The boxer

Kenny Egan is unquestionably the Irish sporting hero of the year.
The 26-year-old Clondalkin man came agonisingly close to returning home from Beijing with an Olympic gold, which would have made him the first Irish athlete in over a decade to achieve the accolade.
Egan lost the final in deeply controversial circumstances. By common consensus, he was robbed in the final against the Chinese boxer Xiaoping Zhang. As Egan puts it himself: “There were some very dodgy decisions out there. But it never dawned on me that I was boxing a Chinaman in China! I never considered the politics and everything else about it.”
Egan – along with the two other Irish boxers who won medals at the Olympics, Paddy Barnes and Darren Sutherland – came home a national hero, to his amazement.
“I didn’t think it was going to be as big as it was, until I got home and seen all the people at the airport and everything. I said, ‘Holy fuck! What’s going on here?’”
In the months since, he’s been turned into a fully-fledged celebrity by the media, with appearances on the likes of Podge & Rodge and The Panel, as well as his own DVD entitled Kenny Egan – Back From Beijing. He has also been thrust onto the front pages of the tabloids, who’ve tracked his every move, and speculated endlessly about his love life.
“I’m not a celebrity – I’m an athlete,” he states. “To be honest with you, at the start I was naive. When I’m approached now by the media, all I’ll say is, ‘No comment!’ And walk off.”
Clearly, as we settle down to do the Hot Press interview, Kenny Egan has much to get off his chest...

JASON O’TOOLE: It seems that the final was a real hometown decision, to put it bluntly...
KENNY EGAN: Yes – definitely. If it had been anywhere else on the planet, I would’ve got the decision. At the same time, the judges are only human and – with 48,000 Chinese screaming and shouting in the arena – I think they were influenced. I watched it six weeks after I got back to Dublin. I couldn’t bring myself to watch it before that, you know? When I sat down to watch it with my coach Billy Walsh, our reactions were recorded for the documentary. It’s actually on the DVD. I felt I won it by three points, but...
But wasn’t it a case of the judges getting it wrong with the scoring system?
In some fights it was madness, in others it was perfect. There were a couple of dodgy decisions with the Chinese. I watched all the fights on the TV because I was studying what they were scoring and what they weren’t scoring. I had it off to a tee. I was only one of two or three boxers who were getting points for actual body shots. They were very scarce on scoring on body shots, but I had that sussed. I was scoring body shots all the time, but then I got the Chinese guy in the final and I hit him with about four or five body shots and they weren’t given to me.
When did you realise that the fight was going against you?
There was a time in the third round when I hit him with a clean body shot and I heard the Chinese going crazy in the crowd – because he got a point for it! I was saying to myself, ‘Jaysus! This is going to be a hard night’s work!’ I was hitting him but the judges were actually giving him the scores! I walked back to my corner after the third round and I was looking at the two coaches and they just looked at me as if to say, ‘Kenny, there’s nothing else we can tell you to do here! You’re doing everything right but this fight is not going to be yours – unless you knock him out!’ They said, ‘We’ve coached the last 30 or 40 years but we can’t tell you how to beat this guy because you’re trying everything; you’re doing everything right but you’re not getting scores for it!’ It was an uphill battle.
So, you went back out there with the aim of knocking him out?
I gave 100%. I actually did all that I could do in that ring. I didn’t hold anything back. So, in that sense, I have no regrets. I went out and I gave it everything. To be honest with you, at the start of the Games if I was offered a silver medal I would’ve took it with both hands. I won the quarter-finals – and I had a bronze medal at that stage – and I said, ‘Right, I have me medal now’. But I wanted to be Olympic champion. Here’s a little fact for you – I was only hit seven times in 20 rounds in the games!
What did the Chinese boxer Zhang say to you after the fight?
We had a press conference straight after, and the RTÉ crowd and all were there. We sat down beside each other and the RTÉ boys said, ‘Zhang, what’s the crack? Do you think you really won the fight?’ And he says, ‘Yeah, I did!’ I was just sitting there, looking at him in disgust that he was telling barefaced lies! When I was up on the podium looking out at all the boys with the cameras, they were all shaking their heads, you know? At the end of the day, he has two hands and you have two hands – you don’t have any super powers or anything! So, off youse go. I said it before the Games, if I get beaten by a guy that’s better than me, I’ll shake his hands and walk off. I was beaten by a guy – and I wasn’t actually beaten beaten by the guy – but I still shook his hand. ‘Fair play to you!’ He got the decision. A dodgy decision but, at the same time, you can’t be a fucking bastard about it. I said, ‘Fair play to you. Well done. You got the gold’. I gave the old medal a kiss. It was nearly mine. A lovely fucking medal, mind you. And then that was it.
I’m sure you’d love a rematch with him?
Definitely. Please God, it could be on the cards. Yeah. Ireland v China. Las Vegas. The main event – himself and myself. Why not? When you think of it, the last medal we pulled in boxing was 16 years ago.
How many Irish titles do you have?
I’ve 14 or 15 Irish titles, but I’ve eight seniors. I’ve over 180 fights – I’ve won about 170, I’d say. And I haven’t been beaten in Ireland since 2000.
That’s almost nine years!
It’s fucking mad, isn’t it?
Should the Government be doing more for boxing?
I’d say to the Minister for Sport, ‘Invest your money in a sport that is pulling medals’. Straight away, it’s boxing. This year has been the most successful year in amateur boxing ever, with the silver and the two bronzes in the Games; in the World Juniors we got a gold, a silver and two bronze; in the Europeans we got three bronze. Katie Taylor did Ireland proud in China. Athletics – I was over in the Games with the crew from the Olympics and all they had was excuses: ‘My hamstring this! My hamstring that!’ The government should be doing more for boxing.
You have the potential to go down in sporting history as one of the most successful Irish boxers in the modern game.
Of course. I read an article – not so long ago, I think it was in the Independent – saying: ‘Ken Egan is the best boxer of his generation’. And I agree with that! I’m not being big-headed or anything.
Are you going to turn pro?
I don’t know yet. I’m listening to all sorts of offers. There’s an article in the paper saying I signed on the dotted line and there’s no such fucking thing at all, you know? I’ve been offered mad money and all this carry on, but I don’t know what I’m doing yet. Everybody has been saying to me, ‘Hang on for four years and win the gold’. It’s not as easy as that. I could break a hand; I could get beaten in the Nationals in four years time and then where would I be? All the boys down in the Stadium would pat you on the back and say, ‘Well done, Kenneth, hard luck!’ It’s hard to qualify for it. The hardest part is qualifying – getting out of Europe – because our qualifying system is so hard. All I wanted to do was actually get to the Olympics and be an Olympian. And I done that. I got the medal. Is there much point in hanging around now and trying to win the gold in four years time? There’s no point in going to the Games – if I even qualify – and I get beat in my first fight. It’s, ‘Kenny Egan got beat in his first fight’, not – Kenny Egan, silver medallist.
Hypothetically speaking, if you did go pro where would your first fight be staged?
My pro debut would have to be Madison Square Garden, Paddy’s weekend, in New York. It’d be nice, wouldn’t it? That’s an option. I’m not saying it’s a plan – it’s an option. If you turn pro, you have to sign a contract for five years. I was in LA a couple of weeks ago, over talking to promoters, and I was walking down the street in Hollywood and a French guy recognised me! Fucking Hollywood, like! A French guy in Hollywood! I said (laughs), ‘Holy fuck!’
So, you’d base yourself full-time in the US then?
Oh, I’d be gone. I’d be up and gone. Sell everything I have and get the fuck out of this place!
You came home a hero, but I get the impression you feel differently about media coverage now.
All these boys were in my house when I was in Beijing, me ma was cooking breakfast for them, and they were all writing at the back of the papers about sport. But then they turned around and started writing at the front of the papers, saying ‘Kenneth’s with this one, that one and this one!’ It’s ridiculous. To do that, I think, they have no spine! There was a stage where they were out in a car and all hiding on the road and everything. And I was saying, ‘What the fuck are yiz doing taking photos of me for? I’m after coming home with a fucking silver medal – so why are you taking photos of me now when I’m going out?’ I’m not a celebrity – I’m an athlete.
It sounds like you were shocked by it.
I just thought it was ridiculous. When I seen the papers, I didn’t even read them – I just seen articles with fucking Bianca Gascoigne and all this carry on. That photo was taken in RTÉ. It wasn’t taken in a hotel or anything like that. The gas thing is: I was on Podge & Rodge a couple of weeks ago and I was in the Green Room with fucking Bianca Gascoigne – she’s famous because she’s a pair of tits – and her and that other fucking stop-out Chantelle are in awe of me, you know what I mean? Because I’ve actually achieved something. All they have is their looks and a pair of tits.
Well, if you go abroad you wouldn’t have to deal with the Irish papers anymore...
The Sun chasing me around the place, wondering: ‘Who’s Kenny fucking riding now?’ Who cares? Let them think I’m a mad whore! If I was riding half the women that they fucking say I’m riding, you know yourself, I’m doing well there! They’re on that Bebo thing – taking pictures off Bebo – and putting them in the papers and all. I’d be in town on a night out and you’d take a photo, saying, ‘Well done!’ And I’d smile for the photo and the next day it’s in the paper saying, ‘Kenny Egan and his new girlfriend!’ And I’m saying, ‘What the fuck is going on here?’ I actually got a new number. I had the same mobile number for eight years and I basically had to switch it. I got a phone-call off some crowd – a radio station – they were saying, ‘Howya doing, Kenny. This is such and such...’ ‘How did you get my number?’ And they hung up on me! You know, all this kind of shite.
Somebody said to me that you get gold-diggers throwing themselves at you – except you don’t have the gold!
All they want to be is in the paper! I talk to them – it would be rude not to – and then I just give them a wide berth. But the other funny thing is, everybody thinks I’m a millionaire now. I’m on the same wage as I was before the Games. Grants. We get the sport grant off the Irish Sports Council. I’m just famous – I’m not fucking rich! They thought I was a millionaire when I got off the plane. I’m not a fucking millionaire! I still have the same fucking money as I had before the Games,which is fuck all!
You make it sound like you’d probably make more in McDonald’s...
You probably would. At the same time, it’s not about the money. It’s about the sport. I wanted to go to the Olympic Games. I didn’t give a fuck if I was on buttons, you know what I mean? Sure, I’m still living at home here with me mother. I’m 26 now. But it’s all about readies at the end of the day, isn’t it? I’m thinking that I’ve reached the highest accolade in amateur boxing, which is an Olympic final.
Did being in the media spotlight put too much of a strain on your relationship with your ex-girlfriend? Is that why you split up?
It was, yeah. It was just too much because she has a little daughter from a previous relationship – and they were hiding outside her house and all, waiting on her. I drove up just to, more and less, to run them off. I had to ring the Gardai to get them removed. And they took a photo of me on the phone, saying that I was ringing her – but I was ringing the Guards! I just said, ‘Look, the two of us are going to have to have a break here because I don’t want them boys up there annoying you.’ It was grand then – it dwindled out. We're still on talking terms; we’re still friends and everything but, in regards to a relationship, it’s finished. We were together a year and 10 months, I think.
Do you have to be careful where you go these days?
It was Diva – my local nightclub – but that’s out the window now. I can’t go there anymore. It’s Krystle now and fucking Renards and stuff like that, you know? All the fancy places.
Why is that?
Sure, over in Diva I can’t piss crooked! People are staring at you and they’re pointing at you. Coming over with beer mats and looking for autographs. It’s a fucking disaster! At the same time, I go up to my local, in Boomers, and all the lads at the bar just know me for who I am before I won the medal – it’s great crack. They slag me every time I’m in the paper. When I walk into the local, I’m still hanging around with the lads that I hung around with 20 years ago. And that’s not going to change either. OK, you have all these celebs and actors and all that carry-on shaking your hand, but before that, if you'd walked into a room they wouldn’t even look at you. I walk into a room and all they want to see is the medal. They don’t want to see me at all! It's ‘Where’s the medal? Where’s the medal?’
How do you feel when that happens?
I don’t give a fuck. I just laugh.
So you’re hobnobbing with celebrities these days. That must be fun!
It’s gas sitting down with celebrities but, at the end of the day, they’re only normal people as well. I’d sit down and I’d have fucking great crack with them altogether. I was out last night talking to Twink – the mad thing! I had some great crack with her. She’s fucking sound! I was telling her about the fucking phone calls she made – did you hear them on the internet? – I said that was just perfect! It was brilliant.
I bet you never have to buy a drink these days!
Free drink all over the shop! Champagne with strawberries and all on top!
If you do stay in amateur boxing and remain in Ireland, would you be fearful that you’d be constantly splashed all over the papers for the next four years?
I know – stop! They won’t even let me go to the fucking toilet without people talking about me. That’s another thing that’s actually turning me off staying around here, you know? I’m in The Sun this morning with fucking Rosanna Davison. It’s talking about ‘Wesley is fucking not going to be a happy camper’ and all this carry on. I was out last night at a charity thing, you know? I posed for a photo with Rosanna and now they’re after saying, ‘Wesley is not going to be too happy’, and all this kind of shite. The Sun – ‘How is fucking Wesley going to cope with this carry on? Fucking Kenny Egan is all over Rosanna!’ All this carry on. Fucking madness!
Do you get drunken lads acting the hard man and trying to start fights with you?
To be honest with you, I haven’t got any of that yet. It’s strange, isn’t it? I actually get respect. I’m after doing the country proud. That’s one thing I haven’t got yet – people coming up and looking for rows or anything like that; it’s more, ‘Well done! Fair fuck’s to you! You were robbed! Or this, that or the other’. I haven’t got any of that aggro yet. That’s the last thing I want to be doing now – fighting on the streets.
Do you listen to music when you’re working out?
I do. I listen to Coldplay’s new album. In fact, ‘Viva La Vida’ – that’s the song I listened to before I went out to fight in the Games. Every day. I had an iPhone at the time and an old speaker system with me. I’d have a listen to that tune – the lyrics and everything were perfect. I’d listen to it once, get the gear ready and out the door.
What other stuff do you listen to?
The Killers. Their new album is very good. Snow Patrol. Mundy as well. Very good. I went to see him in The Academy. The Blizzards are very good. The Coronas as well. They're actually on the DVD. They have a song on the end of it, ‘Heroes And Ghosts’. A good old tune. Fair play to them – I got that tune off them for nothing as well. A great fucking bunch of lads.
Have you met any of your boxing idols?
I’ve met George Foreman. Ali. Frazier. I’ve met them all, you know? I was out with Padraig Harrington at the start of the year – out to his house. Jimmy Magee told me to go out and chat to him about fucking medals and preparation and everything else. So, I went out and had a chat with him and I gave him a few tips – and he went off then to win two fucking majors!

Kenny Egan – Back From Beijing is out now on Warners