Brad Pauls: What A Difference A Year Makes
It was the morning after. A fight hotel breakfast bar that was almost eerie in comparison to the circus that was the night before. The winners and losers from the previous night's fights were joined together in a strange mutual harmony. Both are deep in thought about what potentially now lies ahead for them. What does the future now look like? Does the loser even have a future? The obvious thoughts of the fighter who didn't have his hand raised just a few hours before.
It's always a sombre experience. There is no morning glory. The celebrations are now over. The incredible highs have been replaced by a strange anticlimactic inner feeling, with a little case of the after-party alcohol thrown in for good measure, no doubt. The loser wouldn't have partied. Maybe a drink or six to try and drown out the despair of defeat. But trust me, it wouldn't have resembled anything like a party. A wake-like gathering where the words would have been few and carefully selected.
In February 2023, Brad Pauls was that loser. Tyler Denny, the unsung Boxxer hero, had ripped away that precious unbeaten record of the Cornwall middleweight hopeful. Sixteen previously unbeaten fights were now a forgotten statistic. They didn't matter now. One solitary defeat had at that moment made them redundant and irrelevant. They now meant nothing.
I came down for breakfast, got my food, and found a seat. I looked around, and Pauls was on the very next table. The outward scars of battle were clearly visible. But I wondered about the scars that we couldn't see. What was he thinking? What can you possibly say to a fighter at that precise moment? You couldn't find the right words, because there weren't any. A side of the sport many don't see.
It was all very different from the previous afternoon. The face was then unmarked. The unbeaten record still intact. Pauls and his team were chilling in the hotel bar. That old iconic battlefield that is Wembley Arena could be seen just across the way. A few hours later, Pauls would get his moment of truth in that timeless fighting venue, with the then-still unheralded Denny. An English title on the line. A fight that Pauls was expected to win. He looked in a good place.
A steady plethora of well-wishers who had made the pilgrimage from Cornwall shook his hand. The obligatory words of encouragement were spoken. Pauls smiled and thanked his loyal fanbase. The unbeaten middleweight then had hope. With an eye on the task on hand, but thinking what a win over Denny would bring him. More nights under the bright lights. Bigger titles and bigger fights. Pauls probably had his immediate career already tentatively mapped out in his mind. All he had to do was win. But Denny, not the first time, or the last, made a fighter rethink his future.
That points defeat over ten rounds, now looks completely different. Denny later won a European title, upset Felix Cash, and is now preparing for a life-changing fight on a slightly bigger Wembley stage. But Brad Pauls didn't know that on the morning after suffering the first setback of his career. He might not admit it, but thoughts of sponsors potentially leaving and whether he would now just be an opponent would surely have been there. Fights in the 'away' corner with fighters who had a future that he thought was his.
Pauls made an emotional post-fight video to his fans. The pain in his voice was evident. He said all the right things. He hoped he would be back on the big stage, but as he spoke, he probably feared if he would ever return. A career that started on the small hall side of the sport could end there also.
We checked out of the hotel at around the same time. A walk up the famous Wembley Way was a different feeling for us. My walk was done knowing that everything that happened the night before didn't change my life one bit. But for the man just a few feet away from me, the story was a little different. Pauls pulled his suitcase up that fabled road with the pain of defeat firmly etched on his mind. The case now feeling a little heavier than it was just a few days before. I sensed that pain would be there for some time. I wondered how many of the fans who had watched his brave valiant effort against Denny now gave a single passing thought to Brad Pauls. Would they have given him a second thought? Would they even care? Pauls suffering alone in his own thoughts. A defeated fighter is often a forgotten fighter.
But just over a year later, things are very different for Pauls. He did go back to the small halls. Two fights that pushed his first defeat to the back of his mind. One of those fights earned Pauls the English title, and the wish for more was granted when he got the call to fight Nathan Heaney in March for the British middleweight title. Another chance on the big stage.
Pauls was a different fighter this time. But again, he didn't win. A disputed draw that left Pauls feeling the call wouldn't come again. Heaney initially wanted to go elsewhere and look for bigger fights. Pauls again thinking what might have been. But eventually, the call did come for him to run it back with Heaney.
This morning, in a different fight hotel, Pauls would have had a different feeling over breakfast. Another post-fight video was made. The scars of battle were again visible. But this time, a broad smile and the famous Lonsdale Belt were also visible.
Brad Pauls is now the British middleweight champion. A final-round stoppage victory over Heaney earned him the biggest win of his career. A little slice of history for the likeable South Coast fighter. For me, the thoughts of that breakfast in that Wembley hotel came flooding back. I wonder now if Pauls remembers that February morning also. A time when he must have thought his career was destined to be not what he hoped for. What a difference a year makes.
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