John Fashanu often referred to as Fash ( /ˈfæʃənuː/ FASH-ə-noo; born 18 September 1962 in Kensington, London) is an English television presenter and former professional footballer of Nigerian (paternal) and Guyanese (maternal) descent. In his former career, he was a centre-forward from 1978 until 1995 notably for Wimbledon and Aston Villa.

He also played for Norwich City, Miramar Rangers, Lincoln City, Crystal Palace and Millwall. He scored 134 league goals in a career lasting 17 years. He was also capped twice at senior level by England, but failed to score on either occasion. He managed his own Sunday League side "Fash FC" as part of a reality television programme from 2003 to 2005.

Early life[link]

Fashanu is the son of a Nigerian barrister living in England. When his parents split up he was sent, together with his older brother Justin to a Barnardo's home. When he was five, he and his brother were fostered by Alf and Betty Jackson and were brought up in Shropham near Attleborough, Norfolk.

Football career[link]

Early career[link]

Fashanu's footballing career began at Norwich City in 1979, and he turned professional two years later – just as his brother Justin was transferred to Nottingham Forest from the relegated Carrow Road club.

Norwich were promoted straight back to the First Division in 1981–82, but Fashanu managed just five league appearances and scored once. He managed two appearances in the 1982–83 First Division campaign – which would be his last for the club.

He had brief loan spell with Crystal Palace and also played in the English off-season in New Zealand with Miramar Rangers,^[1] with whom he played in the final of the local equivaloent of the FA Cup, the Chatham Cup (he remains the only played to have played in the final of both the English and New Zealand major cup competitions). He then joined Lincoln City on a free transfer on 23 September 1983, when they were in the Third Division. He scored seven goals from 26 league games that season, and managed four from 10 league games the following campaign before his £55,000 transfer to Third Division promotion challengers Millwall on 30 November 1984. It was an exciting first season at The Den for Fashanu, who scored four goals in 25 games but helped the Lions reach the FA Cup quarter-finals (where they lost at Luton Town in a game marred by rioting Millwall fans who invaded the pitch and ripped seats from the stands) and secure promotion to the Second Division. He managed eight goals from 25 games in 1985–86, before leaving to join Wimbledon.

Wimbledon[link]

Fashanu made a £125,000 move to Second Division promotion contenders Wimbledon in March 1986, when they were pushing for a third promotion in four seasons as they looked to complete a rapid rise from the Fourth Division to the First. At the time, he was the club's record signing.^[2]

Fashanu's four goals from the remaining nine league games helped Wimbledon seal the final promotion place and they were a First Division side barely a decade after being elected to the Football League.

Fashanu and his colleagues settled well into the First Division, surprising all the observers by finishing sixth in the league (briefly topping the table in early September) and finishing above traditional big clubs including Nottingham Forest and Manchester United. Fashanu was Wimbledon's top scorer with 11 league goals.

In 1988, Fashanu helped Wimbledon win the FA Cup, beating Liverpool in a final that was billed as a "rags versus riches" affair, although the two clubs were separated by just six places in the First Division. He performed well in the league, scoring 14 goals.

He also scored Wimbledon's goal as Liverpool defeated them 2–1 in that year's Charity Shield. Fashanu claimed two England caps – against Chile and Scotland in a friendly tournament in May 1989.

During his time at Wimbledon, Fashanu scored 126 goals. His best season was 1990–91, when he was the First Division's second highest scorer with 20 goals as his side finished seventh.

He received criticism during the (1993–94) when a clash with Gary Mabbutt, then Spurs captain, in an aerial challenge left the Spurs defender with a broken skull and eye socket.^[3] Fashanu had already established a reputation by that point of being an aggressive and physical striker, and this was seen as another example of that behaviour (at that time synonymous with Wimbledons "Crazy Gang").^[3]

Aston Villa[link]

On 4 August 1994, just before the start of the 1994–95 season, Fashanu was sold to Aston Villa for £1.35million. However, injury restricted him to just 13 games and 3 goals for a Villa side who narrowly avoided relegation that season. He managed a goal on his Villa debut when they drew 2–2 at Everton on the opening day of the Premier League season, his other two goals coming in successive games against Queens Park Rangers and then Nottingham Forest in January. [2]

Fashanu's last game was on 4 February 1995 away at Manchester Utd in a Premiership game that they lost 1–0. He said on CH4's "Come dine with me" that he went in for a 50/50 tackle with Ryan Giggs and that snapped his achilles and he was stretchered off and never played a professional game again.

After the end of the season, Fashanu retired as a result of injury. [3]

In 1995 he hit the front pages as well as the back when The Sun published allegations of match fixing against Fashanu, fellow Wimbledon player Hans Segers and Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar.

Although all three players were eventually cleared of the allegations, they were ordered to pay their own legal costs.

International career[link]

Fashanu represented England at full International level gaining two caps – against Chile and Scotland in a friendly tournament in May 1989, due to his good form at club level for his then club Wimbledon.

Post-football career[link]

Following retirement from the game through injury, Fashanu became a television presenter. He presented the UK edition of Gladiators alongside Ulrika Jonsson in the mid-1990s where he became well known for his 'Awooga' catchphrase. In 2003 he came second in the second series of I'm a Celebrity... Get Me out of Here!. Later that year he presented Fash's Football Challenge, a reality television show that followed Fashanu managing an amateur football team. Also in 2003, he fronted a six-part series for ITV1 based on the American format Man vs. Beast, however following protests from animal rights groups, the series was never broadcast. He also released a video "Focus on Fitness with Fash". He is now host of Deal or No Deal Nigeria, airing on M-Net Africa.

Since retirement Fashanu has also maintained his sporting connections, becoming involved with the Nigeria Football Association, and as chairman of Welsh football team Barry Town for a year, vacating this post in 2003.

In 2000, he also compiled, all with an investigator, a report on corruption in Nigeria in the 1980s and 1990s that came to be known as the Fashanu Report.^[4]

In September 2005 Wimbledon Old Players’ Association was launched. John is involved in the Wimbledon Old Players' Association, an organisation set up by the Wimbledon Independent Supporters Association. He said: "It’s going to be great to be back as part of the Wimbledon family. As an ex-Wimbledon player, I know all about the heroics of the likes of Roy Law and Dickie Guy in the old days, as well as what the new boys have been doing at AFC Wimbledon".

In 2007, The Times named him 22nd out of the 50 worst footballers to have played in the Premier League.^[5]

In August 2009, Fashanu, who in 2000^[6] accused Bob Minton and Ibrahim Babangida of stealing money from Nigeria, apologized saying "I can say it again and again, that there was nothing like debt buy-back or any billions stacked away in any account anywhere."^[7] Minton said that Fashanu was given false information by the Church of Scientology to attack him.^[4][8][9]

In April 2011, he competed in Celebrity Total Wipeout and ultimately won, beating Calum Best and Chico Slimani in the Wipeout Zone and winning £10,000 for UNICEF.

Honours[link]

Wimbledon

• F.A. Cup winner – 1988

In pop culture[link]

• Australian band Magic Lunchbox recorded a song about John Fashanu entitled "Fashanu" on their 2005 album Spastique.^[10][11]

• In an episode of Chris Morris' satirical TV programme The Day Today, a spoof trailer for a TV show shows footage of Fashanu backed by menacing music (a section of The Augurs of Spring, reminiscent of the theme from Jaws) while Morris repeatedly intones his name in a sinister fashion. It then cuts to Morris sitting in his news studio who announces, "That's John Fa-shar-noo (pronouncing his name incorrectly) tonight on BBC 2".

• He appeared on Channel 4's Come Dine With Me for a football special shortly prior to the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Personal life[link]

Fashanu, who was the younger brother of Justin Fashanu, famously disowned his brother after the latter came out as gay, telling The Voice that Justin was "an outcast".^[12] After he took his own life in 1998, Fashanu expressed remorse for abandoning his brother.^[13] Fashanu has two sons, Amir and Akin, with former wife Ivorian model Melissa Kassa-Mapsi; the couple divorced in 2004 ^[14][15] Fashanu is now married to Nigerian lawyer Abigail Igwe, who is the mother of former MBGN Adaeze Igwe.^[16]

See also[link]

• Justin Fashanu

Footnotes[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Career information at ex-canaries.co.uk
• The Observer, 3 August 2003, Fashanu myth

Justinus Soni "Justin" Fashanu ( /ˈfæʃənuː/ FASH-ə-noo; 19 February 1961 – 2 May 1998) was an English footballer who played for a variety of clubs between 1978 and 1997. He was known by his early clubs to be gay, and came out to the press later in his career, to become the first and only English professional footballer to be openly homosexual.^[4] He was also the first black footballer to command a £1million transfer fee, with his transfer from Norwich City to Nottingham Forest in 1981, but had little success as a player afterwards, although he continued to play at senior level until 1994.

After moving to the United States, in 1998 he was questioned by police when a seventeen-year-old boy accused him of sexual assault. Fashanu committed suicide in May of that year, his suicide note stating that the sex was consensual.^[5]

Early life[link]

Fashanu was the son of a Nigerian barrister living in England. When his parents split up, he and his brother, John, were sent to a Barnardo's home. When he was six, he and his brother were fostered by Alf and Betty Jackson and were brought up in Shropham near Attleborough, Norfolk. Justin excelled at boxing as a youth, and was rumoured at one time to be pursuing a professional boxing career instead of his footballing career.

Football career[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2009)

Justin Fashanu began his career as an apprentice with Norwich City, turning professional towards the end of December 1978. He made his league debut on 13 January 1979, against West Bromwich Albion, and settled into the Norwich side scoring regularly and occasionally spectacularly. In 1980, he won the BBC Goal of the Season award, for a very spectacular goal against Liverpool. He managed a total of 103 senior appearance for Norwich, scoring 40 goals. While at the club he was also capped six times for England at under-21 level.^[6]

He subsequently became Britain's first £1million black footballer when he transferred to Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest in August 1981 as successor to the departing Trevor Francis.

His career stalled as his professional relationship with Brian Clough deteriorated; Clough, it would appear, was disturbed by the rumours of Justin Fashanu's visits to gay nightclubs and bars. His goals and then confidence dried up as he failed to fit in with the playing and lifestyle demands of Clough, especially after Clough had discovered his homosexuality and barred him from even training with the side.

In his autobiography, Clough recounts a dressing down he gave Fashanu after hearing rumours that he was going to gay bars. "'Where do you go if you want a loaf of bread?' I asked him. 'A baker's, I suppose.' 'Where do you go if you want a leg of lamb?' 'A butcher's.' 'So why do you keep going to that bloody poofs' club?"'^[7]

In August 1982, he was loaned to Southampton (scoring 3 goals in 9 appearances).^[8] At The Dell, Fashanu settled in well and his promising form helped the "Saints" overcome the sudden departure of Kevin Keegan; manager Lawrie McMenemy would have liked to make the move permanent, but was prevented from doing so by lack of funds.^[9]

In December 1982, he was sold to local rivals Notts County for only £150,000. He scored 20 times in 64 games for the Magpies before moving to Brighton & Hove Albion in June 1985 for a fee of £115,000, where a knee injury looked to have finished his career. He went to the United States for surgery and began playing again, firstly with Los Angeles Heat and then to Canada with the Edmonton Brickmen and with the Hamilton Steelers.

He returned to the UK and tried to resurrect his playing career, joining Manchester City on 23 October 1989, and played twice in the First Division, but on 20 November, barely a month after joining the club, he moved to West Ham United, later having a trial with Ipswich Town. He joined Leyton Orient in March 1990 and subsequently joined non-league Southall as player-coach before spending a summer with Toronto Blizzard. After leaving Toronto he returned to England to sign for semi-pro Leatherhead.

In 1990, he publicly came out as gay in an interview with the tabloid press, becoming the only prominent player in English football so far to do so. Many former colleagues spoke out in anger against him, stating that gays had no place in a team sport, and his brother John publicly disowned him.^[10] Although he claimed that he was generally well accepted by his fellow players, he freely admitted that they would often joke maliciously about his sexual orientation, and he also became the target of constant crowd abuse because of it.

He began a trial with Newcastle United on 24 October 1991, making one first-team appearance as a sub against Peterborough United.^[11] However manager Ossie Ardiles refused to give him a permanent contract. During the match the Newcastle team dressing room was burgled, Fashanu lost cash and jewellery.^{[citation needed]} He signed for Torquay United on 23 November 1991, apparently one of the few league clubs willing to give him a real chance. He hogged the limelight while at Plainmoor: in particular, his relationship with Coronation Street actress Julie Goodyear was spread over the tabloids; but he still managed to impress on the pitch, playing 21 league games that season and scoring 10 goals, though he was unable to save Torquay from suffering relegation from the Third Division.

When Ivan Golac was appointed manager of Torquay in February 1992, Fashanu was given the role of assistant manager and maintained this position at the end of the season when Golac was replaced by new manager Paul Compton.

On 13 April 1992, Fashanu received a £265 fine and a 28-day driving ban after being found guilty of speeding and failing to produce his driving licence.

In February 1993, with Torquay battling against a second successive relegation, from the new Division Three to the Football Conference, Fashanu applied for the vacant post of manager following Compton's departure, but was turned down in favour of Neil Warnock. Fashanu left to play for Airdrieonians soon after, but was unable to save them from suffering relegation from the Scottish Premier Division.

He had scored 15 goals in 41 games for the Gulls, a good record given that the 2 seasons he had been with the club had both involved relegation battles.

He left Airdrie in 1993, playing in Sweden with Trelleborg, before returning to Scotland, joining Heart of Midlothian in July 1993, but had his contract terminated in February 1994 for 'unprofessional conduct' (he had attempted to sell false stories regarding him and a number of cabinet ministers to the press), and returned to the United States to coach a boys team in Georgia. He later moved to Atlanta Ruckus, but was suspended for the playoffs for failure to comply with the terms of his contract, before joining Miramar Rangers in New Zealand in 1997. He then moved to Ellicott City, Maryland to coach the Maryland Mania, a new professional team in the second division USL A-League, following his officially announced retirement from the professional game.

Coming out in the press[link]

Fashanu agreed to an exclusive with The Sun tabloid to come out as gay. They ran the headline as "£1m Football Star: I AM GAY" on 22 October 1990.^[12] He claimed to have had an affair with a married Conservative MP, whom he first met in a London gay bar. "We ended up in bed together at his London flat," he said.^[13] A week later, his brother John Fashanu agreed to an exclusive with The Voice under the headline "John Fashanu: My Gay Brother is an outcast."^[14] Justin was interviewed for the July 1991 cover story of Gay Times, where the situation was summarised as:

The Sun dragged out the tale with titillating stories of sexual encounters with unnamed MPs, football players and pop stars, which, he claims, were largely untrue. The revelations, nevertheless, earned him a considerable sum of money but he says he was offered even more by others who wanted him to stay in the closet. He admits that he wasn't fully prepared for the backlash that followed and his career in football ... has suffered "heavy damage". Although he's fully fit, no club has offered him a full-time contract since the story first appeared.^[15] In 1992 he agreed to front Loud'n'proud a new national radio series aimed at young lesbians and gay men, but the pilot with Fashanu presenting was turned down by BBC Radio Five; it was later commissioned with a female presenter for BBC Radio 1.^[16]

Allegation and suicide[link]

In March 1998, a seventeen-year-old claimed to police that he had been sexually assaulted by Fashanu after a night of drinking (the age of consent in Maryland is 16). The assault was alleged to have taken place in Fashanu's apartment in Ellicott City, Maryland, United States. Fashanu was questioned about this by the police on 3 April, but he was not held in custody. It was widely reported in the press that the police later arrived at his flat with a warrant to arrest him on charges of second-degree sexual assault, first-degree assault, and second-degree assault. However, Fashanu had already returned to England.^[5][17][18]

On the morning of 3 May 1998, he was found hanged in a deserted lock-up garage he had broken into, in Shoreditch, London, after visiting Chariots Roman Spa, a local gay sauna.^[18][19] In his suicide note, he stated: "I realised that I had already been presumed guilty. I do not want to give any more embarrassment to my friends and family."^[18] An inquest in London, held on 9 September 1998, heard that there was in fact no warrant out for Fashanu's arrest and that the American police had already dropped the investigation due to a lack of evidence.^{[citation needed]} The inquest recorded a verdict of suicide.^[5][20] He was cremated and his ashes were given to his family in Norfolk.^[21] In 2012, his niece, Amal Fashanu stated, "I'm proud Justin was my uncle and that he was brave enough to say what he did. I think my dad now regrets the harsh way he responded. The game needs more people like my uncle if homophobic barriers are to be removed."^[10] She presented the one-off BBC Three documentary Britain's Gay Footballers.^[10]

"I'm not homophobic and I never had been, but at the time I was certainly cross with my brother. I sleep at night wondering all the time, could I have done more and I keep coming up with the answer, yes I could have done more. Does that console me? No. We've cried for nearly two decades for Justin, it's enough."

—John Fashanu (father of Amal) regrets some of the comments he made when his brother first came out.^[22]

Legacy[link]

Fashanu was listed at number 99 in the Top 500 Lesbian and Gay Heroes in The Pink Paper.^[23]

Until former France international Olivier Rouyer came out in 2008, Fashanu was still the only professional footballer in the world to disclose that he was gay.

In March 2009 a football team, The Justin Fashanu All-stars, was christened at a special event in Brighton, supported by the FA.^[24] The team, named in his honour, was created by the Justin Campaign, which is a campaign against homophobia in football and promotes the inclusion of openly gay players in football.^[25]

In April 2012 a biography of Justin Fashanu was published - ^[26]

Footnotes[link]

References[link]

• Harris, Nick (13 April 2006). "Greedy clubs tell gay players to keep quiet about sexuality". Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/greedy-clubs-tell-gay-players-to-keep-quiet-about-sexuality-473885.html. Retrieved 24 December 2006. 
• "From Fashanu to Amaechi: Homophobia in Sports". Culture of Soccer, WordPress. 15 February 2007. http://cultureofsoccer.com/2007/02/15/from-fashanu-to-amaechi-homophobia-in-sports/. Retrieved 16 February 2007. 

External links[link]

• Investigation of Justin Fashanu's death by reporter Brian Deer
• Career information at ex-canaries.co.uk
• Profile in Attitude Magazine
• Photos
• video tribute
• London Hearts profile
• BBC News Magazine: The silence over gay footballers

Finbarr Patrick McGuigan MBE (born 28 February 1961), known as Barry McGuigan and nicknamed The Clones Cyclone, is a former Irish and British professional boxer who became a world featherweight champion.

Background[link]

McGuigan was born in Clones, Ireland, son of singer Pat McGuigan (died 1987). He represented Northern Ireland in the Commonwealth Games at Edmonton 1978 and represented Ireland at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. Pat McGuigan sang "Danny Boy" before several of his son's fights. This fact inspired the Hacienda Brothers' song "If Daddy Don't Sing Danny Boy", written by boxer and musician Chris Gaffney.^[1]

During his career, McGuigan fought at a number of venues in Ireland and Britain. He attracted an enormous following in the mid-1980s, particularly to the King's Hall in Belfast which he normally filled to capacity. McGuigan is a Roman Catholic, and at a time when Roman Catholics and Protestants were clashing during The Troubles in Northern Ireland, McGuigan married a Protestant woman, Sandra, and they have been married for 28 years.^[2] McGuigan has commented on the support he got from both Protestant and Catholic in Ireland that it was because:

"the shadows ran deep. And my fights felt a little like sunshine. Both sides would say: 'Leave the fighting to McGuigan.' You see, it was also entertainment – people loved to forget the Troubles a while. The fact that I wouldn't wear green, white and gold or put on a sign that said this is who I represent was powerful. It was a very mature and dangerous thing to do. I wouldn't choose sides. People appreciated that."^[3]

As a non-sectarian sporting ambassador for Northern Ireland, even though he was from the Republic of Ireland, he drew on the experience of George Best and would later be emulated by Eddie Irvine.^{[citation needed]} He and his wife are both active patrons for children's cancer charity CLIC Sargent.

McGuigan took out British citizenship so that he could compete for British domestic titles.^[4][5]

Amateur career[link]

McGuigan started his juvenile boxing career at the Wattlebridge Amateur Boxing Club, County Fermanagh and later moved to the Smithborough Amateur Boxing Club, County Monaghan. Under the guidance of trainers Danny McEntee and Frank Mulligan he rapidly established himself as an exceptional boxer. He won the All Ireland Amateur Championship in 1976 having defeated Martin Brereton. Notable opponents during his teenage years included dubliner James Coughlan who he defeated by tko at the age of 15, Eric Clarke of South East London and Gordon McNeil of Newcastle upon Tyne. Both had similar records with the latter fighting out of what was the Kenton gym, North Benwell Sports & Boxing Club; with a tally of 23 fights, 21 wins, 19 by way of k.o.

Professional career[link]

He started his professional boxing career on 10 May 1981, beating Selwyn Bell by a knockout in two rounds in Dublin. After another win, he suffered his first setback, losing a hotly disputed decision (which had him in tears) to Peter Eubanks (brother of Chris Eubank) over eight rounds at Wembley, England.

After his first loss, McGuigan notched up two more wins, including one over Terry Pizzarro, and then he was given a rematch with Eubanks. The second time around, McGuigan prevailed, by a knockout in the eighth round.

In 1982, McGuigan won eight fights, seven by knockout. One of these, however, almost destroyed his career and his life. Opposed by Young Ali, on 14 June 1982, McGuigan won by a knockout in six rounds; Ali fell into a coma from which he never recovered. According to the book The Ring: Boxing The 20th Century, this affected McGuigan so much that he wasn't sure he wanted to keep on boxing. He also defeated Paul Huggins and Angelo Licata during this period. In 1983, he won four fights,winning the British Title against Vernon Penprase, and including his first trip to fight outside Europe (when he beat Samuel Meck by a knockout in six in Ontario, Canada), before getting his first try at a European title. On 16 November, Italy's Valerio Nati defended his European Featherweight belt versus McGuigan in Belfast, and McGuigan won the crown with a knockout in the sixth round. He then became the number one Featherweight challenger in the World Boxing Association. In 1984, he won six bouts, all by knockout. Among the fighters he beat were former world title challengers Jose Caba and Felipe Orozco. He also beat contenders Paul DeVorce and Charm Chiteule and retained his British and European titles against Clyde Ruan and the latter belt against Esteban Eguia to keep his chance at a World Championship attempt alive.

In 1985, McGuigan met former world featherweight champion Juan Laporte and won by a decision after ten rounds. Following one more win (a defence of his European Title against Farid Gallouze), he finally got his world title try when the long reigning WBA featherweight champion, Eusebio Pedroza of Panama, came to London to put his title on the line at Loftus Road football stadium. McGuigan became the champion by dropping Pedroza in round seven and winning a unanimous fifteen-round decision in a fight refereed by hall of fame referee Stanley Christodoulou. McGuigan and his wife were feted in a public reception through the streets of Belfast that attracted several hundred thousand spectators. Later that year, he was named BBC Sports Personality of the Year, becoming the first person not born in the United Kingdom to win the award.^[6]

McGuigan made his first defence against American Bernard Taylor, who was stopped in the ninth round, and then against Danilo Cabrera, who got knocked out in fourteen rounds. This proved to be a controversial stoppage: The fight was stopped after the challenger bent over to pick up his mouthpiece after losing it, a practice that is allowed in many countries but not in Ireland. Cabrera was not aware of this, and the fight was stopped. Although Cabrera's corner protested the outcome, McGuigan remained the winner by a knockout.^{[citation needed]}

For his next defence, he went to Las Vegas in June 1986, where he faced the relatively unknown Stevie Cruz from Texas in what proved a gruelling fifteen-round title bout under a blazing sun. McGuigan held a lead halfway through, but suffered dehydration because of the extreme heat and wilted near the end, being dropped in rounds ten and fifteen. He eventually lost a close decision and his world belt, which he was never to reclaim. After the fight, McGuigan required hospitalisation because of his dehydrated state.

After that fight he retired, partly due to the death of his father in 1987. He used to say his father was his greatest inspiration and, after his death, apparently felt no reason to continue boxing. However, he returned to the ring between 1988 and 1989, beating former world title challengers Nicky Perez and Francisco Tomas Da Cruz as well as contender Julio Cesar Miranda before losing to British future World Title challenger Jim McDonnell by a technical knockout (cuts) in four rounds. McGuigan then retired permanently from boxing.^{[citation needed]} His record was 32 wins and 3 losses, with 26 wins by knockout. In January 2005, McGuigan was elected into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Some experts have questioned the level of competition he fought during his career, observing that he did not meet the WBC Champion Azumah Nelson of Ghana, whom commentator Jack McGowan of the Belfast Telegraph has stated that McGuigan would not have beaten.^{[citation needed]}

After boxing[link]

McGuigan attempted to establish an association to protect the rights of boxers against what he, and others, considered omnipotent managers and promoters. In this regard, he had had a difficult time during his own career. A very close relationship with his manager deteriorated badly over time and led to a successful libel case against him by his former manager several years later. In the 1980s he was a chat show host on BBC1.^{[citation needed]}

McGuigan currently lives near Whitstable, Kent with his wife and children. He currently works as a boxing pundit for Sky TV. He has tried his hand at acting, appearing in the movie Malicious Intent in 2000. Two biographies of McGuigan have been written.^{[citation needed]}

McGuigan appeared in the third series of ITV's Hell's Kitchen in September 2007, where he was eventually crowned the winner after winning the public vote.

McGuigan is the Chairman of the Professional Boxing Association, an organisation he has wanted to set up for over a decade, with the intention of teaching boxers the importance of education, and indeed educating them.

In August 2009, he co-presented Charity Lords of the Ring with Lucy Kennedy.^[7]

McGuigan now manages boxers and currently is the manager of highly rated red hot Irish Super Bantamweight prospect Carl Frampton

Other recognition[link]

• Inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame
• Inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2005
• Fought in Ring Magazine's 1986 Fight of the Year
• Title character in the 8-bit computer game, Barry McGuigan World Championship Boxing
• Voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year 1985
• Honoured in an Irish ballad song released in 1984 entitled Clones Cyclone written by Johnny McCauley and sung by Big Tom^[8]

See also[link]

• List of British featherweight boxing champions

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Barry McGuigan

• Professional boxing record for Barry McGuigan from BoxRec
• CLIC Sargent - children's cancer charity