... the man who ended the career of 'Iron Man' Mike Tyson In less than twenty-five minutes at the MCI Centre in Washington DC, USA, on Saturday 11th June 2005, Kevin McBride, known as 'The Clones Colossus' wrote his name into boxing folklore as the man who put an end to the boxing career of one of American's greatest, if also most loathed, World Heavyweight Boxing Champions, the amazing and much-feared Mike Tyson. A feat that roched the boxing world to its very foundation and sent all Irish boxing fans, but especially those in Co. Monaghan, and particularly every single inhabitant of Clones, from the youngest child to the oldest pensioner, into an absolute world of unbounded delight and ecstasy. To say that Kevin McBride silenced the critics would be the understatement of the millennium. The big lad from Clones, following in the footsteps of his fellow townsman, the former world champion Barry McGuigan, rocked the American sporting fraternity to their very foundations and wrote a new name into their history books, where he had been practically an unknown quantity from 'somewhere over there in Ireland'. But now they know, and they are due to learn even a lot more about this great big modest fellow from Clones, who is just about one of the nicest young men you could possibly ever hope to meet. "Clones has the knack of breeding them and Frank Mulligan has the knack of discovering them" could be truly said of Co Monaghan's and indeed Ireland's two best known boxers. Frank Mulligan first discovered Barry McGuigan and did likewise when Kevin McBride first entered the 'Mulligan Boxing Academy' better known locally as the Smithboro Boxing Club. It wasn't long, however, until the young McBride soon began making a name for himself in the heavier divisions of underage boxing. At only seventeen years of age, Kevin McBride stood well over six feet tall and weighed in at over fourteen stone when he crashed onto the Ulster amateur scene in 1990. In November 1990 he captured the Ulster Intermediate Heavyweight title, went on to take a super-heavyweight title and then represented Ireland at the Olympics. Back then in 1991, in recognition of his achievements in the amateur ring, Kevin McBride and his trainer Frank Mulligan, were both invited by Mairead Liston (formerly Forde and Lough Egish) to be the special Guests of Honour at the Monaghan Men's Association Annual Dinner in London on the 16th February of that year, an honour they both gracefully accepted. At that stage the big Clones lad with an almighty punch, however had yet to reach physical maturity and his full boxing potential in the ring, but he kept coming along by leaps and bounds. He then turned professional and ran up an amazing series of heavyweight successes. In 1997 he suffered the first two defeats of his professional career, but in the successes of that very same year he stopped the American, Toia Tua, in the second round; knocked out the Lithuanian, Stoyan Stoyanov, also in the second round; then became Irish Heavyweight Champion, when he stopped Paul Douglas in the fifth round; and finally demolished the Ukranian, Yuri Yelastratov, in the first round. But it was a defeat by the German boxer, Axel Schluz of Berlin, that really marked him out as a serious challenge for the European Heavyweight crown. Kevin McBride was only twelve when he first enrolled with Frank Mulligan in Smithboro, just a couple of months after his home-town hero, Barry McGuigan had defeated Eusebio Pedroza in London to win the World Featherweight title. 'Fast forward' exactly twenty years and Kevin McBride now 32, was taking the world by storm in overcoming the legendary Mike Tyson. McBride had moved to America in 1998 on the advice of Steve Collins, the former WBO Super-middle-weight champion, and was soon making steady progress under the guidance of Goody Petronelli, the same man who had also trained Collins, as well as the previously undisputed world middle-weight champion, Marvin Hagler. At that stage Kevin was ranked way down at 154th but by the time he took on Tyson he had moved up to 27th, a placing that marked him out as a potential opponent for the former World Champion, now trying to make a come-back. In addition, Kevin McBride was gaining in confidence all the while, clocking up eight wins in a row and would finally cap it all off with this amazing victory in Washington DC. Prior to the fight, the American sports columnists gave him little chance, describing him as 'the pot of gold at the end of his (Tyson's) rainbow' and betting their 'bottom dollar' that McBride would be easy picking. "Iron Mike" they wrote, "would pocket three million green-backs and then move on to the next mug". Some 'mugs' those scribes and commentators turned out to be! Despite the fact that Tyson had earlier lost to Danny Williams of England the previous July, he was still ranked as red-hot favourite to flatten the Irish lad, not later than in the second round. "I'll gut him like a fish", warned Iron Mike prior to the contest, but the quiet spoken Kevin quietly and confidently replied 'when I hit him, it will be like the whole of Ireland hitting him on the chin." And so it proved - if Kevin had only known it, all Ireland were indeed hitting Tyson, not just on the chin but everywhere else above belt, in this amazing contest, watched so eagerly on TV screens by all lovers of Irish sport and especially by the entire sporting fraternity of Co Monaghan. McBride may have only been a 'boxing pretender' in many people's eyes as he stepped into the ring on that Saturday in mid-June but he left it as a potential claimant to the world heavy-weight crown, if only the powers-that-be in professional boxing give him the opportunity. Tyson announced his retirement after McBride had been declared the winner after only six rounds. "I'm not going to fight again" declared the former champion, who strangely enough, had been one of McBride's boxing idols down the years and the man he had always wanted to fight. He had now got the chance and he took it "with all guns blazing." Tyson tried everything to 'down' the Irishman, by fair means and foul, but all to no avail. In fact, he was docked several points in the sixth round for low punches and head-butting, but it was not going to pay off, as there would be only one winter in this one and that would be Kevin McBride. After a slow start when both boxers were more or less sizing each other up, it was obvious that Kevin McBride's height was going to have a huge influence on the contest, and so it proved. McBride won both of the opening rounds, near the end of which Tyson was warned for a low blow. In the third round, Kevin slipped back somewhat and Tyson had his best spell, even though that was won by some blatantly low punching and head-butting. The fifth round was very much belonging to the Clones Colossus, as was the sixth, and Tyson again resorted to even more low punching and head-butting, only losing points for himself in the process. By the end of the round Tyson ended up on the canvas and looked in no shape to continue when he was saved by the bell. His trainer, Jeff Fenech, then signalled to the referee, Joe Cortez, that his charge had had enough and that he was in no condition to continue. What joy erupted in the Irish corner as trainer, coaches, supporters and the huge contingent that had travelled over from Clones, descended on the ring and Kevin McBride's hand was raised in triumph, What had been widely billed as a 'no contest' had turned out to be the surprise of the millennium. If there was joy in Washington, it was mild in comparison to the unbridled outburst that prevailed in Clones, as the pubs unleashed their hundreds of TV viewers onto the streets of the town for a night of celebration that was reminiscent of the amazing celebrations that had welcomed Barry McGuigan home as a world champion, some years earlier. Weeks later, Kevin McBride returned to his native Clones and was accorded what can only be described as tumultuous welcome, equalling that accorded to the homecoming of McGuigan. Nice too, to see Frank Mulligan on stage among the official welcoming party. The now veteran of the boxing scene must surely have had a tear in his eye as he recalled the huge youngster who had entered his 'Smithboro Boxing Academy' twenty years previously and whom he had at once picked out as a potential champion, just as he had foretold when the much smaller Barry McGuigan entered that very same academy years earlier. All Ireland rejoiced in this great victory, Co Monaghan rejoiced even more so, but Clones was the ultimate in rejoicing and justifiably so, as their town had produced the two greatest boxers ever to represent our country in the ring. Even at 32 years of age Kevin McBride has still much more in his boxing cupboard, and a tilt at that coveted World Heavyweight Boxing Championship title is no much more of a reality than a dream. May it come his way ... and soon. Tweet

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