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Michael Brodie


BoztheMadman
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Michael "Mikie" Brodie was probably the best super bantamweight of his time in Britain and one of their best featherweights as well. He captured the European title and made 5 defenses of it, which was his most successful and distinguished time as a fighter. He then had a close call at capturing a world title there, but lost by a close majority decision. Brodie was a good technician who also had power and was a tough cookie as well, but after suffering a devastating knockout loss to In-Jin Chi, he would never be the same again and his punch resistance seemed to weaken.

 

A Manchester lad, born and bred, Brodie was born on May 10 1974. He grew up in a part of the city called Miles Platting, a rough area, but always managed to stay out of trouble. His mother died of cancer when he was 15 and his slightly older brother David had to resume that role for Michael. His parents were of different races. He fought as an amateur but obviously not very long, before turning pro in 1994, managed by Jack Trickett. He won his first 18 fights with relative ease,12 by ko, before he was matched against Neil Swain for the vacant British super bantam title on March 22 1997. Brodie halted the Welshman Swain by TKO10 to lift his first belt at home in Whytenshawe Forum. He then defended the belt for the first time against Wilson Docherty from Glasgow and Brodie had to go to his opponent's home ground since also the vacant Commonwealth title was at stake. It was on November 1 in Kelvin Hall when Brodie impressively beat Docherty by KO4 to win a second belt. Next year on January 31 he defended both belts against the undefeated Brian Carr, another Glaswegian. The fight went to the tenth round when Carr could not go on because of a cut and Brodie was victorious by TKO. After vacating the British belt, Brodie defended the Commonwealth one for the last time against Simon Ramoni of South Africa. But before that fight, Brodie almost quit boxing after witnessing fellow boxer Spencer Oliver get brutally stopped in a fight against Sergey Devakov, whom he would soon face himself. Anyhow, Brodie went on to defend against Ramoni and win by UD, only 3 weeks after the Oliver-Devakov fight. In his next fight, he found himself fighting Devakov, the Ukrainian that nearly claimed his friend's life, for the European title. It was October 17 at the Bowlers Exhibition Centre in Manchester and Brodie went on to win by a clear unanimous decision. It was his greatest triumph.

 

His first defense was against the French Salim Medjkoune, who was 29-1 and had previously briefly held the European title. Brodie was again impressive and stopped him by TKO9. He made his second defense against another Frenchman, Serge Poilblan, this time by TKO12. He then took on Drew Docherty, brother of Wilson, and knocked him out clean in 6 rounds. He had a rematch with Medjkoune and again won by TKO9 before making his fifth and last defense of the Euro belt by KO4 against Mustapha Hame. He was now 29-0 and on the threshold of a world title fight. On September 9 2000, he faced the Californian-Mexican Willie Jorrin for the vacant WBC title, at the Bowlers Exhibition Centre. The fight was close, but Brodie suffered a knockdown for the first time in his career in round 10 and consequently lost by a close majority decision. After his first defeat, he decided to leave the 122-division and went up to featherweight. Standing 5'6 and with a 69-inch reach, he was a fairly standard sized featherweight, even a big one, one might say. He was initially successful in his tenure in the new division and after winning three easier fights, on May 18 2002 he beat Pastor Humberto Maurin of Argentina by UD to win the minor WBF belt. He defended it once also by UD against Luis Fuente, but then vacated the belt to fight for the IBO one against Juan Gerardo Cabrera. Again, he won by UD to pick up the somewhat more regarded belt. Finally, on October 18 2003 he got a chance to capture the same belt that eluded him 3 years ago-WBC one. Title had been declared vacant when Erik Morales, its holder, was named "Champion Emeritus". Brodie's opponent was the Korean In-Jin Chi, who had previously lost in a bid against Morales himself. Chi was back then one of the best Korean boxers. The fight took place at the M.E.N. Arena in Manchester and was a close and hotly contested battle. Brodie was unjustly deducted a point for inflincting a cut due to an accidental headbutt, but later it turned out Chi was not really cut, just grazed. After the fight went the distance, the announcer said that Chi had won by a majority decision, but a half hour later the verdict was changed to a draw after Jose Sulaiman discovered an error on one scorecard.

 

A rematch was therefore mandated and the two again faced eachother on April 10, again in M.E.N. Arena. This time there was to be no doubt about the outcome; Chi was dominant this time while Brodie looked ponderous and tired and developed a mouse over the right eye when in round 7 he got hit with a right-left and put down, unable to beat the count. Before that, Brodie was deducted a point for a headbutt which opened a cut by Chi's left eye. By the end of the fight, Brodie himself was a bloody mess and his both eyes were puffed up. This looked like the end of his career, but he gave it one more try and came back in June next year to challenge the WBO champion Scott Harrison, once again at the MEN arena. The fight between two popular British fighters drew a big crowd on the night of June 3rd. Brodie just had no chance against the stronger Scot but managed to return the fire in the early going and won at least one round before he was knocked down and out by a body punch in round 4. Brodie retired after that but once again came back in 2009. His opponent was Mark Alexander and he put Brodie down twice with body shots in rounds 1 and 3 before Brodie put him down and stopped him with a right cross in round 4 by TKO. He then challenged the much younger Anthony Crolla in a super featherweight fight and was stopped in 3 rounds, by corner retirement. He received a lot of punishment in the third round and that was the last time he would fight. Father time had told him it was time to retire for good and he did, with a record of 36 wins (24 by ko), 4 losses (3 by ko) and 1 draw.

 

Unfortunately, the Michael Brodie saga did not get a happy ending after he hung up the gloves. In 2011 he was arrested after police pulled him over and found cocaine worth of 268 thousand pounds in his car! He spent two months in a prison in Preston, but was then cleared at a trial when his co-passenger testified the cocaine belonged to him. Fortunately, that turned out alright in the end. Today he lives in Collyhurst with his partner and two children and spends his time training youngsters at the Taylor Made Gym in Newton Heath, also hoping to launch his own stable one day.

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