The sport of boxing lost a true legend with the passing of Brendan Ingle.
A great trainer, manager, mentor, father, friend – he was so much to so many. It seemed he touched all he met.
He changed the lives of everyone that walked into the shabby gym on the hill in Wincobank. He made the weaklings strong and the shy confident. He defied tradition and made you think outside the box.
Brendan was a very special man that wanted to help everyone.
He created champions from little skinny kids to boxing greats, the true mark of a great trainer. He put talent and belief where there was none. If fighters were scared, he would wrap them in imaginary suits of armour, which he did with one of his many successes, Johnny Nelson.
He would tell his fighters to drop their hands, switch stance, do the opposite of what everyone expects. “Defy the norm” was his mantra and it worked.
Fighters like Herol Graham, Nelson, Naseem Hamed and Ryan Rhodes, all entered the gym as kids and came out as champions, and many, many more improved: not just in the ring but in their lives.
The gym will go on no doubt and the champions will continue under the excellent guidance of son Dominic, but Brendan will be sorely missed by many as will his smile and pearls of Irish wisdom.
The craic will be good in heaven.