TO succeed at the abnormal art of matchmaking — whether it’s arranging fights or marriages — requires creativity ingenuity, inspiration and judgement.
Frank Warren, in his 40 years as a top promoter, never feared innovation and he has just appointed three men to share responsibility of choosing the opponents for his 80 boxers.
Steve Furness, Errol Johnson and Neil Bowers may be unknown to fans but they have the most important and thankless task in boxing.
The decisions matchmakers come to are vital. Their main objective is to carefully nurture a youngster’s talent by providing competitive opposition without endangering them.
It isn’t as easy as it sounds. The stress factor is high as a false move can lead to a kid getting a beating, which can ruin a career in a night.
Warren admitted: “There’s no doubt matchmaking is by far the worst job in boxing.
“But I have full confidence the men we have selected will guide the careers of guys like Daniel Dubois, with care and intelligence.”
So what makes a matchmaker?
The great Teddy Brenner, who made the matches at Madison Square Garden for 14 years, had a simple philosophy.
Would it be a good action fight? Does the winner go into something important and would I pay to see it?
Bobby Goodman, who took over from Brenner, said: “The most satisfying thing being a matchmaker is to take a kid out of the amateurs and develop him to being a champion and part of history.”
Bruce Trampler is still one of the best in the business and has been working with Bob Arum for more than 40 years.
He said: “How is it normal to persuade two people to punch each other in the head in front of an audience.”
Carl Moretti, another veteran, said: “At times it’s easier to get a bill through Congress than make a fight.”
Mickey Duff is seen as the greatest of Britain’s matchmakers.
He was the mastermind behind 19 of our world champs — ensuring Frank Bruno, John Conteh, John H Stracey, Lloyd Honeyghan and Barry McGuigan did not suffer too much en route to glory.
It wasn’t generally known that Duff was so good Madison Square Garden made him a lucrative offer to match for them but he did not want to live in New York.
His friend Jim Jacobs, who managed Mike Tyson got Mickey to select a teen Tyson’s early opponents.
But Duff was far from infallible. When up-and-coming Terry Downes had his third pro fight, Mickey brought in an unknown Nigerian to give him a decent workout.
That unknown Nigerian happened to be Dick Tiger, who went on to become world middleweight and light-heavyweight champion.
Downes hit the canvas three times and was stopped in the sixth round.
Terry, who also went on to win the world middleweight crown, when asked who he would like to fight next memorably remarked: “That bleeding matchmaker.”
Successful matchmakers are gold dust and few who have hit the heights like Brenner and Duff.
Mickey, who died six years ago, didn’t rate many of his rivals. He would sneer: “Most of them couldn’t manage the cheeks of their a****.”
