Barrett interview

Showdown 2009

MAKE way for Francie Barrett the movie star.

Just when the pro welterweights and light-middles thought it was safe to assume that the gritty Galway southpaw and Athens Olympian was happy in retirement, he is planning a return to the ring in the next few months.

That is, in between making a film about Galway gangland and coaching his heavyweight cousin Coleman 'Coley' Barrett, a former amateur star who has won all his six fights in the paid ranks.

"I'm doing some training in Pascal Collins' gym in Galway, but I'm still very much overweight, around two stone, so I could make cruiserweight," he said. "I want to get back down to light-middle, 11 stone.

"So at the moment I cannot give a definite answer as to when exactly I will step back into the ring but I will be back. Anyway, I don't think I'm too old to make a comeback as I'm only 31. There are older world champions out there.

Interested

"The pro game is on a high in Ireland just now, with several promoters putting on good cards. I am definitely interested in getting back and to be part of the scene again, but only when I return to my proper fighting weight."

There had been plans to feature Barrett -- with 17 wins and three losses -- on the card at the Gleneagles Hotel in Killarney on October 26 on a show jointly promoted by former two-time European amateur bronze medalist Phil Sutcliffe and Cork businessman Don Leary. But Barrett has told them he is not ready just yet.

Barrett's last ring appearance was in London on June 12, 2005, when he was controversially stopped in the first round by Russian Ivor Bonavic. The Galway boxer came out of a clinch with a bad cut over his left eye and the referee intervened.

Barrett has always claimed the injury was caused by a head butt and that Bonavic should have been disqualified.

He retired after the fight to help guide the career of his cousin, who had a first-round win on the same card.

Besides training for his comeback and coaching Coley, who he describes as "a southpaw, a real comer, and he's only 26", Barrett is involved in making a film based on Galway city's criminal underworld in the early 1990s.

He will be one of the leading stars in 'Blood, Sweat and Wars', which tells the story of two feuding families, the Longs and the Burkes.

It is being made by One Shot Productions, a private company based in New York. Among the cast will be Joe Egan, the former Irish amateur heavyweight champion but probably more famous as Mike Tyson's ex-sparring partner and friend.

Centenary

On the amateur scene, the IABA has put in a bid to host the World Championships in Ireland in 2011 to mark the centenary of the association.

Secretary Sean Crowley said: "With the experience gained from hosting the World Championships in Belfast in 2001 and the European Union Championships in Dublin last year we are hoping our bid will be in there with a chance.

"It is unfortunate from an Irish viewpoint, however, that as the 2009 World Championships are being held in Italy, politics may determine that they go to a different continent in 2011."

- Thomas Myler

sligobhoy67

please merge this into the other Barrett thread.