Legendary Boxing Trainer Brendan Ingle Keeps Rolling Along

Despite having clocked up over 60 years in boxing Brendan Ingle’s infectious enthusiasm for the sport shows no sign of diminishing.

The Ingle name has become synonymous with the careers of renowned champions such as “Prince” Naseem Hamed, Junior Witter, Johnny Nelson and Herol “Bomber” Graham and the conveyor belt of champions from the legendary Wincobank gym in Sheffield shows no signs of slowing down.

Two of the gyms brightest talents will see action the Robin Park Arena in Wigan this Saturday (June 13th) as part of the supporting cast to the John Murray – Scott Lawton British Lightweight title fight.

The Hennessy Sports event is live on ITV4 and Ingle believes that his charges, lightweight contender Nadeem “Golden Boy” Siddique and 18-year-old featherweight protégé Steve “Super Bad” Barnes, are two to look out for.

Reigning Central Area Champ Siddique will be looking to bounce back from the first defeat of his 23 fight career when he takes on Southern Area title holder Tom Glover while Barnes will go in search of his third win in the pro ranks.

Bradford native Siddique has been out of the ring for almost a year following his thrilling battle with Martin Gethin last July. He returns to scene of that defeat this weekend but Ingle has no concerns about the 31-year-old.

“Nadeem’s had a setback but all fighters have setbacks and its how you come back from those setbacks that matter. He’s a big family man and he took some time out after the defeat to spend some time with his family and to rest a back injury that had been bothering him but he’s been back in the gym a while now and he’s been training very hard.

“He’s a very exciting lad and he works very hard so I expect him to be back to his best on Saturday night and I see no reason why he shouldn’t be looking at the winner of the main event and looking to challenge them.”

Ingle will also be on hand in Wigan to check on the progress of Steve Barnes who despite only turning 18 last month has already racked up two wins in the pro ranks.

“People should look out for this kid because trust me, he can fight,” enthused Ingle. “He’s something else and one of those young lads you see coming through and think to yourself, ‘he’s that little bit special’. He won 4 National titles as an amateur and I think he’ll finish up in the pro game having won everything out there. He really is that good.

“He can do it all, he can box orthodox, southpaw and switch from one to the other but he just loves to get in there and have a fight as well. He’s a very quiet, serious kid. Unlike a lot of our boxers he’s not a talker and he’s not brash. He has that poker face and he just gets in there and does his business in the ring.”

Siddique and Barnes feature on the undercard of the Hennessy Sports “Rule Britannia” event at the Robin Park Arena, Wigan on Saturday, June 13th. The main event sees John Murray making the second defence of his British Lightweight title against reigning English Champ Scott Lawton.

Heavyweight sensation Tyson Fury will have his seventh professional outing on the card with his cousin Phill Fury also featuring alongside the pro debut of Bobby “Boogaloo” Ward, the last Englishman to defeat Amir Khan. Exciting puncher Andrew Singh Kooner completes the line-up.

Tickets are available from the Ticketline box office on 0844 888 4402 or via www.ticketline.co.uk.