By Thomas McDonagh
On Wednesday 25th March I went to Collyhurst and Moston boxing gym to interview Pat Barrett about how he got involved in boxing and how he is still involved in boxing after retirement.
Pat started boxing at 17 and went up to Collyhurst and Moston where he was trained by Brian Hughes. After a troubled start in life, Pat turned his life around. He joined Collyhurst and Moston and started training. He turned professional four years later at 21. He won the European title, Light welterweight title and boxed for the world title but narrowly lost on points.
After a good boxing career Pat started to train his own boxers and now he promotes his fighters. He is looking to turn his boxers in to future world champions. When he was boxing professionally, Pat had to travel all around the country to get fights. Now he is a promoter he is putting on his own shows to get fights for hes upcoming boxers.
“I’m not a promoter, I’m a trainer who took out a promoter’s licence to get fights for his kids,” said Pat when asked about his latest venture.
“Listen, we all have to remember why we do this. Nobody owns boxing, we are products of it and of the people who went before us, but none of us are here forever. We’ve got a duty to the game to leave it in a better state than we found it in. We need to bring the love back into the sport.”
After meeting Pat and speaking to him, I have got no doubt he will have a bright future in promoting and will always remain a part of boxing.
