Shane McGuigan: Boxing coach reflects on his career and the influence of father Barry

Shane McGuigan (left) has trained four world champions, while father Barry McGuigan is a former world featherweight champion

Boxing boasts a rich history of father-son duos who have graced the sport, but few will match the achievements of the McGuigans.

Barry McGuigan is a legend, a popular former world champion who transcended the fight game.

Each time he laced the gloves he played a significant, and quite unique, role in uniting northern and southern Ireland, Catholics and Protestants, during the Troubles.

So when Shane McGuigan decided to take up the sport, first as an amateur and then trainer, there was a boulder of pressure weighing heavily on his shoulders.

"There was always going to be an uphill struggle with my boxing journey, what with me having a famous dad," he says.

Yet it did not take long for him to step out of his father's shadows and prove his own worth in the sport. McGuigan is now one of the leading trainers in the country, having coached multiple world champions.

Speaking to BBC Sport, the 33-year-old discusses his career, father Barry's influence and what it takes to be a top-level trainer.

• Dubois, King and the 'strangest world title fight' ever

• Price cruises to win on pro debut

From 'sneaking off to box' to being in the corner

Kent-born McGuigan was just a toddler when Barry, a former British, European and world featherweight champion, retired in 1989.

"I don't remember him boxing or going away for training camps or anything like that," he recalls.

"But when we were young we'd walk down the street and people would be always be shouting his name, asking for autographs."

McGuigan took up boxing as a hobby, with no real intention of turning it into a career, but pugilism was in his genes.

"My dad fought so hard to put us into private school and get me away from boxing - and I was the one sneaking off trying to get to the boxing club," he adds.

He trained alongside a future world champion, Northern Ireland's Carl Frampton, and won three national titles, but opted not to follow in his father's footsteps. Instead, at 21, he found his calling as a cornerman.

"The next step would have been try to go to the Olympics or go professional," McGuigan says. "I wanted to represent Ireland, but there was a lot of travelling back and forth.

"So I finished my boxing career and started to hold some mitts for Carl [Frampton]. It's something which naturally clicked for me. I felt I could see things from a coaching standpoint."

Handling 'pressure' of being Barry McGuigan's son

McGuigan (left) helped Carl Frampton become a two-weight world champion

McGuigan led Frampton and Josh Taylor to honours on the world stage, and his current stable includes WBO cruiserweight champion Lawrence Okolie, heavyweight Daniel Dubois and some of the hottest young prospects in British boxing.

But it has been a long and arduous road to the top. While his father's legacy and stature undoubtedly opened up doors, McGuigan "massively felt the pressure" when starting out as a trainer.

"Twitter was just starting out at the time, people voiced their opinions," he adds. "A lot of people were giving me and Carl a bit of stick at the start, saying this will be a failure."

• New York, Las Vegas and Belfast - the fights that made Frampton

In a results-driven business, it did not take him long to prove those critics wrong. When Frampton beat Kiko Martinez to claim the IBF super-bantamweight title in 2014, a 25-year-old McGuigan had made his own mark. He was no longer 'Barry's son who had been given a leg up'.

Under McGuigan's tutelage, Frampton unified the division and then became a two-weight champion when he saw off Leo Santa Cruz to take the WBA super-featherweight title.

While it is a relationship somewhat tainted by a split - and subsequent legal battle - between Frampton and the McGuigans, the two parties were pivotal to each other's success in the sport.

David Haye and Olympian Luke Campbell later joined the gym, while McGuigan helped George Groves finally land the world title he so desperately craved in 2017 by beating Fedor Chudinov for the vacant WBA super-middleweight crown.

"Getting George over the line to get a world title on his fourth guy was pretty special," says McGuigan.

The trainer was also instrumental in Taylor's career, leading the Scotsman to the IBF and WBA super-lightweight belts.

"I wouldn't have the success I've had if I wasn't good at what I'm doing," he adds. "Now it's just a distant memory of what people thought of me."

'I've had to deal with big characters and egos'

McGuigan (left) currently trains nine fighters, including WBO cruiserweight champion Lawrence Okolie

The role of a boxing trainer goes far beyond setting drills and barking instructions.

Frampton, Haye and Groves were all box-office fighters at points in their careers and McGuigan notes the importance of managing different personalities.

"Over the years I've had to deal with big characters and egos," he says. "You have to have a level of ego and flair in this business but, for me, it's about managing that.

"That's the sign of a good coach - someone who can understand people skills and learn to relate to them. Learn to sympathise with them."

McGuigan and his team currently boast nine fighters in their stable, all at different stages of their development.

Okolie is on the cusp of unification fights, Chris Billam-Smith - who McGuigan considers his biggest success story - is a European cruiserweight champion, while big things are expected from brothers Adam and Hassan Azim and Olympian Caroline Dubois.

Splitting his time takes meticulous planning, but McGuigan is quick to stress he will never favour one fighter over another.

"Whoever has the fight coming up the closest, it doesn't matter if they're making millions of pounds or a couple of grand, they still get the time slot," he says.

"You have to make sure you prioritise your prospects as much as your champions."

How dad helped with 'rebuilding' Dubois

McGuigan also regularly seeks counsel from his father as he explains: "I love to have my dad still part of the boxing journey.

"I like to keep him in the gym all the time. He turns up and gives his advice, he's been there and done it.

"He's boxed in front of millions of people on TV, in front of 30,000 fans - he took six or seven thousand out to Vegas - he's won a world title, he's in the hall of fame, he's done it all.

• Dubois wins WBA 'Regular' heavyweight title in Miami

"To have someone like that to bring into the gym and give words of encouragement is an amazing tool for me to have."

McGuigan Sr's words of wisdom have been particularly beneficial to 24-year-old heavyweight Daniel Dubois, who won the WBA 'regular' title in Miami this month.

"Daniel came to me with a lot of hype but off a big loss to Joe Joyce," says McGuigan. "That was a mental loss as well as a physical loss. There was a lot of rebuilding going there, which is where my dad came in.

"Dad had three losses, including his third fight. He avenged that and went on to win a world title. So having my dad in the gym is a big help for people like Daniel."

'I have another 12 or so years left'

World-renowned trainers Freddie Roach, Virgil Hunter and Ronnie Shields are still involved in the game well into their sixties. So could we see McGuigan working the corner in 2052?

"No," he answers without any hesitation, but a wry smile. "I started young so I have a lot of wear and tear in my body. My joints click, I wake up most morning with pain. The way I coach is a lot of physical work.

"I have a kid on the way and I want to be around for family time and see them grow up. This is such a long slog of a business.

"If I do it for another 12 or so years that's fine, but longer than that, then I don't have a life.

"I might try to go into commentary, but it's a cliquey business. I might just pack up and go to America and do some commentary out there - they like a UK accent."