It's still a Fear-Love
"I grew up in Ballymena, a small town in Northern Ireland, and my sport was boxing. Father Darragh, my parish priest had two pairs of boxing gloves. So three times a week we, seven or eight boys and I, would clear the bingo cards off the floor of the church hall, put the chairs in a square and form pairs," Liam said in the interview...
... enthuse with a smile, " I was always kind of excited about it and looked forward to these afternoons. But those afternoons also scared the hell out of me. Even when I smell boxing gloves nowadays, I am still overcome by the 'fear-love' that I associate with this sport. I love and fear the nudity and purity of this sport. There is simply nothing you can hide behind."
"I was Northern Ireland champion three years in a row. In my third championship fight, which I fought when I was fifteen I got hit very hard on the nose and broke it in the fight. When I was sixteen, I was hit hard on the head, which shook my brain. For a few moments I didn't know who I was or where I was.
I continued to train for another year. But it wasn't like it was before the knockout. When I was seventeen, I ended my active career as a boxer and since then have preferred to watch fights on TV or in front of the ring. "
Among other things things, Liam was also asked in the interview, " Would you introduced your own children to boxing if they showed an interest?"
Liam replied to this question, " If I had children, absolutely, yes even if they were girls, I would introduce them to boxing. "
"You know ", Liam continued in the interview, " this sport is an extraordinary discipline for me, it's like a play. A kind of poetry develops between the fighters, a real communication. Boxing is a real physical fight, albeit with rules and regulations. You're like a kind of gladiator or early warrior. "
"There were guys I boxed against as a teenager that I still remember vividly, and I know they remember me very vividly too. Because we share something boundary-breaking and unforgettable from back them ", Liam said in the interview.
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Maidin mhaith a stór Liam, guím lá iontach síochánta oraibh agus tá súil agam go mbeidh cupán tae againn le chéile go luath.
Tabhair aire mhaith duit féin agus fan sláintiúil. Tá sé go deas go bhfuil tú ann. Go raibh maith agat as gach rud.
Níl an dornálaíocht ar cheann de na spóirt is fearr liom. Is é an fáth go raibh mé i mo mhála pollta do dhaoine eile go minic agus le fada go leor i mo shaol. Ní raibh baint ar bith aige le smacht agus meas ar dhaoine. Tá an pian fisiceach agus meabhrach omnipresent, fiú tar éis blianta, agus fanfaidh an eagla roimh a bheith buailte.
Ach tá a fhios agam go fóill nach bhfuil ann ach spórt.
❤️🇮🇪🍀💚🤍🧡
