At the point at which the fieldwork was concluded 1 boxer from the

how narratives are relational and how discourses on boxing intersect with, shape, and are shaped by these relations.

Recruiting from initial life-history interviews conducted with professional and amateur boxers this chapter will examine the

performance of ontological narratives. Consideration will be paid to the correlation between the stories performed by professionals and amateurs across two different training sites, as will the relationship between the shared narrative resources, story types, and themes, identified in the

previous chapter, and those that are presented by participants of this study.

Tales of Becoming: Identifying as a Boxer and the Transition from Nobody to Somebody

Tales of becoming a boxer, as a narrative resource, are recruited to make sense of the transition in identity from that of non-boxer to boxer. Embedded within these stories are the themes of change and

transformation. These themes address actual and perceived adjustments within the individual, such as, relationships to and the use of an individual’s body, as well as attitudes and aspirations an individual might hold. Similarly, the themes acknowledge actual and perceived alterations to how the

individual is perceived by and relates to other social agents. The previous chapter introduced narrative resources, categories and themes, prevalent within boxing stories, and as identified in previous academic projects and the media. The resources introduced included the compensatory drive, the familial, genealogical, heroes and legacy, crime and salvation, exploitation. Linked to these resources were numerous themes, with the theme of

discovery being linked to the compensatory drive and crime and salvation resources.

Whilst the discovery theme appears frequently within the public discourses of boxing, particularly within the public press and biographical accounts of professional boxers’ lives, it was not a dominant theme within the narrative accounts provided by boxers for this study. Out of the 14 boxers interviewed only 2, Karl Bell and Kell Brook, professional boxers based at the Sheffield site, presented narratives which bore any relation to the discovery theme. Kell describes how, after he had already begun

training as a boxer, the Ingles ‘from an early age they saw talent in me and er, it’s like I’ve had it all me life like’ (Brook 2011). Karl describes how, after numerous years of athletic activity including weight lifting and kickboxing, a trainer and acquaintance, Billy Mitchell, told him to take up boxing at the Sheffield site. These two accounts differ significantly from the discovery theme discussed in the previous chapter. The ontological narratives presented by participants of this study did not include episodes where the boxer is discovered; rather the stories portray an active protagonist deliberately seeking engagement with boxing or being introduced to the sport by a friend or family member. Whilst Karl is told to box he waits a considerable period of time before seeking out the gym. Similarly, Kell was already engaged in boxing practices, after being taken to the gym by his father, before the Ingle family realized his talent. This differs significantly from the theme as it appears in the public boxing stories biographical accounts of professional boxers’ lives.

It would be wrong to assume a positive correlation between the discovery theme and instances where someone other than the boxer

authors the story. This study demonstrates that even when a story about an individual becoming a boxer is narrated by someone other than the boxer, for example by the trainer of said boxer, the discovery theme is not always recruited. Previous bodies of work, academic (Beattie 2003) and journalistic (Pitt 1999), have illustrated the presence of the discovery

theme within the narratives told by the boxing trainer, Brendan Ingle about his professional boxers. This project found that professional boxers who train at Brendan Ingle’s gym were more likely to discover Brendan and his gym than they were to be discovered.

I tell y’a I’ve got somebody you can meet. An absolute gem. He’s about 6ft 7, 6ft 8 and about 16 1/2 , 17 stone. He’s going to be the next big thing out of here. He’s name’s Richard Towers. He used to come here about six or seven year ago, then he disappeared. No matter what enquiries I made I couldn’t find out what had happened to him. So a few months ago, who walks in here but big Richard.

“I says, ‘I can’t believe it.’

“He says, ‘Well I’m a bit embarrassed. “I says, ‘Well what’s up?’

“Well he says, ‘I’ve just done six, seven year of a t’irteen year sentence.’

“I says, ‘What? How many people did you kill?’

“He says, ‘Well I didn’t kill anyone. I kidnapped a drug dealer and held him hostage.’

“So I says, ‘Well alright then you can train.’” (Ingle from field notes 2009).

Brendan’s account of Richard’s return to boxing, and subsequent professional boxing career, portrays Richard as actively seeking out Brendan and the club. It suggests that the return to boxing, after an enforced absence on account of a custodial sentence, signals the start of Richard’s tale of becoming a boxer as told or understood by Brendan. Richard’s own narrative supports this.

Well basically I got into boxing when I was - I think its sixteen years old when I got into it – I went down to Brendan’s gym erm and we basically erm I got into training. I trained wit-im for eighteen months; trained with Naz, Ryan Rhodes.

[…]

So basically we erm…I got into training. Eight months I

trained for and then…as you know I went…on anoth…another path. And it wasn’t until three years ago that I actually got into boxing. (Towers 2010)

Richard acknowledges that he first encountered boxing at age 16. He uses the “I” to demonstrate his role as protagonist in his story about

becoming a boxer, ‘I went down to Brendan’s gym’. His tale does not include a discovery theme in the same way evidenced by the literature review in the previous chapter. Richard actively seeks out the gym at age 16 and, again, upon release from prison. The narrative presented by

Richard supports the reading of Brendan’s narrative account that Richard’s

tale of becoming begins proper upon his return to the gym after serving his

custodial sentence, ‘And it wasn’t until three years ago that I actually got into boxing.’

Tales of becoming do not necessarily commence when an individual first encounters the sport of boxing. There is a distinction made between the moment an individual first engages with the sport and the moment when that individual starts to identify as a boxer. Tales of becoming are told retrospectively, when an individual already associates with the identity markers of a boxer. These stories chronicle the transition from non-boxer to boxer and as such provide information about the importance and effect of that transition for, and on, the individual.

Professional boxer, Leo D’erlanger emphasizes the distinction between initial engagement with the sport and identification as a boxer.

Er, earliest memories of boxing are erm probably when I was er, like young kid like at the age of sort of about don’t know about twelve, maybe younger, probably a bit younger, maybe older. Erm, my dad used to box and er, he bought a punch bag and speed ball in the lounge like erm, so he used to give me and my brother er boxing lessons.

[…]

So like erm, I didn’t do it at school I did er, like a little bit at home and like college and that, I used to punch the bag and whatever I just used to punch the bag, nothing properly but I knew the basics from being a kid because my dad taught me it. But as soon as I left school at sixteen I’ve done it ever since then. I took it up seriously, just got in to it, and went – got serious as I got better. (D’erlanger 2011)

For Leo there is a difference in the quality of his engagement with boxing pre and post the age of 16. Leo trivializes the quality of the

engagement pre 16, ‘I used to punch the bag and whatever I just used to punch the bag, nothing properly but I knew the basics’. Conversely his engagement post 16 is ‘serious’. By engaging with the sport ‘seriously’ Leo enters into a series of transformations. He transforms from having a

leisurely and basic engagement with the sport to getting ‘better’ at boxing, realizing he is a ‘good’ boxer, and thus identifying as a boxer. This signifies the start of Leo’s becoming resource story. He takes the sport up seriously and as a result develops the key skills required to identify with being a boxer. The development Leo experiences is a linear progression from non- boxer, boxer, to good boxer. This progression is associated with a serious approach and form of engagement with the sport. Leo’s tale of becoming indicates the potential for further transformation. The sport offers him the potential to transform ‘past the level of just being good and potentially get really good.’

Transformation is an important element of a tale of becoming, not only is it the crucial element which signifies the start of the story but, these tales indicate a desire, and/or a realization that further transformation is possible. This study argues that tales of becoming are a shared story type for boxers. Through them this study demonstrates that this particular group of amateur and professional boxers are able to provide a narrative identity which they understand as fluid. Their conception of self has

changed over time, demonstrated via the manner in which self is expressed at the start of each tale. Further, these individuals are aware that they are still capable of change. For the individuals within this study boxing

facilitates transformation; a linear transformation from a position least desired to that which is most desired. At the point of narration these