Ex Professional boxer Willie Quinn was a big crowd puller in the 90’s both inside and outside the boxing ring, at one time he had more followers than Geronimo. Willie hung up his gloves in 2001, his trademark was making a T sign with one glove touching the other forearm that would send his fans into a frenzy, he was better known as Willie ‘The Mighty’ Quinn.
Let me take you back to the winter of 1997, January the 18th to be precise. Willie travelled down to Derbyshire, England, with hoards of his loyal fans also making the trip south and the prize at stake was the British Middleweight Title. Willie had come a long way in the pro ranks and had earned his right to fight for the Lonsdale Belt. Green Bank Leisure Centre, Swadlincote was the venue and the formidable opponent standing in front of 24 year old Willie was British Champion Neville Brown who held the Lonsdale belt outright. However, this was not the only obstacle Willie had to overcome on that winter’s night hundreds of miles away from his hometown of Tranent in East Lothian. His wee brother Tommy was 21 years old, whose record stood at a perfect 8-0, was also fighting on the undercard. Tommy suffered a severe blow during his fight and had to be treated in the ring by doctors for 12 minutes, he was put on a drip and given oxygen as they rushed Willie’s younger brother to hospital, Willie says, “My brother got knocked unconscious, he was in a coma, it was a really nasty one”. No one will ever know what affect this truly had on him, Willie stared god in the face of adversity, but I asked him, “I had been training hard all through Christmas, there were a lot of people down to support me and I didn’t want to let them down but what had happened to Tommy was always on my mind”. I remember the fight well, Willie looked very anxious before the bell sounded and when the bell rang Willie ‘The Mighty’ Quinn looked more intent on taking Brown out with a single shot as opposed to boxing him, in the 3rd round Willie hit Brown with a devastating punch that scattered him over the canvas and onto his back and for that moment it looked like Brown would not make it back up for the count but using elbows and sheer determination he just made it back onto his feet to beat the count of 10. Willie had produced a titanic effort in the first three rounds that by the fourth he had little to offer and the referee stopped the fight in favour of Brown who had come out looking rejuvenated after a minute on his stool. Willie Quinn was a mere second or two away from becoming British Champion but more to the point his brother Tommy made a full recovery.
I’m taking you further back to the year of 1985 where Willie and I boxed for the same amateur club Haddington ABC, the club originally started in a hall above the British Legion in the heart of the town then moved to the old unused Co-Operative store and that’s where I remember Willie from. He was the smartest dressed boxer I’d ever seen coming to training, Boss jeans, Boss shirt, Boss jacket and even Boss aftershave, young Willie liked to look after himself; he looked naturally comfortable in the boxing ring and trained as hard as anyone at the club.
Back then Willie openly admits he was a ladies’ man, as he likes to put it; he played rugby but was not really interested in football or any other sport for that matter. He could handle himself on the street and had a reputation, he said, “I was always the tough nut, I was known as the tough laddie from Tranent”, his father Tommy spotted this and took him to Haddington ABC three times a week, that’s where he became friends with Stephen Wilson, a man who went on to become an Olympian, representing Great Britain in Barcelona, and as a professional lost to Joe Calzaghe for the British Title. Willie would sometimes concede up to a stone in weight to do exhibitions with Stephen as amateurs when they could not get an opponent to fight.
Barry McGuigan was Willie’s childhood hero but his biggest influence was the Rocky films, he said, “I always watched the Rocky movies, this drove me to train harder and I still watch them to this day. They are such great movies, this made me train harder to be the best”, incidentally Willie’s favourite movie is Rocky III with Hulk Hogan in it, I did not even touch on the subject of Rocky IV. His all-time favourite boxer is Sugar Ray Leonard.
Willie had 50 amateur contests and fought for his country a number of times and had been Scottish Amateur Champion but fighting for trophies was no longer an attainable pleasure so the idea of fighting for money was the way forward and on the 9th October 1991 Willie made his professional debut at The St Andrews Sporting Club in Glasgow, losing on points to a more experienced opponent Mark Jay, however, Willie avenged this defeat by way of TKO in the 1st round on the 21st November 1994 at the Magnum Centre, Irvine, Scotland. Back in those days Willie had to travel to Glasgow for training after a hard days graft.
Willie has particular fond memories of working with trainers such as George Borden and Peter Harrison, who helped Willie go on to become WBO Inter-Continental Middleweight Champion on the 1st of June 1995 beating England’s Paul Busby by TKO in the 8th round. Willie went on to say, “I think winning the WBO Inter-Continental Title in Musselburgh was the highlight of my career, this put me in line for a World Title shot, and I was now rated No 3 or 4 in the world at the time. I had packed in my job and was lucky enough to get good sponsorship by a local taxi firm, Andy Nailor helped with travel, money wasn’t a problem at this time and this allowed me to fully concentrate on my career”. By this time Willie performed to capacity crowds and marching round the ring arousing his fans by making a T sign with his arms followed by his mate holding the St Andrew’s cross high above his head, the crowd went berserk singing his entrance song with uncontrollable excitement. There were even rumours that Willie was in line to get a crack at WBO World Champion, Steve Collins.
The Mighty went on an unbeaten winning streak of 19 wins with 12 inside the distance, I asked Willie about this, he said, “My career was getting better and I had a bigger following as the years went on. When you start winning, moving up the rankings and getting closer to a title shot it’s a great feeling, I was training really hard, twice a day, five days a week”. Willie used to spar with the likes of World Champions in Nigel Benn and Steve Collins, Nigel Benn even came up to Scotland to meet him.
Neville Brown ended Willie’s unbeaten run, he won his next three fights and lost in an eliminator for the British Title to Sven Hamer. Willie did go on to win the Scottish Super-Middleweight title against Jason Barker in Glasgow by way of TKO in the 4th round, he said, “I was proud to be Scottish Champion and it put me back up in the ratings”. This opened the door for Willie to get a shot at the British and Commonwealth Champion David Starie but it was not to be for The Mighty, he ended his career with a rematch against Jason Barker by stopping him in the 2nd round at the Kelvin Hall in Glasgow.
I asked Willie about his toughest fight and he went on to say, “I fought Giovanni Pretorius in South Africa, he had fought Robin Reid for the WBC Championship of the World and was rated No 2 by the IBF. I had to come down to Middleweight, this was a whole different experience, I had no support from the crowd, it was like being thrown into the lion’s den, I lost on a split decision but felt like I got robbed”.
I asked Willie what advice he would give to young amateurs or professionals today, he replied, “My advice would be to turn pro at the right time and make sure you’re looked after well, the professional game can be cruel so you have to look after No 1”.
Willie was asked to strip for charity and someone took pictures of him that ended up in The News of The World, he said “I thought why not, it was for charity but before I knew it I had started a wee agency and it was a good laugh at the time”.
These days Willie puts on as much clothes as he can because he works off the north coast of Scotland as an oil rigger but he still works out hard and actually looks bigger and better than when he was a boxer, that’s dedication.
The Mighty Quinn Professional Boxing Record Stands, 28-5, and three of the contests were for British and Commonwealth Titles.
Willie has been in the lion’s den, he’s stared god in the face of adversity but got married last year to a beautiful model Gillian, so in the end Willie really did win; you ain’t seen nothing like The Mighty Quinn.
By Raymond Fraser Buchanan
Willie ‘The Mighty’ Quinn Entrance Song, you need to close your eyes and imagine a capacity crowd singing this as you enter the ring. Please click HERE.
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