Why Michael McKinson has always been ‘a problem’

Michael McKinson

FOR years, Michael Ballingall and his boys went unnoticed. โ€œIโ€™ve handed up to David Haye and Tony Bellew,โ€ said the 47-year-old from Portsmouth, โ€œand Kevin Mitchell, Rendall Munroeโ€ฆ Iโ€™ve worked all their corners โ€“ but most of them probably wouldnโ€™t remember me.โ€ Ballingall worked as a house second for Frank Maloney and Hayemaker, learning the trainerโ€™s job from the inside.

โ€œI wanted to be a pro trainer,โ€ he said, โ€œand I learned the job working as a house second. You get some coaches who want to gatecrash pro boxing and go straight into it from the amateurs or white collar. I went through the system.

โ€œAs the house second, you have the best people around you. I wanted to be a trainer and a successful one, so I watched the successful trainers and learned the qualities you need.

โ€œI was always in the background at the big fights, listening to the best trainers and fighters. Nobody noticed me, but I was taking everything in, learning how the game works.

โ€œThis was a time before social media. I wasnโ€™t there to get my photograph taken, I was there to learn.โ€

Everywhere Ballingall went, his two sons went with him. โ€œEvery Friday, we would get in the car after school and go to a boxing show โ€“ if I was at school,โ€ said Lucas Ballingall with a mischievous smirk. โ€œI was never at school much. I was always getting suspended for fighting.โ€

A decade on, Lucas is still fighting โ€“ heโ€™s won 13 of 15 โ€“ and so is his big brother, welterweight Michael โ€œThe Problemโ€ McKinson, whoโ€™s taken the name of his Irish grandparents for his pro career.

Today (March 19) McKinson was meant to fight Vergil Ortiz Jnr in Los Angeles. โ€œEveryone thinks heโ€™s a future pound-for-pound star,โ€ he said. โ€œIโ€™ve spent my whole career being ‘out of my depth’ โ€“ and Iโ€™ve won every fight.

โ€œThatโ€™s the motivation, hearing people say I canโ€™t do something.โ€

McKinson way is to make opponents miss and unravel them mentally. โ€œThe first time I blew kisses was in the Ryan Martin fight [April, 2017],โ€ he said. โ€œHis team were so smug before the fight. They completely wrote me off. The crowd booed me all the way to the ring โ€“ and then I completely humiliated their boxer.

โ€œI was in complete control and I remember blowing a kiss at his corner after I made him miss with a punch. Then I started blowing kisses at him! He was getting more and more desperate and the more desperate he got, the more he missed and the more kisses I blew at him. I was smiling at him and breaking his spirit.

โ€œI did it against Sammy McNess as well. At the weigh-in, he got in my face and I knew that, mentally, he was struggling. I just kept my cool and then I outboxed him. Blowing kisses is my way of telling an opponent: โ€˜Iโ€™m winning, Iโ€™m number one, Iโ€™m going to break your heart.โ€™

โ€œI have always been able to make opponents miss and thatโ€™s because I started sparring professionals when I was 14 years old and I didnโ€™t like getting hit.

โ€œI didnโ€™t like getting punched in the face by grown men, so I learned how to avoid their punches. I was nicknamed โ€˜The Problemโ€™ long before I knew who Adrien Broner was.

โ€œI sparred the pros and they used to say: โ€˜Heโ€™s a problem, he is.โ€™โ€

McKinsonโ€™s last seven opponents had a combined record of 102-5-3 and only Chris Kongo (12-0) got close to him, a first-round knockdown the difference between the fighters on two of the judgesโ€™ scorecards when they boxed last March. โ€œThe week before the Kongo fight, everyone expected me to lose,โ€ said McKinson, who has a five-year-old daughter, Tiarna, and a girlfriend, Lucy. โ€œEvery time I looked on social media I read I was going to lose. They thought any normal fighter would crumble under the pressure, but Iโ€™m not a normal fighter. By the time I get on the scales, mentally I feel invincible.โ€

McKinson remembers putting his slickness to the test in a hard Philadelphia gym a couple of years ago. โ€œI was on my own out there,โ€ he remembered. โ€œIt was like Rocky III where Rocky goes to Apollo Creedโ€™s gym! They were all staring at me and they all wanted a piece of me. They wanted me to spar an amateur light-heavyweight who was on the US team. I had to either spar him or not spar anyone โ€“ and I had gone there to spar.

โ€œIt was hostile and I had to earn their respect.โ€

michael mckinson
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The way Ballingall sees it, The Problem has spent his entire life working towards an Ortiz fight. โ€œI remember Mikey sitting in his high chair when we had a Prince Naseem Hamed video on,โ€ said Ballingall, a father of seven who had a handful of amateur bouts himself. โ€œI think his first words were: โ€˜Prince Naseemโ€™ and I would take Mikey to the amateur gym where I trained when he was three, four years old.โ€

McKinson said: โ€œI donโ€™t remember anything before boxing. My first memories are of shadow boxing. My path was set out from birth. I was only ever going to be a professional boxer. Boxing is the family business.

โ€œI travelled around with my dad, going to shows and watching Tony Oakey sparring. We would go to the York Hall about once a month. I saw Johnny Tapia box there. Boxing is all I know.โ€

Ballingall said: โ€œLucas and Mikey respect the fighters, but arenโ€™t in awe of them.

โ€œTheyโ€™ve grown up knowing people like Ovill McKenzie and Rendall Munroe are no different to them โ€“ and that they can achieve what they achieved. I use Rendall as an inspiration. He proved you donโ€™t have to be a decorated amateur to become a world-class pro. I saw it for myself, how far self-belief and dedication can take you. You donโ€™t have to be a Great Britain amateur.โ€

McKinson missed out on national honours during a 47-bout amateur career and by the time he made his professional debut aged 20, he knew something of the boxing business โ€“ and how hard it would be to get anywhere in it. โ€œI didnโ€™t earn a penny for my first 10 fights,โ€ he said, โ€œand then I took a 50-50 fight with Ryan Martin in his home town.โ€

Martin was 7-0 โ€“ and McKinson knew all about him. โ€œWhen we were amateurs, he was the best around my age group,โ€ he said. โ€œHe was in the age group above me and after I boxed, I would stay to watch him. He used to win a lot of fights by knockout. I was a massive fan of his!

โ€œI got into his head at the press conferences [before the fight]. I was telling him how I remembered all his amateur fights โ€“ and even what shorts he used to wear. I could see him thinking: โ€˜Wow, heโ€™s really studied me.โ€™ He definitely had a mental dip.

โ€œThe crowd booed me all the way to the ring and I smiled at them. I go into every fight believing I canโ€™t be beaten.โ€

That confidence also carried him through a test against veteran Colin Lynes in November, 2016, a sixth-round stoppage win that sent the 39-year-old former two-weight British champion into retirement. โ€œAfter that, nobody wanted to fight him,โ€ said Ballingall. โ€œWhy risk your fighter against someone who could humiliate them?

โ€œPeople acted as if we didnโ€™t exist. They wouldnโ€™t pick up the phone. Iโ€™ve tried every single way I could think of to get my fighters recognised.โ€

McKinson got a chance when paired with McNess (10-1) at the York Hall. To the disappointment of the majority of the East End crowd, McKinson dished out a boxing lesson to win unanimously. Barry Jones, the former WBO super-featherweight belt-holder, described McKinson as โ€œa bit of a revelationโ€, and he built on it with six straight points wins, including the victory over Kongo (12-0) on the undercard of the Dillian Whyte-Alexander Povetkin rematch in Gibraltar.

That secured McKinson a deal with Matchroom and a points win over Polandโ€™s Przemyslaw Runowski (19-1) set up the clash with Ortiz Jnr, cancelled this week when Ortiz became sick and replaced by a 10 rounder with Alex Martin on DAZN. McKinson said, โ€œNobody can say I donโ€™t deserve this chance. I started out at the bottom of small-hall shows, took gambles and worked my way up.”

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