IT was an anthem that doomed youth and Graham McCormack heard it so often he believed it.
Teachers, coppers, judges… they all said the same thing: “You’re nothing, you’ll always be nothing”.
He spent his teens and his 20s drunk or high or in prison and one night he walked out across the Shannon Bridge in his native Limerick determined to end it all.
Staring into the water, he prepared to jump and then a friend came along and talked him down.
That step off the bridge was the first stride on a remarkable journey that has led McCormack to sobriety, marriage, employment and fatherhood and it will lead him to Belfast’s SSE Arena on Saturday night where he defends his BUI Celtic middleweight title against Armagh’s up-and-coming battler Fearghus Quinn.
The fighters who’ll share the ring have had taken contrasting routes to it. 26-year-old Quinn is a former Orchard County GAA star and a Queen’s University graduate whose professional career began in 2020.
McCormack, nine years’ older than the Belleeks native, made his pro debut less than three years earlier. He is 8-1 now and won the BUI Celtic title with a points win over Dominic Donegan at the Europa Hotel in June.
You can bet he wants to hold on to that belt.
“I want the best fights and this is the best fight that could be made at this time,” said McCormack with edgy enthusiasm.
“He’s a very young and hungry dangerous fighter but I’m a hungry fighter. I’m dangerous and I’m going up to Belfast to win and if he doesn’t get that then he’s in for some shock on Saturday night.”
Michael Conlan headlines at the SSE Arena and there are WBO European title challenges for Sean McComb and Tyrone McKenna as well as the homecoming of IBO light-heavyweight king Pody McCrory.
But McCormack-Quinn could be the fight of the night.
“I’ve been doubted all my life,” said McCormack.
“I’ve been the underdog all my life. I didn’t turn pro until I was 30 and all through my 20s I was in and out of jail and I was drinking and drugging. I turned my life around, I got off the drink and the drugs and I got boxing back.
“I’m older than these guys but I’m still fresh. I wasn’t doing much in my 20s only criminality so I’m fresh for my age, I’m very fit and I train very hard. If anyone is looking at me thinking: ‘He’s 35, he’s over the hill, again, they’re in for a shock.
“I do think they are looking past me and that will be their demise. They’re not giving me respect but I’m used to being the underdog, I have that mentality and I thrive on it. It makes me work harder and it’ll make the win a lot more enjoyable.”
From the wrong side of the tracks in Limerick, looking back he says what he regarded as normality at the time was a “crazy life”. He took up boxing at 15 but binges and prison sentences meant he was never a regular in the gym.
At 28, he came to a point when “enough was enough” and now he is a married man with a young family to fight for.
“I tried to commit suicide and I didn’t succeed and I knew it was time for change,” he said.
“Luckily for me, I did change and I’m six years’ away from crime and drink and drugs. It could have went the other way and that’s why I fight, I fight to show people that there’s always another way in life, there’s another chance and it’s up to you to change.
“I was absolutely destroyed and I thought I had no way out and six years’ later I’m BUI Celtic champion, I’ve a job, I’m married to a beautiful woman and we have beautiful kids.
“Fighting is all I know. I’m fighting since the day I was born, I wasn’t even supposed to survive when I was a baby! So I’ll be getting into that ring on Saturday night like a bull to show what fighting can do for people.
“If he thinks he’s beating me, he’d better think again. I’ve nothing bad to say about Fearghus Quinn, I don’t know him but I’ve had a look at his fights, I know what kind of fighter he is and we’re 150 per cent confident that I’ll come out with the win.”
