Barry McGuigan
McGuigan
became the champion by dropping Pedroza in round seven and winning
a unanimous fifteen round decision in a fight refereed by hall of
fame referee Stanley Christodoulou. McGuigan and his wife were feted
in a public reception through the streets of Belfast that attracted
several hundred thousand spectators. Later that year, he was named
BBC Sports Personality of the Year, becoming the first person not
born in the United Kingdom to win the award.
McGuigan made his
first defence against American Bernard Taylor, who was stopped in
the ninth round, and then against Danilo Cabrera, who got knocked
out in fourteen rounds. This proved to be a controversial stoppage:
the fight was stopped after the challenger bent over to pick up his
mouthpiece after losing it, a practice that is allowed in many countries
but not in Ireland. Cabrera was not aware of this, and the fight was
stopped. Although Cabrera’s corner protested the outcome, McGuigan
remained the winner by a knockout. For his next defence, he went to
Las Vegas in June 1986, where he faced the relatively unknown Stevie
Cruz from Texas in what proved a grueling fifteen round title bout
under a blazing sun. McGuigan held a lead halfway through, but suffered
dehydration because of the extreme heat and wilted near the end, being
dropped in rounds ten and fifteen. He eventually lost a close decision
and his world belt, which he was never to reclaim. After the fight,
McGuigan required hospitalization because of his dehydrated state.
After that fight he retired, partly due to the death of his
father in 1987. He used to say his father was his greatest inspiration
and after his death, apparently felt no reason to continue boxing.
However, he returned to the ring between 1988 and 1989, beating former
world title challengers Nicky Perez and Francisco Tomas da Cruz, as
well as contender Julio Cesar Miranda, before losing to former EBU
featherweight champ and future WBC and WBA super featherweight challenger
Jim McDonnell by a technical knockout when a McDonnell left hook opened
a gash over McGuigan’s right eye in 2nd round that caused the referee
to stop the fight in the 4th. He retired permanently from boxing.
His record was 32 wins and 3 losses, with 28 wins by knockout. In
January 2005, McGuigan was elected into the International Boxing Hall
of Fame.