Rear View Mirror – Shaun Cummins
Rear View Mirror – The tragedy of “The Guv’nor” Shaun Cummins
Tragedy can be defined by many things, circumstances, events, faults, foibles. The seedier the story, the more people want to delve into the tragedy and can be like those people who slow down at an accident to see the gore. But in those tragedies are real people, living or lost who have a story we should hear and a tale that ought to be told – especially those who have suffered due to reasons and actions over which they had neither influence nor control.
And so, I have delved into the tragedy of former professional boxer, Shaun Cummins, 22-6-1, 14 KOs who was born in Leicester in 1968. He boxed as an amateur at the Belgrave Amateur Boxing Club before turning professional in 1986. He was forced to retire, apparently, as he failed a routine brain scan after his final fight.
His was not a stunning record filled with huge nights under the lights, a litany of fight of the year contenders or the riches of a Saudi investor, in short he was not a massive presence on the boxing scene at the time … but… in his post-fight career, as a body builder, debt collector and bodyguard, there was some notoriety.
He got a 6-month prison sentence for racially abusing a doctor in July 1997 which brought him negative press. Tragedy struck him in 2004, when a motorcycle accident brought a cut on his backside which led to an infection which ended with him paralysed from the chest down, needing constant care and attention. The accident that saw him bed bound was not his fault.
So far, a tragic tale.
Then, on the 12th of September 2012, former professional fighter, Sean Cummins was found dead and in bits.
Literally. In bits.
His body had been dismembered and his unpaid carer, a man I am choosing not to name, was soon after arrested and charged with his murder. The claim that Cummins had died in his sleep and this man had panicked and decided to buy a freezer, cut up Cummins’ body and store it in there is Hollywood horror material. It’s also true,
The courts found that this man killed Cummins, then used his credit cards – the accident had brought a £400,000 settlement – and gone on a £26,000 spending spree. According to the trial, the approximate date of Cummins’ death was unable to be determined but they thought it had allowed his murderer to have 11 days of spending freedom. The tools of the dismemberment were even bought by him using the credit card he stole from Cummins.
During the trial the murderer had the gall to suggest that Cummins had been an unpleasant patient, however it was discovered the murderer had huge personal debt which was what ended up being the trigger for his spree – the murder and the spending.
It is unfortunately the story that the majority would like to read – but we have a better story to tell…
Shaun Cummins of Leicester, fought and won the WBA intercontinental super welterweight title, defended it and in his last professional fight, lost a British title fight, having lost a European title fight prior to that.
Nicknamed “The Guv’nor” Cummins’ professional career began in 1986 with a unanimous points win against Michael Justin in Loughborough. His first title fight, in 1990 he lost, when he went in against Wally Swift Jr. in Merthyr Tydfil for the Midlands super area welterweight title and was beaten by ½ a point over 10 rounds. His first title win came at the tail end of 1992 when he beat Steve Foster over 12 rounds on points for the vacant WBA intercontinental super welterweight belt. In April 1993, he defended it against Mickey Hughes at the Brentwood Centre, knocking Hughes out in the 11th round.
It led, in 1994, to one night in San Remo, Italy, Agostino Cardomme was in the opposite corner. It was a fight for the European middleweight title. It started to look like Cummins, never a man touted as being a title contender – he had lost a Midlands Area title in 1990, though the WBA title wins against Steve Foster in 1992 and Mickey Hughes the following year clearly got him his shot – might just upset everyone when he sent Cardomme to the floor.
Cummins was to tell the Independent’s Steve Bunce in 2010, “I hit him with the left hook, but sadly the right missed as he was going down." It was a count that was more likely to be timed by a calendar than a stopwatch as the local favourite cleared his head and then retained his title.
Cummins was philosophical about it, but it would have brought him glory that would or could have meant he was doing more than just fighting for scraps towards the tail end of his career.
It could have been oh so different as Cummins had been offered a world title fight as he revealed in that 2010 interview; he was offered the opportunity to take on Steve Collins. In typical bullish fashion he also told Steve Bunce from that bed in which he was stuck, “I would have beaten Collins. It never happened and I went off to Italy. I was foolish back then."
Foolish he may have been at the time, but the foolishness in a ring came to an end in 1995 when he fought for the British title, coming up short against Neville Brown in Derby – Cummins got knocked out in the 5th round. Cummins got into a bloody scrap and was the type of fight most people tell tales about. It was, however, his final fight because afterwards, Cummins failed a routine brain scan. He fought the ban eventually apparently convincing the Irish Boxing Union in 2001 to give him a licence, but he never used it and never got back into a professionally competitive fight.
Throughout his life it was well rumoured that Cummins was a hard man to deal with and a tougher one to get to like. The boxing business breeds them hard and when he got out the ring his image never softened. He gave his all to the reputation for only to end up with a barrel load of regrets and apologies given out. His post-fight career was very clichéd in so many ways including in 1997 saw him serve 6-months for racially abusing an Asian doctor in Leicester Royal Infirmary who was treating his newborn son.
Post fight careers can often define the people who risked their all for our entertainment. The Guv’nor had a very different version after leaving the sport than many, but as always, the memories should be of his time in the ring and not the tragedies that befell him afterwards. It does not neglect the things someone does wrong, but it gives it context. Boxing breeds them tough and sometimes they fail to get through that skin themselves.
