Tony Bates had his first scrap on the streets of Clondalkin, a working class suburb of Dublin.
“It wasn’t a nice place”, he recalls.
“Run down, full of council estates. You grow up quick there. Your mates go drinking and smoking from a young age. Kids are always fighting.”
It was there the tall, soft-spoken fighter earned the nickname, the Irish Psycho.
“They called me that because my last name is Bates – as in, Norman”, he says, but admits, “I used to be hot-headed.
I got disqualified a few times for doing silly things.”
Mr Bates, 24, has come a long way – he is undefeated after four professional fights, and training intensely for his fifth on Friday, April 6, against Queensland’s Robert Parker.
Until three years ago, he was working as an electrician in Ireland.
But then the economy turned and jobs began to dry up. “I had enough of Dublin. Nothing was happening there. I was stuck in a rut.”
So he fought his way out, following some mates to Australia, labouring and picking up electrician jobs.
Sydney gave him a new start. “It’s a different way of living, of looking after yourself.
People are decent here,” he said.
He had fought as an amateur in Dublin and began to frequent gyms in Sydney where he won amateur bouts convincingly against the best in Australia.
Pretty soon he was training with Jeff Fenech and Garth Woods, and was approached by the world-renowned trainer Billy Hussein.
Mr Bates turned professional late last year.
“Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been told that I’ve got that mongrel in me … I get hit and I want to smash them back hard,” he said.
Natural aggression makes for exciting fights, but can be a liability.
“Professional fighting is a mental game,” he said, “You can’t rush in.
You have to play a poker face, overlook their shot.
You need to channel your aggression.”
Mr Hussein, his trainer, said the young boxer has shown great improvement.
“Tony is very easy to work with, very open to learning. He has dedicated his life to boxing, and he has the will to win.”
Should he beat Mr Parker on Friday, April 6 at The Orion Function Centre in Campsie, Mr Hussein said his fighter will be one step closer to his goal: “contesting for a state title, and then to be Australian champion by the end of the year.”
For now, Mr Bates just counts himself “blessed from God” to have escaped the fate of so many hottempered kids from Clondalkin. “I’m not just working and sitting in the pub on weekends.
I couldn’t do that. I want to achieve something.”
By Michael Safi
