“I’m not joking: I thought I had a bleed on the brain and I thought to myself ‘you’re going to die in this ring’. But do you know what? I did not actually give a shit. At least I would be dying doing something I love.”
With these words, former British champion and WBO world title challenger Brian Rose lives up to his nickname of ‘The Lion’. His unyielding warrior code perfectly befitting the King of the Jungle, in a way that early 20th Century writer and philosopher, T.F. Powys would have understood. “There is no cry in the lion’s heart saying, ‘What can I do to be saved?’ Powys once wrote of the lion’s indifference to its own mortality. “He spends his treasure, he does not hide it, and when the next war comes, he dies; that is the end of the lion.”
But with three kids now, Rose admits to thinking a little differently about his willingness to gamble everything, including his life, between the ropes. The fighting heart still beats strongly, but his approach to boxing, and at 36 his continued presence in it, has matured and mellowed.
He concedes that his best years are now behind him but although his movements may be slower his guts and heart can readily fill the gap at domestic level at least. “It all comes down to heart and desire,” he says, his warm and friendly tone at odds with the seriousness of the topic. “If you haven’t got that push to keep going – and there are plenty of talented amateurs coming through that won’t – then the pro game isn’t for you. It doesn’t matter how quick, elusive and talented you are.”
To emphasise his point Rose, recalls his 2013 WBO super-welterweight title eliminator against Javier Maciel, in which he won a hard-fought split decision. “I remember pissing blood after the fight and thinking what have I just put my body through. I just couldn’t believe I got through it and won. But these are the sacrifices you need to be prepared to make.”
Now financially comfortable, Rose presides over his own gym in his native Blackpool. His continued presence in the fight-game has nothing whatsoever to do with money anymore. With that comes a release of pressure and a sense of freedom. “I’m not fighting to feed my kids anymore or pay the bills,” he confirms.
“If someone pulls out of a fight, apart from the effort in the gym, I haven’t lost anything. But I think that makes me more dangerous because I’m literally still doing it because I love it. That pressure to pay bills isn’t there anymore. I’m not exactly Floyd Mayweather, but I’ve earned good money over the years from my boxing career, and I’ve used it wisely.
“But at the same time, I understand my worth. If someone wants to offer me stupid money for fighting someone really good, then I certainly won’t be taking it.”
It is this lack of interest in money and instead the pursuit of continued adventure that has led Rose to accept a fight this weekend in Barcelona. A six-rounder against a former Spanish super-welterweight champion with a losing record is a far cry from big fight nights at New York’s Barclays Center or London’s O2 Arena, however, the reduction in glamour has done nothing to dampen the Blackpool man’s enthusiasm.
Still, “I don’t think they expected me to go for it,” he admits, before disclosing that he will also be compelled to make the 1,200-mile trip by car. “There’s no money in it, but at the end of the day, it’s an experience. It’s something I can say to my kids that I did as I was getting near the end of my career. For me, it is all about these experiences now.
“I can say I fought in Spain and add the extra notch onto my record. I’m looking forward to it and I’m really excited to get going now.”
Photo: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing.
Despite his confidence going into this weekend’s fight and the perceived limitations of his opponent, Rose refuses to catalogue it as a mere warm-up. Instead, he prefers to look at it as a “way back into the mix” and the fact that the fight will be screened live on the FITE TV App provides him with the mechanism to announce his continued participation to a new audience.
Rose is comfortable in admitting that he has already considered retirement. He is not one of those fighters elusively chasing his prime, unable to countenance that it resides irretrievably somewhere in the past. He has had enough good days to walk away with no regrets when he feels the time is right.
Included among them is that night nearly seven years ago when Demetrius Andrade boxed rings around him – on the way to a seventh-round stoppage – on an early summer’s evening in Brooklyn. Despite the obvious disappointment of defeat, it will always mark the zenith of his career. “For a small lad from Blackpool to be in New York fighting for a world title was just mad. It just has to be my career high,” he says with a smile.
“I know it was probably the biggest beating of my career as well, but having Michael Buffer call out your name is an unbelievable feeling. The build-up to the fight, the interviews, and everything just made me feel amazing.
“I will never forget those memories and I’ll be able to tell my kids about them when they’re older. For me, memories beat money any day. I’ve learnt that over the years. I will never regret fighting for that world title even though it was a one-sided affair.”
But for all that, Rose is adamant that this is his last throw of boxing’s sharp-cornered dice. He is fighting now purely for fun and to see where his last trip on the pugilistic rollercoaster will take him. Keen to avoid the cliché of the broken-down fighter he is adamant that the next defeat will be his last.
“One thing I don’t want to do is keep getting beat,” he admits. “I’ll hang up my gloves way before that. This is my last go at it. I’m the outright owner of a Lonsdale Belt. I was the first British champion from Blackpool since Brian London, so if I keep getting beat, I’ll lose that little legacy I’ve created around Blackpool.
“I can hold my head up high and I don’t want to be the person that’s gone on too long, and have people taking the piss out of me and stuff; not that they’ve any right to, but that’s what happens to fallen boxers. I don’t want to be that person.”
Once this weekend’s contest is safely negotiated, Rose has his eye on a bigger fight later in the year. He is all too aware that his distinguished career provides a marketable name for up-and-coming prospects and it would be easy to cast him in the unwanted role of gatekeeper. “They might start thinking I am over the edge,” he concurs. “That it’s a good time to bank my name on their record. So, I am sure these fights will come about, so long as I stay active.
“But at my age, I need to pick these fights carefully. I’m not saying I would ever duck anyone, but at the same time, I will take the fights that suit me better. When I was 25, I would have fought anyone, but now I’m a bit wiser and more selective.
“I’m the away fighter these days and the most notice I am ever likely to get is five or six weeks. But I don’t mind being the underdog, because I just know at some point the right opportunity will come; I’ll beat one of these prospects, and then I’ll be properly back in the mix.”
Featuring prominently on his wish list of future opponents is the winner of next weekend’s British super-welterweight title fight between Ted Cheeseman and James Metcalf. Having won his Lonsdale Belt outright in the space of just 12 months back in 2012, Rose’s passion for another shot at the British title remains undimmed. If that doesn’t happen, he would still love a big Blackpool versus Preston derby with Scott Fitzgerald. Twice it should have happened but the fight is still to materialise. “I’ll look like an idiot if I call him out again, so I’ve dropped it now and have moved on,” he says. “But it would be a great local match-up; we’d sell bucket loads of tickets when the fans come back.”
It has now been 19 months since Rose has fought competitively, yet a 10-round points reverse against Anthony Fowler last time out, demonstrated that enough of the old technique and heart remained. Despite being satisfied with his performance and giving due credit to Fowler for his victory, he acknowledges that had they met “four or five years earlier, it would have been a different fight.”
Photo: Dave Thompson/Matchroom Boxing.
The 36-year-old is now in the final yards of his career and he is determined to enjoy them. The desperate netherworld of grim beatings for dwindling paycheques and the gradual dimming of senses holds no allure for him. He has monetised his way out of this fate and now wants one final victory lap before the spotlight is permanently dimmed.
Boxing has been a permanent part of Rose’s life and, at the same time, it has taught him everything about life. He knows that his whole career could have taken a different course and that it could have been cut off way out in the ether, still-born before anyone had really heard his name. But it is these trials that have not only challenged and developed him as a fighter but also as a person.
Challenging for a Central Area title, his first as a professional, in only his 14th fight, Rose stopped opponent Jason Rushton in the 10th round. The damage that halted Rushton in the ring, proved to be permanent outside of it. “He was blinded in one eye, faced all other kinds of health problems, and could never work again,” recollects Rose. “Afterwards it just all dawned on me about how I didn’t want to do that to anyone ever again, but also about how I didn’t want it to happen to me either.”
Forcing himself to get back into the ring a year later despite being nowhere near mentally ready, Rose was knocked out by opponent Max Maxwell, in what should have been a straightforward encounter. With his career potentially in tatters, Rose takes great pride in recollecting his readiness to discuss his problems with a psychologist. “I was one of the first boxers to actually come out and say that I was seeing a psychologist. Sky Sports even did a bit about it at the time. It really helped so much,” he says.
“But it did take some time to get back. I remember my first fight back. It was only against Terry Carruthers at a sports centre, but I have never been so nervous. It was obviously because of the demons. But once I understood that I could get hit without being hurt, I was basically okay.”
In a final moment of self-realisation, Rose takes a look back on his career-to-date. “It’s only now that it’s coming to an end that I actually realise how well I’ve done,” he admits. “If you’d asked me three years ago when I was still in the mix, I wouldn’t have appreciated how well I’d done. But when I look back now, I definitely think that I’ve done really well.”
And that’s not a bad outcome for someone who only turned pro 16 years ago because he hated being a painter and decorator.
Main image: Dave Thompson/Matchroom Boxing.