The release of the boxing biopic Giant, starring Pierce Brosnan and Amir El-Masry, has provided a surreal and poignant experience for the family of legendary trainer Brendan Ingle. For Sean Ingle, watching the former James Bond portray his great-uncle was both a spooky and fascinating journey into a complex sporting legacy.
A Surreal and Spooky On-Screen Resurrection
Sean Ingle describes the experience of seeing Pierce Brosnan embody Brendan Ingle as "a little surreal and sometimes downright spooky." While he notes Brosnan's version was slightly more pushy and unkempt than he personally remembers, the actor's capture of Ingle's distinctive Dublin-meets-Sheffield twang and his mannerisms were uncannily accurate.
The film, which charts the rise of the flamboyant featherweight champion Naseem Hamed from the age of seven under Ingle's tutelage at the St Thomas' boys and girls club in Sheffield, inevitably explores the eventual collapse of their once-fruitful partnership. It poses a central question about talent: how much is innate, and how much is forged by a guiding hand?
Old Wounds Reopened and Legacy Debated
Since the film's release, long-standing tensions have resurfaced. Hamed has publicly stated that Brendan rebuffed his attempts at reconciliation and suggested the trainer was overly focused on money. Sean Ingle acknowledges the first point but firmly rebuts the second.
Brendan Ingle was undoubtedly concerned about his financial share as Hamed's brother, Riath, became more involved, famously calling him a "snake." He believed he deserved fair reward for the years invested. However, as Sean's cousin, Dominic Ingle, points out, Brendan never left his modest Wincobank home, his lifestyle unchanged by success.
The true currency Brendan craved was respect—for his methods, his background, and his role in Hamed's ascent. The film concludes with their split after Hamed's wild 1997 victory over Kevin Kelley at Madison Square Garden, though in reality, their professional relationship limped on until the Wayne McCullough fight in 1998.
A Relationship's End and a Prophecy Fulfilled
The final rupture was deeply painful. Dominic Ingle reveals that his father actually cried when the partnership ended. In a telling exchange, a defiant Hamed scoffed at Brendan's prediction that he would train more world champions, specifically naming Johnny Nelson and Junior Witter.
History, however, proved Ingle right. Both Nelson and Witter went on to claim world titles, followed later by Kell Brook and Abdul-Bari Awad. This vindicated the trainer's eye for talent and his transformative impact on the Sheffield gym, which he often described as a social project as much as a boxing nursery.
Despite no reconciliation before Brendan's death in 2018, a warmer postscript emerged just before the Covid pandemic. Hamed's sons trained at the Ingle gym, and Hamed himself visited for a long, nostalgic chat with Dominic and John Ingle, where old animosities were set aside to remember the good times.
For Sean Ingle, the film and the memories it stirs serve as a powerful reminder of a potent, lost partnership—a snapshot of what was, and what might have been, for one of British boxing's most electrifying and enigmatic champions.
