Episode 3 Fight Game: The McGuigans

'When they are boxing, when they put their lives on the line,

I feel every punch.'

Listen, come here. That's a joke.

I want them to have the life that I had,

because it is the most unbelievable life.

The army would stop you here.

They had a big camp there.

You knew you were arriving in Northern Ireland.

Things were really nasty.

Carl is top of the bill in the MGM Grand on the Strip in Vegas.

You couldn't script it, honestly.

Seven years ago, and now we are headlining in Las Vegas.

I just never imagined that coming from Tigers Bay in Belfast,

that I would get to the places that I have been to.

This programme contains some strong language

Northern Ireland is a better place to be.

And people from both sides of the community are getting behind us.

You are doing it for your family, mate. All right?

That's what you are doing it for. You are not there yet.

By God, it doesn't get any bigger than this.

At the top of this hill on the left-hand side

is the Wattlebridge Amateur Boxing Club.

This is where it all started.

This is where we would congregate and get changed.

The beam was where the punchbag was.

There used to be, you know, the rat-a-tat-tat overhead ball here.

The ring was down here.

You can see the old hooks are still there, look.

You see the old hooks for the ropes.

They're still there.

The army would stop you here.

They had huts and they had a big sort of camp there.

Ramps coming in, ramps going out.

You know, queues of traffic.

Sometimes it would take an hour.

You knew you were arriving in Northern Ireland.

It is interesting to see it now.

You just whizz through it.

Knowing what I know, and having driven through it

when things were really nasty.

If you look at what Barry was doing in the height of the Troubles,

and the people from the Shankill Road

were with the people from the Falls Road, it was incredible, really.

I'm kind of doing something similar.

Both of us in mixed marriages.

He is a Catholic, married a Protestant.

I'm a Protestant, married a Catholic.

But we've been very lucky.

You know, I'm sure Barry would say the same,

but I'm very proud of the support I have

from both sides of the community.

Daddy's behind me!

I was 18 and you were 19.

I'm 30, so...

It took you a year to ask me.

We knew each other for a year before you asked me out.

-She came direct, beeline, for me.

-No, you came to me.

I did. But I was like, "How are you doing?"

-You are just like straight in, lumber.

-Lumber!

-You wish.

-That's what happened.

-OK.

-I remember it.

I grew up in Tigers Bay.

I grew up at the back end of the Troubles.

1998 was the Good Friday Agreement.

So I was born in 87.

My street, Upper Canning Street,

was the closest street to the nationalist New Lodge area.

I remember a kid, he got blew up at the bottom of my street.

There were a crowd of people. I could see his feet

kind of sticking out through the crowd. People were around him.

I remember loads of stuff happening.

When I was a kid you were hearing about people

getting punishment beatings and shot for doing things

they shouldn't have been doing. That's just the way it was.

But it felt normal to me.

It didn't feel like I had a bad childhood.

And I don't think I did.

Even, like, if I go away for two weeks, a month,

you notice differences. I came back from Texas.

I was away for a month.

I remember he looked frightened when he seen me.

Where did he go? Where did he go?

He's working the tables!

I left Northern Ireland in 1987.

All my kids were young.

They grew up in England, really.

I've got me and you.

Look how happy you are!

The decorations are a little bit hit and miss.

I actually don't care any more! It's a Christmas tree and it's up.

I'm done.

It's been the most stressful, manic, exciting year of our lives.

We just need to switch off. So, yeah, Christmas tree, some drinks,

Shane is asleep because he's exhausted.

-Usually, Shane..

-OK, let's just say...

-You have to wait two weeks,

before we actually don't get any time at all.

I'll probably end up getting... having a baby,

and I'll be fat on honeymoon. And that is not happening!

I'm going to put my foot down. I'm going to say, March,

you are taking three full weeks off.

It's not going to happen.

You have to relax at some point.

Not going to happen, man. Three weeks is, like, more than people

get with, like, a year's holiday.

You've not had a moment to breathe and you've been ill.

So you need to start looking after yourself.

March the 4th is David.

Josh Taylor is March 24.

Surely George will be before that, won't he?

He doesn't know yet, I have a feeling it's going to be.

Shane, that's not funny.

It's not. Because you have to have - we have to have...

Oh, he's just farted!

Oh, my God!

It's quite a big old space to fill, this room, and he's filled it.

Yeah, we're going to a place with my two old friends

from years gone by.

I first went to the Poor Clare Nuns in Cliftonville Road in 1982.

I don't want to state myself being over religious,

but I have faith and I believe in God.

And I can't change what I am.

If anybody is close to the big fella, they're close to him.

We all need a bit of help.

I certainly do.

Carl is getting ready to box at the end of January,

so Shane is training away with him and getting into great condition.

I remember the result of Josh's.

Josh Taylor? Josh Taylor, yeah.

He won in five rounds and he is now the Commonwealth champion.

He was a big hit on television.

Conrad, sadly, lost on points a couple of weeks ago,

but it was a very close decision. In fact, he didn't lose at all,

but they gave it against him for some reason.

But he is a tough kid and he will bounce back.

-Where is Conrad from?

-Conrad is from Coalisland.

-Coalisland?

-Northern Ireland.

Are you scary? Are you scary dog?

You're a big softy. Boxers are the same as humans.

They look tough but really are big softies.

Conrad has had a tough year.

We wanted him to beat Ronnie Mittag.

I thought he clearly won the fight.

But he didn't fight his best.

I said he didn't fight his best, on the television.

I was maybe a little bit harsh on him.

Many promotional companies would let a fighter go if they are given a

chance like that. But we are not like that.

And we like this kid.

He is punching harder, he is really determined,

and I'm going to get him a title fight this year.

This particular time was hard - it was hard for him,

it was hard for us all. His ego was dented, his morale was low.

He felt... he was aggrieved at the decision.

I never thought about losing that title.

I never thought about losing, ever.

You know, I just wasn't ready for it.

And I'm very lucky to have a good support network around me.

My girlfriend and my family.

They really picked me up again. They picked up the pieces.

Carl, especially, has been very, very good

at taking Conrad under his wing.

He's such a good lad. He is helping me in so many ways.

That meant a lot to me. He was equally as upset as I was.

He was gutted for me.

Hopefully, he'll never lose, and I'm sure he won't.

But if he did, I'll be there to give him a hug and say, he's the man.

Go, Frampton!

Carl is boxing at the end of January, defending his title

against a guy he beat in July.

And we expect to have 5,000 people flying to Las Vegas for that fight.

-From Ireland?

-From Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland, and the UK.

He is top of the bill in the MGM Grand, on the Strip in Vegas.

So it's amazing.

Punch properly. Not like that.

Punch...

That's it. Go.

Keep your other hand up. Keep this hand on your chin.

We have the manager of Carl Frampton,

Hall of Fame world champion Barry McGuigan.

-Here, you'll only make it worse.

-I won't. I can do it.

There you go.

# Walking along, singing a song

# Walking in a Frampton wonderland! #

It's great to have Leo Santa Cruz here.

It's great for the people of Belfast,

I think, to see a featherweight world champion in the flesh.

So thanks for coming, Leo.

Leo, come and stand so we'll get a selfie.

I'm starting Instagram today. Good man, thanks, mate.

Right, mate.

Give us a hug, I'm going.

-Why are you going?

-I'm going away.

Give us a hug.

It does become harder and, you know, my little girl Carla,

she's six now and Ross is two.

So they're starting to understand it a bit more.

Give us a kiss. A big kiss. And a hug.

You smell like cheese and onion. I'll phone you later, ok?

-CHILD:

-Where are you going?

-I'm going to America.

-I thought you said you were going...

-No, today, I'm going today.

I said I'd see you today.

I'll be back soon.

It's not long. All right, kid?

It's just hard, you know.

I leave my wife behind and she has to look after the kids

and pretty much does it all on her own.

We're out here in Mohawk Drive, ten miles outside of Vegas,

out from the strip.

Even when I turned professional I didn't honestly

believe that I could be topping the bill in the MGM.

This is the fight capital of the world.

And it's every young fighter's dream to fight in Vegas on the Strip,

and headlining. That's what Frampton's doing.

Josh Taylor is on the undercard, as well.

So it's great to be part of this.

But we've a job to do,

hence the reason for being out here 26 days before the fight.

It's unbelievable.

You know, I can't wait to soak it up in fight week,

when my support comes over.

Doing his fucking housework.

It's a good relaxed atmosphere in the house, you know.

We're a very close-knit team.

Obviously, there's a lot of people connected through blood,

-all the McGuigans.

-Sandra's gonna keep it all bubbly.

She's very much in the PR side of things, and hospitality and tickets.

We're having George Groves coming out.

We love the fact that there's a load of us in the house here.

There aren't enough bedrooms.

We've got blow-up beds.

But it's great spirit and great fun in the house

and that's what a camp is about.

I could eat about 500 eggs in a cup.

Three isn't enough.

Can't believe you've never had egg in a cup, Josh.

-I'm going to make you it tomorrow.

-I told him, I've had this conversation

-with him before.

-He doesn't know what it means.

-He does.

Danielle makes it all the time.

-Exactly.

-It's just the same as scrambled egg.

-No, it's not.

-It's massively different.

-Way different.

It's a boiled egg with butter on it and salt and pepper.

In a cup.

You know, we're training hard,

we're having a bit of fun during the day.

And going to bed at a reasonable time.

It's just a typical training camp house.

Nice sunny day.

It's a beautiful Scottish day.

Beautiful Scottish day in Las Vegas.

-See ya, Mum.

-All right, love, have a good day.

Carl's doing his last bit of sparring.

We only really have about another three spars.

You reach a point and then you let it go

and just relax and you freewheel into the fight.

So we're reaching that sort of apogee now.

-Lift it up. Nice, good change.

-Good hook on it, as well.

Perfect on your jab. Don't look through my hand.

Right now a lot of it is a mental game.

A typical training camp can range between 12 and 16 weeks.

People don't see that.

They just see the finished product.

They don't understand the blood, sweat and tears.

The ups and the downs.

It's just... Apart from anything else, it's Monday and it's boring.

The training camp is boring.

You're doing the same thing every day.

Over and over again.

It's really difficult to explain their mentality during camp.

They're working really hard, they're hungry.

You know, they have good spars, they have bad spars.

Then it hits you in the face and he gets angry. Or whatever the case.

It's difficult and they have to deal with a lot on a day-to-day basis.

And I think that's hard to deal with for anybody,

let alone a boy who is away...

Or a man, I should say, who's away from their family.

It must be difficult.

Hello.

-Hello, Daddy.

-Hiya, Rosser!

-Hi.

-Where's your sister?

-Carla.

-What?

-Daddy wants you.

What have you got tomorrow?

-Swimming.

-Happy days. Excited?

Yeah.

I feel like I've just left them behind.

And I miss them. You know, I've been away for two weeks now.

It feels like two months.

Never, ever gets any easier.

-Bye.

-Bye, bye, kid.

You blowing kisses?

Two seconds. I said to roll out in the car, mate.

Come on. Give him a round of applause, folks. Come on.

I was on the shitter, missus! Right, let's go.

You know, dad obviously came from a completely different background.

Did boxing because it got him a different life for his family.

Not just his immediate family, his kids and stuff.

His whole family. It completely changed everyone's life around.

Is that enough?

-I wanna have posh kids.

-Am I posh?

There you go!

-That's it.

-You're not. You used to be a bit more posh.

I think you're getting a bit more ghetto hanging about us, mate.

What do you consider posh, George?

Would you consider me posh?

Your kids are going to be posher than the rest of us, mate.

Your kids are going to be posher than mine, mate

because you're going to have more money than me.

-It's nothing to do with money.

-Love it. Wind him up, look.

-What's it to do with, then? Education.

-Education, yeah.

Is it, though? Blue blood makes someone posh.

-Yeah.

-You can say I'm posh but then you can say,

you look at my heritage and you look at...

I just think that people that went to a grammar school were posh.

That's how un-posh I am.

-Serious?

-Your dad's got a car.

Yuppie.

I'm learning more and more about Barry's history.

The more time I spend with him, you know.

He's just got a wealth of experience

but he's been through a lot of stuff.

A lot of stuff that I can relate to and probably in the future

will relate to.

The whole issue of nationalism and all of that,

I think you cannot go anywhere near it.

And it's interesting, you, St George,

and you do all that and it's different, right.

But over there it's so worn out, so over the top.

-Yeah.

-I always thought...

-You're just going to alienate...

All you've got to do is, you're going to have 50% of the community

are gonna go, fine, you go ahead, son.

Even if it's like that in Scotland, as well.

It's still the same in Scotland.

But it's nowhere near as bad as what it is in Ireland.

We have responsibility to teach kids coming through,

because they're all looking at you guys.

They're all fucking looking up to you and thinking, this guy...

Or horizontally towards you guys(!)

Right, guys, I'm going to bed. I'll see you in the morning.

-Night, Barry.

-Yeah, me, too.

-See you, George.

I'm excited about getting into the MGM and just getting onto the Strip,

really. I stayed in a few Travelodges

and a few Premier Inns here and

there. Apparently I've got a nice suite

so I'm looking forward to settling in.

It's good, that, isn't it? I feel like I'm going to fight.

I am a bit nervous. Can you put my window down, Baz?

David Copperfield, you bellend, stealing my limelight.

Could do 400-metres sprints in here.

Ah, yes. Got a chaise longue.

Look at the size of the bathroom!

I feel a bit out of place, if I'm being honest.

I don't know what to do. Just another shower.

In case I change my mind. Happy days.

Look how good that is.

Christine's Christmas present sorted for next year.

I'm going to steal so much out of here. It's great.

-Got a bit of Hooters, mate.

-Decent view here from my room.

-First port of call.

-Fucking hell.

-Hooters.

It's like something out of the videos.

I enjoy fight week.

I enjoy soaking it up. I enjoy the atmosphere.

CHEERING AND SHOUTING

Me and Micks have been behind-the-scenes

doing all the Instagram stuff.

I think we might have overdone it a little bit.

Are you going up for any of the interviews upstairs?

Sandra is like female boss.

She is behind everything.

She's like the brains of the operation.

Barry's always a bit hundred miles per hour and you don't know what's

happening with him because he's always running about.

I come from that background, having lived through it with Barry.

I'm aware I may be on the practical side of things, what needs...

And I'm a mum. So, those are the credentials that are needed.

Conrad's always good fun to have around,

especially on fight week when things start to get a little bit difficult.

It's good to have my buddy back over, aye.

At the moment it's just making sure that the remainder of this camp go

injury free and he tapers on down correctly,

makes the weight with no struggles.

Sweat suits on and hot rooms, skipping, shadow-boxing, cycling.

It sounds silly, what we're doing,

but there's a fine science to getting it right.

He loves pressure.

He loves the big occasion.

He loves the big stage.

And by God it doesn't get any bigger than this.

Lucky enough for me, Northern Ireland's a better place to be.

It's an exciting place, a friendly place and people

from both sides of the community are getting behind us.

Ah!

-I love this part.

-It's about winning titles and becoming a world

champion. That was the dream at the start, but now it's about legacy.

Watching Carl and being part of the team

just gives me massive motivation.

You're taking the cut protector.

Got to take your gumshield. You got your second gumshield?

All right, it's out my bag.

Here's a spare. KNOCKING

-Morning.

-All right?

-Would you give this fella something right away?

-Yeah, I will.

-Because he's fighting at 5 o'clock.

CHEERING AND EXCITED CHATTER

-How are you feeling?

-Shitting it.

-I've got the pictures.

-You've got them with you? Everyone ready.

-The light's not off upstairs.

-I'll turn them of when I go up.

-I'll go up, I'll go up. Upstairs.

-They're off, anyway.

Go on now, Josh. Now, second phase, come on.

-Oh, come on.

-Come on, Josh.

-Last 50 seconds, come on.

BELL RINGS

Well done, Joshy! You worked hard.

# Sweet Caroline. #

-All right, where do you want to do it?

-Put a little bit in here.

I don't remember a lot about my first fight.

It was in a hotel in Portstewart,

which is in the north coast of Northern Ireland.

I'm pretty sure I got the better of the other kid.

I remember something about the gloves being really far up my arm,

and almost above my elbow, I remember that.

I'm going to tie it up here.

But there was always a thing about, you know,

your uncles or maybe some close friends and family would travel

to see you fight wherever you fought.

And the kind of older generations

would always give you a couple of quid.

You know, if you got a fiver you thought you were a millionaire.

I loved it. I was always walking around with my hand out

at the end of a fight, hoping for a few quid,

and I often got a few quid.

I loved it, really loved it.

All you've got to do, mate, is step outside of the lines.

Once you've thrown a combination, move your head after it, OK?

And dip, dip.

Don't start from static.

When I stand back and watch Frampton and Shane working together,

God Almighty, the pride I have.

Beyond the call of duty.

I'm very thankful for my dad doing everything he done for me

and putting all those hours in and not getting anything back from it.

Now he can understand what I took from boxing.

And, you know, I think he's very proud.

They're supporting you, mate, you know what I mean?

They're all here to support you.

This start to the year

is going to be the best fucking year of your life, do you hear me?

The best year of your life.

Very fucking proud of you, mate, all right?

I've got two young kids and a wife, I fight for them.

I fight for my family.

I fight for the security of my family.

And I also fight for the people that support me.

I've so many fanatical support.

Barry said something to me recently when we were talking about fighting.

He says, don't forget that these guys that are coming out

to watch you fight in Las Vegas, they'll remember this.

This is stuff that people remember for the rest of their days.

It kind of hit home a bit that it is, you know.

I'm kind of creating memories for people.

It's very humbling.

When it's all said and done, life, the world,

everything to me is about my family.

And all these fighters are just like a family to me.

You know, when they fight, my heart is in my mouth from start to finish.

I just want them to be safe because of what I've been through myself.

When they are boxing, when they put their lives on the line,

I'm involved at every moment.

And I feel every punch, and I feel when they're tired,

and I feel their exaltation. I love it.

-COMMENTATOR:

-And again... Oh, nice left hook to the chin by Frampton.

CROWD CHEER

Step back. He's falling short and coming in.

How many hits? That's boxing, son!

Nice combination by Frampton!

Nice combination jab with the right hand from Santa Cruz.

They said they wanted cautious aggressiveness from Leo Santa Cruz,

that's exactly what they got.

An exchange... this is the fight of Santa Cruz's career.

I didn't know these guys could fight like this!

This fight very much ending in the balance.

A left hook...

A nice counter by Santa Cruz.

Move your head, move your head, move your head.

Again, throwing punches and punches.

Volcanic eruption from the MGM...

The 12th and final round.

Jab and lift, jab and lift.

Tremendous sign of sportsmanship between these two warriors.

The 12th and final round.

Another great fight between Carl Frampton and Leo Santa Cruz.

The crowd on its feet.

The score cards, 114 to 114.

And a draw.

CROWD JEER

-(INAUDIBLE)

-In favour of a winner by majority decision...

The new...

Well done, Carl, mate. Well done, Carl.

Yeah, sit on my lap, babes.

Can I just say something? I'm so proud of you and Carl, mate.

Great fight, mate, great fight.

When you can get in there and fight in front of millions of people

and put everything on the line, punches are swaying over your head,

missing you by a millimetre,

you've got courage and you've got skill and all of that.

You know, congratulations to the new champion.

He deserved to have his hand raised.

There's nothing like sharing 12 hard rounds with another man in the room.

I'm always going to have respect for Leo Santa Cruz.

All those thousands of people,

think of the passion that they have for Carl Frampton.

They love that kid.

They love that kid. And I've been there.

I've been there, seen it and done it.

CHANTING AND SHOUTING

Can I stick some money behind the bar?

I just want to thank everyone for coming out.

I know it cost a lot of dough to get here.

I'm sorry to disappoint.

We'll get him back, I promise, we'll get him back.

A mark of the man you are is to show that you can come back.

And I know Carl Frampton can come back.

So we've just got to batten down the hatches,

get ourselves ready and go again.

It's an incredible life to live.

And being one of the best fighters in the world,

there is nothing like it.

Where are you, lads?

I know how to use the oven, I cook all the time.

-Yay!

-Thumbs up.

-Right, watch the hill.