Purse perfect- Ginley swaps trading punches for negotiating purses

By Jonny Stapleton

THE stereotypical boxing manager hasn’t quite as many wrinkles on his face as the picture conjured in most minds when they imagine the fight coach.

Experience isn’t just a virtue the chief corner man is expected to have it is something he is meant to wear. That stereotypical trainer is harsh of face, carries disfigurements that suggest he has done more rounds than every fighter that was walked into his gym, is unassuming and sports a permanent scowl.

Sticking with stereotypes the manager is generally perceived to have similar wealth of experience, albeit in all things purses not punches. However, maybe because they are often perceived to be the one who collects most of those purses they can invest in his appearance and thus is more handsome than haggard.

That stereotype is a massive exaggeration, but  age and experience are things most expect from their managers and coaches.

However, just like Carl Frampton’s young trainer Shane McGuigan has done with the role of coaching Mark Ginley hopes to break the managerial stereotype. At 26 Ginley, who as a fighter was probably too attracted to a brawl for his corners liking, has after hanging up his gloves with a record of 4-1 entered the managerial side of the game.

Considering his tendency to brawl he might not quite be fresh to the baby face extent, but he certainly doesn’t look like your average manager and he believes he can bring some new to an often criticised world.

“I’ve always been interest in management and being signed with two different managers or promoters I seen things I liked and things I didn’t like as much. I watched and learned from that,” Ginley said.

“I believe I can bring that balance to guide boxers to titles while also being able to provide a good income and lifestyle for their families.

“I think I can bring a lot to management and I think the biggest thing is communication. I lost out on a lot of fights due to lack of communication and I don’t want that for my fighters. I will be big on building a trusting relationship with fighters and communication. That helps in knowing your fighter inside out and choosing the right opponents at the right time for time,” he adds.

Ginley has already signed Tyrone McKenna after the Belfast welterweight returned from a America. McKenna is one from one under the manager who is only a year his senior and will have consecutive fights just over a month apart for the first time in his young career when he trades leather with Istvan Kiss on The Test card this month.

“I’ve been helping Tyrone behind the scenes since he was in a tight situation out in America,” he added.

“The short term plan for Tyrone is simple, we are going to climb the rankings and keep pushing towards domestic titles. Tyrone will fight a guy in his next fight who has decent ranking points and a 50:50 record. Win that fight and we move on from there.”

McKenna is an impressive signing for a first time manager, but Ginley has more in the pipeline, including a ‘big hitter’ he reveals.

“There is one big hitter who will be signing the dotted line pretty soon and two good fighters  have expressed interest in coming on board with me. It’s brilliant but there have been a lot of doubters that think I don’t know what I am doing. I’ve a few great people behind me who help me out greatly and with them the only way is up. One person I would really like thank is my good friend Graham.”

Management is step one for Ginley he has flirted with the idea of promotion and believes he can run shows if he develops a stable of fighters in the future.

“I definitely have it in me to run shows. They are in my and my team’s future plans,but for now we are focused on what we are doing. I want to thank all the people who have helped me so far and shown faith in me and if anyone is interested in getting their brand business associated with top class good looking athlete’s I am open to calls.”

Could Ginely be tempted to join his own stable and get back in the ring? Of course! The Belfast brother of fighter Ray Ginley does love a scrap.

“Never say never I am still just 26 but I’ve another nose op to get so see how that goes, but never say never.”  .