By James “Buddy” McGirt
They are genuinely good friends but like Gatti and Ward used to do, they’ll put it all to one side once that opening bell sounds
IN HIS 20th fight, Dan Azeez is encountering something I didn’t in an 80-fight career – which seems crazy. On Saturday he’s fighting someone considered a real friend.
There’s been times when I’ve been close to the trainer in the opposite corner. I don’t look at other trainers as rivals – I’d like to think I’m cool with all the trainers I go up against – but sometimes I even count them as friends. When Cornelius “K9” Bundrage fought Cory Spinks in 2010, the great Manny Steward was his trainer.
Me and Manny had a lot of fun before and a lot of fun after the fight. I can remember hanging out at the weigh-in, going for a couple drinks after the weigh-in, and then when Bundrage won we sat at the bar and had a few more. Five years earlier Arturo Gatti fought Jesse James Leija, who was trained by Ronnie Shields. Me and Ronnie are also really close friends, but again we didn’t let it affect us.
Gatti did experience something like Dan and Joshua Buatsi. After his first fight with Micky Ward in 2002 they hung out and became good friends. For both of their second and third fights – in 2002 and 2003 – they hung out together, but when it came to fighting, they put everything to one side. For those second and third fights, as friends, they got in there, tried to knock each other out, and afterwards were hugging like the best of friends.
Me and Virgil Hunter, Buatsi’s trainer, are cool enough with each other to call one another now and then. But when we talk, we don’t talk boxing – we talk BS. Virgil’s a very good trainer – his record speaks for itself.
I’ve been in the gym with Dan and Buatsi when they’ve sparred. Every time I’ve seen them spar it’s been good – the first time I watched them was the first time I found out who Buatsi is. I’d heard people talk about him, but I didn’t know about him in depth. “Dan, who is that guy?” “That’s Buatsi.” “Oh, shit. Okay. I didn’t know who he was. This kid can fight, man.”
It was his boxing skills. He was very smart; he could box; he was moving good. He could do it all. The sparring was very good; really interesting. Buatsi was dishing it out, and then Dan was dishing it out. It was the kind of sparring that made you want to be in the audience watching. It was very competitive – it was back and forth.
When two guys spar, it’s the one who learned the most from those sparring sessions – who got the most out of them – who benefits the most if they ever fight. It was after watching Dan and Buatsi I knew Dan was going to stop Rocky Fielding in 2022. Without a doubt sparring Buatsi meant that Dan had improved.
Despite how well they know each other, when we sat down to discuss the fight it still took us a while to get things on track, because he needed to make some adjustments, but those adjustments were made in enough time for the original fight date. Dan’s concentration levels also went up a notch, because he knows how good Buatsi can be, and he’s also benefitted from being in camp alongside Callum Smith – another light-heavyweight, who also has a lot of good things to say about Buatsi.
Their friendship will be put aside on fight night, but I also believe that after fight night they’ll remain friends and keep it moving. I’ve no doubt in Dan’s ability to compartmentalise everything he’ll need to.
How Dan wins I don’t know or care, but I’m confident he will. A win like this can really launch his career.
After it’s all over, I’ll be glad. It’s been six weeks – I want to take my ass back home to Florida.
