Joe Gallagher: Past, Present and Future

When Joe Gallagher was 16, he had to get a job. He followed his dad into the construction trade and whatever dreams he had for making it as a boxer were washed away by his economic reality. 

And while decades later Gallagher would achieve success as a boxing trainer, that pivotal moment from his teenage years still haunted him. Too many kids like him had to put education or athletic achievement aside because of financial necessity. Young adults were falling through the cracks and as a result it would become much harder for them to discover and achieve their potential.  

Unlike many who chafe at society's ills without helping to find solutions, Gallagher decided to take action. In 2018 he started the Joe Gallagher Academy to help 16 to 19-year-olds. Featuring an education curriculum and boxing instruction, the Academy helps students who would otherwise be left out of more traditional educational avenues. Students go through rigorous coursework, prepare for their national exams and receive boxing education from Gallagher and many of his current and former fighters. 

Photo Courtesy of Joe Gallagher

Now in its fourth year and with two locations in the greater Manchester area, the Academy has 50 students with 26 new ones enrolling this year. And for Gallagher, he couldn't be happier regarding the progress of the Academy.  

"It's getting bigger and bigger," Gallagher said. "The female section is growing. We're having national [amateur] champions. We have people who commute on the train every morning from Leeds, from Liverpool, from Stoke, from Carlisle. We had people relocate to Manchester and set up here. I'm very proud of it." 

Gallagher sees the Academy as a second chance for his students. Many had not applied themselves academically or had the confidence to achieve their goals. He sees the boxing part of the program working in tandem with the educational coursework to create more well-rounded individuals. The one-on-one time with professional fighters such as Charlie Edwards, Anthony Crolla, Callum Smith and Tasha Jonas has also been confidence-builders.  

As the Academy has matured, the success stories are growing. A number of students have gone to university. One is part of the Team GB squad. His students now have avenues in their academic, professional and athletic careers that weren't available to them just a few years prior.  

"We have students going into sports psychology," said Gallagher. "They've gone into conditioning, nutrition, journalism and also people that wanted to work in the leisure industry. And some people have carried on and turned professionals or have been called up by the Team GB program."

As part of the Academy, Gallagher pays for an annual trip to Barcelona where his students receive boxing instruction, experience leaving home (a number for the first time), and even take a tour of the Barcelona football (soccer) stadium. He believes that taking students out of their comfort zone is character building and can open their eyes to other opportunities in the world.  

Gallagher's day job is of course a full-time boxing trainer, with current fighters such as Callum Johnson, Edwards, Jonas, Paul Butler, Callum Thompson, Mark Heffron and many others. Gallagher has now been a professional trainer for 20 years, but he is used to the juggling.  

When he started out as a trainer, he was working at the airport. He had a secure job that included strong benefits. But boxing kept gnawing at him. It wouldn't let him out of its grasp. By 2009, Gallagher had established significant momentum with Matthew Macklin and John Murray, both of whom were making their way up the world rankings. Over the objection of many, he made the decision to quit his job at the airport and give boxing his full attention. 

"I was working five nights a week," he said, "working 12-hour shifts. Getting home at 7 o’clock. Get up at 11 or half 11. Get to the gym by 12. Train until 3. Get on the track to 6 or half 6. Then get on the train and start working again at 7. I was shattered at the end of the week...The wife didn’t want me to pack it in, but I just said to her, if you don’t let me do it, I’ll be thinking on my deathbed 'what if, what if.' I told her I just got to go with it." 

And Gallagher, unlike many others, was able to follow his dreams, even if belatedly. It has paid off for him handsomely, with world champions like Callum Smith, Anthony Crolla, Liam Smith and others. He won the Ring Magazine Trainer of the Year Award in 2015, an honor rarely given to a trainer from England.  

Students from the Joe Gallagher Academy
Photo courtesy of Joe Gallagher

Gallagher is no longer the young gun in boxing training and he understands the cycles of the sport. Sometimes you're the hot name. Sometimes another one comes along. In recent years, he's lost fighters to retirement and others like Liam and Callum Smith have joined with other coaches. Gallagher harbors no ill will towards those who have left him. He would rather reflect on what they were able to accomplish together than say a disparaging word. And as Gallagher has lost fighters, he has also added some, most notably former champion Charlie Edwards.  

Although Gallagher has won accolades, he acknowledges that peer and public recognition help motivate him. "When you’re a child at school that’s done well," he said, "you get a sticker in your book and a pat on the back. Or if you’re a salesman selling cars and you hit the target this month and you get the bonus. Boxing trainers are no different. Everyone wants a pat on the back." 

Despite his longevity and success, Gallagher still has the chip on his shoulder of someone who was never given anything. He likes fighters who aren't necessarily blue chips, who have underperformed with other trainers, or who have been written off. He points to Liam Smith as one of his favorite success stories. Gallagher likes his fighters hungry and feeling passed over. It helps with his "us vs. them" mentality. Famously, Gallagher makes every new fighter undergo a month trial period before making a decision on whether the boxer is the right fit for his gym. And that applies to every fighter: world champion or novice. 

He's looking for fighters with a certain mentality – those who want to prove people wrong, those who can be a diamond in the rough, such as Anthony Crolla, a boxer few would have predicted to become a world champion.   

Gallagher is a great talker and he remains a student of boxing. There's very little in the sport that slips past him. He can opine on boxing's trends, problems, and peculiarities. And if he laments the inactivity among top fighters or the sport's inability to produce big fights on a consistent basis, he also knows what boxing has done for him: It has helped him achieve success far beyond his dreams.  

So, while there will always be new dragons to slay in boxing, challenges to face, and opportunities to prove oneself, Gallagher is aware that he has made a real contribution in the sport, and just as importantly he is playing a significant role in helping young adults gain their footing in the world. Gallagher had to chart his own course, against stacked odds, but he knows that he's an exception. Perhaps the odds don't have to be so stacked for his students. Because of his efforts, a few dozen young adults might not need to say "what if, what if." And that extends to the boxing ring, and far beyond. 

Adam Abramowitz is the founder and head writer of saturdaynightboxing.com. He's a member of Ring Magazine's Ring Ratings Panel and a Board Member for the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board. 

Email: saturdaynightboxing@hotmail.com.

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Opinions and Observations: Wilder-Ortiz II, Smith-Ryder

Remember those nature videos about lions attacking their prey? Camouflaging themselves in the high grasslands of the savanna, they lie in wait. They are patient. Their prey get comfortable, let their guard down and no longer perceive an imminent threat. It is then that the lions pounce – attacking with ferocity, devouring their unsuspecting victims. In a matter of seconds it's all over.  

Deontay Wilder is such a lion, although he hides in plain sight. He waits. He remains focused. He deals with the distractions of pesky shots from an opponent. He's looking for that one opening to pounce, that moment where a foe gets a little too comfortable. And then he sees the opportunity. He attacks. In a snap of a finger the target winds up supine, lifeless and defeated. It's a clinical destruction. The hunter gets his prey.  

Wilder unleashes his right hand
Photo Courtesy of Ryan Hafey

Through 43 fights only two of Wilder's opponents have made it to the final bell. One, Bermane Stiverne, was destroyed in a rematch. The other, Tyson Fury, needed an act of almost indescribable intestinal fortitude, and the right referee, to survive. Each felt Wilder's right hand missile. 

It's no great secret what Wilder's opponents try to do in the ring: avoid the right at all costs. A handful of them have won numerous rounds against him. They land their shots. They beat him with activity. They capitalize on his indifference to winning rounds. But the problem that many of them have is that they are trying to beat him. That means they have to open up enough offensively to win rounds. At a certain point it's not enough just to avoid the right hand. If they want to win, they need to do so convincingly. 

Eventually defensive shortcomings, overconfidence and/or fatigue manifest. These three problems work in Wilder's favor. Wilder carries his power all 12 rounds. He doesn't burn himself out wasting punching. He has excellent conditioning. In addition, he has such belief in his right hand that he never feels that a fight is out of reach. And with his power, it isn't. 

Luis Ortiz boxed very well on Saturday. He landed a number of powerful left hands. He moved much better than he did in their first fight in 2018. But some of the same issues from their initial meeting re-appeared in the rematch. Ortiz found it so easy to hit Wilder that he started to take more chances in the ring. Instead of patiently sticking behind single shots that were successful early in the fight, he entered into a shootout with Wilder in the seventh round. And as the old adage says "never bring a knife to a gunfight"; Wilder had the 12 gauge shotgun. 

Wilder ended matters near the end of the round with a blinding jab and a perfectly thrown right hand. Ortiz, eyes scrambled, body discombobulated, couldn't beat the count. And if there were controversies in the first fight (the New York commission taking some extra time to examine Wilder before a round started), all of that has been put to bed now. Ortiz has had his chances, performed well, but ultimately could not remain on his feet for 12 rounds.

Photo Courtesy of Stephanie Trapp

For all of Wilder's flaws as a fighter, and they have been well-documented, he manages to land his right hand on everyone. The footwork can be ponderous, his punch volume can be anemic, he loads up too much on big shots; yet, despite all of his opponents’ hyper-vigilance regarding his right hand, he still detonates it. And it's not just about power. His hand speed is terrific. His technique with the shot has perfect torque. Sure, he can slap with his left hook and he doesn't always punch through the target with his jab, but when he throws the right hand, it's with textbook precision. 

Similar to most Wilder fights, the knockout masked the other aspects of his performance, good and bad. After six completed rounds, at best he could have won two of them. He had so much trust in his chin that he sometimes didn't even bother to block or avoid shots (this flaw will one day cause a huge problem for him). In addition, his punch volume was poor. 

As they often do, Wilder's other punches played a role in his victory. In the sixth Wilder started to throw his left hook with regularity. It didn't always land with authority, but there was actually a sequence in the round where he connected with a shot high on Ortiz's head. In response, Ortiz moved away from the hook toward Wilder's right hand. Now think about that for a moment. The hook was so effective that it scrambled Ortiz's senses for a brief instant and convinced him that moving to Wilder's eraser would somehow be a better course of action. Although Wilder didn't capitalize on that moment, it was worth pointing out, for it exposed a flaw with Ortiz: Wilder's power was so significant that he could be taken out of his game plan. 

The one other effect of the hook is that it provided Ortiz with more openings to counter. This was of course fool's gold. Ortiz deciding to be friskier on offense played right into Wilder's hands. Deontay, like those lions, waits for targets to lose their vigilance. 

Let's also take a moment to reflect on Wilder's jab. Wilder may not have thrown more than two dozen jabs in seven rounds, or at least ones that were intending to land. Yet, Ortiz had enough respect for it that he moved his glove to try to parry it in the final combination. Now with the glove further away from Ortiz's body, Wilder had the opening that he needed. And that was that. The speed and power of Wilder's jab was enough of a concern for Ortiz to attempt to defend it. Wilder doesn't get that particular knockout on Saturday without the jab. 

Wilder will always be vulnerable in fights, but in my estimation he should be favored against any current heavyweight. Until I see evidence that he can't land his right hand, I'm just not sure how many opponents can take the shot. And I'm certainly not convinced that Fury would be able to rise up again. But this conjecture is for another day. Wilder has helped usher in a wildly entertaining era of heavyweight boxing. All of the top fighters have unique skills; all have flaws. I don't know which boxer will wind up emerging on top, but I know I don't want to miss it. The reintroduction of fun into the heavyweight division has been a wonderful development. 

***

Super middleweight champ Callum Smith survived a rugged fight against John Ryder on Saturday. He wound up winning a unanimous decision 117-111, 116-112 and 116-112, but ignore those scorecards (especially Terry O'Connor's dreadful 117-111); they didn't reflect the competitiveness of the fight. Most saw it very close. I had Ryder winning it by two points, 115-113.

Smith's lackluster performance couldn't come at a worse time in his career. Paraded as a potential Canelo Alvarez opponent prior to Saturday's fight, Smith seemed no more than ordinary. Perhaps Ryder was a "trap fight," a bout that Smith couldn't get up for in training. Smith also had subpar outings against Nieky Holzken and Erik Skoglund in the first two rounds of the World Boxing Super Series Tournament, which Smith would subsequently win in a great performance against George Groves. 

Photo Courtesy of Mark Robinson

Physically, Smith looks enormous at the weight. He's a muscular 6'3", has an enormous reach and solid power. His dimensions present significant problems. However, he seems to be missing a consistency gene. There are times where he looks like a top fighter in the sport while on other occasions he appears to be easily beatable. Saturday was an example of the latter. 

John Ryder and trainer Tony Sims came into the fight with a great game plan: Make it rough on the inside, back up Smith whenever possible and take away Callum's significant reach advantage. Although Ryder isn't a master boxing technician, he was successful at getting into close range. He jabbed with Smith. He employed excellent head movement to take away Smith's straight right hand. He used angles when coming in. Perhaps most importantly, once he was on the inside, he stayed there. He knew exactly what he needed to do to win the fight. 

It wasn't as if Smith was completely outclassed in the fight. He had moments where he landed excellent left hooks and right uppercuts. When he was on the front foot he was able to neutralize a lot of Ryder's offense. It's not that he was necessarily an undeserved victor. There could be a case for him squeaking by with seven rounds, but more significantly, in this era of potential superfights, he failed to impress. 

Joe Gallagher has trained numerous champions over the years and has received almost every award that is available for a trainer to win, but he didn't have a good night on Saturday. There was no Plan B for Callum Smith. Why did Smith continue to cede control of the center of the ring? Why was he voluntarily backing up to the ropes? Why wasn't he investing more to the body? Smith and Gallagher were lucky to leave victorious from the Echo Arena in Liverpool (Smith's home town by the way). That performance, by fighter and trainer, won't be enough to defeat the best that the sport has to offer. 

Perhaps Callum does fight down to his level of competition. There are fighters like that in the sport. I'm certainly not dismissing his future prospects, but Saturday's performance was concerning. 

Photo Courtesy of Mark Robinson

As for Ryder, his hard luck continues. Billy Joe Saunders scraped by with a 7-5 type of win against him in 2013. Many believed that Ryder earned victories against Rocky Fielding and Jack Arnfield, which were close defeats. If he wins even one of these four fights (counting Saturday's bout against Smith), perhaps the whole trajectory of his career would be different. Now, at age 31 and with a record of 31-5, he will continue to be viewed as a capable "opponent", but he was so close to being more. 

Boxing's not a kind sport. It's sometimes referred to as the cruelest, and here is yet another example. John Ryder may never have another opportunity to win a title. He may never perform against a top-level fighter the way he did on Saturday. And in another generation he will most likely be forgotten – a blip for the historians, a distant memory from fans of his time. 

He deserved better on Saturday: better judging, fairer scores, more respect from his opponent and promoter. He should be more than a footnote. But boxing is not a meritocracy, not when judges are involved. It's never been and never will be. And if you don't knock guys out, especially the right guys, you run the risk of being relegated to history's dustbin. Hopefully Ryder gets one more shot, but how many times can a fighter get the short end of the stick and remain confident and committed to the sport? We may have seen Ryder's best on Saturday, and he wasn't winning that fight absent something miraculous happening. Very good was not good enough.  

Adam Abramowitz is the founder and head writer of saturdaynightboxing.com. He's a member of Ring Magazine's Ring Ratings Panel and a Board Member for the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board. 
Email: saturdaynightboxing@hotmail.com.
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