By Mark Froggatt     

Joe Gallagher has likened Manchester as the Philadelphia of British boxing, calling it the city looks set to produce another golden generation of local fighters.  The American city of Philadelphia is famed for consistently producing top class boxers, most notably in the shape of Bernard Hopkins and ‘smoking’ Joe Frazier.

Manchester is traditionally a hotbed of talent for British boxing after producing champion fighters such as Ricky Hatton, Michael Gomez and Jamie Moore in recent years.  Although with those names all retiring this year, many are looking to Gallagher to produce Manchester’s next boxing superstar and the Denton-based trainer has assured fight fans they won’t have to wait too long.

“Manchester is like the Philadelphia of British boxing!” he declared.  “You can go back for years to find great fighters with the likes of Tony Cuban, Pat Barrett and Robin Reid.  Then came the Mosside period with Carl Thomson, Ensley Bingham and Michael Brodie followed by the next wave of kids: Hatton, [Anthony] Farnell and Moore.  And now we have the newest breed of stars with John Murray, Joe Murray and Michael Jennings.”

He continued: “We have fighters coming from all over the country just to train here.  It speaks volumes for Manchester as such a small community and to be a part of that success in time is a real privilege to me, and to be training some of the best kids in Manchester and the country is amazing.  It is only in years to come that I will be able to appreciate just what we are doing at the moment.  The city is just absolutely booming.

“I just think for all the good days we’ve had the better days are just around the corner.  Manchester hasn’t seen nothing yet.  These kids are ready to take on the world and are going to go down in history.”

Joe Gallagher went onto accuse the Amateur Boxing Association of holding a grudge against Hosea Burton due to his association with heavyweight prospect Tyson Fury.  Burton is ranked number one in the English ABA middleweight division but is yet to receive any National Lottery funding to help further his dream of competing in the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

Fury, cousin of Burton, caused controversy when he criticised the ABA following his exclusion from the 2008 Beijing Olympics squad in favour of Liverpool’s David Pryce.  Gallagher, who trains Burton at his gym in Denton, remains confused by the whole situation.

“It is a crime that Hosea Burton can’t get any funding.  I don’t know of any other ABA champions that are not on lottery funding.  I don’t know if it is his association with Tyson Fury, because they had a public fallout with the ABA and they’re holding it against Hosea. I think Burton has been found guilty by association,” Gallagher rants.

“They said at the beginning of the year if he wins the ABA title he’ll be the main man.  Carl Kirkham was the England number one and Burton beat him convincingly.  But the goal posts have been moved, they are still sending Kirkham all over the world.  I don’t know what else Burton has to do.  He is England number one, he has beaten a good American who Golden Boy wanted to sign yet the kid is still on no funding - it’s absolutely criminal.”

Gallagher, voted krikya360.com’s British trainer of the year, inherited Billy Graham’s Phoenix Camp gym back in December 2008 and has already picked up a British and European title in his short time in charge.  But with a huge 2010 on the horizon, he is worried his fighters could be hindered by the strict nature of British boxing.

“2010 could be a massive year for British boxing but the promoter’s need to start working together to make big fights happen.  There are fights in the past that were not made because of a promoter’s ego. Lets get it back to old days and get the big domestic fights going,” implored the trainer.

“I just feel the fighters are being suffocated by the fear that they’ll upset other promoters or the board.   We used to have personalities like Gomez, Naseem Hamed and Hatton because the promoters allowed them to have personalities.  Now everything is proofread before it has gone out and boring, they won’t let the fighters speak how they want to speak.  The promoters have to realize that it isn’t about them; it’s about the fighters.  Britain could have an abundance of world titles by the end of next year but the promoters have to work together.”

British lightweight king John Murray fights for the vacant European lightweight title against Cardiff’s Gary Buckland on the 7th of May.  The bout takes place at the Kingsway Leisure Centre, Widnes; tickets can be obtained by phoning 01277 359 900.