The Opponent: MJ Hall explains the role of a journeyman and also why he hates being called “MJ”

MJ HALL stands on the stairs of Wolverhampton’s Hangar venue seconds after the fighter had dropped one other four-round resolution to yet one more apprentice professional. He was in good humour and unmarked.

“MJ – I flipping hate that name,” he confessed, then listened to BN’s request for an interview, laughed and introduced: “I’m shit, I’m just tough.”

The tongue-in-cheek evaluation doesn’t do the man justice. Matt – the Christian title he insists on – could be very powerful and extremely expert at what he does. What he does is survival.

To obtain that, the Black Country journeyman needs to be in tip-top situation. Matt, who visits the fitness center twice a day, lives the life and makes the sacrifices. One of the busiest execs in the enterprise, he has notched up 109 skilled contests since turning professional in 2017.

His close to frantic work schedule could be measured by the quantity of contests he’s engaged in since being honoured, at Dudley Town Hall again in March, for reaching the 100-bout milestone.

There have been 9 since.

Matt entered the paid ranks with out an novice background and free from illusions of grandeur. A salesman by day, he didn’t need titles, solely monetary safety for spouse Laura and their three youngsters. He has realised that ambition by way of blood and bruises and is contemplating signing off at the finish of this 12 months.

Boxing and, particularly, a host of small corridor promoters, will miss Matt.

“I never had any intentions,” he admitted. “I went in it to assist my household and give them a higher life-style. I get pleasure from it; if I didn’t get pleasure from it, I wouldn’t do it. I want it after I’m out each week, rolling from one struggle to a different.

“Laura was a bit dubious for the first two years. From then, a bout became just another day.” Laura has realised her husband can take care of himself.

The informal fan my merely dismiss Brierley Hill’s Hall as a serial loser – he’s received solely three and drawn two. But Matt is aware of his role: to check boxing’s younger weapons, from super-light to middleweight, with out upsetting the applecart. To that finish, the 31-year-old is close to unattainable to budge and has failed to listen to the ultimate bell on solely six events.

He is a grasp of the darkish arts. Matt, compelled to field as MJ as a result of there was already a Matt Hall in the skilled ranks when he turned over, is aware of how you can smother, spoil and frustrate. He is, in each manner, a clumsy southpaw.

The pre-fight nerves left him way back. He doesn’t care who’s in the reverse nook. “Errol [manager Errol Johnson] knows all he has to tell me is weights and dates,” he mentioned. “He doesn’t have to inform me names.

“That’s something I’ve never suffered from, nerves. I see some in the changing room worrying. Whether you’re worried before a fight or chilled, you’re still going to hit him and he’s going to hit you. What’s the point of worrying about it? I know there are boxers better than me technically, but I live the life and go in there with confidence.”

We can thank fellow journeyman Kevin McCauley, who amassed a file of over 250 fights, for giving the sport the astonishing MJ Hall.

“I didn’t have any amateurs,” he defined. “I used to go to a typical fitness center that had a ring. My mate was having a boxing bout for charity and he mentioned he didn’t assume he was having sufficient sparring.

“I mentioned I’d assist and did a bit with him. He informed me, ‘you’re higher than the ones I’ve been coaching with.’ He signed me up on the subsequent charity present. I did a charity evening and a couple of white-collar reveals.

“I simply needed to reduce weight. At my fitness center, it was weight coaching, and I used to be 14-and-a-half stone.

“I sparred Kevin McCauley and he said, ‘you’re tough, if you can get your weight down you could turn pro’.”

The pair turned agency pals and trod the similar profession path.

“You know what, I’ve never been hit and thought, I don’t want that again,” mentioned Matt. “Honestly, I’d take every one of those 109 fights again in a heartbeat.”

Matt does begrudgingly admit one fighter damage him – Manchester’s Ryan Oliver who poleaxed the sturdy Black Country warrior with a first spherical proper hand to the photo voltaic plexus.

“Twenty seconds in, he hit me to the physique – I’d by no means been winded earlier than. It took all of it out of me and getting up made it worse. I mentioned afterwards, I’ll by no means let that occur once more.

“Technically, one of the greatest was Dylan Moran [the Irishman outpointed Matt in 2021] – technically very, superb.

“One guy I couldn’t land a glove on was Harlem Eubank (outpointed Hall in 2018).”

Matt is aware of what is predicted of him. He is predicted to supply rounds and expertise for a younger hopeful with out having his hand raised at the ultimate bell. “After my mum passed away, I won two on the bounce,” he mentioned. “The next three or four cancelled on me because I won two on the bounce.”

That was a lesson discovered, a lesson in easy and brutal economics. There’s a feel-good think about having your hand raised, however, for fighters like Matt, it’s financially extra viable to lose on factors.

He, and others, signify a half of boxing free from boasts, bravado and social media feuds. Matt is simply too seasoned and battle hardened to be dismantled by mere ‘verbals’.

“I just laugh it off,” he mentioned, “it’s simply folks making an attempt to large themselves up. One put stuff up about what he was going to do, how he was going to cease me.

“Afterwards, he asked me for some tips and advice. I said, don’t put anything up on social media before because it will come back to bite you.”

Many hungry younger fighters have been “bitten” by Matt. Whether journeymen – boxers, and let’s be trustworthy, who enter the ring with out an all-consuming need for victory – are in the end good for the sport, whether or not they may present the pleasure and 50-50 bouts wanted to convey followers into small halls, is an ongoing debate.

There’s little question they’re an essential half of a younger professional’s schooling. Fans, nonetheless, wish to see tear-ups not tutorials.

“I see it from both sides,” mentioned Matt. “There are some lads who are 6-0, 7-0, 8-0 who shouldn’t be fighting me. I get that. They shouldn’t be pumped up like that. On the other hand, there are lads who are 1-0, 2-0 or who need to get back on track. They need me.”

Matt could not have received belts, in actual fact he hardly ever wins fights. Yet he has gained a common, regular earnings, has earned greater than many champions and is unmarked.

Surely that makes him one of skilled boxing’s winners.