Richard Farnan: A Boxing Coach on the Rise

By Ian Kerr

Sometimes in boxing, as a coach its difficult to get the recognition you deserve, unless you are at the top of course. Getting to the top in any sport is an almost impossible task.

So how do you do it? Where do you start? Your going to ask yourself these questions and believe me, to find the answers is hard enough, you have won the mental battle and believe you can do it?

I would like to talk to you about someone.

After a busy evening at the o2 arena London I caught up with U.K boxing coach Richard Farnan. I will be honest Richard who? After a 25 minute conversation I would like to tell you about one of the “New Breed” of coaches.

That evening Richard 42, was in the dressing room of Daniel Estrada ahead of a world title eliminator with Kevin Mitchell. Why was he in there? Learning from the best of course. Watching every move of Nacho Beristáin and Juan Manuel Marquez, quizzing them on every intimate detail on how they were getting their fighter ready to get a shot at the world title, even down to how Nacho wraps hands.

This is a long way from when Richard considered turning professional as a boxer after just 16 amateur bouts. He trained hard and the BBC agreed to assess Richard for his license. Ironically he declined and chose family life. We all know and hear all the time the dedication it takes to make it as a professional boxer.

Richard couldn’t walk away from the sport he has loved all his life but also didn’t want to risk family relationships or commitments, so decided to help out with the coaching side of things as an assistant head coach with the RAF. That should keep him involved and free up more time. Oh how wrong he was.

1 southern area ABA champion, 6 Lord Wakefield Champions and 5 runners up later, Richard and head coach Richie Lewis compiled the most successful team in RAF boxing history. Spending more time dedicating himself to every fighter than he ever would have done as a boxer. But he couldn’t stop, he had the knack, the bug!

Richard made the best decision of his life and went alone as a coach. Entering into the professional ranks with a blank canvass to work with. How can He improve as a coach? Well it doesn’t get any better than working with Rob McCraken and his staff at team GB, or does it? So how can he learn more to pass on to fighters? Go to America and work with Roger Mayweather? Yup, he sure did! Learning from the very best of the best. To this day Richard has an open invite to work with his fighters in one of, if not the best gym in the world.

So where is Richard at now? Well very nearly a world title shot with his then fighter Kelvin Young in America Vs Donovan George.

It fell through, George failed a drug test. Farnan himself felt for George as the failure was due to an injection given by a doctor for a hand injury. This incident is happens far to often in sport.

There is a new light however in the name of Tariq Quaddus. Richard holds him in the highest regard. Why wouldn’t he? I believe with Tariq’s ability and Richards knowledge they are the perfect team. Tariq continues to impress fight after fight.

Richard in the not too distant future wants to have a training camp in the U.S with Tariq and is currently looking for sponsorship.

“Team” is the word rarely associated with boxing, many people think when the bell goes your alone as a fighter. NEVER!

So, from a short conversation I believe Richard Farnan will never stop until he is at the top and will have got there from the very bottom.

His dream is to own his own gym in the US or work at either of the top stables, I can personally see this happening in the future for a man that never stops.