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An Unforeseen Victory
By Declan O’Kelly
Declan O’Kelly talks to Kevin McBride, the “Clones Colossus” and the
man who brought down Iron Mike
No one in the boxing world thought Ireland’s Kevin McBride stood a chance
against Mike Tyson in the American’s latest comeback fight on June 11.
 Prior
to the Tyson fight, McBride, known in the game as the “Clones Colossus,”
spent his days bouting fellow no-name boxers, and confirming his reputation
as a journeyman fighter. It was widely expected that Tyson would clobber
him in quick time and move on to the next bout to pay his creditors.
No one told this to McBride. “I went in there with a strategy and it
worked, you know? I said I would shock the world and I did shock the world.
I believed in myself and I told all around me to believe,” he told Irish
America in a recent phone interview.
McBride garnered a taste for boxing at the age of nine, when he took
up the sport to ward off local ruffians who used to pick on him for his
speech impediment. From Clones, Monaghan, the same town that bred 1985 WBA
champion, Barry McGuigan, he met with early success, and went on to represent
Ireland in the 1992 Olympic games in Barcelona, after which point he turned
professional.
When finally presented with the opportunity to fight Tyson, he employed
both a strength coach and Boston hypnotherapist Patrick Brady to help him
be in the best physical and psychological condition possible.
“I didn’t want to leave any stones unturned,” he admits. “We worked on
thinking and talking positive to help the mind and help the subconscious.
I also had my strength coach, I was benching 265 lbs and was as strong as
an ox.”
When he finally stepped into the ring with Tyson, McBride weathered an
early storm, but once he imposed himself in the later rounds he wore Tyson
down.
“I used my weight. I took his best shots and I asked him was that all
he’s got? I was hoping that was all he’d got,” joked the genial giant who
had a nine inch height advantage over Tyson.
As Iron Mike saw the fight slip away from him, he resorted to roughhouse
tactics, head-butting the Irishman and opening a cut on his left eyebrow.
“I got 15 stitches, eight on the inside and seven on the outside,” says
McBride.
“He’s a nasty man, that Tyson, trying to bite me, trying to break my
arm, trying to bite my nipple.”
McBride is reveling in his victory, and his reputation as the man who
stopped Tyson and probably ended his career. “Kevin McBride will be known
as the man who retired the baddest man in boxing,” he said.
The “Clones Colossus” who sees himself as “the new Cinderella Man” has
earned the possibility of a WBA world title fight against John Ruiz in September
or October of this year. Boxing insiders are skeptical of his chances, but
McBride is confident once again, he will prove the doubters wrong.
“People don’t realize that I am 32 years old, and I am just coming into
my prime. I am going to retire all the heavyweights and walk down the street
heavyweight champion, that’s my mission,” he said.
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