On Thursday 16 November 2017, former WBA lightweight world champion boxer Anthony Crolla launched his book, Good Guys Can Win, at an exclusive meet and greet event at Morson head office in Salford. The event was attended by over 30 competition winners and members of the local and national press. During the event, which happened to take place on his birthday, Crolla signed books for his fans and took part in a Q&A session.
The Morson head office was a fitting location for the launch of the book. Morson, along with CEO Ged Mason, have had a long history of sponsorship with Crolla from his earliest days. He was asked about Morson during the Q&A session:
“In any fighter’s career, supporting them to help them become full-time professionals and I know without people like Ged, I wouldn’t have been able to put petrol in the tank or buy certain equipment. There’s an awful lot of people who are in the position to help people but they don’t. Ged is one of the good guys.” Crolla said.
When asked what the best piece of advice Ged had ever given him was, Crolla smiled. “Every time he tells me something about my diet it’s about eating raw meat – I’ve never eaten raw meat in my life but I think I just go along with it now – yeah I’m on the raw meat!”
While of course he has boxing heroes, one audience question asked about his idols outside of the sport. For Manchester United fan Crolla, there was only one answer.
“Eric Cantona. The king. He was like my childhood hero. Scholsey is another one of my favourites, I’ve been lucky enough to play alongside him in charity matches – what a guy as well – but for me it’s King Eric.”
Coming Back
The subject of coming back from defeats in sport is something we’ve covered in our Sales Sharks #CareerGoals features and it was again the subject here. A guest asked Anthony about a defeat in 2012 and how he came back from that to get to world champion level.
“Hard work. Hard work and knowing that I had to change a few things. That night was a blessing in disguise, I cringe watching it now. After the fight I went back to my parents house and knew I had to change things and improve.”
Anthony Crolla’s book, co-written with eminent sports journalist and radio presenter Dominic McGuinness, hit shelves on Friday 17 November. Buy it here
