Micheál Martin's brother: ‘The Champ’ would have said 'are ye all mad or what?'

Paddy ‘The Champ’ Martin might have had a wry smile at thought that the president of the US would one day talk about him in the Oval Office, his eldest son has said.

The Champ, a gifted amateur boxer who represented Ireland 13 times, was mentioned by Donald Trump on Wednesday when Taoiseach Micheál Martin visited the White House for St Patrick’s celebrations.

Toward the end of a 50-minute press conference, Mr Trump said: “You have a lot of great Irish fighters, actually, great fighters, I don’t know what that is but Ireland’s always had a lot of good fighters, you know why? Because they’re tough people, they’re smart people, and there really have been, over the years so many,” Mr Trump said, pivoting to Mr Martin.

“I think your father was a great fighter, right?” he asked.

The Taoiseach said: “He was, you’re dead right, he was a good boxer, boxed for Ireland.” 

Mr Trump responded: “Look at you, you’re so smooth,” while Mr Martin said his father was “a very good defensive boxer, he could duck and he could weave.”

“He was really good, yeah?” asked Mr Trump. 

“That means genetically I’m not gonna mess around with you.” 

The Taoiseach’s older brother, Cork councillor Seán Martin, said his father was a quiet man who would not have been comfortable in the glare of international attention.

“I’ll tell you now, if he was alive and saw that, he’d say ‘Are ye all mad or what?’ he said. “He was never one for that, he never sought the limelight, it was never his style.”

Seán Martin said he had felt quite emotional when he heard Mr Trump mention the Champ. “I had a half a tear on my face when I heard him being brought up, because it would have been the last thing in the world the man would want, or expect. He’d have had a wry smile at that.”

He added: “Micheál did very well, and he was there because of his father and his mother, and it goes back to his Turner’s Cross background, and his education with the Presentation Brothers and everything else, that’s where he comes from, and that’s what makes him,” he said.

“And the other point people are missing here is the work that’s done in the background by the officials, like, the Irish diplomats around the world are very effective and they’re very good at their jobs, looking back over the years, we’ve been very well served by our officials.”