PROSPECT WATCH: JOHN JOE CARRIGAN
This solid grounding appears to come from two places: firstly, a network that reminds the young prospect of his roots. Carrigan’s coach is happy to state, “He likes to keep himself to himself. He spends time with his girlfriend, he spends time with his family, and he’s in the gym. He’s not a lad that’s out and about the town.” And secondly, a love for boxing that goes as far back as he can remember. When asked when he first laced up a pair of gloves, Carrigan remembered, “I wouldn’t know. I’ve probably had a set of gloves on since I was born. But the first time walking into the boxing gym, I was 6. I was supposed to be 7, but on my sixth birthday I was in McDonald’s, I saw the amateur coach, and I went up to him and said, ‘Can I come down? I’m 6 today.’ And he said, ‘Yeah, you can come down for a birthday present.’ And ever since then, I haven’t turned back.” It could be the most important birthday gift Carrigan ever received. Many boxers start learning their craft at a young age. The most common scene is a wily old coach shouting the usual instructions – “Find your balance!,” “Shape up!” and “Turn your shots over!” – while the young boxer shuffles for space in front of a crowded and foggy mirror. Unfortunately, simply starting young is not enough to guarantee any level of success in boxing. The very elite usually have the X factor, something they’re born with. Carrigan’s X factor manifests itself in a creative fighting style. “It’s his unorthodox way of boxing. He’s a switch-hitter, a natural switch-hitter,” Stubbs says. “That took a little bit of getting used to when I was pad-holding, because you’ll ask him to do something and he’ll do half of it one way, then he’ll step forward and do the second half of the combination the other way. I’m like, ‘Hang on a minute. I need to catch up here.’” Carrigan doesn’t let the rules of
career within roughly 10 months. He hoped to be back in the ring soon for number five. The traditional route is what Team Carrigan is aiming for. When asked, Stubbs laid out the path he envisions: “European, Commonwealth, some international titles before the world stage, definitely. Me and John Joe talk about how it’d be great to win an English title next year. Once he’s 21, he’s eligible for the British, so a British title shot on or around his birthday would be a nice touch.” This sentiment is echoed by Finkel: “Next year, he’ll move early to eight-round fights, hopefully 10-rounders late in the year. And by his third year in the pros, he’ll be ready to fight anyone in his weight division. I’d hope in the third year, maybe into the fourth, depending on progression and who’s champion at that time, to be ready for a championship.” Most importantly, the man stepping into the ring is on the same page. Carrigan eagerly states, “I’d like the traditional route, to be fair. Once you go to world level, you can’t come back. I’d like to box for a British and collect everything I can, go right through it so I don’t miss anything. Then at world level, it’s your oyster; you can pick whatever you want.” Carrigan, the young phenom; Stubbs, the coach who’s stood in the corner for many of the U.K.’s best up-and-coming fighters; and Finkel, the mastermind behind several of the star-studded 1984 U.S. Olympic team’s professional careers, all have one thing in common: a shared vision for the future. When discussing goals and aspirations, Team Carrigan preaches patience. And although their young charge has the confidence to believe he could beat anyone tomorrow, he is grounded enough to know he must wait his turn. And this contradiction might just be the most promising thing about John Joe Carrigan.
boxing get in the way of having a good time in the ring, and that’s something his coach doesn’t discourage: “If you sat down and got a boxer’s manual out, you’d go, ‘Well, his feet are wrong there, his arm position’s wrong there, this is wrong there,’ but everything he does works for him. He can box on the front foot, he can box on the back foot, he can stand and have a fight.” So from an outsider looking in, Carrigan is a puzzle that’s difficult to solve. But what does the fighter see as he gazes over his gloves and into his opponent’s eyes? “I can figure someone out in the littlest time, to be fair,” says Carrigan. “It’s hard to say, but give it a minute and a half and I feel like I know what they’re going to do. I can read them before they even throw, you know?” Toward the end of my interview with Stubbs, I sheepishly asked what
John Joe’s biggest weakness is. Stubbs tentatively replied, “Without giving too much away, sometimes he’ll get bored, because he doesn’t get out of second gear, and it leads him to switch off. When he’s got a better opponent, someone he’s got a bit of fear around, someone he maybe hasn’t sparred before, or a name, someone who’s highly ranked in the top 10 or been around a bit longer or a big puncher, that’s when you get the best out of him.” Talent, it seems, is a double-edged sword. Though as flaws go, being so talented that you switch off every now and then is one that I’m sure many fighters wouldn’t mind having. Carrigan isn’t the only talented fighter around, but he might very well be at the top of the pile, as Stubbs’ experience can attest to: “I’ve been fortunate enough to work with the likes of Dennis McCann, Moses Itauma,
Leo Atang and the Birchall brothers [Nelson, William, and Leighton]. John Joe’s the best I’ve ever worked with, and I’ve told him that.” It is clear that Carrigan’s amateur pedigree has given him a strong foundation, a foundation that his manager prizes. “The way I look at a fighter and their future, I like them to have a really strong amateur background,” said Finkel. “During the amateurs, they learn things that would be hard to learn as a pro [...] They learn how to move with a punch. They learn how to not be afraid of getting hit. They learn how to take a punch. And you’re going to get hit if you’re a boxer; that’s just the reality. The question is how you respond to it, and someone with a great amateur background like John Joe is going to respond the right way.” Some might not like to admit it, but a fighter’s ability inside the ring is only
half the story. The business side of this sport is the other half, and when talking about the business of boxing, Shelly Finkel is your man. When asked what he sees in Carrigan, Finkel is quick to answer: “He has speed. He has power. On the marketing side, he has looks. He can speak well. There are a lot of really great fighters who don’t have charisma, the physical looks, all the things that make people want to watch you. He has all of it.” To ensure Carrigan’s charisma isn’t wasted, Finkel has a simple rule: “It’s very important for a young fighter to be very active initially, and very visible, and to continue that way. The first year as a pro, you should fight at least four times, hopefully five or six. A fighter, if they want to be big, has to be in front of the public.” At the time of our interview, the 19-year-old had completed the first four bouts of his
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