4:30pm Wednesday 22nd August 2001
Croydon's most famous boxing son, three times World Champion Duke McKenzie, is returning to his roots to offer everyone the chance to get fit the boxer's way. In an exclusive interview with the Guardian at the McKenzie Brothers' Thornton Heath gym, Duke spoke at length about his distinguished career, how he got into boxing and the
boxercise classes. Joseph O'Shea reports.
Having retired from boxing in 1998, Duke McKenzie is returning to the gym above the McKenzie Brothers pub in Thornton Heath where he first started training, to run boxercise' classes.
Boxercise is a workout programme which employs some of the training methods and exercises used for boxers, such as pad work, skipping and punch bags.
From Monday, August 20, Duke is holding hourly classes five days a week from 10am to 7pm at the Parchmore Road gym, while his eldest brother Clinton trains young fighters at their Herne Hill gym.
He said: “The great thing about boxercise classes is that they are a fun way for people to get fit. The exercises are varied and fun so it's not like going to the gym. It's more interesting.”
The classes are mixed and are not for potential boxers, so Duke promises a friendly atmosphere, a tough hour long work out and tips from a three times world champion.
Duke followed his brothers Clinton, Winston and Dudley into boxing at the age of 13, and did his first sessions at the Parchmore Road gym.
He said: “Clinton went to the 1976 Olympic games and that's what started it for all my brothers really. He lost to the eventual winner Sugar Ray Leonard in the quarter finals.”
Clinton turned pro and won the British, European and Commonwealth titles, so Winston, Dudley and Duke had a tough act to follow.
Dudley was an outstanding amateur, winning an unprecedented eight national championships.
Duke said: “He was the one who got me into boxing. He used to ask me to do a few rounds. I got fed up with getting bashed, so I took it up.
“My dad never boxed at all and as a child he actually discouraged me to go to the gym, so I had to sneak out! I got to the stage where I just wanted it, real bad. Lots of kids around me kept getting in trouble and I didn't want to go down that route.”
The McKenzies trained at the Phillip Game Boxing Club in Croydon, which turned out fighters like Frank Bruno and British Middleweight champion Frankie Lucas.
But it was not until he left Croydon for the Battersea Amateur Club that his career started to take shape.
“I've got an abysmal amateur record, probably the worst of any world champion, because at that point I didn't have the dedication.”
Duke and found his style as “a thinking man's boxer” was tailor made for the pro ranks.
“The professional ranks suited me better than the amateur ranks where my style was a little bit slow. To my amazement when I turned pro I actually started knocking people out.”
Trainer Micky Duff signed Duke as a professional and in 1983 took him on a tour of America where he won all nine fights.
“We just clicked straight away and I boxed everywhere Vegas, Los Angeles, Reno and Mexico. At 21, I was fighting all these Hispanic guys and I really believed I had arrived.”
Duke returned to the UK to win the British Flyweight title in his thirteenth fight and the European title three fights later with victory against Charlie Magri.
And it was not long before the unbeaten Croydon fighter won his first world title in October 1988, when late on in his 22nd fight he knocked out Rolando Bohol for the IBF World Flyweight title.
But he lost his belt on points in a gruelling Wembley clash with Irishman Dave McAuley on June 7, 1989.
“My luck ran out and I got beaten in my second defence. But while everyone around me was upset, I was so relieved because the physical pain I had to go through to make the weight was such a bind.”
“I stayed up all night eating that night. It is a luxury for me to go to bed with a Ribena and a Mars bar. ”
After that defeat Dudley talked Duke, then 24, out of retirement and into moving up a weight.
“To my amazement when I moved up to Bantamweight, not only was I strong enough to fight and compete against some of the World's top fighters, but I could eat and drink what I wanted.”
After a shock defeat on points against Frenchman Thierry Jacob in a hostile atmosphere in Calais, Duke acclimatised to the division and won three fights in successive months.
In 1991, Duke saw an unbeaten Gaby Canizales lift the Bantamweight title on television and immediately phoned Micky Duff to arrange the fight, because he felt his own style was suited to beating the champion.
At the weigh-in, legendary trainer Emmanuel Steward told Duke he stood no chance against his young champion, but Duke outsmarted and out boxed Canizales in Southwark to lift the WBO title on points in front of a worldwide television audience.
“After the Jacob fight I realised I would never have a harder fight. And against Canizales I won every round. I don't think I ever boxed as maturely as that night, I had to pace the fight so well.”
But after two defences, an unfit Duke was knocked out in the first round by Puerto Rican Rafael de Valle.
So he moved up to Super Bantamweight, and in October 1992 won his third world title on points against another Steward fighter Jesse Benavides.
“I beat Benavides on points and that set me up really, I became an unprecedented three time World Champion.”
He is the first and only British or European fighter to do so, joining just 24 other fighters Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, Tommy Hearns, and Oscar De La Hoya.
“I was so honoured to be mentioned in the same breath as those guys. That brought home to me what I had achieved.”
He lost it in his first defence however to Daniel Jiminez on a controversial points decision.
Duke tried for a record fourth title at different weights by moving up another division, but he lost his only featherweight world title fight against Steve Robinson in Cardiff, and retired as a fighter soon after.
“All boxers in their career want longevity and they want to be remembered as being an outstanding fighter. I feel I have had that, and I'm proud of it.”
A family man with two daughters, Duke is now a respected pundit on Sky Sports and was the only panellist to predict Naseem Hamed's defeat against Marco Antonio Barrera earlier this year.
Anyone interested in joining him for boxercise classes should call 07957 523 104.
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