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Nineteen
years after winning the WBA featherweight title against Eusebio Pedroza
in front of a record British TV audience of 19 million, the 1985 BBC Sports
Personality Of The Year is still a household name.
As well as making regular appearances on Question of Sport, They Think It's
all Over, This Morning, GMTV or Mel and Des, Barry is the first point of
reference whenever boxing makes the headlines. |
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Barry’s
compelling rise from amateur star in Ireland to world superstar inspired
the 1997 movie, the Boxer, starring Daniel Day-Lewis. Working alongside
his good friend and Oscar-nominated film director, Jim Sheridan, who ghosted
his autobiography in 1985.
Barry was instrumental in the film’s success. Although the film
is fictional, many of the events mirror that of Barry's personal life
and boxing triumphs. Barry trained Day-Lewis to professional fighting
standards and choreographed all the fight scenes. The Boxer was nominated
for three Golden Globe Awards. |
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Though
Barry was not cast in The Boxer, he might have been had there been a singing
role. Barry inherited a brilliant voice from his father, Patrick McGuigan,
who was a professional musician and singer who many will remember singing
"Danny Boy" before Barry's world title fight at Loftus Road
in west London. Barry has sung at a number of famous venues, including
the Albert Hall, and continues to pursue his interest in the art. |
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Since
his retirement Barry has also taken part in various forms of motorsport
including the British Saloon Car Championship, British Rally Cross (in which
he came 12th) the RAC, and British Open rallies. Tales from the track often
feature in his motivational and after-dinner speeches, for which he is in
great demand. Boxing was, of course the springboard
to international stardom. In 1980 he served as captain in the Irish Olympic
Boxing Team at the Moscow Games before going on to win British, European
and world titles as a professional. Barry made such an impression on the
people of Britain and Ireland, where his rise through the ranks was one
of the few unifying forces during the troubled 1980s, that the Queen was
moved to recognise him with an MBE in 1994. |
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