BOURNEMOUTH, England – Cruiserweight contender Jack Massey said trainer Joe Gallagher fought a quiet battle on his way to fending off Stage Four cancer.

The Manchester trainer, who works with Massey, was declared cancer free after treatment following several arduous months when he was juggling therapy with keeping his fighters in the gym and winning in the ring. 

“I think in the way he went about it, he did that, partly so it didn’t affect us,” Massey told BoxingScene. “So he wasn’t sort of like, ‘Oh Joe, you okay?’ It was like he was just strictly back in the gym, Joe Gallagher himself. He wasn't dwelling on it sort of thing, so you couldn’t really feel sorry for him because I don't think that’s what he wanted.”

Massey has a significant fight on Saturday, as part of Zuffa Boxing’s inaugural show in Bournemouth at the Bournemouth International Centre when he takes on Cheavon Clarke in a crossroads fight.

Gallagher will be by his side, and the two have forged a strong relationship.

“He was always in and out [of hospital],” Massey recalled. “I think some days he was in hospital and then he’s straight to the gym afterwards or in the gym and then hospital afterwards. I never really saw him looking bad. I said to him the other day, he always looked well. He was always eating clean, eating the right things and doing the right things, which is a big thing as well. But yeah, he always looked great, [and was] always shouting as normal. “Massive, massive respect to him. Do you know what it didn’t change him whatsoever? He just had this mentality, this real fighting mentality where he’s just gone, ‘Right, is that it?’ ‘Right, straight back in the gym, straight back to just normal life.’ Not even dwell on it one bit. And just straight back in the gym. He’s in the gym all the time. It’s not like he’s out of the gym. We’re all proud of him out of the gym, how well he’s done and how well he’s faced it.” 

Jack “One Smack” says Gallagher has added to his game since they joined forces in 2023.

“The biggest things, it’s probably how you break things down in a fight, you know, technically break things down, when he gives you instructions in the corner, when you go back to that corner and it’s just little things that a lot of people don’t see,” Massey explained. “He just sees a lot of things you wouldn’t even think of and just breaks it down really, really well… Setting things up, setting shots up, basically, keeping the guy thinking, setting traps, testing him on the front foot, even just using the offence, seeing what happens, seeing what changes in him, stuff like that.”

Those fine margins hope will be enough to get by Clarke on Saturday, and he hopes they will be enough to set up a future bout with event headliner Chris Billam-Smith.

The Bournemouth star meets Ryan Rozicki in the main event, and Massey will have an eye on that, trying to get his old amateur victim CBS back in the ring as a professional.

But first, of course, comes Clarke, and a win is crucial for both.

“It’s a tasty fight and, it’s a good mouth-watering fight for the fight fans and myself and that’s what we’re in it for,” Massey explained.

“We’re in it to be in good 50-50 fights and that’s where you reap your rewards. You’re not reaping rewards going in there fighting a knock-over. You’ve got to be fighting good guys to get what you want out of boxing.”

Despite being on the scene for years, Massey and Clarke have not crossed paths. They met for the first time at the Sky Sports studios when their bout was announced and while Massey has had his share of hard fights, he probably hasn’t endured the expectation that comes with the Team GB Olympic label that Clarke proudly wears. 

“Yeah, it is a lot of pressure,” Massey admits. “You see some guys, when they come into the pros, they don’t do much. I always think it’s a totally different ball game. It’s a totally different sport sometimes coming from the amateurs. I always compare it probably like fencing compared to like fighting with a sabre sword or something like that. It’s the same sort of thing but different. It’s more rounds, smaller gloves. People are wanting to get in there and really, really hurt each other in the professional ranks, so it's, yeah, I feel like it’s a different sport. Some people do gel well into it coming out of the amateurs and some people don’t. But it’s a good fight and I’m looking forward to it.”

It is arguably make or break for both, though Clarke’s route onward looks particularly perilous with defeat.

Clarke is now 11-2 (8 KOs) but decision defeats to Leonado Mosquea and Viddal Riley very much have him on the outside looking in. 

While Massey is 23-3 (13 KOs), the 33-year-old’s losses have come at a high level. At cruiserweight he’s been bested by Richard Riakporhe and Jai Opetaia and, on a rare foray up at heavyweight, he was stopped by Joseph Parker.

There was a victory over Isaac Chamberlain, but otherwise Massey has either faced top boxers or fighters he was supposed to beat handsomely.

“Definitely,” he agreed. “I was always hoping for that building block of like, beating these guys and then it’s a step up from there but it’s sort of been I’ve gone from there straight to the elites, straight to a former heavyweight world champion and straight up to the best of the best in the cruiserweight division. [But] that’s me, I’m given these fights, I take it and that’s what it's all about for me.”

He still thinks he deserved the decision over Riakporhe for the British title in 2019 but thinks inactivity has caused more problems than making significant jumps in class.

Massey stays in the gym under Gallagher. He’s taken several fights, including Chamberlain and Opetaia, at relatively short notice, with five or six weeks to prepare.

“You’ve got to stay in the gym and stay ready, because you never know when you’re going to get these phone calls, and that’s how you’ve got to be in this day and age of boxing.”

He also studies tape of his opponents with Gallagher. They will watch things, take notes and try to implement parts of their strategies with their sparring partners. 

They have done it with Clarke and they will do it with Billam-Smith if Massey is able to find himself back in the ring with the Bournemouth man.
Would he go back to Bournemouth, where Billam-Smith is so popular?

“Yeah, do you know what, I’m not bothered where I fight any man. It doesn’t bother me whatsoever,” Massey added.

“It’d be nice in Manchester or towards me, but I quite like going fighting people in their own back garden as well. If it was closer to me, it would be with more of my home fans. I just think a ring’s a ring, it could be anywhere. Once that bell goes, you can’t see anything outside of it anyway. You can only see your opponent in front of your face. It’s never been an issue for me.”

And, in a way, he takes some comfort going into the Clarke fight that he has fought the likes of Parker and Opetaia, heavy-handed, gifted, experienced men.

“I think you’ll see that in the fight,” Massey added. “You’ll see how that’s going to come to play in it… the experience of being a professional for 13 years. I think he’s only been a professional for over three years or whatever. And being in the ring with guys like that, experience goes a long, long way in the fight game.”