marsili, there can be no better example to follow, no better teacher from whom to learn, and if needing to believe in miracles, no better antidote to their scepticism.