Dale Carnegie, the author of ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’ said of the business world, “When two partners agree, one of them is not necessary”. In the world of sports opinion the same is true.

Nigel Lopez-McBean’s opinions on The Roar have been the spark of much intense debate as more often than not they have sat in stark contrast to that of the crowd. The Roar took some time out to find out a bit more about Nigel and the influences that have shaped his opinions.

The Roar: You are obviously quite passionate about sport. Where did that passion start?

Nigel Lopez-McBean: I’ve always been a sports junkie. Having a West Indian father, meant it was always going to be this way. There is a reason my brother’s middle name is Clive. I was taken to watch cricket and Derby County from a very young age. My father was obsessed with the idea of sport as the best way to understand British culture. When he arrived in the UK from Jamaica he quickly adopted a football team and found he instantly had a platform on which to relate to people.

As a kid I was a 200-metre runner and a decent if volatile attacking midfielder (my disciplinary record was terrible) but boxing has always been my true love. It’s the perfect marriage of physicality, psychology, strategy, courage, art, garnished with history and politics. Every man would like to be a great fighter, very few can be.

Boxing is ridiculously high stakes sport, the build up, the intense training, the psychological pressure and the knowledge the wrong defeat at the wrong time can see your career disappear quite literally overnight.

The Roar: Who were your first sporting heroes?

Nigel Lopez-McBean: My first sporting heroes were the late Barry Sheene, John Barnes, Daley Thompson and Sugar Ray Leonard. I’m a motorcycle head and Sheene is a British legend whose courage and skill on that beast of a Suzuki is still an inspiration to me.

John Barnes in my household was akin to god. The handsome, middle class, Jamaican-born English player who became one of the most mercurial talents of his generation at a club as iconic as Liverpool. I remember watching kids both black and white come to blows over who could pretend to be him during school playground football. He broke down many sporting barriers in the UK.

Daley Thompson convinced me that Superman did indeed exist. He was super-human. Ten events. Madness.

Sugar Ray Leonard is and always will be a hero. His story is beyond Hollywood. The bravest, most outrageously talented boxer outside of Ali. Quick, smart, cheeky and devastating. I’m still in love with him. He didn’t have any of the brooding menace many associate with boxers. He was the articulate, gentle, intelligent man with the heart of a warrior. It’s an intoxicating combination and any man who can be a stylish world champion and also write for Esquire can make you feel very bad about yourself.

The Roar: Boxing in the UK has recently seen a substantial growth in popularity following the exploits of Ricky Hatton, BBC Sports Personality of the Year, Joe Calzaghe, the young and exciting Amir Khan and the powerful Londoner David Haye. Some UK schools have even reintroduced boxing into their sporting curriculum after many years absence.

Why is it that boxing attracts a high media profile in the UK whilst a great Australian boxer like Michael Katsidis or Paul Briggs could walk unrecognised down most streets in Australia?

Nigel Lopez-McBean: Why boxing doesn’t have a higher profile in Australia is something that continues to confuse me. Given Australia’s love of violent contact sports and a good on-field punch-up it doesn’t seem to make any sense. Australian athletes are characterised by their desire to compete aggressively and I thought boxing would be a natural home for this. That Australia hasn’t won a single medal of any sort in Olympic boxing for 20 years is a ridiculous. Australia is unlikely to have a single boxing representative in Beijing. A tragedy.

As for local fighters, Billy Dib is one of the world finest up-and-coming fighters at Super Featherweight. An unbeaten Sydney born-Lebanese kid managed by Oscar De La Hoya, a stylish battler who wears the Australian flag proudly on his shorts who is shamefully ignored by the local media. Hopefully when (not if) he wins a world title in early 2009 he will get the adulation and profile he deserves.

Katsidis and Briggs go about their business quietly while the likes of Green and Mundine have made careers out of avoiding opportunities to put modern Australian boxing on the map and it does the reputation of Australian boxing globally much harm. I can’t think of a single other sport where Australians have a reputation for ducking challenges. I’m unable to believe some of the fights Mundine in particular has take in the past year. Shameful. I suspect Green, Soliman and Mundine will fight each other until they all fall over or the Aussie public get bored, which ever happens first. Anyhow, it’s not good for the sport here.

I’m pleased to see boxing back in some schools. I’ve watched drunken guys shaping up to fight outside hotels and I’ve often thought if they had any concept of how much what they were about to embark upon hurts they wouldn’t bother.

The Roar: Should Evander Holyfield be making a comeback?

Nigel Lopez-McBean: Evander Holyfield is a legend and gentleman and for that reason I think he has a responsibility to the sport to walk away. I can’t watch him. It makes me cringe. I don’t care how good he feels; no good can come of his continued presence in the ring.

The Roar: Your article “The Australian Sports Myth” drew perhaps the most evocative set of responses to any article yet posted on the Roar. Without rehashing the argument, I’d be interested to hear why you think the responses were so passionate and if you learnt anything from the responses.

Nigel Lopez-McBean: The ‘Australian Sports Myth’ was a learning experience. I had absolutely no idea how tightly wound the public were about Australia’s sporting prowess. It’s an incredible source of pride. I suspect if it ever declined there would be a national suicide watch. It really matters to a lot of people. I raised what I thought were a few arguments that had been rattling around in my head and I was vilified. Some of the people that wrote hate posts were so angry they had failed to even read the article properly. I’ve since spoken to various people about it and they have told me in no uncertain terms that to question Australia’s sporting prowess in any form is bad idea … Especially if you are English.

The arguments back and forth were so passionate because it is something nobody ever questions. Ever. It’s interesting, since its publication I’ve had a number of people come to me and say I had a very good point they had never thought about. I’m quietly proud of the reaction it got and the quality of many of the responses. It’s the reason we enjoy The Roar so much. Good old fashioned debate.

I found much of the comment valuable. I learned a lot about the way many Australians perceive the sporting world and it’s certainly different to me, which is helpful both personally and professionally.

The Roar: Both Australia’s and India’s cricketers behaviour during the recently passed summer went a long way to promoting the idea that sport is less a developer of character than a revealer of it. Do you think that series will be a low-water mark that cricket will bounce back from or is it just another step down the path of deteriorating standards of sportsmanship?

Nigel Lopez-McBean: This summer was waiting to happen. Australia have to take most of the blame for it. For the last ten years they have been the best side in the world. By far. When you’re the best the nations behind you watch and think “Mmmm, that’s the way to win.”

If you are the number one side in the world you have to act as custodian of the game. Australia failed to do this. Australia prides itself of playing harder and edgier than the rest and this summer saw them finally met a clone of themselves and it turned a bit ugly. India was like an Australia ‘B’, same issues, same attitude, same hard play. Having said that I enjoyed the battle it was great to see a team come here and win.

When a sizable percentage of the population are turned off by the antics of the Australian team you know something is seriously wrong. I call it “The Hewitt effect” – Things will sort themselves out, they always do.

The Roar: Sports writing can vary widely from the insightful and intelligent enjoyment of boxing’s Norman Mailer to the boorish, parochial barbs of rugby’s Stephen Jones. Who are your favourite sports writers?

Nigel Lopez-McBean: My favourite sports writers are Simon Barnes of the Times who has this ability to analyse the most torrid sporting events in a calm, considered and quite beautiful way. Thomas Hauser’s boxing reportage is currently the finest in the world. One of the things I like most about boxing is the way it the sport attracts the most intelligent writers. Even feminists like Joyce Carol Oates have written wonderful books on Boxing. I love Mailer of course. The simplicity and tell-it-like-it-is cartoon mentality of The Independent’s Steve Bunce is also fun. The standard of literature about Boxing is astonishing.

I actually like Stephen Jones, he knows how to spark a debate, and he has a habit of saying things people really don’t want to hear. I’m amused by how hated he is over here. I just see him as an Australian-style journo working out of Europe. Parochial and boorish are attributes I could equally apply to 90% of the Aussie sporting media. Jones just gives it back in spades. I suspect many in Rugby writing would be bored senseless without having him to attack. Who else is going to keep steam coming out of Spiro Zavos’ears?

I can’t go without mentioning Peter Roebuck’s thankless task of commenting objectively on Aussie cricket. Brave man.

The Roar: In light of Tibet’s treatment at the hands of China, should national Olympic committees around the globe consider boycotting the Beijing games? Is there a level of hypocrisy amongst countries that boycotted Zimbabwe due to its treatment of white landholders but refuse to boycott China over its treatment of Tibetans?

Nigel Lopez-McBean: Hypocrisy is alive and well right across the board. As you mention if the oppressed people in question were westerners there is no doubt in my mind many major nations wouldn’t be going to Beijing. I’m interested to see if anyone does take a stand, especially at the games. I’ll have total admiration for anyone that does decide to embarrass the Chinese Government at their home games in front of watching millions. This Olympics could very well unearth that rare thing: a political sporting icon.

The Roar: Since moving to Australia have you noticed any differences in the way Australians’ appreciate or experience their sports that are peculiar to Australia?

Nigel Lopez-McBean: I’ll get killed for saying this but I find many big sporting occasions here lack atmosphere. No chanting, no vibes, too family oriented and over-zealous stewarding. My first visit to a packed MCG for the Ashes was one of my most disappointing sporting experiences, without the party mentality of the Barmy Army it would have been very dull.

I am shocked how passive Australian sports audiences are. The Australian sporting experience is less intense more theatre like than back home. Get a light beer, sit down and be entertained. This is the where the British fan differs. He/she doesn’t demand entertainment they just want to see someone give 100%. This is kind of why England can support 92 professional football teams when only 2 of them can rightfully be called in any way entertaining.

Many sports here seem to have a small business mentality; it’s all about the hustle. Plans, expansion, franchise. I’m still unable to get my head around the way the footy codes, bitch, scrap and argue. Where’s the love?

I really enjoy State of Origin rugby league. I love the historical rivalry and the passion. Interstate sport is where it’s at here and this is the best element of the current A league. Too many teams in one city will kill the unique position they have in the Aussie sporting environment.

The Roar: Who is your current favourite sportsman or woman and why?

Nigel Lopez-McBean: My all time favourite sports star is an obvious one. Muhammad Ali is the blueprint for all stars. Genius skill-level, courage, charm and above all, principles. He’s an old school fictional hero who happened to be exist. He fought for what he believed in and his legacy in boxing and sport in general will last forever. His fights are beautiful to watch such is the artistry of his boxing. For a short time Ali made boxing not football ‘the beautiful game.’

I’ve always wondered how it was possible someone involved in such a brutal sport could be quite so photogenic.

At the moment I’m torn between Valentino Rossi and Federer. Rossi for his move from Honda to Yamaha and his ability to win World championships on both bikes in consecutive seasons a few years back. Brave, lunatic, brilliant. No other rider would be quite so convinced of their own talent.

Federer for his metamorphosis from angry undisciplined player heading for self-destruction to the poetic iceman he is today.

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