Michael McKinson was meant to be fighting Vergil Ortiz in Los Angeles tonight. He gets a short notice opponent instead. So often an underdog before in his career, McKinson’s story shows he’s never been out of his depth. Matt Bozeat spoke to him and his team
FOR years, Michael Ballingall and his boys went unnoticed. “I’ve handed up to David Haye and Tony Bellew,” said the 47-year-old from Portsmouth, “and Kevin Mitchell, Rendall Munroe… I’ve worked all their corners – but most of them probably wouldn’t remember me.” Ballingall worked as a house second for Frank Maloney and Hayemaker, learning the trainer’s job from the inside.
“I wanted to be a pro trainer,” he said, “and 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.
“As 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.
“I 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.
“This was a time before social media. I wasn’t there to get my photograph taken, I was there to learn.”
Everywhere Ballingall went, his two sons went with him. “Every Friday, we would get in the car after school and go to a boxing show – if I was at school,” said Lucas Ballingall with a mischievous smirk. “I was never at school much. I was always getting suspended for fighting.”
A decade on, Lucas is still fighting – he’s won 13 of 15 – and so is his big brother, welterweight Michael “The Problem” McKinson, who’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. “Everyone thinks he’s a future pound-for-pound star,” he said. “I’ve spent my whole career being ‘out of my depth’ – and I’ve won every fight.
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“That’s the motivation, hearing people say I can’t do something.”
McKinson way is to make opponents miss and unravel them mentally. “The first time I blew kisses was in the Ryan Martin fight [April, 2017],” he said. “His team were so smug before the fight. They completely wrote me off. The crowd booed me all the way to the ring – and then I completely humiliated their boxer.
“I 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.
