By Ian Aldous: This week I had the chance to talk with Irish-born, Vegas based former WBC bantamweight champion, Wayne McCullough (27-7). We went over his career outside the ring, his World championship reign and the popularity of MMA.
It’s been three years since we last saw you fight. What’s life been like outside the ring?
WM “Not much has changed. I still work out every day, running and gym work. I’ve been doing some work for the UFC for four years now, doing P.R work for them guys and doing a bit of travelling. So, enjoying life and looking after my daughter with her singing and her acting. I’m staying as busy as possible.”
How difficult was the decision to retire from the sport in which you achieved so much success as a pro and amateur?
WM “Well, I’ve never really officially retired 100%, so, I don’t know if I’m going to fight or not. It’s hard staying away from getting in the ring and fighting, it’s hard for any athlete who’s been to the top. If I do get back in the ring, it’ll be good but if I don’t then as I said I’ve got other things going for me and I’m staying busy that way. Some fighters go away from boxing and they don’t think they can do anything else and they get depressed, they maybe start drinking and I can understand that and I’ve seen the effects that alcohol and drugs can do to people and that’s why I’ve stayed away from it.”
Tell us what it was like travelling to the other side of the world to capture the WBC bantamweight championship (Split-decision over Yasuei Yakushiji) only 29 months into your professional career.
WM “I went really fast at the beginning of my career, I had 11 fights in the first year and this was my seventeenth fight going into the World championship just less than two and a half years (into my career) but I believed I had the best coach that probably ever lived, Eddie Futch. He worked with me every day, we had the game plan to go out and beat a guy that had a good jab, he was making the fifth defence of his World championship and in the gym he had me working on my jab from different angles and I was thinking, what’s he doing here? When I got to the fight I realised what he was doing in the camp and I was jabbing to the left, jabbing to the right, Yakushiji’s jab was coming straight down the middle, so I was avoiding his jabs and catching him with my jabs. It seemed easy but after about six or seven rounds all of a sudden Yakushiji came on strong. Like I said, the game plan was to beat him with the jab and we did that, but to do it in his backyard, you know we thought it was gonna be impossible. I got the split-decision but I thought I won it unanimously. We expected the Korean judge, as it’s close to Japan, to give it against me, which he did by one point. The two American judges gave it to me by like four and five points, so, we expected that going in and knew we had to win convincingly or by knockout. I didn’t actually realise until Rendall Munroe fought over there that I was the first ever British or Irish fighter to go over there and win the World championship.”
You defended the WBC bantamweight belt in both Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland. Those nights must have meant a great deal to you?
WM “They were, you know, my goal was to get my World championship shot in my home city of Belfast but it went to purse bids and the Japanese won the purse bids and the fight went to Japan. I promised that my first defence was going to be in my home city of Belfast and my second defence would be in Dublin because I fought most of my amateur career down in Dublin. I stuck to my guns and my first defence was in Belfast at The Kings Hall and the second defence in the O2 arena in Dublin, which was called ‘The Point’ at the time. The atmosphere, the crowd might not have been as big as a fight in Vegas, maybe 7000 or 8000 people but the noise they make is just unbelievable. You know what the Irish fans are like; they sing the whole way through the fights. I was proud to do that, to have my first and second defence in my home country and I think the fans were real pleased as well.”
You’ve helped promote the UFC brand over the past few years. What are your thoughts on the sport of MMA arguably becoming more popular than boxing?
WM “The truth is, I think the UFC who own Strikeforce and the WEC and they bought the old Pride, they practically own most of the MMA business. I really think that’s come past boxing right now because boxing has 1 or 2 good fights a year whereas if you turn on the UFC and watch the fights, they have 11 or 12 fights per card and that’s once or twice a month they have that and there’s at least 5 or 6 good fights. Going into the fight it’s usually 50/50 or at least 60/40 chance, you know there’s going to be upsets on the card and favourites are going to be beaten, fans look forward to that. You can be fans of both boxing and MMA and I’ve met a lot of boxing fans that’ve come across and they’re watching MMA now. They just announced that Junior Dos Santos is fighting Cain Velasquez on FOX TV for free on November 12th. That’s the heavyweight championship of the World, how can you beat that? Put Mayweather vs. Ortiz on free TV! (laughs).”
Check out the official site of Wayne McCullough: www.pocketrocketbox.com