The remorseless Nevada desert had taken something from Barry McGuigan the boxer on that summer’s day in 1986 and, as we all know, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. However, he ignored the titles and medals and instead chose the impact he made on the people of Ireland.Perhaps it is fitting that a society divided by violence would be united by the success of one man in what is ultimately a violent sport. Despite doubts over weight and niggling ankle and ear injuries, McGuigan was a heavy odds-on favourite being touted for mega fights in the near future. He may not have had the genius of a George Best or an Alex Higgins, but in terms of uniting the people, McGuigan did more than both of them put together.Many of those followers were visible among the 15,000 in situ at Caesar’s Palace and they soon became audible as Michael Buffer handed the microphone to McGuigan’s father. Favorite Fight Friday: Barry McGuigan vs Steve Cruz This is a fight I was just reminded of yesterday, and had not watched in years. Despite the massive improvements in the relationships between both sides in Northern Ireland, Rory McIlroy’s recent decision to represent the Republic of Ireland at the Olympics has still caused some controversy. Tired, sapped, wrecked, out of it and hollow are just a selection of the adjectives he uses. Simple: run Barry, run.Such a game plan fails to take into consideration two crucial factors. Boxers will convince you of their adaptability and the mantra that they simply beat whoever is put in front of them is repeated ad nauseam but uncertainty and late changes unsettle even the most self-assured athletes.On the face of it, there was little about Cruz worth writing home about. However, the fight would take place in an open air arena at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. “Say a prayer that we’ll be alright.” Eastwood had a different motivational technique and sent his charge back into the fray with the rallying cry: “Sandra and the kids are depending on you.”The morality of such incentivisation is dubious at best but it appeared to be working until a short, sharp left hook put McGuigan down in the neutral corner. McGuigan had no quit in him but Steve Cruz was just too much for him Famously when he fought for the British title he wore neither the Irish tricolour, nor the Union Jack and instead wore shorts bearing a dove.The other factor was that he was successful. Barry McGuigan v Steve Cruz When? Secondly, it was all his spent body could do to rise from the corner at the chime of the penultimate bell. He began to fade badly as the fight drew to a close. Before each bout his father would sing Danny Boy in the ring and McGuigan’s shorts were emblazoned with a white dove of peace rather than the traditional tribal colours of Republican and Loyalist Northern Ireland.Though less than a generation ago, Belfast in the 1980s was a different world from today. This website uses cookies in order to offer you the most relevant information. Air conditioning units overhead and a bank of cooling misting fans would have been nice, but instead a canvas canopy was hung to trap the sun’s punishing heat which was in turn intensified by the blaze of 74 television lights surrounding the squared circle.
McGuigan however was clearly keen to try and finish the fight in the opening rounds.The third round was a big round for Barry as he hurt Cruz repeatedly. As the shadows on the canvas floor lengthened, the odds on a Cruz victory suddenly shortened dramatically. The debate on whether politics and sport should ever mix will rumble on forever, but in taking the example of McGuigan in isolation, we can see how the overt rejection of political labels can actually produce a very strong political message.That was the key difference between McGuigan and others who simply wanted to stay out of it altogether.
Yet, just when momentum seemed to have swung decisively towards the Lone Star State, County Monaghan’s finest somehow wrestled back the initiative with six minutes of the gutsiest fighting you will ever see.The long shadows had by now reached their zenith and then faded away as the burning sun nestled behind the packed western bleacher. Barry McGuigan was expected to defeat Steve Cruz with ease in 1986, but the Irishman was not accustomed to fighting in the baking heat of the desertBy the 1980s, a late night under the bright lights of Las Vegas Boulevard was top of every boxer’s bucket list and the Clones Cyclone was no different. McGuigan transcended the … His forward march was temporarily arrested in the sixth and seventh before he reasserted authority in the eighth and again in a tight ninth round in which Cruz landed a blow so low it was closer to a knee-capping than a body shot.Despite his present position of ascendancy, McGuigan cut a distressed figure on his stool before the 10th as the early symptoms of dehydration and heat exhaustion bubbled to the surface. He was expending too much energy. McGuigan lost his WBA featherweight title to Steve Cruz at Caesars Palace back in 1986, but is happy to head to the west coast before bringing 'The Jackal' back to Belfast later this year. Basically, there were much bigger fish to fry once Cruz had been hooked and gutted: McGuigan had his sights set on global boxing immortality.Though perhaps too unassuming to have recognised it at the time, McGuigan had already secured a lofty status in the hearts of people throughout the British Isles for his approach inside and outside of the ring.