Burke's Law

"Rule number one: don’t believe anything you read. Rule number two: only believe half of what you see. Rule number three: believe everything I tell you and you won’t go wrong."

Paul Burke, Preston's one and only British and Commonwealth boxing champion, recited those three rules like somebody who has repeated them many times. Although his answer wore a cheeky grin, it was obvious the question posed to him was one he felt uneasy about. Understandable really.

The question was about the lightweight champion's 1997 fight with Zambian boxer, Felix Bwalya, who died two days after the controversial match. Media reports of the incident are conflicting and varied. The BBC website categorises the fight under 'Boxing's deadly toll,' whilst other websites blame Bwalya's celebratory binge drinking after winning the fight. With the controversy that surrounds the sport, it is easy to see how the media have jumped on the story, eager to blame boxing's deadly image.

"I'm a fighter. I get knocked down and I get back up again."

Malaria killed Felix Bwalya. Paul Burke is adamant about that. "He died because of the inadequacies of the country and the medical staff. He shouldn't have been boxing if he had malaria. There wasn’t even a doctor there after the match."

The dad-of-five told of how a young student was plucked from the crowd to put four stitches into his eye after the match in Zambia: "I went outside and I said 'has anyone got the balls to put stitches in my eye?' The lad who was pushed forwards was only young. I couldn't believe there wasn't a doctor."

"I felt so fortunate it wasn't me in that country," he added.

After Bwalya died, Burke was asked to appear on Sky Sports as a guest. "They just wanted an emotional reaction from me, tears and everything, in the name of entertainment and that really annoyed me."

Now the 42 year-old is unfazed by the media's scrutinising eyes. "I'm a fighter. I get knocked down and I get back up again," he says with incredible optimism.

And that's the thing with Burke. He is optimistic about everything. "My glass is always half full. I always turn a negative into a positive. Life's too short."

Burke punches the air in victory

He says his 'half-full glass' makes him a better boxer than he ever has been. Even after retiring from boxing in 1999 after "falling out of love" with it, he feels a changed man and is ready to show everyone exactly what he's made of once again.

He's just started training again and does sparring at Larches and Savick Amateur Boxing Club. He's adamant, however, he doesn't want to be a professional again even though he admits he thinks about it "every day for about three seconds." Next year he dreams of owning a boxing academy so he can work with kids and teach them what he knows. He admits even though he doesn't feel the passion he once felt for boxing, it will always be there urging him to reach for the gloves.

"You don't fight your opponent. You're fighting the board, the trainers..."

"I've never really stopped boxing. It's always been in my blood. I talk about it, I read about it, I buy all the magazines and watch it on the television."

Why, then, did he retire from being a professional?

"You don’t fight your opponent. You’re fighting the board, the trainers. It’s all about the money. That’s life but you’re constantly battling against board officials, dodgy promoters. They are all trained to work against you. The boxer loses out. My promoter was also the manager of one guy I fought. How can you promote two fighters? He wasn’t bothered about my interests."

Burke also spoke about the way in which he was forced to change as a boxer. Confidence and bravado are two of the things boxers often show in the ring. In 1993 he won the British and Commonwealth Lightweight Championship in a match he "wasn't supposed to have won." He said the odds were stacked against him in his fight with Irish champion Eamonn Magee aka The Terminator.

"Of course I expected to win," he grinned. "When we pulled into the hotel from the taxi he was stood there being interviewed on tv. My manager pushed me out the door, the taxi had barely stopped and I was running towards him and I interrupted the interview, shook his hand, and said I’m going to take the title off you tonight and he was speechless. Then I just walked off but that was my manager’s fault because that’s not really me and he was pushing me into being like that. It was all bravado and that’s the thing about boxing. It’s all bravado."

Although he says it isn't him, Burke's 'be-the-best' coaching is embedded in him. Not that it's a bad thing. "I want to be the best at everything I can do," he admits. And why the hell not?

He's a fighter and always will be. He's been knocked down before but now he's stronger than ever. As Burke prepares to slip his eagerly waiting boxing gloves back on, we can be certain we'll be seeing much more of him back in Preston's boxing scene again.