Acclaimed boxing coach who understood the value of humility

Brendan Ingle

Born: June 19th, 1940

Died: May 25th, 2018

A visit to the Sheffield home of world champion boxing trainer Brendan Ingle, who has died aged 77 after a brain haemorrhage, was always more than just a journey into the world of sport.

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Ingle, who grew up in Dublin’s Ringsend, was an eclectic whose philosophy was as much about values and respect to and from his boxers as it was about putting opponents on the canvas.

A trainer of four world champions including Naseem Hamed and WBO Cruiserweight champion Johnny Nelson, Ingle was one of the most highly regarded and outspoken coaches of his generation.

Along the way he even tried the impossible of attempting to instil humility into the majestically talented Hamed, one of the most polarising and popular boxers Britain has ever produced.

Cups of tea in his home – a short distance up the street from an old church hall that he called his boxing club, in a tough area of the city called Wincobank – often began with rolling discussions on politics, philosophy, social policy, bigotry and racism.

Boxing for Ingle solved some of those problems, which he encountered daily. Many in his club were from broken families and mixed-race marriages, others from strict Muslim as well as Christian backgrounds.

Opinionated

They all came and they all heard the same words from Ingle who was opinionated, self educated and well read, a man who understood the backgrounds and troubled histories of the kids he coached.

His original impetus for starting the gym was because kids in the area “were running wild”.

Ingle was unique among boxing trainers in that he taught his pupils first and foremost not to be hit. Hamed was the epitome of this, often putting his hands behind his back and swaying out of reach of opponents shots.

Hamed’s hair-trigger reactions and balance were jaw dropping but it was seen as showy and insulting. Ingle disapproved but understood that flash often accompanied genius and that there were some things he couldn’t change.

In the gym he marked his floor with concentric circles to aid boxers in their drills and if they stepped out of line or demonstrated arrogance or indiscipline Ingle would have them stand and sing a nursery rhyme in front of the others. Humility was important to him.

Awarded MBE

Such was his reach in the Sheffield community beyond the walls of his gym, near St Thomas church, Ingle was awarded an MBE in 1998 for his services and contributions to British boxing.

He never forgot his Irish roots and while his accent was Sheffield there was also Dublin in it. He enjoyed talking about former Fianna Fáil politician and taoiseach Charles Haughey and the controversy that seemed to follow him around.

Born in Dublin, he was one of 15 children of Charles Ingle, a dockworker, and Sarah (nee Lawless). Brendan went to Haddington Road school, which was not far from his home. It was there that he first began boxing as a boy.

As a teenager in 1958 he followed one of his brothers to live in Sheffield and worked in the steel industry, augmenting his income by becoming a professional fighter.

But Ingle would be first to say that his fighting skills were not in the ring facing an opponent but in teaching those better equipped.

Modest house

He knew quite soon that he would never be good enough to reach championship standard, where he could have found real money and attention. When he retired in 1973 he had won 19 of his 33 paid contests.

As it turned out Ingle was never really interested in money and even at the height of his career, when Hamed was trail blazing across the globe as world champion, the trainer remained with his modest house and car in Wincobank. There was no outward sign of financial success.

He is survived by his wife, Alma (nee Chaloner), whom he married in 1961, their five children, Brendan, Bridget, Dominic, John and Tara, and 14 grandchildren, and by four brothers and three sisters.