THE veins in Jeff Fenechโs neck bulge like sandworms. Heโs spitting angry, not with me, thankfully, but with the sport he loves, the sport he feels betrayed him. After a brief but successful amateur career, the โMarrickville Maulerโ turned professional in 1984 and 196 days later, was IBF bantamweight champion. Fenech, who went on to become an unbeaten three-weight world champion, now admits the launch from obscurity was hard to cope with, but it was the infamous draw with WBC super-featherweight champion Azumah Nelson in 1991 that remains intolerable. It was his American debut, but the Las Vegas expedition turned sour at the final bell; Fenech looked like the winner to virtually everyone, but it was called a draw. He had been denied a world title in a fourth division. He didnโt know it then, but Fenech โ whose record reads 29-3-1 (21) โ would never be the same again, losing the rematch as his form plummeted. Now a fit 52, and with all the fearless rage that made him an all-time great, the Aussie sits down with Boxing News.
You were catapulted into fame quickly, which can bring its own problems.
Yes. When I think about the person that I was, coming from the street, I never thought anything could change me. But fame and fortune changes everybody and sometimes I didnโt like the person I became โ I got everything for nothing and I could do everything I want to do. Itโs great at the time but now I think about it, now Iโve got two daughters, I hate it โ I would hate someone to treat my daughters badly. Having children really puts things into perspective. As great as it was, as wild as it was, there are a few things I would change. Iโd like to think I could have stayed a little more humble, I could have stayed more grounded, but fame and fortune doesnโt let that happen.
How did that fame and fortune affect your career? You suddenly looked like a different fighter when you faced Azumah Nelson in the rematch.
I thought I was going to win the fight, and I have no excuse because he came and beat me [in eight rounds]. I just thought it was going to be a continuation of the first fight; Iโd never been hurt before. After the first Nelson fight I went back to the gym and I started sparring, and I was s**t. I was getting knocked a little bit, and I thought, โIs this normal?โ Also before that second Nelson fight I was sleeping with five different girls a day, even the day before the fight, doing [public] appearances, doing things Iโd never done before in my life. I thought I was going to win but something had gone, something had left me โ my toughness. My chin had gone and once thatโs gone, thereโs no repair. Suddenly I was getting hurt. My whole career I sparred bigger guys โ [former WBC light-heavyweight champions] Jeff Harding and Matthew Saad Muhammad were my sparring partners. I think it all caught up with me, and thatโs when I started to get hurt. I took a lot of punches from big guys when I was younger, none of them hurt but it all caught up with me. But Nelson was an amazing fighter, and an amazing human and he beat that version of me, but he didnโt beat Jeff Fenech. He would never have beaten the best of me.
You were only in your 20s when you realised you were slipping, which must have been hard to deal with mentally. After Nelson, you lost to Calvin Groveโฆ
[Interrupting] Very hard. When youโve never been hurt in your life and then you can feel
it you wonder if itโs real, if itโs really happening. But let me tell you about Calvin Grove. He hit me with a massive punch.
If heโd have hit anyone with the sameย punch he would have knocked anybody out, you know? I was knocked out, and on the way to hospital they had to tie me up because my mouth was so badly injured I was trying to rip it off. I was in a bad way. But again, he beat me, but I know those guys wouldnโt have beat me on my day. When I was at my best fighters like Greg Haugen, Roger Mayweather came to spar me and they couldnโt cope, and they left the gym. Not because I punched them hard, but because I punched them too many times. They hated sparring me, and there were times when I had to have three people in the ring so I could do a minute with each. And Harding โ Iโd spar him for 18 rounds, Iโd beat him, Iโd bash his brains in every day. I know if I was fighting today, Iโd win 25 world titles, Iโd fight for the light-heavyweight title.
Despite the hand injuries and the problems at the end, do you miss those days?
No. It was a stage of my life. What hurts me the most is that, first of all, they kept me in Australia when I would have loved to have fought in America more. Then I think about all the people that I helped along the way, paid them, gave them money. Now what of those people? None of them were real. I always used to say they were my best friends, but my best friend in the world is my wife. I learnt lots of lessons in boxing, some that hurt, I was just too nice to people, gave them money, but thatโs boxing. I try and warn people about it, but I let it happen to myself.
You came back in 2008 and had the third fight with Nelson, long after your peaks. Was that because it was niggling at you?
No, no. I donโt even count that as a fight, that was just two old guys. I was doing some training, and I was getting fitter. I was in Thailand so someone said I should fight [Samart] Payakaroon again, so I had it all organised but it all fell through, so we rang Azumah Nelson. Thatโs all it was. It was a victory [pts 10] but it doesnโt count really. But that first fight, I beat him, and for him to say it was even close, thatโs what I donโt like about boxing. You know if youโve been punched in the face more than you punched him. You know! But fighters just put their hands up straight away [at the final bell] whether or not they win or lose, hoping that some dumb mother-f*****g judge is going to give them decision. I couldnโt do that! If I knew a guy beat me, I wouldnโt put my hands up, Iโd give him my belt. Iโm old school. You know if someone has hit you more than you have hit them.
It clearly upsets you. How hard is being on the wrong end of a bad decision?
I was the first guy to be a three-weight undefeated champion. That would have been my fourth weight โ undefeated. It had never been done but because of, letโs call them plain f*****g stupid dumb f******g judges because they are, it doesnโt happen. These f*****s just keep getting employed again. They work a fight in January, they f**k up, they work again in January, then theyโre working another fight in March where theyโll probably f**k up again because theyโre so f*****g stupid. If these people are not held accountable, boxing will always be second to everything else. Thatโs why we donโt get corporate sponsorship, thatโs why we donโt get what we deserve. It should simply have been a case after the fight with Nelson, watch a video, sack those guys, and give me my belt. It wasnโt close. Judges ruined my career, ruined my career. Iโll punch them in the face and then theyโll know what itโs like.
What else bothers you about the sport?
Did you see the fight with [Andy] Ruiz and [Joseph] Parker [in December]? F*****g hell. Thatโs for the [WBO] heavyweight championship of the world? Theyโre shaking hands every round and hugging each other. This guy is trying to take your livelihood from you. Donโt do that. Wait until the end of the fight if you want to cuddle him or do what you want to him. But this is supposed to be the fight game, youโve got to despise your opponent. Earn your money! Look, I love the sport. But you see things in the sport that arenโt right. If youโre a judge and a promoter pays for a hooker to go to your room, even though youโve got a wife at home, it doesnโt mean you have to rob a fighter. Theyโre the ones that have trained their arses off.
When I was training Mike [Tyson], I walk out of my hotel room, and weโre in Vegas, Planet Hollywood, and a man walks up to me. I was overweight, I was fat. He said, โJeff Fenech?โ I said, โYes sirโ. He told me he had never watched another boxing match since that Azumah Nelson fight. A lot of people feel that way when they see things like that, and it happens too much. You see some of these guys who are No.1 in the world and they couldnโt beat my mother. Theyโve beaten 24 idiots to get their ranking. Weโve got to get it right, this canโt go on. The best guys have to fight the best guys, and it has to be fair. When the two best guys in the world fight each other, itโs the best sport in the world.
There have always been bad decisions and sheltered fighters. Will that ever change? How would you make the sport fair?
You need real men on the board of governors. I donโt believe they [officials] cheat, but they know who pays their bills, who sends them to get their c**k sucked. Theyโre brainwashed without even knowing it. They shouldnโt be put in a position to be brainwashed. We need people who are going to fight for our sport. Do you remember when Danny Green fought Marcus Beyer, the first fight [Green โ trained by Fenech โ was controversially disqualified in 2003]? Man, they wanted to do a p**s sample, so I threw the p**s all over them. I donโt like the people who represent our sport, and thatโs why Iโm not involved as much as Iโd like to be.
You did have a distinguished career as a trainer, and you mention Mike Tyson, who you trained for his last fight. Describe your relationship with Mike.
I love Mike, and it was a major opportunity for me to train him. I travelled the whole world with him, and that part of my career I loved. I loved it more because it wasnโt just about me training him, it was about looking after him. I stopped the fight [vs Kevin McBride, who won when Tyson retired after six rounds] because I wasnโt going to let my friend get hurt, his time was up. The other guys were saying โLet him fight!โ Let him fight? Let him fight? Donโt tell me what to do, Iโm the trainer. Shut the f**k up, Iโll stop the fight, you know? Send him out there to get punched and knocked down? For what? Thatโs another thing thatโs wrong with the sport. You have to look at some of these idiots who let the kids get beat up. Youโve made a mistake, youโve overmatched them, stop the fight.
What does make you happy when you look back?
When I won my third world title [WBC featherweight] against Victor Callejas. He was tough. Iโd broke my hand prior, if you watch the fight youโll see it was my right hand, and I used my left hand 85 per cent of the time โ so to beat that quality of a fighter [w rsf 10] with one hand, I talk about that as my best fight. The first one [world title, vs Santoshi Shingaki] too, I got 20 grand for that. Man, that was a lot of money for me back then. I remember saying to my friend afterwards, โAll I need to do is have one more fight, make another 20 grand and Iโm out of this game forever.โ Oh s**t, I had no idea.
But I look back with pride, even the losses made me a better person. Sometimes it takes that adversity to really find yourself, you know?
This article was originally published in Boxing News magazine. The special bumper Christmas edition is out now.