Look up the word ‘winner’ in the dictionary or line and it will have Neil Fannan listed in the definition. OK, it won’t, but it should.
Approaching his 20th anniversary of his debut as a professional coach, Fannan has won a ton of fights.
There have been some incredible highs, notably the alliance with his old friend, Dave Garside, which enjoyed success after success with Michael Hunter.
The all-action super-bantamweight’s eight wins out from 10 championship fights made him Hartlepool’s greatest ever boxer, and who could forget the famous win over Esham Pickering at the Borough Hall to win the British, Commonwealth and European unification showdown.
Fannan (pictured left with his old friend, Michael Marsden) also trained Kevin Bennett to the Commonwealth title, Martin Ward and Argie Ward too, while earlier this year, he masterminded Tommy Ward’s WBO world title eliminator victory in the USA over Jesse Angel Hernandez.
With the 25-year-old poised for a crack at the big one, Fannan is on the verge of winning the only thing to elude him to date, a frontline world belt.
But, and this is a question as much as a statement, was Saturday Fano’s finest hour?
He led the red corner as Lewis Ritson won his WBA world title eliminator against Robbie Davies Jnr.
The unanimous points decision for ‘The Sandman’ over his arch-rival was something special after transforming the Geordie puncher into a world-class performer, all in under 12 months.
Fannan took charge after Ritson’s first career defeat last October when he was beaten by Francesco Patera for the vacant European lightweight title.
Before then, the boxer had split his training between Hartlepool and his dad, Davy’s gym in Forest Hall.
“I did say last week that I expected this to be Lewis’s coming out party and I felt it was,” said Fannan.
“He showed a bit of everything to win that fight.
“He showed he had stamina, a good chin which we knew anyway, but he also showed he was cleverer than people had him down for.
“He’s probably a better boxer than he even thought himself.
“I’ve been drilling it into him all the time that he is good and he boxed well.
“I put my head on the chopping block and said ‘leave him to me, I’ll sort him out’.
“I suppose I was under pressure, but I have confidence in myself, and it was a very satisfactory night.”
Very satisfactory is an understatement, but typical Fano not to blow his own trumpet.
Was it his finest hour? It could be Hunter v Pickering, Ward v Hernandez, Bennett v Muya, there are other great nights in there.
But it was certainly something special.
Words: Roy Kelly Picture: Tom Collins/ Hartlepool Life
