ACCORDING to Duke McKenzie, the record books are wrong.
Bob Fitzsimmons, McKenzie says, wasn’t the first British boxer to win world titles in three divisions.
“I’m taking nothing away from Bob Fitzsimmons,” said McKenzie, “but I think I have an argument to say I’m the first British boxer to win world titles at three weights
“I know he was born here [in Helston, Cornwall], but he left when he was a boy and never boxed here. I don’t consider him to be British. I was born and brought up in Croydon. I’m British through and through.”
Listeners to Talksport will know McKenzie, world champion at 112lbs, 118lbs and 122lbs, as “a voice of reason,” he says.
“I don’t ever see myself being a trainer or a manager,” he said. “I get too emotionally involved for that.
“But I love to talk about boxing and sometimes I get it right. I knew Daniel Dubois was going to beat Anthony Joshua and when I said it on Talksport they looked at me like I was crazy. I like to think I’m a voice of reason rather than an expert.”
McKenzie has spent his life in boxing. Dudley, Clinton and Winston were always thought to be the boxers in the McKenzie household.
Ray and Michael didn’t bother with the sport – and youngest brother Duke didn’t shape up too well.
Upon turning pro in 1982 aged 19, he set the target of becoming British champion. That looked very optimistic.
Of his 65 amateur bouts, Duke lost 35 and that included a run of 17 straight losses.
“I turned over with the worst amateur credentials of any boxer,” said McKenzie.
“I wasn’t an England international, an ABA champion or an Olympian. I wasn’t that kid.
“[Manager] Mickey [Duff] saw something in me that nobody else did. The other managers and promoters wouldn’t entertain me. Mickey was last on my list. If he hadn’t managed me, we wouldn’t be having this conversation – or it would be a very different conversation. You would be asking: ‘What’s it like to be a journeyman, Duke?’
“I used to ask Mickey: ‘Why did you manage me?’ and he never answered. He would just pat me on the cheek and smile.”
For Duke, Dudley was the best boxer in the family.
“He was my idol,” said McKenzie, who lost his big brother to suicide in 1995, aged 33.
“He was unbeaten for eight years and I loved him to bits. He was the reason I started boxing. I wanted to wear the boots and the vest and tell people I was a boxer. Dudley wanted to be Clinton and I wanted to be Dudley.”
The eldest of seven – six boys and one girl – Clinton boxed Sugar Ray Leonard in the 1976 Olympic Games – “I tell him he touched greatness,” said Duke – and had “unbelievable wars” in the pros.
“I was 16 years old when he boxed Des Morrison ([for the British super-lightweight title in 1981] and me and Dudley wet ourselves with excitement watching that fight,” said Duke. “I had never seen anything like that before. Clinton was getting rocked, hurt and was cut. That fight had every kind of drama.”
McKenzie pulled through with a 14th round knockout after a battle ‘Boxing News’ named their British fight of the year.
Duke followed Clinton into the professional ranks and had five of his first eight fights in the States.
“Mickey gave me so many opportunities that other boxers don’t get,” said McKenzie. “We trained at Johnny Tocco’s Gym in Las Vegas, Gleason’s in New York and Miami as well.
“I was around hungry young boxers like Evander Holyfield and Pernell Whitaker.”
Duff was also a master matchmaker.
“Charlie Magri was the darling of the press,” said McKenzie, remembering his fight with the former WBC champion for the British and European flyweight titles at Wembley Arena in May, 1986.
“They all loved him and wrote me off. But it was one on the way up against one on the way out. I caused a bit of a stir. That was my coming of age fight.”
McKenzie sent 29-year-old Magri into retirement in five rounds and Magri was at ringside commentating for BBC television alongside Harry Carpenter when McKenzie won his first world title in October, 1988.
“[Rolando] Bohol was a southpaw and nobody knew anything about him,” said McKenzie of the IBF flyweight champion from the Philippines.
“Mickey said I had a 50 % chance of beating him. He always used to say: ‘I will never overmatch you.’”
McKenzie got on top of Bohol in the second half and dropped him twice in the 11th, the second time for the full count.
Better still was the night McKenzie became a two-weight world champion.
“I woke up in the middle of the night, turned on the television and saw Gaby Canizales knocking out Miguel ‘Happy’ Lora [for the WBO bantamweight title],” said McKenzie.
“I said to Mickey: ‘Get me that fight.’
“I was ranked No 4 or 5 and Mickey had turned down the chance to box Lara because it was a tough fight and we would have to travel.
“Canizales was flat footed and I like that kind of thing. I struggled with boxers, but I was so confident I would beat him. I liked it when they came to fight.”
By the time he fought Canizales in June, 1991, McKenzie was nearly a decade into his pro career and a better fighter for a loss he had suffered nine months earlier.
Thierry Jacob unanimously outpointed him for the vacant European title in Calais. “That fight shaped my career and made me the fighter I went on to become,” said McKenzie, who runs the Duke Box gym in Croydon.
“He showed me timing, how to pace a fight, when to turn it on, when to go for a walk, how not to show it when you’re hurt.
“It looks like I ran away with the Canizales fight, but I worked like a dog.
“I was so transfixed and ready for that fight. I was in bed at six, up at four for my runs. Everyone wrote me off. He did rock me to my boots in the third or fourth, but I was so fit I was able to take it and fire straight back.”
McKenzie says the best days of his 39-7, 16-year pro career were at bantamweight. “I was always a freak for eight stones at 5ft 7ins and was a good size for bantamweight,” he said.
“That was my best weight. I was never happier. I could eat and drink what I wanted and stay at the same weight. I was never a world-class featherweight – as was proven [when he fought Steve Robinson for the WBO belt in October, 1994].
“I wasn’t strong enough. But I fought for world titles at four weights and pulled off three of them. I will take that.”
The third world title came in October, 1992 – and shocked Emanuel Steward.
He trained Jesse Benavides, the WBO super-bantamweight champion with a 34-1-1 record that showed 23 knockouts.
“Manny Steward said to me: ‘You can’t beat my boy,’” said McKenzie, “but me and my coach [Colin Smith] were so confident.
“We were in the United States for three months getting ready. I had the best sparring, the best mental preparation anyone could get.”
McKenzie won unanimously to become a three-weight world champion and more than 26 years on from his 46th and last fight, he is content.
“I’m 61 now and I’m an old man,” he laughed. “It’s great!
“I get to go on buses and trains for free.
“I made myself a bet when I was 50 that I would be fitter at 60 than I was at 50 and I am.
“My next goal is to be fitter at 70 than I was at 60. The age I am I might only get another 20 years and I will take that. I have lived a good life and I have no regrets about my career. I wouldn’t want to go through all the training and sleepless nights again, but I’m more than happy with what I achieved.”
McKenzie is happy to watch his son Ellis Trowbridge box, rather than get involved in his career.
Trowbridge is part of the Great Britain amateur squad and McKenzie said: “I don’t take him to the gym and I don’t watch him fight. I support him however I can and I pick up the pieces when he’s lost, but I refuse to be a pushy dad who lives through his kids. He’s a young man living his own life.
“How can he live up to the reputation of having a world champion as a dad? I had a similar experience because my brothers were all winning titles. That pressure could cripple you, so I don’t get involved.”
