The spark that led to the formation of The Global Fighters’ Union happened on August 22nd 2022 after a chance interview Gary Neville did with Amir Khan for his Overlap youtube channel.
The interview was organised through Amir’s agent, Martin O’Shea who had worked in boxing for a number of years, from producing life story films for Ricky Hatton and Joe Calzaghe, to representing fighters like David Price and the future champions from Everton Red Triangle. Martin had recently teamed up with Paul Smith, the eldest of the 4 Smith brothers on a new venture called Smart Box Office, and it was a conversation between the two following the Amir interview which first lit the fuse for the the formation of the Union. During the Overlap shoot Amir talked about his fight with Kell Brook, the biggest fight of the year and one of his worst losses. Before the fight Amir wouldn’t come out of his dressing room, to that point it wasn’t common knowledge as to the reasons why.
Kell had done his ring walk first and as he watched this, Amir noticed that Kell was wearing horsehair gloves, forbidden in the contract. He pointed this out to Robert Smith, the representative from the British boxing board of control, Robert Smith told him that the gloves were not horsehair and Amir needed to get out of his dressing room and go and fight and if he didn’t, the fight would be cancelled and Amir would have a huge fine. While Amir stood his ground, with his father insisting the gloves be examined, the clock was ticking and the stress level was rising. Meanwhile, Kell Brook was in the ring soaking up the atmosphere knowing full well that the gloves he was wearing were illegal. Eventually the gloves were brought to the dressing room, when cut open it revealed they were in fact horse hair. When Amir eventually got to the ring his preparation had long since disappeared.
Martin was shocked that something so fundamentally wrong could happen when what what was at stake was so huge and after getting Gary’s approval to release this news to the fight fans, on the way back to Liverpool Martin called Paul Smith. The Smart Box Office platform they were working on was designed to earn fighters more money, increase their profile and remove distractions…in fact, deliver results commercially which fitted the needs of fighters. The platform had already delivered successfully for world level fighters and was about to do the Liam Smith/Eubank Jr first fight…
During the phone call Paul was asked if this sort of incident was normal and his simple comment was that the story was the tip of a huge iceberg in boxing. He relayed 2 stories from his own career and that of one of his brothers which on their own were shocking. Paul went on to say that over the years he had thought more and more about the need for a union to represent fighters.
The two agreed to meet again with only one item on the agenda – could a fighters’ union get past the more than 100 years of opposition which had seen all other attempts fail?
After a period of research, the first meeting of what would become the GFU took place. Martin said that in his view a union was doable even though all the other attempts had failed…the reason for their failure was they had been run by fighters. If it were to work then it must be a proper trade union, run by experienced trade unionists. Paul’s outlook had always been clear, don’t get anyone to do a job they arent trained to do. He would support the development of a framework for the new trade union as much as he could, if it were actually doable then he would put in heaqrt and soul, bring his reputation, his network and even his family of champions to help it happen.
Following this conversation, Martin called Phil McCauley who was in Liverpool attending the labour party conference. Phil is that unusual mix of entrepreneur and Labour party activist, an executive of Labour in Business, he immediately recognised the potential. The three met for breakfast at the Labour conference with the outcome being the creation of a community interest company to explore the possibility of forming a new trade union with the new trade union to be called The Global Fighters’ Union
Within 2 weeks Phil had arranged the first of many conversations with the TUC and teed up the first chat with the PFA…other
co-founders quickly joined, with Stephen Smith and Amir Khan both committing. However, finding the next member of the executive team was possibly the most crucial. During a conversation with his partner, director of the Hatton and Calzaghe life stories, Mike Cockayne, Martin O’Shea recalls asking…
“Where do you find a leader for a new trade union, one for fighters? Someone who is not only experienced and a fight fan, but available? Not only available but up for the challenge without needing a load of money to spend their time on what was obviously going to be a very difficult journey?”
Mike’s reply was…
“Well, my wife’s uncle has just retired from running the GMB…he’s turned down joining Kier Starmer and Sadiq Khan on their election campaigns as union rep…he’s just going to run Epsom boxing club for a while I think…do you fancy a chat with him?”
This first conversation with Paul Maloney was pivotal. Paul not only saw the need for the union but in his words “As soon as the lads told me what they wanted to do I knew this was for me. From that moment I was on board”.
Paul joining was a game changer.
With a formidable team taking shape, the creation of the GFU was announced to the world’s media in January 2024 to almost universal acclaim. Promoters comments ranged from supportive to suspicious with comments from Simon Jordan on Talksport healthily sceptical. All the reactions made the team even more determined to succeed and as 2024 unfolded, the vision became clearer and clearer. The GFU would take its inspiration from 2 other unions, the PFA and the MU. The PFA offered access to its rulebooks and terms and conditions to help fast track the process, crucially, its deal with the Premier League giving it a % of broadcaster revenue. It quickly became clear that fighters needed parity with footballers…if the GFU were funded by a broadcast deal then its ability to do groundbreaking work with huge numbers of people would become a reality.
Meanwhile, the MU model inspired the GFU member structure as it allowed for unlimited membership on a non pro-am basis – effectively, the 750,000 people who trained in combat sports in one way or another would make up the vast majority of GFU members, along with fight fans generally. The GFU would be an open house for novices, enthusiasts, amateurs, professionals and elite fighters across every discipline, every gender, age, race and religion. There would be no barriers to engagement and the new union would be able to work on educational programs and community based projects, vastly increasing its reach.
As 2024 drew to a close, January 2025 was the month set for the GFU to become a fully fledged trade union…
With a dedicated team, a clear vision, and the unwavering support of the fighting community, the GFU is poised to revolutionize the landscape of combat sports.
The GFU is more than just an idea; it’s a movement. As we move forward, we invite fighters worldwide to join us in our mission to protect their rights, improve their conditions, and empower them to reach their full potential.
The formation of the GFU marks a historic moment in the world of combat sports. By challenging the status quo and advocating for the rights of everyone involved in combat sport, the GFU is writing a new chapter in the history of athlete unions.
With the unwavering support of its founders, members, and the broader fighting community, the GFU will help deliver a future where fighters are treated with respect, compensated fairly, and empowered to achieve their dreams, where participants have better access to support and education, better health and safety provision and can access, understand and adopt parts of the world of a world champion much more easily.
