I'm a Believer
East Leeds Magazine interview with Lee Murtagh, March 2010

If you ask Lee Murtagh what the toughest fight of his life has been, he might mention his 10 round battles in Winning Central Area and British masters titles. But then again he might mention the 'Fighting for Maddy' bout on March 14th at the Oceana Night Club:

"There's a lot to do when putting something like this on. Things have to be in place, location, ring hire, St. Johns Ambulance, a ring side doctor, Health & Safety Certificate, various licences, promo stuff, printing tickets but at least it's all stuff you know has to be done and it's easy enough to contact the various bodies to organise things."

Before Lee got down to organising 'Fighting for Maddy' he had the small matter of the Irish Super Middleweight Championship to fight for in February. He'd trained hard for it. His Irish opponent was using the media to make it into a bit of a grudge match and Lee was happy to respond. Two weeks before the fight Lee travelled to York to spar in preparation. Then disaster struck: "I was just sparring with the lads, nothing heavy, and I twisted on my knee. It buckled and I knew straight away the fight in Dublin was off." I was devastated. Whether the fight can be rearranged, who knows? But at least I had other things to focus on: organising the Maddy fight; training Sam Smith and the white collar lads; the exhibition fight with Lee Sharpe."

The following weekend Sharpe himself took a knock in a charity football match. Then, Sam pulled up with back pains: "The next few days were long days, waiting for doctors & physio results on all three of us. It was a case of 2 out of 3 ain't bad. It looks like I need an operation but Sam and Sharpey were ok."

Then the Spanish girl Sam was due to fight for the vacant EBF Lightweight title pulled out: "I wasn't too bothered, we had a girl from Rotterdam lined up, so it was just a case of finding someone to get in the ring with Sharpey. Niall Quinn was mentioned. In the end, former World Boxing Council champion Robin Reid stepped forward. Problem solved. Lee got back to organising the bout & training Sam. Then the Dutch girl pulled out citing injury.

"I wasn't too stressed about it, I've got contacts, the EBF have contacts, we'd been through this before with Sam. The EBF got in touch with a club in Moscow, a Russian girl was ready to take the fight. We only found out a week later she was a different weight, it'd been lost in translation. Although Lee had lost another week, he still wasn't panicking. Another promoter offered him Angel (the part Russian boxer from Big Brother 2009). So began another week of negotiations but they wanted way too much money and it was another week wasted. By now the clock was ticking and it was back to the phone, fax & email to try and find an opponent. The thing is with boxing, there is always someone, fights are often cancelled for various reasons so there's usually someone to call on who is trained and ready to fight. With ten days to go, we found a Lithuanian who fitted the bill, fantastic record, Lithuanian champion, perfect. Unbelievably, she couldn't get a flight to coincide with her training and the fight."

And that looked like the end of the road. The EBF couldn't find another girl, Lee had hammered his contact book until it screamed, even his phone packed up. It looked like the fight was off: "You know me I'm a God fearing Catholic but that night I didn't even bother praying. I thought it was a waste of a prayer. I couldn't see how we could find a boxer of the quality needed to fight Sam. I think I turned grey that night, the knee was hurting more than ever, and I was low. To make matters worse I'd been in the gym earlier watching Sam train with another coach. I can only do so much with her because of my knee. I was in a good mood until I saw that. Nothing against the other coach, it's just me and Sam have been through a lot together."

The frustrating thing for Lee was tickets were selling well. Ex-Boxer and film star Joe Egan was coming, as was East London's 'Rise of the Foot Soldier' Carlton Leach. The interest for the fight has been unprecedented.

"It came down to sheer stubborness and belief in myself and Sam. I wasn’t giving up The next day I got my phone back and just went through the address book, was there anyone I'd overlooked? There wasn't really but there was a Dutch promoter from Amsterdam who I'd sat on the other end of a dinner table with a few years ago, it wasn’t like I even had a conversation with him. It was a long shot but worth a try. I couldn't believe it, he had someone, we were back in business. My hands were shaking when I booked the flights & hotels for them. I’ve never felt relief like it when I finally got round to picking them up at the airport.”

Before Sam's bout we watched the Leeds versus South Yorkshire White Collar Boxing event. East Leeds lass Steph May took on Cath Adams in an exhibition bout. Adam Lynch then won his first fight. Mark Judge, DJ Bizz and Karl Lewis won their bouts. Johnathon Pagett drew & Andy Lynch was on the end of an unlucky stoppage. There was also the small matter of Lee Sharpe versus former world champion Robin 'the Grim Reaper' Reid. Despite Robin warning before hand "I don't do fun" the bout was highly entertaining. Lee Sharpe played the great show man from the moment he walked out to 'Marching On Together.' What followed was an energetic bout with Sharpe giving as good as he got and his corner helping out from time to time. Robin Reid had to leave early and seemed genuinely gutted about it. The fact he had come so far out of his way during a busy schedule speaks volumes about the man.

Let's not forget the afternoon was about Maddy Staveley and her family. We're not sure at the time of going to press how much money was raised but the appeal goes on, for more information see www.maddyfund.info

Lee Sharpe, Maddy's Dad and Robin Reid

In a time when White Collar Boxing hasn't got the best reputation, the lads & lasses of The Ring-Saoirse did their club, sport and city proud, as did the audience who gave everyone the respect they deserved for stepping in the ring.

Sharpe v Reid on YouTube Share