Two ageing naked knuckler boxers, 70s, name time on decades-long Traveller feud
The Ali vs Foreman of the Traveller community in Northern Ireland has come to an end after two bare-knuckle boxing bruisers finally buried the hatchet following decades of feuding
We have all heard of Ali vs Foreman, but what of Joyce v McGinley?
Bare-knuckle bruisers Joe ‘The Hulk’ Joyce and Aney McGinley have finally decided it is time to call it quits on a decades long feud. Bare-knuckle boxing is a very popular sport in Traveller communities and Joyce Sr became known for some mad boxing antics including dipping his hands in petrol before fights.
The fighting pair decided to settle their differences after a mediator contacted them following a scrap between their two sons, Joe Joyce Jr and Michael McGinley.
Both lads are serving time in jail in Magilligan Prison, close to Limavady, Northern Ireland. Joyce Jr is currently serving a life sentence for murder after he hit a man with a slash hook in 2020.
It isn’t the first time they have come to blows as the two families continued to feud, the Sunday World reports.
Now, Derry-man Tommy ‘Bully’ Stokes said in a video posted online that the two senior chaps have decided to bury the hatchet.
“I was down to see Joe Joyce in Magilligan and Michael McGinley – they had a bit of a brawl down there, a bit of an incident. So, I peacified [sic] the two of them, got them to shake hands,” Bully said.
“I asked them would there be any chance I could speak to old Joe and old Aney and get this all put to bed. They really appreciated it.”
Bully added there was “nobody boring down to nobody” and that “ there was no charges against nobody, they’re not dwelling on the past, moving forward”.
McGinley himself said: “The two of us got on the phone and we made-up the argument between all my young fellas and his young fellas. It’s water under the bridge, there’s no more fighting no more trouble with us.”
Joyce Sr said: “When me and old Aney see each other, we’ll have a good old drink. Me and Aney never held badness against one another or against strangers.”
Bully added that both men are “legends” and that they “reared good families”. In terms of their boxing prowess, he said: “They are up there with the best… they are up there with the best.”
In the YouTube documentary Knuckles, filmed in the early 1990s, Joyce Sr said: “I don’t wear nothing, just bare knuckles…
“No bandages because bandages kill your clout and I aim to cut the man. Bandages are only for the ring, for the gloves, not for bare knuckles.
“When I used to train a lot, a month before I’d fight a man I’d steep my hands in petrol.
“And my hands would be like rocks, rock hard.
“That was the secret to keeping my hands as hard as stones, left them in petrol for 20 minutes every day.
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