Egan and McGuigan dissapointed in Haye and Chisora
Irish boxing legends Barry McGuigan and Kenneth Egan have both expressed their
disappointment at how both David Haye and Derke Chisora acted in Germany recently.
The heavyweight duo swapped punches out of the ring during the Chisora Vitali Klitschko post fight press conference. The pairs ‘street brawl’ ensured international exposure and ridicule in equal measure.
Two of Ireland’s most respected pugilist joined the critics and expressed their distain at the events which got the world talking heavyweight boxing again, albeit for all the wrong reasons.
Irish boxing’s most decorated amateur and Beijing Olympic Bronze medallist Egan believes both set a bad example to the boxers of tomorrow.
“Most boxers have a lot of discipline and there is a respect amongst them, but there was no respect whatsoever between these two. Amateur boxers look up to these guys as professionals. You have young kids staying up at night to watch these guys, their idols, fight and they are confronted with this sort of carry on. It’s bad for boxing.”
Former world featherweight champion Barry McGuigan was also left speechless by the brawl.
He said: “Words defeat me. I don’t know really what to say about this. It’s appalling. These sort of things happened years ago with (Muhammad) Ali and (Joe) Frazier when they used to ham it up. It is a sad day for boxing. It’s very bad that these guys behaved like this. It’s ridiculous. We all take it when it’s tongue and cheek but then it so easily bubbles over like this and all of a sudden there are repercussions everywhere.”
