GORMAN BACK IN THE GROOVE

FIGHTER DIARY BY NATHAN GORMAN

Nathan Gorman believes everything happens for a reason. His sole professional setback in June against Daniel Dubois resulted in him taking himself out of the boxing bubble and focussing his mind solely on family matters. Prior to the heavyweight blockbuster at the o2 Arena, Gorman had to contend with the distress of his young son falling ill and then the not altogether straightforward birth of his daughter as he entered fight week.

Still just 23, Gorman doesn’t and will not offer up his personal circumstances as an excuse for losing. However, on reflection, he does concede that his mind cannot – understandably – have been in the perfect place heading into a fight of such magnitude, as he explains in this exclusive Fighter Diary…

AFTER THE FIGHT with Daniel Dubois I allowed myself some time off to spend with the family, although I have been back in the gym for a few weeks and have got to push on because it is all in the past now.

I have been putting myself back out there with a few posts on social media as there is no point in dwelling on what might have been. I have had my break, took myself away from all the social media stuff, and now I am back to it.

I needed the family time because I had a lot going on in the build-up to that fight. I needed it, I needed those six or seven weeks out so I could just be a dad at home.

Obviously we are all fighters and we put personal things to the back of our minds and get on with it, but looking back now we are only human and I had too much on my plate as well as the fight.

I had to juggle all these mixed emotions and I walked into that ring with too many emotions swirling around. It shouldn’t have been like this, but everything happens for a reason and I am a big believer in that.

The events that were taking place in my life were not trivial everyday stuff. It was not like I knocked my thumb up with a week to go. They were actual family matters.

Obviously there was the distress of my little boy undergoing surgery at the beginning of the camp, then in the week of the fight my little girl arrived and she wasn’t well when she was born.

There were other things as well that I won’t go into and I remember my dad wanted me to pull out of the fight. I said ‘no, we are fighting’ and even if I had no hands at all I was going in there to fight Daniel.

It is just the way I am and I don’t want to let anyone down. Also, I called for the fight for a long time and you have to go with the flow.

There was nothing wrong with me physically in the fight, Daniel just executed a very good game plan and his corner was fantastic.

Good luck to him with his career. He will move on, I will come back and build myself up until I get into that position again.

Taking a defeat for the first time does have an impact on you. Ask any boxer in the world and they do not want to lose because it is a bitter pill to swallow.

Obviously I was down because I know for a fact that I am miles and miles better than what I showed. It does upset you.

On the other hand, I thought to myself ‘I am 22 years of age (at the time), I’ve just topped the o2 for a British title fight, I’ve got two lovely kids who are healthy now, so what is there to complain about really?’

It was a boxing match. Although, listen, I don’t want to lose one ever again, but looking outside of the boxing ring I now realise there is more to life.

I didn’t show the best of myself and I believe half of the public probably know that as well, but there is no point crying over spilt milk now. I’m not the type of person to say to every Tom, Dick and Harry all the things that were wrong with me because Daniel won on the night and fair play to him.

I’ll come back better and stronger and we’ll push on from there. It is just a bump in the road that was meant to be.

I made Daniel look ten times better than he really is – no disrespect to him. None of my boxing skills were there and I played right into his hands.  I fought instead of boxing him, but that was all I had in my locker.

It was a terrible feeling, but it is one of them. I said I was going to meet fire with fire and that was what happened, but my intentions prior to the fight were to box him. I wouldn’t stand toe-to-toe with a big heavy-hitter like Daniel. It was nonsense. I should have boxed, held him, wrapped him out, messed him about and won on points.

My opinion on Daniel hasn’t changed because I’ve always thought he is a good fighter. Obviously you say things in the build-up because you’ve got to sell the fight and he isn’t the most talkative, is he, so I had to do it pretty much on my own.

He is a good fighter, always has been, and he will do really, really well. Whether anyone will beat him, time will tell, but he is only young and there is no rush for him, none at all.

I can see us getting in the ring again one day and I do hope it does happen. Next time it will be me doing it properly.

In the meantime, I do feel rejuvenated and it is the happiest and most well I’ve been in six months. I am back in the gym working on a few things and I’d like to get on a show in December that I’ve heard is happening.

That would be ideal, otherwise it will be early next year and we’ll get back to where I was. I don’t want to fight just anybody because there is no point in taking a backward step at all.

I want to push on from where I left off and get back challenging for titles. Next year I want to be going for the British and Commonwealth titles whether Daniel has them or he doesn’t.