Paddy Barnes Interview: New Gold Dream

He is one of Ireland's most decorated sportsmen: European Champion, twice Commonwealth Games champion, and the only boxer in the nation's history with a pair of Olympic medals in his collection.
But at a fighting weight of 49kg, or a bit below eight stone in old money, it might be a bit of an understatement to say he's worth his weight in gold. Still, gold is the currency du jour. With mere months to go until the eyes of the world turn to Rio, a mere 400-odd grams of gold is on Paddy Barnes' mind. Olympic glory has twice eluded the Belfast man, but this time the nation -and the world- expects.
A lot of weight, then, on his shoulders?
"You don't think about who's favoured to win,"he says, his rapid-fire delivery almost as quick as his ramrod left jab, accent as heavy as a hook to the liver. "In my head, I'm expecting to win anyway. I know how hard I train, so I really don't have any worries. The only way things get messed up, or that I get beaten, will be because of myself".
He's not merely reciting lines from A Beginner's Guide To Boxing Bravado. On two previous occasions, the product of the Holy Family Boxing Club has fallen short on the biggest stage of all, and been forced to take his licks. Indeed, even casual fans will remember the name of Zou Shiming, the Chinese phenomenon who twice dashed Paddy's hopes. Before looking ahead to this summer, we have to ask -from a safe distance, of course- if the wounds are still sore.
"Some things," he sighs, "you'll never get over. In London four years ago, I lost on a countback [a tie-breaker of sorts, when fighters finish the bout level]. If I had won that fight, my opponent in the final would have been a guy from Thailand who suited my style completely. I know I would have beaten him. I'd have been Olympic champion."
If the narrowest of defeats was tough to take, it was nothing compared to the ignominy four years earlier, when the judges, surrounded by hometown fans in China, declared the fight a shutout: Zou Shiming 15 - 0 Paddy Barnes.
"In London, I walked to the ring thinking 'If I don't get a point here..." he grins. "After the first round, I asked Billy Walsh what the score was. He told me it was eight points to five. I didn't even bother asking which was which- I knew I had a point anyway!
"But the Beijing fight was ridiculous," he continues, the pain of the memory etched on his face.
"I knew the better boxer won, but the scoring was terrible. I was beaten fair and square, but 15-0 wasn't fair- it was embarrassing. Properly done, it might have finished 12-4, and I wouldn't have reacted the way I did."
Immediately after that fight, he raged: "They can keep the bronze medal for all I care. It's for losers."
Needless to say, the passage of time has changed his outlook- even if the medal, and its 2012 counterpart, has earned him a somewhat dodgy nickname.
"It's not just the boys in the gym, even kids on the street will say it to me, 'Paddy Bronze'," he laughs.
A sense of humour is a pre-requisite when entering the lions' den of the High Performance Unit training base at the National Stadium. Last year, when Hot Press met team psychologist Gerry Hussey, we were told that almost nothing is off limits- especially where Paddy and his close friend Michael Conlon are involved.
"When Mick was fighting for the World Championship last year, he got dropped in the final round," Paddy says mischievously.
"I had just sent a text to someone saying if he stays on his feet, he wins, so I realised that if he loses, he'll blame me for jinxing him. I thought, 'Right... better wait two hours before I start the slagging!'"
Of course, Conlon stayed the course to claim World gold, the only major championship medal missing from Paddy's collection.
"Sure, there's no point in going for it now; Mick has one, so that's taken the shine right off it!" Indeed, the Hamburg 2017 tournament is likely to be eschewed for a career in the professional ranks, a choice that Paddy admits isn't entirely informed by sporting reasons.
"Winning medals doesn't pay your mortgage," he states. "Last year, I fought the whole way through the World Series of Boxing and didn't get paid. You're reliant on funding money, and that's far from guaranteed; if I didn't get a medal in Rio, then I'd be off funding and probably on the dole. I've been boxing at a high level for so long that there was no time for education, meaning I've no qualifications for another job."
A new vocation won't be necessary, with the skills Paddy boasts: a ferocious workrate punctuated by lightning fast shots, and a defence verging on impenetrable. Indeed, having seen other leading lights from the amateur ranks land title shots almost immediately upon turning pro- Ukranian standout Vasyl Lomachenko and old rival Zou among them- Paddy is confident that gold awaits in the paid game too.
"I'd feel ready to be world champion tomorrow," he asserts. "I'm already fighting five three-minute rounds against the best amateurs in the world, far better than the journeymen you find at the start of a pro career. But then, it's not just a sport but a business. It's about building a brand to get big fights; as much as you'd like to put the big names at the top of the list straightaway, there's no point being stupid about it."
There is an Irish fighter- albeit in a different discipline- who's provided a masterclass in the art. "Conor McGregor is a marketing genius," he opines. "He's a prime example of a guy who's built himself up in the right way. But that just wouldn't fit my personality."
Personality is something Paddy definitely isn't lacking, from a self-professed love of Katy Perry and Kylie Minogue to a Twitter feed that would put a comedian to shame. He also has a dubious habit of shifting his footballing allegiance.
"I've got that winner's mentality, don't I?!" he laughs. "So I'm going to support whoever's winning. I'm right behind Leicester at the moment, but I can't find a shop that sells their shirts..." He also confesses that, while chocolate and fizzy drinks are painful sacrifices to make in order to stay within the restrictive weight limit, there's one craving that stands out.
"You cannot beat a pint of Guinness," he drools. "I could put away about 11 of them. Sure, they're only small!"
While the first post-Games scoop will be on us, Arthur's finest will go untouched for quite some time. The next few months will see him hard at work, training under the watchful eye of Zuar Antia, interim head coach of the Irish set-up following the departure of Billy Walsh. When we spoke back in October, Paddy had admitted to nerves after seeing the long-time chief pack his bags for the US, but he reports that the transition has been seamless.
"Zuar is a world-class coach, and a technical genius. John Conlan, Pete Taylor and Eddie Bolger are there too, and they're working as a perfect team."
It's going to be a big year. "Things are definitely different in an Olympic year," Paddy says. "Boxers train on a four-year cycle, and everyone is focused on qualifying for the Games. It's nice for me to be qualified already, because it means I can focus on the bigger picture. I've become more educated in the importance of strength and conditioning, and how it's not just training hard but training smart; everyone can lift weights, for instance, but a boxer has to do it differently."
Paddy reflects that a miniscule improvement would have brought gold in London. If he has his way, there'll be no such tight margins this summer.
"I don't feel it's one percent. I feel 100 percent better than London. I can't see anyone other than me winning that title."