Dropping Millarvie was the most difficult decision I’ve had to make - boss Gilmour

Dec 24 2008 by Andrew McGilvray, Hamilton Advertiser

TOP boxing promoter Tommy Gilmour said he made one of the most difficult decisions of his career when he terminated Ian Millarvie’s contract last week.

But Gilmour said he had been as patient as he could with the Hamilton heavyweight.

St Andrew’s Sporting Club supremo Gilmour believed 28-year-old Millarvie could have become Scotland’s first British heavyweight champion.

Gilmour said: “I’m hugely disappointed because on a personal level I’ve done almost everything I’ve ever wanted to do in boxing.

“I’ve had champions at various different levels and promoted about 60 or 70 world title fights, I was given an MBE last year but I just don’t have a heavyweight champion.

“That would have been the final piece of a 100-piece jigsaw for me. Nobody else has ever produced a Scottish heavyweight champion.

“Because of that, I’ve probably been more tolerant than the situation deserved. As much as I want all of my boxers to do well, there was a little bit of me in there too. This is the end of a dream for me and it’s not a decision I have taken lightly.”

Gilmour signed Ian on a professional contract in 2004 and since then he has pushed the Hamilton man forward for various events and had him training with some of the best in the business, including stints in the USA.

But the manager says he hasn’t been in touch with Millarvie since October, and needed more commitment from the fighter.

He said: “I’m really disappointed. I genuinely believed that the big fella could become the British heavyweight champion at the very least, and then go on to bigger and better things – but if it’s not to be, it’s not to be.

“I put in a lot of time, effort and money into big Ian. He did have a lot of illnesses and injuries but, rather than talking to me about it, he would put his head in the sand.

“I would find out through other people that he was injured and he would say ‘oh, I didn’t want to say’.

“I can only help people who want me to help them. It’s like a marriage – you have to want to talk to each other.

“I was constantly trying to communicate with Ian and there’s only so much time I can put into that.

“I’ve sent two letters to Ian, numerous mobile phone texts and voicemails and messages through other people.”

He added: “I genuinely wish Ian all the best, every success. I’m just sad that I’m not the guy who can take him to the British title. Ian needs to decide what he wants to do - and do it.”