Joe Gallagher is targeting leading Zelfa Barrett into contention to challenge for a world lightweight title after overseeing his stoppage victory on Saturday over Mexico’s Cristian Bielma.
Barrett is rebuilding, at the age of 31, under Gallagher’s guidance after separating from Pat Barrett – his uncle and long-term mentor – in the aftermath of his damaging defeat in February by James “Jazza” Dickens.
If his prospects appeared under threat at a time when he perhaps should have been at his peak, his new trainer has faith in his potential to prove himself a world-level lightweight.
Gallagher was speaking on the same day that Raymond Muratalla was elevated to IBF champion as a consequence of Vasiliy Lomachenko’s retirement and in the week after Keyshawn Davis was stripped of the title of the WBO after failing to make weight for his date with Edwin de los Santos. Barrett’s compatriot Sam Noakes may yet be one of the benefactors of the shifting sands of their consistently appealing weight division; Gallagher detects potential opportunities for his newest fighter, and is convinced that he can revive his career in the same way that he once did Matthew Macklin’s, Anthony Crolla’s, and more.
“We’re just getting started,” the respected trainer told BoxingScene. “Zelfa’s never been in any life-or-death fights; he’s never been in anything that’s put [an abundance of] miles on the clock. Macklin came to me on the back of a draw and people were going, ‘I’m not sure whether he’s got it now’; next thing, bang. Lawrence Okolie [is proving similar]. I wouldn’t work with kids if I didn’t think they’ve anything left.
“Crolla; Paul Butler. Zelfa, I can put in that. At 31 there’s three, four years in Zelfa Barrett. Let me do my job with him, trust the process, and I’ll have a kid ready for a world title, beginning of March. Are we ready for [the world’s leading lightweights]? No, we’re not. Can we be March 2026? Maybe. But they might have moved on. The landscape changes. We could have some world-title nights with Zelfa Barrett. If we do things at the right time we can start working towards that. He just needs a bit of love and a bit of support.”
That the victory over the 31-year-old Bielma came at the Bolton Whites Hotel in Bolton, England is a reflection of Barrett’s standing after the defeat by Dickens. It is also perhaps a reflection of what Gallagher describes as the “void” that has existed in the Manchester fight scene since his success with, particularly, Crolla and Scott Quigg in the years after the retirement of Ricky Hatton.
Jack Catterall-Harlem Eubank headlines the Manchester Arena on July 5, but even if Catterall’s presence is yet to be felt in the same way as was the popular Crolla’s – Barrett, incidentally, was recruited as a sparring partner to help Crolla to prepare for Darleys Perez and Jorge Linares – Gallagher hopes that Barrett can feature on the undercard in his attempts to achieve the activity he believes necessary for Barrett to succeed.
“He had one or two rounds looking at [Bielma], set about his work, and when Zelfa unloads…” Gallagher trailed off. “Going back years ago when he was helping Crolla with Perez and Linares, I saw that then and I’ve never really seen it since. Maybe once at York Hall. But he’s got an abundance of talent; a set of tools no one’s seen.
“We just need to keep the kid [busy]; start building momentum. Zelfa, straight away [post-fight], said, ‘Ask Eddie [Hearn, of Matchroom] to put me on that Manchester show, July 5th – I’d love to be on that’. Another eight-rounder or something else; try and get him out in September, then December; then we’re ready for what the world-title scene looks like at the beginning of 2026.
“It felt like the old arena days of Quigg or Crolla, or Hosea [Burton] or Stephen Smith – any of them boys fighting at the arena. It had that type of build-up for it. It had that big-night feel about it. How he never picked the baton up after the years of [Terry] Flanagan, Crolla and Quigg I’ll never know, but there’s big nights ahead. After our first fight we need three or four more fights, and then he’ll be ready and looking at world [level] in 2026. There’s work to be done with him, but his performance, I was really pleased with him.
“He was under huge pressure; we were under huge pressure. It went very well for him.
“I was surprised they took the fight [with Dickens]. I wouldn’t put anyone in with Jazza Dickens. Sparring’s a problem – who can you get to replicate Jazza? He’s a very good fighter; well-schooled; experienced; he’s been through it all. At the time it was no surprise that Jazza won – no slate on Zelfa. Zelfa was a lightweight at 16 years of age – as an amateur – and here he is 14, 15 years later still making the same weight division. No wonder he was a shadow of himself to an extent.
“[But] he could fill a little bit of a void at the moment in British boxing, especially in Manchester boxing, where there’s no one to carry the torch. I don’t know why he never carried the baton after Flanagan and Crolla. But with the young kids coming through in Manchester, with Pat Brown, he could do what Quigg and Crolla did – Josh Warrington and Jack Massey were on their undercards. Zelfa could be the headline act to rebuild and bring Manchester boxing back.”
It was in February when Gallagher revealed that he had been diagnosed with stage four bowel and liver cancer. His commitment to his profession and his fighters meant it has proved little surprise to see him remain in the gym and in their corners, but he and Barrett unexpectedly started working together thereafter, partly because Gallagher’s refusal to reduce his responsibilities, regardless of the intense demands of his treatment, means that further fighters will continue to be welcomed to Gallagher’s Gym.
“I never thought about it, because it’s not controlling me in any way,” he said. “It’s business as usual. Zelfa Barrett, not a problem – a kid I’ve always wanted to train. Zelfa’s aware of me situation. Young blood motivates old blood.
“There’s possibly one or two more [fighters] with a bit of profile that might join the gym. It’s hard work, and move forward, regardless of what I’ve got. I’m always going to try and do the best that I can do for however long at the time we’re together. I’ve got his back and he’s got mine.”
