By John Hargate
Ian Napa, one of British boxing’s best servants, has decided to bring down the curtain on a great career that included British and European title wins. He finishes with a misleading 19-10 (1) ledger – ‘Dappa’ Napa was miles better than the numbers suggest.
“The first thing that’s really made me call it a day is my eye injury,” Ian explained. “It’s a cataract in my left eye. Over the years it’s got mashed and I can’t really see out of it all that well. I’ve got an operation coming up on the 16th February.
“When I spoke to the [British Boxing Board of Control] they said ‘We can’t reissue your license after that’. The doctor phoned up [the BBBC] and said ‘His eye should be fine’ and that I’d be at the same risk as any other fighter.” According to Ian, Robert Smith, the BBBoC general secretary, told the doctor “We won’t allow him to box.”
“This should have been my last season to be honest as well,” continued Ian. “I’m 34. It’s the time anyway.”
“The fight that made me realise that things are catching up on me was the fight with Jamie McDonnell. I was knackered. I had to dig in deep the last two rounds. He’s gone on to bigger and better things,” Ian magnanimously admitted.
“Sometimes it takes you to win a title for you improve. You win a title and you’re like ‘I’m a Champion.’ It makes you perform, it gives you that little bit extra. Gives you that motivation to train HARD as well.”
“In my head - and obviously I ain’t saying it to my trainers – I was thinking to myself ‘Age is catching up on me.’ Obviously I was thirty-two at the time – and [McDonnell] was twenty-three. I remember being that age and being as quick and as energetic as that. Now, I’m on the other side.” Ian smiled widely, but with a hint of resignation.
I asked Ian what had got him into boxing. “When I first started boxing the main fighter that inspired me was Sugar Ray Leonard. That’s who I wanted to be like. I enjoyed his explosive speed and the whole charisma and all that. I used to get excited over that style and was like, ‘You know what? I want to be like that.’
“When I walked in the boxing gym, I wasn’t really looking [to box]. I went to a gym that does football. They had a gym in the middle but they had a football pitch, Crown and Manor in Hoxton. That’s where Michael Watson originally came from, Sylvester Mittee, Jason Matthews. I boxed on the same bills as [Matthews]. He won the world title, stopped Ryan Rhodes in the second round,” Ian sounded proud to be associated with fighters of that calibre – almost in awe. It was nice. Refreshing.
He added: “I didn’t have that much amateur experience. I won 18 and lost 4. I boxed for England against America, won that. I won a bronze medal in the Golden Belt tournament in Romania. Kind of like the multi-nations tournaments. I went to the World Games. Got to the quarter finals in Hungary in 1997. Won the senior ABAs.
“I spent a year in the gym, sparring, training. It was hard to get me fights at the time because I was so small. In my second year as an amateur I started getting fights. All the success came quick. The international experience brought me on so much.
“I turned pro with my amateur trainers, Steve and Bob Kipps. I was with Frank Warren at the time. I fought and beat Nicky Booth in my second pro fight. He was a handful. You could see that over the years he was going to be something special. The pro style suited him, he was flat on his feet, letting his punches go. I think my mobility stole the fight. I dropped him in the second round. He stormed in on me, I threw a left hook and he was on the floor.
“Rocky Dean always said to me, ‘Your record is deceiving because people don’t think you can punch but they don’t spar with you on a day to day basis and they don’t understand.’ Even Buster Dennis – he’s a strong journeyman – was like ‘You know what, you punch harder than people think.’”
Ian often found himself up against men physically bigger and stronger than himself, which clearly played a big factor in keeping his KO percentage down, something Ian readily acknowledged. “With me, I’ve always fought at the wrong weight. When I was a flyweight, I was really a light-flyweight. When I was a bantamweight, I was really a flyweight.”
Nicky Booth’s brother Jason handed Napa his first loss in 2000. Ian had nothing but praise for another one of the sport’s good guys. “We have a lot of respect for each other. I think when I fought him the first time I sort of lacked experience. He’d been around the game for years. He turned professional in 96, I turned pro in 98, but no excuses, he won the fight. Jason’s a good fighter, I’ve always rated him anyway. I thought I might be able to nick it on the move and that, but it was the first time I went twelve rounds I was like, ‘This is not as simple as it looks on the TV!’”
Ian was thrown straight back in the deep end against Oleh Kyriukhin. “Kyriukhin was a silver medallist in the 96 Olympics. He’d had four (pro) fights, three KOs. But I didn’t know nothing about him. I’d just sparred him in the gym two months before and thought, ‘This guy can bang a bit!’ Next thing I’m fighting him in the ring. ‘No time to be nervous, you’re in there now!’ So we had it out and I won but it was a hard fight.”
Following a rare stoppage defeat in 2001, Ian walked away from boxing for a time. “I didn’t box for three and a half years. I kind of went off the rails. I lost to Peter Culshaw and got stopped. I was so knackered.” Ian repeated the last word with emphasis.
“I was so hyped up. WBU title, becoming a world champion a little bit young, and immature. Went blazing into the fight throwing a million and one punches, not even thinking ‘Oh, this fight could go twelve rounds.’ And things do change over the twelve round period. A big time lack of experience. I was prepared right but I gave in to the crowd. They were hyped up and I was like ‘Yeah, lets have it!’ I blew my gasket. Totally blown, bruv. Blew it bad. Knackered, totally out of it.”
The whole time I’d been speaking to Ian a broad smile had barely left his face. He’s a jovial and funny man with an infectious laugh. It made the brief periods of solemnity even more stark. “My world was crushed really.” Ian looked at me ashen faced. “Never been knocked out in my life, I was like ‘Oh my God, what’s going on, it’s terrible, I’ve got to leave this alone.’ After that I went to hospital. Concussion. Splitting headache.”
People around Ian were telling him throughout his lay-off that he was good enough to make it as a top fighter and should think about a comeback. “I kept watching boxing. One day, after three and a half years, I just started jogging. I looked terrible. I was definitely over the ten stone mark. There was this time when I met Wayne Alexander after so long out and Wayne goes (Napa puffed his cheeks out). It was like I had gobstoppers in my mouth. He was like ‘F**king hell, what happened to you?’
“I took a lot of positives from that break. That break did help me. Helped me come back very focused. To me, boxing was never a serious thing. I’d never taken boxing seriously. Only when I won the British title was I like ‘This is a serious business. I’ve got to train - and train hard.’”
“I joined [top trainer] Brian Lawrence after the three year break.” Napa’s first fight back was a tough one against another guy trying to get his life back on track. “Danny Costello, he was a good fighter, a good amateur fighter, double ABA champion. He was a top boy in the England squad. But he went off the rails.” Ian looked distant, caught up in his thoughts. Danny didn’t make the same sort of recovery that Napa managed, but then he was plagued by darker demons.
“I always knew what I wanted to be in life. I wanted to be a business advisor – that was one of my career goals. Work in a bank, be a banker, that sort of thing. When I won the British title I took the success as a surprise, not serious like a lot of people take it. So when I won the British Lonsdale belt outright I was like ‘This is my belt to keep now. Wow.’” The infectious smile had returned to his lips.
“Everyday I wake up and I see the British title belt, and the European title belt. I’ve got house contents insurance and because of that I don’t mind putting it up now. I was a bit iffy about putting it up before – I used to hide it in the cellar!”
“It was such a big achievement for me. Something I can always have, look at, all the time. My little cousin comes round, ‘Let me take a picture of your belt!’ They’re proud.” It’s wonderful to hear a British fighter speak with such love and passion about the Lonsdale belt and what a big thing it is to win it outright.
“In life, one door closes, another one opens, you know what I mean? A thing with life: you can’t dwell on the past. I could go on about the amount of times I’ve been robbed in my career.
“One fight (a 2005 loss to Martin Power), I know I won, but obviously he’s going to argue the same thing. The judges make the decisions. He comes up here (to the TKO gym in Canning Town), I speak to him, I’ve always known him since the amateurs. There’s no hard feelings there. It’s not him that made that decision.
“Damaen Kelly was a world class fighter. I lost that fight. I just came off fighting Martin Power in that war. It was a ten rounder and he couldn’t find an opponent. They made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. I was thinking, ‘This guy’s been out for a while, I’ve been out for a while, you never know’. It was an opportunity to win something, but losing to Kelly got me the European title fight with [Simone] Maludrottu.
“That fight (with Maludrottu) brought me on leaps and bounds. He was WBC no.1, he fought that geezer who was knocking out everyone in Japan (Hozumi Hasegawa) and he got robbed. Everyone says he got robbed. He was like a freak at bantamweight – gave Rendall Munroe a good fight when he moved up to super-bantamweight. He used to look so big compared to everyone.
“I’d say the best fight I’ve ever featured in was the fight with Martin Power, the second one. That fight I fought like I had a point to prove. I outboxed him and outfought him at his own game - because he’s more like a fighter. He was getting stuck in on me so I boxed him, frustrated him and I hurt him, outfought him and stood there through the twelve rounds in a showdown and had it. A good fight, one of my best.”
I asked Ian what he thought of Lee Haksins, whom he beat in 2007. “He’s good at what he does,” Ian conceded, “and his awkwardness is what makes him beat most fighters. If you ain’t got that kind of like slick style, you’re going to find it hard work. If you stand there in front of Lee Haskins with your hands in the air, he’ll beat the crap out of you. He’s that kind of fighter. And he can bang as well you know. He’s not like ‘Bang, and knock you out cold’ but he’s a hurtful puncher. He’ll hit you and you’re like ‘Rah, this guy can punch.’ He wasn’t a puncher as such at bantamweight, but at fly and super-fly he would hurt those guys.”
Ian put the icing on his career in 2008 when he beat tough Belgian/Sicilian Carmello Ballone for the European crown. “He was a tough kid. He’s the biggest fighter I’ve fought. I thought Maludrottu was big but he was much bigger and he punched much harder.”
Moving on to more recent times, I said I thought domestically that the super bantamweight division looked strong. Ian agreed. “I was offered Carl Frampton and I said ‘Yeah, I’ll take the fight.’ Frampton came back and said ‘Nah, I’m not taking the fight.’ He hadn’t won the [Commonwealth] title. It was earlier on this year. I’ve sparred with Carl Frampton before. He’s a good fighter. He could go on to be a world champion I think. He’s got Barry McGuigan behind him which is good, ‘cos Barry’s not an idiot! [Barry’s] experienced so he’ll know how to guide him along. To me, out of the super-bantamweights, Frampton is the best prospect.”
British super-bantam boss Scott Quigg put in a masterful performance against an albeit faded version of Jason Booth to win the title. “See that’s the stage I don’t what to get to,” Ian said passionately. “I don’t want to be at that stage. I watched that fight thinking ‘you know what, this kid (Booth) ain’t won a round yet.’ Jason’s not a super bantamweight. We wanted a third fight but he wouldn’t take it. I was going through a good spell, the (second) Power fight and all that, kinda buzzing, but he never took it. You can’t blame him, it’s business, innit?
“Jason Booth was always a class act. When I fought him (the second time), he’d been out for so long with the problems he had. Watching the fight (against Quigg) made me realise ‘This is what happens when a fighter goes on too long.’ If I see him fight again, I’ll be shocked. In the lighter divisions age is such a big factor. If anyone asked me what Jason Booth should do I’d tell them ‘I think he should call it a day.’ Walk away from the game with his head held high.”
I wondered what the future would hold for ‘Dappa’ Napa now he’d done just that. “I spoke to the [BBBC] yesterday. I’ve got my application forms to do my trainer and second’s licence. You do a day course, you do your exams on the same day and that’s it really. Just basically to see if you know about boxing, just a multiple choice exam. If you pass that you get your licence.”
A lot of boxers find it difficult to adjust to life away from the ring once they’ve lost that buzz and daily purpose. I asked Ian if he thought he’d struggle. “Do you know what, I do miss boxing. Sometimes I’m in the ring and I feel ‘I could be doing this, I’d like to be doing this,’ but it’s over when it’s over. I was watching that Nigel Benn thing the other day (the brilliant documentary ‘Fight of Our Lives’, about the McClellan fight and aftermath) and thought, ‘You have to live your life after boxing.’ Where’s all the fans that were screaming out for all that? Where are they now?
“I’ve done alright. Never made the big bucks but I’ve never been stupid with money. I’ve always put away money, all the time. My parents brought me up to be like that. I had a restaurant running one time. I’ve tried a few ventures. Now at the moment I have a music production thing. We’ve got music artists and we put them in different venues and they’re performing and doing different parties, stuff like that. We’ve got that going and I’ve got my own CD company where we provide record shops with CDs.
“The other thing that I’m doing is that I work with kids with autism. That’s what I do from Monday to Friday. When you feel like you’ve made someone happy, it’s a good feeling - and when they’re happy to see you, it’s nice. You feel like you’re doing something positive with your life. Gives you that sense of achievement.”
When it comes to Napa there is a distinct sense that the achievements will continue to roll in beyond his boxing career.
