Craig Richards preparing for ‘last-chance saloon’ under Tony Sims

Craig Richards has linked up with Tony Sims as he attempts to revive his career.

The light heavyweight, who fights Padraig McCrory on the undercard of Lewis Crocker-Paddy Donovan at Belfast’s SSE Arena on March 1, had been training under Shane McGuigan but, having previously worked at Sims’ gym under Tony’s brother Peter, has chosen to return there.

Richards, 34, had been inactive since losing to Willy Hutchinson in June 2024 but he remains established in perhaps the most competitive weight division in the UK, and Sims told BoxingScene: “There’s still a lot left in him, and he should be with the top three or four in the country. [Anthony] Yarde. [Joshua] Buatsi – obviously he had a tough fight with Buatsi, so he should really be in the top three or four in the country still, but he’s just got to get back on track. 

“This is a decent fight to come back to. McCrory only lost to [in February 2024, Edgar] Berlanga and put in quite a spirited performance, so it’s a good fight for him to come back on, and he knows he’s got to win. He’s got a must-win fight for him to keep himself up there; if he don’t come through this one there’s not really anywhere else for him to go. It’s a last-chance saloon fight, really.

“There’s plenty of good fights around for him, so it’s definitely a must-win situation that he’s in. He’s got to go to McCrory’s part of the world to fight – it’s not always easy to win in Ireland – he’s in a situation where he’s got to come through. But I know he can do that. It’s about getting him in shape and on-song for that night. But he’s been doing well. He’s on track with his training, and getting in condition. I’d like to see him come through it, really.”

Sims was then asked about Richards’ history at his gym in Hainault, Essex, England, and he responded: “He trained with my brother for years. My brother retired, and then he went to Shane McGuigan, and I don’t think he settled there, so he came back here.

“It was a bit on an awkward situation at the time, because he trained with my brother, not me. As much as I’d like him to have stayed here, maybe he thought he should change. It was a bit awkward because he was my brother training him, so I didn’t want to impose myself on anything.

“Sometimes you have an off day. He probably had a bad performance that day [against Hutchinson] – Willy obviously had a good performance that day. He looked desperate in the last few rounds, swinging haymakers – his boxing went out the window. We know, when he boxed [Dmitry] Bivol, he showed a good boxing brain. I think he was just looking for the knockout in the end. He actually said, ‘I just got desperate and tried to knock him out’, which can happen. He massively underperformed on that night.”