“YEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSS HE’S DONE IT, HE’S DONE IT. BRILLIANT, BRILLIANT, BRILLIANT, ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT” (me/Andy Lloyd, Nov 21st, 2015).

At around 11.30pm last Saturday, I yelled these words above out loud in the comfort of my living room.  In all likelihood I probably woke up my next door neighbours such was the velocity of my jubilant cheers.  This strong wave of emotion had come over me suddenly because I had just witnessed something very special on television.  I had witnessed somebody realise a dream that nearly twelve months ago seemed a million miles away from them.  The person in question was Manchester lightweight boxer Anthony ‘Million Dollar’ Crolla.  Last Saturday he beat Colombia’s Darleys Perez to become WBA world lightweight champion.  In many people’s eyes though Crolla was already a champion even before this fight, he was the ‘peoples champ’ and this is why his story is so special!

I can still remember watching Sky Sports News last December and seeing a devastating breaking news story unfold. It was reported that boxer Anthony Crolla had been attacked whilst trying to stop an attempted burglary at his next door neighbour’s house.  As the facts of the incident became clearer, the story became a very grave and serious one.  Anthony had chased these two burglars away from the house in the hope of apprehending them both.  He managed to get hold of one of them but as he did this, on his blindside the other hit Anthony over the head with a concrete slab.  He ended up with a fractured skull as well as a broken ankle in two places.

Anthony was rushed to the Royal Oldham Hospital in very serious condition.  His trainer Joe Gallagher spoke at the time how Anthony was lucky to be alive.  Joe also voiced his concerns that he may never be able to box again due to the extent of his injuries.  This dramatic story was all over the national media.  It went beyond just boxing fans who were appalled at this incident, the whole country seemed to be united in their sympathy and well wishes for Anthony.

The most heartbreaking part of this story however, was that it robbed Anthony Crolla the chance of fulfilling a lifetime’s ambition. Since the age of ten, Anthony had dreamed of becoming a world champion boxer.  After turning his boxing career around he finally had been given the chance to fight for the world title.  On January 23rd 2015, Anthony Crolla was scheduled to face WBA lightweight champion Richard Abril at the Manchester Arena.  I can recall his promoter Eddie Hearn, telling the tale about how emotional Anthony had caught upon finding out that he was going to be fighting for the world title finally.   Following this brutal attack though all such dreams of becoming a world champion were well and truly in tatters.

“Dreams do come true, if only we wish them hard enough.  You can have anything in life       if you will sacrifice everything else for it” (J.M.Barrie).

This quote by J.M.Barrie is so applicable the life of Anthony Crolla in 2015.  Whilst lying in his hospital bed he has recently revealed that he made a promise to himself back then. He promised himself that he was going to come back bigger and stronger than ever before.  This time the boxing Gods were smiling down on him because amazingly, he went on to make a full recovery from all the injuries he suffered on that fateful night.  The big one for wanting to box again was to get the all clear from the brain scan.  Once that came back fine then it was systems go for resuming his boxing career.

Slowly but surely Anthony worked tirelessly in the gym to regain his fitness and mobility.  His hard work was rewarded when promoter Eddie Hearn got him another crack at the world title.  This time the opponent was to be Darleys Perez for the WBA world lightweight belt on July 18th in Manchester. The whole nation got behind Crolla that night, the build up was incredible.

Being a fellow Mancunian, I desperately wanted Crolla to win that night however I did not think he would in all honesty.  I thought he should have had an comeback fight first to help him prepare for the tough task of facing Perez. Joe Gallagher his trainer disagreed with this and he was proved to be right.  Crolla exceeded my expectations ten-fold by delivering a career-best performance.  He was exceptional in it he truly was.  It was a close fight but at the same time it was one that Anthony clearly won.  Perez was also deducted two points for consistent low-blows so that meant Crolla definitely must have won.  The consensus post-fight was that Crolla was about to become the new WBA lightweight champion of the world.  I was ready to shout from the rooftops in celebration as the MC read the scorecards from the three judges.

I was truly gobsmacked when the result was read out as a ‘majority draw’.  I could not believe what I was watching, could not believe that Crolla did not get his much deserved fairy tale ending by becoming world champion. The crowd there were stunned like I was and rightly made their displeasure known by booing the decision. The media commentators could not believe he had not won either.  There was this sense of injustice about the whole thing, especially after all the turmoil Anthony had been through months before.  He deserved a break but simply did not get one. Many men in Anthony’s position would have acted very bitterly straight after hearing that unfair decision.  Anthony on the other hand, took it like a true gentleman though.  His face was full of disappointment but his words were humble, magnanimous and incredibly respectful.  I just remember feeling so disappointed for him.

In the immediate aftermath of their controversial first fight Crolla’s promoter Eddie Hearn appealed the decision to the WBA.  One of the judges gave it 116-111 to Crolla, with the other two scoring it a 113-113 draw. The appeal was successful and a delighted Hearn tweeted ” I cannot tell you how happy I am to announce that the @WBABoxing have ordered the rematch between @ant_crolla and Darleys Perez”.  Hearn went on to praise this decision of an immediate rematch from the WBA. Furthermore, he also believed the public outcry about the first fight had been a huge factor in the WBA coming to such a decision.

The rematch as we all know now was penciled in for Saturday November 21st 2015, again at the Manchester Arena.  If I am honest with you, then I had this nasty feeling Crolla would end up a gallant loser.  I kept thinking about when Paul Smith Jnr comprehensively lost his rematch against WBO super-middleweight champion Arthur Abraham.  The circumstances had been very similar there.  Paul Smith in many people’s eyes beat Abraham in their first fight but got an awful decision losing out there in Germany.  The rematch was a different story though.  If Abraham had taken Smith lightly in the first fight then he certainly seemed much better prepared in their rematch. Abraham was the boss in that rematch all the way through it.  Smith’s best chance it seemed was his first chance and I worried the same thing was going to be said about Crolla after his rematch. I was convinced we would see a much better Perez this time after he ever so nearly lost his title in their first encounter.  Crolla no longer either had the element of surprise in his favour for this second fight.  I desperately wanted to see Anthony Crolla fulfill his dream of becoming a world champion but I was bracing myself to be disappointed.

As the bell rang for the first round, I sat there in my chair at home feeling somewhat nauseous.  I was cold, tired and bracing myself to be gutted at watching Crolla lose.  I thought he had a big chance of winning do not get me wrong, however I did not want to believe it too much just in case it did not happen.  I guess I was sort of protecting myself emotionally.  If Anthony could win this world title after all what he has been through I thought, then it has to be one of the best sporting stories in ages.  I sooooooooo wanted his last twelve months to have a happy ending.

The first four rounds were very close.  Perez definitely seemed more purposeful in this second encounter from the start.  Nevertheless, Anthony was holding his own and I can remember him clearly winning one of these opening rounds impressively.  It looked like this could be real hard twelve round fight for both men, it looked like this was going to be one hell of a grueling WAR. The action continued into the fifth round and again the action ebbed and flowed back and forth like before……THEN BOOM……CROLLA LANDED A VICIOUS LEFT HOOK TO THE BODY AND PEREZ WAS DOWN ON THE CANVAS.

As the count got to about SIX you could tell that Perez was not going to get up in time.  SEVEN…EIGHT….Perez looked over to his corner, grimacing and shaking his head. NINE…TEN….IT WAS ALL OVER, PEREZ HAD BEEN COUNTED OUT AND ANTHONY CROLLA WAS THE NEW WBA LIGHTWEIGHT CHAMPION OF THE WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This was when I shouted out loud those words that I put start of this blog. I was over the moon, absolutely chuffed to bits that Anthony’s story finally had the happy ending that he so richly deserved. There were mass scenes of celebration in the arena afterwards as you would expect.  I loved how emotional Joe Gallagher and Eddie Hearn got in the ring afterwards.  The crowd in the arena went crazy, it felt everybody there and watching on their television sets up and down the land were thrilled to see Anthony win.  This has to be one of the best sporting stories to come along in a long time.  It is six days since this happened and I am still buzzing about it.

Since his victory Crolla has come out and said a number of interesting things in the media.    Firstly, he has forgiven the people who nearly ended his career prematurely.  He moved on along time ago he said, you cannot hold on to grudges.  The fact he has forgiven them is a true testament to the nice guy that Crolla is.  I am pretty certain I would not have been as forgiving as him. I think I would always have held some sort bitterness and anger towards these two people.

Anthony believes that it was his mental strength in particular that saw him through to winning the WBA crown last Saturday night.  For example he said,

“You can be as fit as you like but if you’re not right mentally it doesn’t count for a lot so I just had to make sure I was mentally very strong and that’s what I have done”(Gareth.A.Davies, The Telegraph, 22/11/15)

“You must never stop believing and if you never give up and you work hard then it pays off”(Gareth.A.Davies, The Telegraph, 22/11/15).

This last quote ties in nicely with my headline at the top of this piece.   You see, Anthony NEVER GAVE UP HOPE of capturing that WBA world lightweight title.  He kept believing his dream and then as last Saturday proved emphatically……..DREAMS DO COME TRUE FOR A CERTAIN PERSON CALLED ANTHONY ‘MILLION DOLLAR’ CROLLA!