SO THERE we all were: The champ, the Crockers, the Lord Mayor, the happy couple, the Somalians, the journalists, assorted tourists…
Sometimes you have to stand back and just marvel as it unfolds before your eyes.
You know, life’s rich pageantry and all that.
Last Tuesday lunchtime it was there in all its glory.
I dandered over to Belfast City Hall expecting a few speeches, a few handshakes and maybe a sandwich and a cocktail sausage or two.
Lewis Crocker, the new IBF champion of the world, was being welcomed to city hall by the Lord Mayor Tracy Kelly. Great stuff, the red carpet out, but I was expecting it to be quite a formal occasion.
How wrong I was and not because there were huge crowds there, or fireworks, or pomp and ceremony. No, it was the marvellous, down-to-earth and natural off-the-cuff brilliance of the whole thing – such a variety of people who just happened to be there at the same time - that amazed me.
Let’s start with the man himself, Lewis Crocker.
The new welterweight champion truly is as ‘Belfast’ as Mickey Marley’s roundabout. He’s an absolutely unmistakable product of the city that made him and which now celebrates him.
A little shy maybe, he’s a genuine and humble guy. When he was doing an interview before the first Paddy Donovan fight, the word he was searching for wouldn’t come to him. He turned to me and asked: “WHAT’S ’AT ’HING?”
I suggested a word and, with his trademark broad grin breaking out, he went with it.
“AYE, THAT’S IT…
And on he went with the interview.
He is one of those boxing stories unique to Belfast. Born and bred in Sandy Row, he travelled across the traditional divide to box out of Holy Trinity ABC in nationalist Turf Lodge and went on to become an Irish international.
They love him and cherish him at Holy Trinity and were cheering last Saturday night when he won the title at Windsor Park.
It was tight in there against Paddy Donovan. Crocker had his man down twice but I have to admit I thought the decision could have gone the other way.
At the same time there were plenty of good judges who agreed with the verdict of the officials at ringside. Crocker had a gameplan, he stuck to it and he won. I have seen home-town decisions in fights in Belfast and this certainly wasn’t one of them.
I hope and expect Paddy Donovan to have his time before too long but this is Crocker’s time and his story has come bubbling out this week.
His proud parents, Ricky and Bonnie, were with him at City Hall. They’re not people for the limelight but after some gentle persuasion they agreed to give us a few words. They’d probably be the last people to say this, but what an inspiration they are for any parent: Support your children, make sacrifices so they can chase their dreams, be there to pick them up when they fall, encourage them to never give up. Keep telling them that, if they work hard, they’ll get there.
“We’re just normal people like the people from the Falls, or Ardoyne, or wherever,” said Ricky.
“This shows you that if you have a dream where you want to go in life, you can do it. Any kid out there, I’d encourage you, if you have a dream please just go for it. You’ll have ups and down but, in the end, it’ll work out for you.”
It’s not like he was crossing the world, but I’m sure the Crocker family had some early reservations about their son going to Turf Lodge to box. Just like parents from Turf Lodge would have had initial concerns about sending their child to play sport in Sandy Row.
Crocker’s story shows that so often there is nothing to fear. Talking, getting to know people wherever they’re from is the way to break down barriers. One thing about boxing – and GAA is the same – is that it’s accessible to all families, low-income or otherwise, and I hope that is always the case.
A shower of rain meant we had to go into the City Hall and the first people we met in there were three young fellas who had crossed the world.
They were from Somalia and were just having a look round the place. I’m not sure they were avid boxing fans but they were delighted to stand with the champ and get their pictures taken.
Crocker had the night of his life on Saturday night and, also in City Hall, there happened to be a couple who were having the day of their lives.
‘Marry in haste, repent at leisure,’ they say but that can’t be applied to these newly-weds because they had been going out together for almost four decades before they decided to tie the knot and, just their luck, they got to meet the champ while they were at it. They should have done it years ago!
“We’ve been courting for 39 years and we decided to get married,” said smiling groom Eddie Wathey.
“And what brought this on,” I asked.
“His pension,” said bride Patricia-Marie Myers with a giggle before they left for a reception and a drink or two at their local in Crumlin.
“We didn’t expect to meet Lewis Crocker. My daughters (the bridesmaids) said: ‘You couldn’t have picked a better day’.
“He’s lovely, we had a photograph taken with him. He’s a lovely, lovely man.”
So there we all were.
Lewis Crocker has that same down-to-earth Norn Iron personality and charisma that Carl Frampton charmed us with during his fighting days. Like Frampton, Crocker is a people person and he’s able to meet and talk to anyone.
Will he achieve what Frampton did?
That remains to be seen but one thing is for sure: Belfast has a new champion, let’s all get behind him.
