In our exclusive interview, the boxing legend discusses Ben Whittaker's latest KO win, a setback for Frazer Clarke and Anthony Joshua v Jake Paul.
Barry McGuigan says Ben Whittaker could soon be in line for a light-heavyweight world title shot after the 28-year-old produced another stunning knockout against Benjamin Gavazi on 29 November.
Whittaker secured a first-round stoppage to claim the vacant WBC Silver light-heavyweight title and now possesses an 11-0-1 record with seven knockout wins.
In our exclusive interview, McGuigan says Whittaker could now be closing in on a world title shot in a division led by the undefeated David Benavidez and veterans Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev.
McGuigan also discusses Frazer Clarke’s defeat to Jeamie Tshikeva, why Anthony Joshua is rightfully a big favourite in the boxing betting for his upcoming fight with Jake Paul, and his upcoming TV ventures.
What did you think of Ben Whittaker’s knock-out win over Ben Gavazi?
It was a very impressive performance. There are a lot of people out there who dislike him, but I think that’s absolute balderdash.
He’s a great personality. His humour is cheeky, but it’s not nasty, you know what I mean? He’s an easy-going lad who likes a bit of fun, and he can really fight.
I’ve no doubt he’ll go a long way in the programme. I know people say he had a gut check with Liam Cameron and everything else, but he had the rematch and stopped him in a round or two. He showed that when it really matters, he can switch on.
That was a very awkward and difficult scenario when they both fell out of the ring, and Cameron fell on top of him. That would have knocked the wind out of him. So, I don’t go for this nonsense that he “quit”. That’s absolute rubbish.
I like the guy. I think Whittaker can be very good, and I think he’ll be great for the game because of his personality and his cheeky chappy attitude.
People are comparing him with Naz (Nazeem Hamed). He’s not like Naz—well, he is in the sense that he has a good personality and people love to hate him—but he’s his own man.
He’s very good. And the light-heavyweight division is opening up at the moment. Dmitry Bivol probably has a couple more fights before he hangs them up, and you’ve got David Benavidez, who would be a seriously difficult fight for anybody, including Whittaker. But Whittaker’s knocking on the door already.
He’s the WBC champion. And then you’ve got Beterbiev, he’s 40, so he’s pushing on the retirement door as well. It’s all there for him. It’s all there to open up for him.
I genuinely think he can really make a mark. Whether he can win the world title, I don’t know. Can he beat the top guys? That remains to be seen. You have to see guys in the trenches, when they come through four or five hard rounds with world-class punchers firing shots over their heads, banging off their body, missing them by millimetres, hitting them and hurting them, and seeing how they respond.
That’s all still to be revealed. Only Whittaker knows, from sparring and whatever else. We had him down in the gym last year, and he sparred with Craig Richards. Good kid, good work ethic, talented—and Craig Richards is no slouch. It was a good six or seven rounds. Excellent to watch.
What did you think of Frazer Clarke v Jamie Tshikeva?
The interesting thing is that by four or five rounds in, I knew Frazer wasn’t going to get TKV out of there.
We’d had TKV in sparring with Daniel Dubois. Now, Dubois is a wrecking machine in the gym, and this kid stood up to it and took it. And I thought, “Frazer’s a beautiful boxer and everything, but he’s not a big puncher.” So, I thought he’d struggle to get rid of him. And if he didn’t get rid of him, how would he get through those 12 rounds?
He was very badly hurt in the 11th round. I’m not sure I would have put him out for the 12th, simply because he was behind on points. Close fight, but behind. And TKV was coming on.
I really like Frazer—he’s one of the nice guys in this world. He’s been around the game a long time. A very pleasant, decent, generous big fella, and I hope he doesn’t fight anymore. He doesn’t need to. I really hope he just knocks it on the head. He may have left it a bit too late to turn pro, and I think he was always suited to the amateur game. He can hold his head up and be proud, but if I were family, I’d say, “Don’t do it anymore.”
It was a terrific fight—non-stop the whole way through. A really good British-title-level fight. They beat the living daylights out of each other. But it was sad seeing him hurt, his legs going, being discombobulated.
At the end of a long, arduous fight—when you’ve given everything—and then you get nailed in the 11th, and you’re really hurt… I’d have pulled him out. He might have been humiliated by that, but I’d still have said, “Enough.”
He didn’t know where he was. He was badly hurt. Those are the things that damage you long-term.
I often question some of these cornermen—how qualified are they to make a decision like that? Fighters often get badly hurt in that final round when they’re helpless. If I’d been in the corner, I’d have said, “Fraser, you’ve had a fantastic amateur career, you’ve fought brilliantly here, but I’m pulling you out because I don’t want you damaged for the rest of your life.”
Yes, he got through the last round, fine. But what you don’t know is how his brain will react in 15 or 20 years.
Those three minutes of hell can have a damaging effect.
There’s another heavyweight fight this month: Anthony Joshua vs Jake Paul on December 19th in Miami. How will that fight go?
It’s hard to believe they wouldn’t have signed some sort of caveat. Look at it coldly: how is Joshua being matched with this guy? Look at what Joshua did to Francis Ngannou—a giant of a man, built like a tank, who went 12 rounds with Tyson Fury, dropped him, gave him hell—and Joshua blasted him out in a couple of rounds.
Then you think: Tommy Fury beat Jake Paul. So, how is Jake Paul going to get through Joshua? It almost seems ridiculous—so ridiculous that it’s hard to believe there isn’t some agreement saying, “I won’t go flat out with you.”
I’m not saying that is the case—just that, looking at it, he could get badly hurt. Joshua is in a different league. Paul goes from fighting journeymen to fighting Anthony Joshua? What’s going on?
But does he really want to put his life on the line? Anthony Joshua hits a normal man on the street—he’d knock him cold. I’m not saying Jake Paul is “normal”, but he’s not a heavyweight. He’s more of a cruiserweight.
Look at his performances. It looked like Mike Tyson was just fooling around with him—and Tyson was 58 or so. And all the boxing people know what’s going to happen in December.
I don’t dislike anyone. Jake Paul’s a great character, has a massive fanbase, but if it’s all on the level, he runs the risk of getting badly hurt. That’s why it’s hard to believe there isn’t some undisclosed agreement.
Of course, they must have said something like, “I’ll ease off, I’ll miss with shots, I won’t load up.” Because if Joshua hits him clean once, in the right place, he could break his jaw, knock him out cold, put him in a bad state.
It becomes a freak show if that happens. Anyone with any sense knows that if Joshua hits him like he hit Ngannou, he’ll knock him into next week. That’s what I can’t get my head around.
Is Adam Azim a superstar in the making?
I think he is. There’s a massive British-Pakistani fan base, but he’s not at Amir Khan’s level yet; he has that potential. He’s a lovely kid—handsome, good-looking—and he can really fight. He’s explosive, he punches hard, he hits awkwardly, he’s got God-given talent. He’s got speed and he’s got reactions.
It’s a packed division with a lot of good fighters, so we need to look for the right opportunities. As far as I’m concerned, he can beat any lightweight in the world right now.
That decision is Shane’s, in conjunction with his dad and Adam himself. The question is simple: how quickly do we move him? There are four champions. We’ve got to negotiate.
Hopefully, Dalton Smith will get his WBC fight rescheduled fairly quickly. It’s a dangerous fight because Matias is a beast, explosive. But it’s a fight we’re watching closely because it could be a future opponent for Adam.
We’re in the gym now. Ellie Scotney is getting ready, Caroline Dubois is getting ready. Adam will be back this week. Alex McMillan boxed at the weekend and knocked his opponent out in a minute.
He is a very talented kid, trained by Josh Pritchard. Malik Sad knocked out his European opponent in six rounds last night at York Hall on a Matchroom bill, too. The gym is flying. Busy and active, just how we like it.
You were previously on I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here. Are you watching this series?
I’ve tried, but I can’t. I watch five minutes and go, “Turn it off.” I swear to God, I don’t know why, but I just can’t watch it.
The most I watched was about 10 minutes of the big fella, Angryginge, doing a task. I watched him when he was doing a task, but I haven’t really watched it.
Martin Kemp is in there, Ruby Wax is very funny, I’ve always liked her and have always been a fan of hers, she is hilarious. Maybe it is the fact that I have been through it and been on the show.
What was the experience like when you were on the show?
Well, first of all, it’s summer over there, so it is lovely weather. In the UK, we go into winter from autumn, whereas over there it is summer, so it is lovely in that sense, the weather is good. The jungle is crazy, and you have to get used to it and all of the plots. You think, ‘wait a minute, what is going to happen next?’
Then getting on with people is the most important thing. If you can get on with people, make your mark, but be able to cooperate and be empathetic, sympathetic understand people, then you’re fine.
I got on so well with Danny Jones. Colleen Rooney and I were really good, GK Barry is a lovely girl, and Maura Higgins was fantastic. Melvin Odoom is just a brilliant guy. Reverend Richard Coles is naturally hilarious. Alan Halsall from Coronation Street, Josie Gibson, and Jeanette Manrara were all lovely people. I got on incredibly well with them all.
Tulisa, who went out reasonably early, was lovely too. Every single one of them was easy to get on with. No fallouts. Not one.
Sometimes you can see relationships that might explode. I thought Jack Osborne might have a bit of needle with some and thought that it was likely to explode, but it hasn’t. I haven’t watched much this year. I don’t know why, I just don’t want to. I have no real idea what is going on, if I’m being honest.
What is it like behind the scenes on the show?
I have to tell you, it is pretty boring. They have got cameras on us all day, and they edit it down with commercial breaks to an hour. They have 24 hours to squeeze down into one hour, and I used to lie down, go to sleep and recharge my batteries.
They all started to take the p*** saying ‘here’s Barry recharging his batteries again’, and I would just be laying there with my hands folded across my chest, taking a nap. The year before, Fred and a few others got very nasty and fought each other; they were b******* about each other, and it was horrible.
I didn’t watch the show a lot, but I thought I was going in now, so I’d better look at it and see what sort of atmosphere can transpire. I looked at the Fred Sirieix stuff, and there was genuine animosity. But we all got on so well together, and there was no falling out whatsoever. We all got on great, and it was easy.
I’m sure it must be more difficult when there is a genuine bit of animosity between each other because there is nowhere to go. You can’t escape, and you can’t suddenly run off and spend six hours in the jungle having a shower. You can walk down to the creek and walk back up, but there aren’t a lot of places to go.
Despite what you may think, you can’t escape (and have your own space), so you have to get on with people.
What are Ant and Dec like?
They’re the loveliest guys. Genuine, down-to-earth lads. A generation younger than me but married with kids, and they are lovely fellas. They’re a great craic. I got on with them very well; they are really nice fellas. It’s all fun.
All of this stuff, when you think they are laughing at people, they are not. They want everyone to get on well and have a good experience because that is what they ultimately want, their desire is to make sure everyone has a great time, but also for it to be an entertaining show and most of the time it is. Apparently, it is this year too.
Were you ever close to leaving?
You get really hungry. You get rice and beans, but they are unpalatable. They are hard to eat, but no, I was never close to leaving. I never go to that stage, but each day, there was always something to eat, whether that was some chicken, a bit of crocodile or some type of meat.
Then what we got good at was, we would boil up the rice and beans and then fry them in oil and it gave them just a little bit of taste which made them edible whereas most of the time they were awful and most of the time, you were begging that somebody would win one of the tasks so we could get something to eat but most of the time you had something.
I lost about 15–16 pounds of weight when I was in there. Some lost more. Richard Coles lost nearly two stone. You can lose loads of weight. It’s tough. Really tough. Especially if you’re not getting on with people.
That’s why you try your best to get on with people. We all got on brilliantly. I was so blessed to have such a lovely group of people. We still have a WhatsApp group. Danny’s invited me to McFly at the O2 and watch him perform. Danny and I, in particular, are good friends.
Colleen and I share the same agent, so I have met her and Wayne a number of times. I try to see Melvin whenever possible. Oti, Dean and I did a travel show, The Great Escapers in Portugal, in May. We all stay in touch and keep tabs on each other.
Bushtucker Trials. What are they really like?
If you remember, there was a trial where I couldn’t see, and Danny had to do all of the task. You genuinely don’t know what is in there, and you don’t know what is coming. They spring it on you, and the tasks are common sense, and you have to do whatever, but the Bush Tucker trials are real, and they can be very difficult or very basic.
The insects walking all over your head, the rats walking around you, are real, and it is horrible. They won’t put anything in that will bite or poison you. Let’s be honest about that because they can’t run the risk of one of their celebrated participants getting badly injured or poisoned.
The stuff that is in there won’t hurt you really, but it’s disgusting when spiders are walking over your face, or rats are walking around your ears or mouth, it is revolting and horrible. But that’s what the audience wants to see, and they want to see you suffering.
If you scream, the public votes for you to do more. But you genuinely don’t know what the task will be until you get there.
They may have to adjust, but you have to go on there and get on with it. It is live television, and they edit it down to a 50-minute slot or 45 minutes to include the adverts, but that is all that happens, and it is all real. They don’t make it easy for you.
Do you have any new TV projects coming up?
I pick and choose. Some shows I wouldn’t go near, others I’d do. We did “The Greatest Escapes” in Portugal, and we each had to host a day, and mine was kayaking, Oti’s was at a spa, but the last thing was listening to Dean DJing, and he’s really good.
We had traditional Portuguese dancing, which was good, and then I took everybody out in a £500k car and drove around the coast, which was great, and I had to cook for everyone. They all laughed and said, ‘You don’t really cook, do you?’ I said, ‘Of course I can’, so I cooked them a lovely meal, and I won!
It was great fun. Life’s busy but enjoyable and exciting. I pick and select which shows I want to do, but there are some I wouldn’t go near, and others I would. I’m getting on a bit and am in the gym a lot watching the fighters, so I select what I can do.
Would you do Strictly Come Dancing?
I’ve been asked to do it before, but I didn’t do it and couldn’t do it. Would they ask again? That remains to be seen. I don’t know.
I’d have to consider whether or not I’d want to make an idiot of myself again. I’m only joking, but having been in the ring as a boxer, you have coordination skills and could pick it up reasonably quickly, I imagine. But whether I would want to do it remains to be seen.
