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[Music] Isaac Peach welcome to my podcast thanks for having me right it's so good this is
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the first time we've actually met but I I feel like I know you from seeing you
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through different bits and pieces and also hearing a lot about you through our mutual friend
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mamoto she's um she's actually said a lot of uh a lot of quite offensive
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things about you which we'll get to the bottom bottom of today um first of all
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before we um get into the the meat uh Mike Tyson versus Jake Paul I hate everything about
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that um I hope Mike Tyson's right I think he could get knocked out by Jake Paul cuz he's 58 years old and I think
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it's ridiculous and I think 58 you yeah I just hope he doesn't I hope Mike tyon
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knocks him out but I really worry that he gets hurt in that fight to be honest Jake Paul's an athlete now that's the
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problem and he's 26 H does does experience count for nothing experience counts for stuff but
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I don't know I don't know I think age does too man 58 come on I'm 42 and like
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struggle 58 I know he's Mike Tyson but Mike Tyson was quitting [ __ ] when he
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was 42 he was done so 58 I I think it's dumb yeah okay um who is Isaac Peach [ __ ] I don't know if I know
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that um I don't know man probably a guy that loves his family and loves his kids
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is more than anything and I do a shitload of boxing there h yeah from what I know about you which is um very
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limited it's mainly through Word of Mouth stuff from other people um a dude with a big heart and a dude that's
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fiercely loyal yeah I think so yeah so he was a fighter now he's uh thought to
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be the best boxing trainer in New Zealand I don't know man you're only as
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good as your last fighter you know like yeah whatever the labels don't mean much
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to me but I mean we're trying to our Gym's trying to do something that hasn't
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been done in that's to hit guys on the world stage consistently and I think we're getting there yeah so you were
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quite figh of yourself 13 fights 12 wins One n one loss by Split Decision yeah I
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I fought as much for years and then I fought those Pro fights but I mean yeah I I'm not big on my fighting
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my my kind of life is me being a trainer now and I don't don't really to be
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honest never go back to my days of a fighter I mean yeah in terms of like talking about it or yeah I just think
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revisiting yeah when when I fought it was I felt like it was different I mean we just drunk piss it was just I was
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terrible alcoholic I was tough as mentally and yeah I don't know if I was in my i'
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would kick me out so I don't let any of my guys do anything that I used to do
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yeah yeah this is definitely um yeah we we can get into that later this is something that Mia and moto moto has
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talked about you she said when she knew in the early days You' turn up you you
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know have you have a sigy out of your mouth um wreaking of PSE um but it seems like you are there there's that um Tim
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that's throwing around functioning alcoholic um but it seems like you never you never missed training you never
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missed a fight you know you you burnt the candles at both ends I guess that's
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another saying um was it a fair assessment yeah I used to win everything in the gym used to make sure I was
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determined to I think because I was probably frown upon for acting how I used to just smoke 20 plus a day and
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drink every day and still be relatively successful um which I think is stupid now but back then yeah and you are
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functioning as a holic and mentally are strong so you know you kind of get you get [ __ ] done but nowhere near to where
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you could have got [ __ ] down yeah yeah so so who who was Isaac Peach as a young
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guy what were you like were you were you were you angry did you have like a chip
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on your shoulder about something no no I I had good parents I'm one or six six
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kids um I'm the oldest I'm very I don't know bit crazy when I was young I
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suppose um was into a bit of everything but just a normal kid yeah I love sport played every sport I still do love sport
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love rugby league love rugby love I love every sport where did the um where did the love of boxing come
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from that came later I didn't start boxing till I was probably 18 and I think I always like I think
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everyone's sort of likes boxing or violence in a sense right and um yeah I went and watched a fight and went to a
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gym and that was the end of it yeah you but I think most of us I don't know I
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like I I really enjoy watching like these Combat Sports but I couldn't think
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of anything worse than getting in getting in a ring like it would just scare the [ __ ]
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out of me like best case scenario you win um not a not a pleasant scenario you get
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humiliated like knocked out early worst case scenario something bad happens to your like um you know to your physical
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health like it's scares the [ __ ] out of me there's nothing like it there's I
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don't think there's anything in the world like combat sport boxing I suppose
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MMA that's the same thing now like you're putting yourself in a very vulnerable position by doing it so
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that's why people people doing it properly deserve respect and the sad thing about the sport is that people
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that are at the top get smoked when they lose and people just treat white [ __ ]
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and to go to that top and try and perform in front of everyone is a massive thing cuz like you say you've
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got everything you by yourself and there's all these variables that can happen and I suppose the worst one you
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can die so yeah I think every fighter deserves respect every fighter that's like doing it properly doing it for a
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living really deserves respect yeah what about your um love of tatos where did that begin
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[ __ ] out of control it's getting worse is it you you're not you're not finished
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yet you're still what's on did I see some um some EBS on your on your right
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hand what have you what have you got oh no that was that was kind of silly that was um I've got a little Muslim boy in
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my gym and he used to put on his social media with a fight with fight train hard fight easy or something
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and I hate that saying cuz you don't fight easy or whatever the stupid saying
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is so like you train hard you fight hard and you be hard that everything has to be hard I said show we a ttoo today I
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want it tto on my hand and he's he's like very conservative he's okay
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so well is just like train hard Fight Hard be [ __ ] hard when did you get that done at what age no not a long ago
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he's my four he's my 14y old Muslim in the gym and he came and just yeah he he
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looked at my head and just fing AR attack but yeah did you um oh this is my dog just coming in to join us hello
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babba hey come here so did you when you get a tattoo like that on your hand um bear in mind you're a dad of four now do
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you do you like do you do you run it past your wife no I never run a tto past my wife but my wife doesn't care like my
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wife that's what they I about she doesn't care she yeah and have you got a
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peach um you're wearing a peach boxing um hoodie have you a peach boxing tattoo
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y have you where's yours I got a big one I there oh [ __ ] wow that is that is huge
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um yeah M and Moto she's got one on on her neck neck yeah which she loves one
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on my wrist too yeah oh you got two did you forget you had the first one no well that one was
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covered so I thought I'd get one there as well so so um Peach boxing um where did
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it begin humble beginnings right on the on the the deck in your house I had a what happened I had a deck in Sunnyville
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and I started training my brother so my brother was an amateur he kind of I kind
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of gave it away and he wanted to keep going so I kind of trained him a little bit and we basically had a deck that was
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on a slant and we put ropes around it we a couple of bags so it was like a makeshift sort of boxing ring yeah just
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on a deck and then um Jerome was my next neighborhood that's my your pamp one of
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the best boxers in the country at the moment yeah so he was my next door over so when I know we probably had two or
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three of us he came over and that was the beginning we're fighting out of a um
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deck and then we we moved house um not too far away and we had a single garage so we built like a Bola you know like a
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clear light sort of Bola we just bought that hung bags in it and had a single garage with rope around it concrete
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floor and that's when it started getting more serious but we still [ __ ] we good
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Fighters we had David light there Jerome Andre was there and we all just trained out of this
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shitty little garage with kind of old bags and when it rained you got wet so the the deck scenario in Sunnyvale how
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how long ago was that what are we talking don't know 2013 right okay so like 101 years yeah and that would have
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been for probably three or four years and then we had the other place for probably same I guess was it called
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Peach boxing in the beginning or you didn't have a name or we didn't have a
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name to start with I think was actually we call it sunny boxing we didn't really
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have a name I don't really know how they it all came about that side of it yeah
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so so the story about Jerome pimpan it's um hilarious really so he's just a
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neighbor he's a neighbor that can hear us training so he comes over and asks to
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train so he he wasn't a boxer at that point never throwing a punch like he a
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boxer in his life yeah and yeah it's odd right that's odd yeah so he just he just wanted to hang out
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because he liked no he just wanted to come over go he he was playing rugby ricking and he want to get fit so
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comeing to go I chucked him in a few fights and it's addictive so yeah and you I mean there's a big difference
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between going to your neighbor's place and you know hanging out with the boys you know sparring a bit on the deck
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to actually like getting in a ring and having a having you know there's a difference between like working you on
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the on the pads yeah yeah to actually getting in a ring I've never been one to
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want to train people I hate that I don't like training people for nothing like
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and like I don't like if you're going to come over let's have play boxing I don't
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want to play boxing or rather do something else you just send them to mail as yeah so if you come to my house
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you're going to be booked a fight real quick and I've done it to everybody I
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just make you fight well [ __ ] off yeah you know that's um if I was your um
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business development manager I'd say that's a terrible business model and you
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should be trying to get some of that corporate money yeah yeah no I just hate it I I really do I've never done you
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know I've never done a one-on-one in my life like a personal training thing ever
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I just I don't know just doesn't do it for me yeah this is the definite um
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impression I get about you you care you've got a big heart you're very loyal
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you care about your Fighters you all want them to reach their potential which um in most cases is like world champion
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level and you're just not driven by the money at all I'm not my money helps we
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get to a stage where we really need money but my love for success for my guys is massive and it's real rewarding
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and that's why I don't I don't yeah I just have no passion for getting people
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foot and doing that sort of stuff I really have a passion for the top level it's such a it's a horrible it's a it's
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a really rewarding place but it's such a it's like a real high and lows you know
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your Highs are huge and your lows are really low in terms of the sport in the sport when you the higher you get the
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harder it gets and the bigger the highs and the bigger the lows so I thrive off that I think it's it's like a drug those
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Highs are like a drug and then those lows make the highs so much more yeah cuz yeah it seems like there's
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so so much um so so much importance in boxing put on that win loss record he like everything that's stupid I hate the
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fact that they do that but it's everything why why is that I don't know I think the maywe the thing when he
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started did his 50 and0 and it became a thing I think before that it wasn't so
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important I mean you need to build your record and it's all part of it but there
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is now if you lose it's a long way back it makes Mak it really difficult and
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expensive yeah yeah you just have to look at like the the trajectory of Joseph Parker's career right yeah yeah
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but he's done amazing man he's he's he looked like he was done a few years ago
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he's on top of the world man he's doing amazing stuff you what you what has
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happened to Joseph Parker like from a from someone that's got some good boxing
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knowledge is is it just teaming up with Andy Lee and George lockart is that what
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made the difference yeah that would had to have helped I mean his attitude and he took big fight and he won he fought
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Deontay W and he beat him every round I thought pretty much so that's why I mean
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he he he did amazing he had to win that fight if he didn't if he had got knocked
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out in that fight he's probably finished but he took the risk and if you take the
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risk the rewards are huge in there and now he's beating that chinan and yeah
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good luck to him yeah how good and so what about you so when did the plumbing come into your life cuz that's another
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thing so Jerome Jerome pampalone the neighbor who heard you fighting came over to see what was going on and is now
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one of the best fighters in the world he also works with you as a plumber yeah he's just quit on
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me um yeah I've always been a plumber so right through my boxing everything I
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always work for people as a plumber and probably I don't know around when I got
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married which is probably 11 years ago or something I started a business and it was just me so I was a maintenance
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plumber and then Jerome he was going to be a mechanic which I thought was a dumb
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idea because he'd be stuck under a houseold sorry under a car all day and said why don't you try Plumbing so I got
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him a job with someone else but that didn't really work out so I ended up with them basically by default he was
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terrible plumber he's a bit better now so yeah it's just been me and Jerome
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for like the last seven years plumbing and he's just given it away to to focus
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on to focus on boxing which it's time to do that like he's till a couple of
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months ago he was full-time plumber you got his qualification the deal was you got to get qualified and right yeah so
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do you the impression I get is that you sort of um you sort of have the plumbing
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to basically fund your your your side hustle or hobby whatever you want to call it which is peach boxing yeah the
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Plumbing's been awesome man Plumbing's bought me everything I've ever you know
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Plumbing's great you still enjoy it yeah I've never liked it until now and now
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the boxing's getting so serious and stuff and like I said you got big highs and
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lows coming home and crawling under a house and fixing a pipe quite nice M sounds weird E I used to hate it but now
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it's like Fu nothing to worry about man just no one to talk to just go do a little bit of Plumbing it's actually
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quite nice to be honest has has that changed since you've had kids like you got four quite young kids so is it just
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the peace in quiet and the serenity of being under a house on your own nah N I hate being by myself that's one thing
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about me I do hate being by myself yeah but I think the the plumbing things it's
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just normal life sometimes sometimes you go overse or you do like a big fight there's so much plastic [ __ ] from
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the outside things look really cool but it's a lot of hard work and you deal
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with a lot of [ __ ] and just coming home and to normal life is nice I like that yeah I do um get that impression
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about you that you've you've got a strong [ __ ] detector um but like from a pluming perspective like how do
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you um like how do you handle like the invoicing and you're dealing with clients and things like that I do mostly
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real estate agents so right I deal with them but I handr write all my invoices take a photo and send it to my brother's
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mrss who's my office lady cuz I I can't even use a computer yeah I'm like in the
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60s so seriously I can't type I can't do anything so I yeah I write handw write
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everything and I photo it so it works and even my um even my books for when people get paid in that I write like the
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address and the amount of money and I tick it off when they pay like old school stuff
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but that's what happens when you don't do much to school I guess yeah when did
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you leave school did you leave quite early or no we just didn't do anything I
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went to kelston which was a sports oriented school so school was a boy school but it was fun it was fun it was
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HS of sport you know was a blowy kind of school and no one really did any work regarding
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school work so yeah yeah were you so do you think you were maybe quite smart but
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you just never tapped into it or I'm [ __ ] hopeless with that sort of thing
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yeah yeah but you never sort of applied yourself I never applied myself but I'd
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be the sort of kid that would have to work really hard to okay to pass stuff I pass I failed my Plumbing exam like
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seven times put it that way no one can argue with your persistence and determination got no choice so um I had
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you know Eugene Beerman very well not well but I know yeah I had him on the podcast a couple of weeks ago and um
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with City kickboxing he described it as um a gym for broken songs yeah how how would you describe Peach boxing is is
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that something you thought about yeah I think that I think good boxers come from a
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place where they're looking for something it's like a a what would you call
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it I'll give you some examples so you've got you got someone like Mia who comes
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from the from Hell getting bashed and blah blah blah and you got a guy like David light who comes from being
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homeschooled um his back is like homeschooled wealthy parents so you got them but they're both
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coming to find the same thing so David was this kid that didn't how to relate
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to people and that never really been in the real world because he comes from money and then May comes from [ __ ]
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really and he so they find this medium boxing gives people that Medium you know that just this great leveler that they
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have in common find what you need in that middle Zone yeah don't explain it but you know what I mean you you yeah no
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you love it I can tell your eyes are almost light up when you talk about it it's almost quite poetic in a
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way um so how do how do you make money out of peach boxing like if you take the boxers overseas and they have a fight
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and you get a cut of the money that way what do you charge do you charge them a fee to train so I've got
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um I never used to have any people besides Fighters so pitch boxing basically didn't earn any money but now
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my fighs I take a fee off the pros which isn't doesn't pay for much unless you're
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winning world titles you ain't get any [ __ ] we ain't winning yet um and we've
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got like a corporate sort of class at night now um that has about 40 to 50 members which is really cool it's like
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another community that we've kind of got so those people pay which helps um yeah
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and it's it's a hell of the setup you got now I haven't been there in person
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but I've seen on YouTube but if you can imagine so where is it like at the foot
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of the white teries it yeah it's in Henderson Valley so it's rural we've got
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like an acre property but all the neighbors is Bush yes you got your your house there and then it's like a massive
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sort of almost like a like a steel Farm Barn yeah it's like a we just bought a
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total span garage yeah so it's massive right like the size of say half a dozen
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garages yeah yeah it's 210 square meters and I've heard you um describe your style As Old School uh what does
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that mean in a like a boxing gym environment I just think Basics and that are important I just hate flash stuff
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and I think I don't know I I I feel I might be wrong but I feel like I'm
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disliked by a lot of boxing people because of my kind of attitude but my stuff is like we're winning you aren't
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and a lot of it everyone wants to be flash man everyone wants to be this new age and I don't know they watch they
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want to be Russians they want just be a kiwi and be basic and get your [ __ ] done
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and and you'll succeed and I think boxing is basic and people are looking for looking to complicate a pretty basic
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thing and my my attitude is it's get the the basics really [ __ ] right and the
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higher up these guys get the more we need these Basics right yeah where where does that come from is that how you were
00:21:06
raised or is it your friend group growing up or I don't know I don't know
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I mean I had a lot of different training I don't I made my own way through boxing
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um with my ideas and stuff I see a lot of stuff I don't like I think in life
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you learn more of what you don't like the you know I wouldn't want to do that
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I don't yeah um I've my sort of boxing philosophies and how I want to do stuff
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and I'm open to getting better and I have been lately going overseason trying
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to trying to get better how do you mean get better get better at more I did be be a better
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Coach right um yeah I think it's important for coaches to to always be trying to get better so
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as you're not you're kind of where you're at so so do do you have to deal
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with um like negotiations and stuff with other promoters and yeah yeah yeah yeah
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I deal with it cuz I managed me an elen and my wife we managed them but yeah I hate promoters I don't care if they
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listen they just but there's a lot of seems like there's a lot of snakes in
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this sport eh have you it's it's I think what's hard when it comes to remot is is
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boxing is a real business and the way I do it I don't think of it as a business
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you know you do it because you love your Fighters really and they're like family
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and then but the promoters they're just a piece of meat and if they don't when
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they're gone you know it's pretty cut throat so I struggle with that have you
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had anything to do with Eddie Hearn do you know Eddie Hearn I've only had one
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dealing with Eddie Hearn it wasn't good that was regarding Mia so we're dealing
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with him again soon um so Mia's got a big fight coming up at the end of the year and
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it's Eddie H's girl but they're making it really difficult those gu I mean you
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can't blame them because Mia is not Eddie hn girl so he wants to fight his own girls to keep it all in house kind
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of so they kind of change dates and make life difficult for me and I don't have
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much of a say like if you're ringing the prom uh if you're ringing like the ibf or the
00:23:03
sanctioning bodies Eddie H's paying a lot of money that don't care so much
00:23:07
about me if we have an argument yeah well you look at the like David Higgins had to work very hard to get Joseph
00:23:12
Parker in there didn't he it's uh yeah let's okay let's talk about Mia for a
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bit so um you've been um instrumental not not just in her career but in her life as well so MIA
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starts boxing early on like this is pre-marriage so you've known for how long nearly 30 years 30 yeah you're
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nearly 30 years so when so when you first meet me and she starts boxing she's like a in her 18s no she would
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have been 14 14 okay so is this when you just you've got a a rope section on your
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back deck no [ __ ] no this is years before that so I'm like 21 yeah I had a
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rope section on my deck that's like I'm 32 okay you know yeah so so you just
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happened to be at the same gym or something okay we trained at the same gym right
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and uh yeah what are your memories of her back then like a young Mia M was Choice me is just a young Mary girl
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we're in like a flash like the gym was kind of flash all kind of flash people
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so I didn't fit at all and she kind of didn't fit I was like she don't she
00:24:16
either oh hang out with there oh that's cool and then um would does she seem like a good boxer back
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then or she was she was she was a good boxer 100% yeah yeah and then um so then she just sort of falls off the radar and
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she gets gets married and you um you you don't you see each other and passing
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over that time or you passing but not a lot yeah yeah so there was those years I
00:24:39
didn't see her probably [ __ ] I don't know I she I shouldn't say that but she
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came to one of my engagement parties which wasn't my wife one of them how many were there
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well there's a few um that has to be yeah she came to that um I tell you I did I did see her but not
00:25:07
as much you saw her around so um yeah and uh I mean it's been well documented
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like I've I've had her on the podcast and she did a piece with um Sunday the
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TV show um she got married and it was like a horrible decade like an unimaginably horrible so did you see her
00:25:24
around or did she sort of like try and avoid you over that time yeah I didn't
00:25:27
see her around I didn't know the extent of anything that was going on I actually
00:25:30
saw her I still couldn't see it I saw her I can't remember where it was but
00:25:33
she was with her mom and she had a neck brace and that think was the last time she' been bash really badly and she was
00:25:41
it wasn't good so that was that was quite shocking um but that was that was probably right at the end but yeah I
00:25:50
didn't I didn't know what was happening so when you when you see with a neck
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brace on like what's your what's your interaction what do you what do you say
00:25:57
or do oh [ __ ] me and here straight up who the [ __ ] did that to you they Bea him around the bush was he
00:26:05
truthful with you yeah 100% yeah and and then what what do you you say [ __ ] girl
00:26:11
get you got to get out of there or yeah I think was done I I I I think I don't know I think
00:26:18
he I don't know what happened there he might have been in jail I I don't I
00:26:23
don't know I don't yeah yeah so then is that sort of how you reconnected no no
00:26:27
no no no was ages again after that right yeah like how much how much longer are we
00:26:32
talking couple years or yeah easy right she came to my house okay it would have been way way
00:26:41
after that she came to my house she knocked on the door with her kids and was just standing there my M was like
00:26:47
who the [ __ ] is this and I was like yeah also Elena your wife and Mia had never
00:26:53
never met not not really and then um yeah she that would have been probably three or four years ago she had a brand
00:27:00
new baby and a one-year-old so we had dinner was have feed and then yeah she said she wants to get fit
00:27:09
so I gave her basically a training session turned it pro and the rest is history you you've accelerated past a
00:27:17
lot of the story in like that 8 seconds there it's been um it's been a hell of a
00:27:22
partnership and um I mean you're you're incredibly humble about it but like the
00:27:26
the impact you've had on your life is um like I don't know almost like a North
00:27:29
star or whatever you want to call it it's you know it's been incredible and
00:27:33
she definitely doesn't take that for granted she even yeah yeah it's quite
00:27:38
funny I've done some public speaking things with her we we do some Q&A events
00:27:41
and and every time I do it um she sort of comes out with a new like surprise detail about one of the beatings that
00:27:48
happened over that that decade it was [ __ ] horrendous like just unimaginable yeah unimaginable horror
00:27:54
and then she yeah last time I saw she told me that um her her um attacker her ex-husband he's he's out of jail now and
00:28:02
he like stalked her in a car one day and I I said to him Mia that's did you did
00:28:07
you go to the the police or anything and she was like oh no it was just sort of funny and then I told Isaac about it and
00:28:11
Isaac was like meia that's not [ __ ] cool you know we're deal with it now but
00:28:15
yeah it's not cool it's like the last chapter of that story for her is now
00:28:19
because he is out of jail but but he won't be going there again so when she when she knocked on your door and came
00:28:28
to you with her kids and said I want to get fit M um you said quite early on that you think she haded on her to be a
00:28:34
world champion yeah I think that's the first thing I said yeah well I don't
00:28:37
want to mck around like I said I have no I just don't have any driver unless
00:28:41
they're going to be fighting so yeah and I knew she would fight me as a fighter
00:28:47
so even though she said she's not going to she's going to so yeah and then we we
00:28:52
made the plan I just start chucking them in fights they don't have time to think and yeah
00:28:59
you know she's a world Jan so it's pretty cool it's a reward I mean that's
00:29:03
the cool part about coaching that shit's rewarding like the life change and it is
00:29:08
a bit of a Cinderella story that one like it's out of it how it's only been a
00:29:12
year man since she like won the world title and the change like she's was on
00:29:17
the benefit a year ago and now she's going real good she's public speaking
00:29:22
she's you know she's this Confident Woman paying her own bills you know kids
00:29:27
have [ __ ] proud of her it's it's pretty cool well she came here and sat
00:29:31
on the chair urine like um maybe 15 months ago and back then she she ended up coming on oh maybe she came with um
00:29:39
Liam lonigan but she she we had to reschedule a couple of times because she wanted to come with either you or your
00:29:44
wife as like a support person now she's fine like she doesn't need it yeah yeah
00:29:48
well because back then she was vulnerable man and oh yeah she couldn't and she was
00:29:55
really naive she just she was like an8 year old you know what I mean like she just didn't have those life skills
00:30:02
to yeah but that's so recent that's it's amazing the change in a yes what I'm
00:30:07
saying you just if we told like people wouldn't believe it when they seeing now
00:30:11
like how it was m and she's she's doing and she's been more amazing every day
00:30:16
you know like she's growing as a person every day it's pretty cool yeah she's so
00:30:21
cool and just so um so unaffected by her by her level of Fame and the money she's
00:30:27
got coming in like if you if you saw her you'd still think she's got like zero
00:30:31
doar on the bank account like she's just got no sort of um appreciation or want
00:30:37
for anything or care for the money that she's BR enjoying her life but she should you know I did was funny last um
00:30:44
last week it was the what are the woman All Blacks called the S the black black FS the black FS they asked me at to give
00:30:52
out the jumpers for the black fs and it was about a year ago I think she won the
00:30:57
world title and we asked Ruby tu's manager if Mia and Ruby Tui could do some media together because it' be good
00:31:05
for Mia and they're like oh sorry but she's not famous enough and then this
00:31:10
year a year later Mia's giving Ruby to who Jersey as the special guest like that's pretty cool like in one year that
00:31:18
is great you know what I mean yeah and even a couple of weeks ago she did like a like a hype up speech to the Chiefs at
00:31:24
one of their trainings mid week how how are you how are you finding all the stuff as um like a distraction in terms
00:31:29
of your training and things like that like how you've managed to putting everything in I'm just letting you
00:31:34
around with it and enjoy it um she's got a fight in 10 weeks now so I'll start
00:31:39
clamping down a little bit but I just want to see her smiling and enjoying life man that's what's about with her is
00:31:45
just go go enjoy it go do everything some people will be like [ __ ] she should be doing who cares T boxing go enjoy it
00:31:53
you know sure win but she's she's one of the one of the most um happy and
00:31:58
positive and grateful people that I think I've ever met you know it's I me
00:32:02
be easy for her to have a chip on her shoulder cuz she's been you know through
00:32:05
what what the adversity she's been through but um I've just never seen her
00:32:09
anything but completely happy you do you you yeah I think but also you I think you got to be careful that because I
00:32:15
think people like that they definitely have their cries and this stuff and like you're saying with the ex partner
00:32:20
recently and getting out of jail and stuff like that it's always there so you've got to always kind of uh be there
00:32:29
if if needed in the sense that they can talk to you or or you my way do I'm always asking them questions do you
00:32:36
think you do you think she wears like a good mask like she's like good at pretending you don't go through all that
00:32:41
[ __ ] and it just disappears yeah yeah yeah you don't it's impossible yeah so
00:32:45
but she's one of the most genuine people around me you know so yeah things will just get it I mean
00:32:52
look things get easier Time Heals yeah so and it hasn't been that long so yeah
00:32:56
yeah this yeah I agree this B to be like some P PTSD or scaring there what what about um her relationship with your son
00:33:02
Zen how old how old is Zen Zen's nine this is a hilarious hilarious relationship because um You So you
00:33:12
you're sort of her head coach but I feel like Zen is sort of like your understudy
00:33:17
yeah how would you I don't really know like that's kind of weird but it's kind
00:33:22
of cool like Mir and Zen are just like best mates so they have been for ages and and he started sort of joining him
00:33:30
with the training and then he just kind of got obsessed with it to be honest I mean he loves boxing he's training
00:33:35
himself he's helping train their team and so like that but he's got this real
00:33:39
thing for me he loves me and um he goes to all the media stuff and I don't know
00:33:45
they're just like old buddies and yeah he does coach her like he really helps
00:33:48
her and you got to make sure he's saying the right stuff now cuz she she listens
00:33:52
to him so it's important but I think he's just like a mate too he's someone
00:33:57
that just hangs out with her with no baggage CU he's so young and she likes that and
00:34:03
he just adores her yeah and he takes it really seriously as well doesn't serious
00:34:08
like she told me he you know he calls her in the evening for like a chat and what sort of what sort of discussions
00:34:13
are they having what's he what's he what what advice is he giving you I don't
00:34:17
know I don't even know I get left out these days oh yeah I don't know it's
00:34:24
funny she she had a fight um God she she said so many fights but one recently and
00:34:29
she won he was like sobbing uncontrollably in the ring afterwards what was that I think it just all got
00:34:34
too much for him he's quite sensitive as in and it's a like it's a me and my wife
00:34:40
argue about it a lot like it's a lot for a young kid to kind of do and he gets a
00:34:45
lot of cool [ __ ] out of it but it's it's it's quite stressful and stuff you know
00:34:50
and he's in the corner and it's I think he's just crying cuz it just all em
00:34:54
motioning was too much wasn't cuz she didn't go well did great but yeah it's a
00:34:59
lot for a young kid and we still kind of discuss it regularly and she yells at me that it's my fault and I yell at it
00:35:07
it's her fault but I think it's a wonderful thing at the same time it's
00:35:09
just making sure he's not getting too old too quick I guess yeah but he get some amazing things with is amazing with
00:35:17
him you know me is Awesome with him so there's no problem there oh yeah and it's not just
00:35:23
like a it's not just a petty thing like it's not like it's the coach's son I
00:35:27
better humor him like she um she really respects the the job that he does yeah yeah yeah like I said they're just old
00:35:33
mates they really are they are it's it's it's cool you see you you have
00:35:39
four kids is he the eldest of the four yeah he's the oldest he's what's he nine
00:35:43
I got a seven-year-old boy a six-year-old girl two and a half year old boy I it makes sense that that um he
00:35:50
would have gravitated um towards this because this through his entire life like your dad's been boxing and training
00:35:57
boxers at but me it's like back to the me and Zen thing is like Mia's been
00:36:02
around and in my house like Mia's at home every day Mia has lived in my house
00:36:08
when she's needed to for periods of time um so she is completely part of the
00:36:13
family Mia comes and goes as she wants she's always a bed there for her or you
00:36:17
know what I mean so it she is family so as much as I've got that bomb which is
00:36:22
great it's not just this random random connection like she's you know what I
00:36:27
mean she's lived in our house and she she's been in a house more than anyone
00:36:31
else yeah so all right let's talk about the personal stuff for a second there
00:36:35
was um there's a woman's weekly story that came out last November by the way
00:36:39
is this the first time you've been in woman's weekly was that with my family
00:36:43
yeah no it was actually not oh really you're regular no I did uh but they brush your taros off or yeah
00:36:51
they they did that one now the other ones they said they actually were nice and they like messaged to mind if we
00:36:57
take oh um now I was in the woman's I'm sure was the woman's my brother who fought on
00:37:05
the fight for life oh that's right so your brother JY so my brother's gay and
00:37:10
they did a thing on and The Way It Was Written you couldn't have it like that
00:37:14
these days but yeah so my brother's gay and it was kind of on his gay art exhibition or something and me training
00:37:19
it was this I don't know story but that was the first time was in there yeah so
00:37:24
um so your brother Jesse pit he's um I think he works in Media in the UK at the
00:37:28
moment but he's big in the theater scene he was on um news Hub for a while he
00:37:32
even had a p on Shand Street once true and he did one of those fight for lives and he fought um Shelton who was in the
00:37:37
B blind spot yeah so they did they wanted to thr an article on that because they were like I don't know they're
00:37:44
trying to work out how me and him my brothers and how we're friends but actually me and j a real good friends
00:37:47
he's he's a cool dude you very very different they are you can see why they
00:37:53
were interested on the surface there's a lot of differences but I think we're quite similar in a lot of
00:37:58
ways as well yeah yeah you know what I mean like we're into completely separate
00:38:02
stuff with the boxing and the art and that but I yeah yeah I really like him how um yeah
00:38:10
how did that fight go so he got smash yeah hopeless it was never going to work I don't want him to do it went exactly
00:38:17
how I thought it was going to go but I paying him and he was going we'll take
00:38:22
the money off the to all right so so so you sort of like trained him a little bit I trained him for it I didn't want
00:38:28
him my mom said I had to I was like there's no way like he's going to yeah
00:38:32
but yeah he got paid enough to go to England and carry on so that was that was fine he didn't get hurt okay so
00:38:39
there was your there was your you have like big gloves don't they no oh yeah
00:38:43
yeah bigger than yeah yeah yeah I guess that was your first time in um the woman's magazine um second time came a
00:38:49
story last November um with your wife Elena yeah um and she talks about how you guys met and how she and her words
00:38:57
it was the opposite of love at first sight yeah it was she was the she she was a receptionist at my gym so she kind
00:39:06
of it was like I don't know it was on the shore but it was like quite a tough
00:39:09
guys kind of CH I don't like it so I came from West all the way to the shore
00:39:13
and they're all like bouncers and they're all their friends so I just walk in and look at
00:39:19
her like push a button let me in we there was nothing for about 6 months yeah she says you didn't even like sort
00:39:25
of talk to her or acknowledge her for like months what are your Recollections of that what's your of the story it was
00:39:31
pretty true but did you think she was like attractive or no not really no no I like they had bad attitude to people in
00:39:39
the gym so I was just sort of group there of that was like [ __ ] it I'm coming to do my training and I'm leaving
00:39:44
I probably had a bad at it too oh you you were still you were still drinking then yeah I was still drinking then yeah
00:39:52
yeah oh you mentioned before you're numer how many engagements did you have before you found the right one she was
00:39:56
my third third time so what happened to the so you didn't get married no none of them got married
00:40:01
so two engagements yeah how what happened with those one was young that didn't last long and then the next the
00:40:09
next one they lasted a few weeks I think but I don't know I was Liv in for a
00:40:17
while it's good that good that you waited because everything worked out good so so after six months of um seeing
00:40:23
Elena every other day and not speaking and her thinking you're an arrogant jerk
00:40:29
yeah um what happens then oh I think I probably liked it a little bit then um my coach was real John um John
00:40:40
mcco died recently actually Joel John and he um he used to yell out at me like don't
00:40:47
you go for near the woman in this gym and blah because I'd always be being a
00:40:52
rap bag no matter what it was and um he I think he went to Aussie and I said to him and I asked her out on
00:40:59
the date I thought well I'm going to ask her out it was more to get at him than
00:41:03
to take her out and yeah and she said yes and I remember taking her out and I wasn't
00:41:09
drinking I hadn't stopped drinking but I didn't drink and I took her out I was
00:41:15
driving and she just got hammered she just kept drinking oh it's cost me a fortune I was like [ __ ]
00:41:22
this oh so you went you went drinking that night cuz you were like sober dry no I had like I tried to give up
00:41:27
drinking like had like 6 months off yeah but then she made me fall back on I blame her n and yeah so that's how we
00:41:34
met I took her and then we all been together ever since yeah well how good was it so like um when you started
00:41:41
started you know dating each other was it so like love at first sight from that moment like I don't know I it was weird
00:41:48
we um I had a fight I was on David Tua versus Monty Barrett wow and I wasn't
00:41:54
meant to win like I was was and they were paying 2 and a half Grand and she was going to
00:41:59
go to Japan we'd only been together a couple of months I said if you if I W I'll give you the money and I'll come to
00:42:05
Japan I'll meet you over there and I won so that was it I flew to Japan four
00:42:10
months later and they already had like a ring really for me to propose to it was
00:42:15
like a setup you I proposed to and then a year later we got married and the rest
00:42:18
is history yeah well and it's incredible what you guys have done so you got four
00:42:22
kids four kids under the age of 10 yeah um you got the the plumbing business and this um Peach boxing business which
00:42:29
you both run together she's got a big part in that right yeah well she's full
00:42:32
she's more full-time than me now to be honest so that's cool it's a cool
00:42:36
partnership was she so you said you had like a an abstinence period with drinking and then um she she got you
00:42:42
started again did she ultimately get you stop or did you did you decide you had to stop for yourself or things got
00:42:49
really bad so I gave up boxing and then things were bad so but me and her were like real good drinking buddies so I'd
00:42:55
go everywhere with her but we would get ham would go out 5 days a week it was fun we' fly overseas to drink but then
00:43:02
we had kids and I carried on and she stopped and yeah I drink every day and it was
00:43:09
just got worse and worse and then pretty much she left and I decided to stop and I haven't drunk now for seven
00:43:17
years now yeah how yeah how bad how bad what's the were you drinking for a reason you know how a lot of people are
00:43:23
drinking cuz they're trying to I think I was bored I was always a bad Drinker get
00:43:29
but I always had something to maybe stop for a bit for or not drink in the week cuz you got a fight coming up or
00:43:33
suddenly you didn't have that so so you you did have that sort of discipline
00:43:37
where if you had something on you could stop but I think with the addiction it got worse and worse as I got older so by
00:43:43
the end of my boxing career it was like it would be like I won't drink for 10
00:43:45
weeks by the end it was like I won't drink for 4 days was stupid um but yes I think not having boxing is
00:43:56
a big hole so you just heaps of time to drink like I said me and her did it together but then she stopped and I just
00:44:01
couldn't stop so how bad was it so you you'd go do plumbing for the day then
00:44:07
You' get home and yeah drinking everything was around drinking so I'd get up in the morning and I'd go
00:44:12
plumbing and I'd work really hard till lunch time and then I'd be in the pub by
00:44:16
12:30 and then I'd come home by I don't know anything between 3:30 and 5 try to
00:44:23
pretend I hadn't been Dr hadn't been drinking all that time but this was a daily occurrence it was
00:44:30
like maybe I wouldn't do it on Monday how are you getting home are you driving
00:44:34
terrible yeah drink driving just yeah drinking leads to all those other bad habits um what other bad were you on
00:44:42
gear as well or n not so much um I'm not say I didn't take drugs because I did
00:44:46
but during the day you didn't need to the only time I was an alcoholic so if I
00:44:51
ever took drugs it was to enhance my drinking I to keep you sober so you could keep going long never whoever a
00:44:57
drug addict um but yeah I mean of course I think drinking opens up up to all sorts of stupid [ __ ] what was um what
00:45:07
was you were you a beer guy or wine guy or I was a beer guy yeah and I used to love it I love like I us I didn't used
00:45:13
to love it I I thought I loved it you know I was a bender guard just carry on I think I read somewhere or I heard in
00:45:20
another podcast you you had like a sday bender yeah it was dumb how how how was that even doable that's crazy you got HS
00:45:29
to do that like oh just die talk about depression when you finish that [ __ ] it's like go to H back yeah but I
00:45:39
think yeah I don't know man I don't I don't miss it now at all ever ever ever
00:45:44
ever and I some of the [ __ ] I mean nothing good comes out of drinking nothing good and my life's been
00:45:53
so much better without it yeah has it no matter of [ __ ] you get done now like I'm
00:45:57
so I couldn't fit in where the hell would you fill in having a beer see so 35 when you quit did you did you try um
00:46:05
yeah how did you quit did you try rehab or anything I tried rehab I'd been trying to quit for ages so life was [ __ ]
00:46:09
for ages and I'd been trying I tried little bit to rehab little bit of this but do do it for me things would put me
00:46:17
off every time and then you just relapse and I remember my wife had was it cads or something thing I went to and then
00:46:22
they said I could drink they limited my drinking I thought this is [ __ ] the best thing I've ever
00:46:28
heard was one of the re things re things I'll stay here trying to e you bring
00:46:33
your card back and say here you go bab I've been at rehab but I'm allowed to
00:46:37
drink I'm allowed to have 12 Beers a week so I'm going to have all 12 right
00:46:42
now it's just it's a strange disease isn't it cuz it's like um you even said
00:46:46
before your life was [ __ ] but it's like you think well if if your life's [ __ ]
00:46:50
why can't you just stop but it's not as easy as that can't stop me that's
00:46:54
um people don't get that haven't got is it's an addiction and it praises and
00:46:59
when you do try and stop that's when you just I remember when I stopped I said
00:47:04
you make excuses I'll be like what about if we just drink when we're on a holiday
00:47:07
because there's no way we could go on a holiday without drinking you just in
00:47:10
your brain it's not possible so soon as you start making those deals you're
00:47:14
looking at flights like it's a real dis you know what I mean you want to go H I
00:47:18
got a [ __ ] drink but that it all gets easier the first Year's hell and second
00:47:24
year I find you kind of you re vent yourself into the world that's the hard bit cuz you everything you've done for
00:47:32
20 years you've been drunk to a certain point I used to referee boxing on TV and
00:47:36
I'd be drunk people would know that like w that was great [ __ ] 8 nine be down
00:47:41
so it's just what you did but you could function but try and do but then you
00:47:47
become sober you can't you feel like you can't do anything cuz that's your false
00:47:51
confidence you have you know what I mean so that second year you go through your
00:47:55
ship first year where your still want to drink hard out the second year you got to come back to the world and no one's
00:48:01
nice to you like it's crazy no one's like Well Done everyone's like why the
00:48:06
[ __ ] aren't you drinking you want to you know it's it's bizarre you don't get
00:48:10
supported you get people look at you different like why are you not having a beard oh yeah it is it is strange it is
00:48:16
still it's it's the only yeah cuz I think they feel like um they've lost
00:48:21
they've lost one one of them and your phone doesn't go so you phone goes
00:48:25
everyone Rings you cuz your life the party suddenly no one Rings you so it's
00:48:29
quite lonely that first year is lonely cuz you got no mats cuz your whole life revolves around who you're meeting at
00:48:34
the P you know what I mean so how did yeah how did you quit the did you just s of White Knuckle it no I I was actually
00:48:42
at a boxing camp and I was always the one that oh let's finish let's get some
00:48:45
beers was probably 11:00 in the morning drunk for about 3 or 4 hours and I remember we had like a rugby league
00:48:53
reunion or something and we had bought tickets to it and I was taking my wife and I spent to we had it all babysitters
00:48:58
and I turned up home and after my [ __ ] was gone while I was drinking she'd left
00:49:03
so like yeah so that was it and I thought I'm going to have to give it up so I didn't
00:49:09
give it up I went on a serious Bender thought let's have one last crack let's
00:49:13
have one last about three days do three days and then I'm going to ring her and
00:49:18
cry for help that's the truth so we had one last crack in it and then um yeah to I wouldn't drink which she
00:49:27
didn't believe obviously cuz we've done that time and time again I gave up I
00:49:31
gave up every like I gave Well my two addictions were cigarettes as well and I gave up that at the same time so it was
00:49:36
pretty tough for a while so she came back on the promise that I wasn't going
00:49:41
to drink and was just stay yeah I've heard you say like the um the first year
00:49:47
was really tough from a mental perspective or physical like did you have like physical withdrawals or no
00:49:53
just yeah physically yes but mental way worse like yeah I don't know I'm just
00:50:00
the boredom and the tediousness of well that's where boxing came from cuz I filled my time I went mad with boxing I
00:50:04
just filled my life with boxing and that kept me sober cuz everyone goes I do it
00:50:10
for my kids I do it for this what a l of [ __ ] if you've got an addiction and
00:50:14
you've got [ __ ] time on your hands you you're going to struggle you need to
00:50:18
fill up that time and that's what boxing did just threw myself head first into
00:50:24
boxing yeah so your old your old group are you still did you maintain any of those relationships you still see some
00:50:31
of those people or when you get sober do you realize they were all sort of based
00:50:34
around alcohol yeah I I do like I I I don't think they were false friendships I like
00:50:41
those people it's just it's really hard you don't have a lot in common with
00:50:45
those people because it's just different right and a lot of them are still drinking and stuff and that's cool
00:50:49
that's fine um and if I see them or I go somewhere they're there that's cool but
00:50:55
I don't have a lot of friends now I still have a couple of like basically school friends which I see way not
00:51:02
enough just saw a couple in the weekend first time in months but I think as you get older and you have kid we have a lot
00:51:09
less friends and we got the gym at home so we don't really have like couples
00:51:12
coming for dinner or any of that [ __ ] like we've got our Fighters and that are
00:51:16
kind of our our friends and I guess you know what I mean like we don't really
00:51:20
have time for that I don't know if that's a good thing or not to be honest but yeah we don't have this big
00:51:27
friend group that we go out with we just it's it's not a thing and when we get
00:51:31
time to ourselves it's more we'll go out for dinner with the kids or something
00:51:35
like that so so in the first year you think about it like most most days or yeah yeah first really for a whole year
00:51:43
yeah it's like I don't know how to explain it [ __ ] it it's amazing that you
00:51:47
didn't that that you you hung tight and you didn't relapse cuz you know yeah but
00:51:51
my wife's hard man she's [ __ ] okay so you were really scared about losing
00:51:55
everything yeah massively like she was going to leave so I think you need that like I get a lot of people I can the
00:52:02
cool thing about it is you can help people now I'm going a place where I can
00:52:05
help people and and there's a few people I'm talking to like at the moment and
00:52:08
you can really make a difference because you've been there and you're not a
00:52:12
person trying to support someone not not knowing what the [ __ ] going on um but
00:52:19
you need you need to be in Fair or something or or you need to do rehab but my rehab was coming home to the kids
00:52:26
knowing I'm going to lose it every day and then filling my time with boxing and
00:52:30
crossing my fingers it'll get easier and it did and I think every day got easier
00:52:36
[ __ ] you've done you've done you've done so much like you've achieved so much
00:52:39
since you've given up so do you think about alcohol at all now now no I I think um was some pretty
00:52:47
[ __ ] things happened in the last year and get David yeah yeah yeah David that was terrible I just had drone loss and
00:52:56
sound like nothing but that was a real big thing to me um us not not winning that fight um not on drone just it's
00:53:05
disappointing the highs and the lows and um but alcohol wasn't the thing I went
00:53:09
for so that shows me that I'm I'm doing all right yeah and so and when you reach
00:53:16
these tough times you're not even like oh I could I could do with a drink right
00:53:19
now you're not even no cuz I know if I do that I'm going to lose everything
00:53:24
yeah it won't take long what what what was the the the drink or the siggies initially initially the siggies
00:53:34
because that physically physically and that [ __ ] you know you know like smoking
00:53:39
you dying for a cigarette um but long term the drink yeah like you can get over your siggies but your drink stays
00:53:47
with you for a longer deeper period of time siggies that initial body your body your body shutting down I've never been
00:53:55
I've never I love cigarettes we should have one right now [ __ ] I think cig I hate Vapors I re let's smoke
00:54:04
yeah still got a you've still got like a smoker's voice I Haven smoke for seven I think
00:54:12
it's my voice but I I I love cigarettes I love going to an old lady's house for
00:54:17
work she's like 80 years old and all the curtains are yellow she's still by like
00:54:21
good on you girl should how's your mental health been over the years yeah it's good has
00:54:30
it yeah has it got better since you stopped drinking like a noticeable Improvement
00:54:35
in your mood or your state I think I think we're drinking well for me when I
00:54:42
was drinking you're kind of you're drinking just to not feel [ __ ] and think
00:54:48
things are cool so you're kind of blocking out everything by being alcoholic I and then you feel [ __ ] the
00:54:53
next day you feel [ __ ] so you drink again and you just you know and then you feel good again yeah it's like a hamster
00:54:59
wheel yeah it's silly but moment H good man I'm like you on us good days bad
00:55:04
days um I got you know I got cool [ __ ] going on in my life and I'm lucky with my kids my kids are
00:55:12
all well so I can't complain I'm yeah and I think um I mean this year's been
00:55:18
tough regarding boxing boxing been real tough um but yeah I don't know I think you
00:55:26
just think of what you're grateful for and you get through every day and and
00:55:30
yeah I don't know I'm not one of these big ones on even with the people in the
00:55:34
gym like everyone let's check I'm into Health now I'm all hard in the [ __ ] up
00:55:38
and if I see that you actually got something going on I'll pull you aside and and we look what's going on I don't
00:55:45
know don't know how that fits with Society these days but I I think for me that works more I I already do that
00:55:51
harden up thing I can be vulnerable and I can speak up if I need to but I think yeah yeah who who have you got you got
00:55:59
some good friends that you you can speak to if you need to or is it Elena your wife or actually my wife to yeah yeah
00:56:05
she she knows me inside that she knows if she knows when something's up if there's issues but there's not you
00:56:11
know my sort of thing I don't suck for more than day get on with I'm real hard
00:56:16
on myself about just getting on with stuff so last good yeah you mentioned you mentioned the Gratitude thing before
00:56:22
that's that's a big thing he like if you can um you think of what the things that
00:56:27
you're happy for rather than the things that you're unhappy because you don't
00:56:30
have Life's a lot better yeah I think the older you get like when you're young
00:56:36
it's hard to think like that and it's hard to it's easy to be pissed off with
00:56:40
the world and I've been like I've been pissed off the world a lot but now I'm
00:56:45
really try you try I think it's real positive thing to try and think of things you're grateful for and you know
00:56:52
there's a lot of people that have got [ __ ] so much worse than you so you should almost feel guilty by you you
00:56:57
absolutely oh mate when whenever I um do do some work with Mia I always feel like
00:57:02
this when I leave it's like she's the most the happy and grateful person you
00:57:05
could meet but then at the same time you don't want to it discre or or discredit or whatever
00:57:11
you say at someone else's issues because they're St issues yes and everyone's got
00:57:15
their own sort of things but at the same time I think you shouldn't suck on sh
00:57:20
like least get on with it that's my attitude with a lot of stuff are you um are you particularly emotional when was
00:57:25
the last time you do you cry much what are you cry I am I think I am emotional actually I am quite
00:57:31
emotional um I do a lot of neilly CRI I get emotional when I walk out for big fights do you I don't know why yeah
00:57:40
I don't know why only in that period of walking out I often do just a sense of
00:57:44
occasion or yeah I think so I don't really know I don't know not on every
00:57:51
fight or anything but just big ones I do um a lot of kids stuff makes me emotional
00:57:58
even rugby games and kids doing stuff I don't know just Pride yeah but I I would
00:58:05
I am emotional yeah definitely that's cool so you mentioned David light before
00:58:11
um yeah yeah let's talk about him so he he's no longer boxing right yeah so he
00:58:16
had um you you went to Manchester together he had a fight and then um not long after that um was diagnosed with a
00:58:24
brain clot and a stroke yeah so he yeah he came home from the world title fight and 3 weeks later he's having episodes
00:58:32
so what what happened in the fight we had a fight we had a fight three months before the world title or three or four
00:58:38
months before and it was really tough but and we won it and we were meant to win and Dav was the man and it was a
00:58:44
brutal fight and then we got the world title fight and we had to take it and we all thought it was fine and he got
00:58:51
checked up and blah blah blah and then we we get we go to Manchester we get massive of scans which we passed all of
00:58:58
them and sorry we got into the ring and I could see this thing wrong it was weird cuz training camp was good but
00:59:05
then in the ring I don't know what I was I [ __ ] is there something not right
00:59:09
today and then as the fight went we he went the 12 rounds of this big punching bloody Brit and we lost then we got we
00:59:18
got home and he turned up to training late wonder what time it was just weird [ __ ] he was doing weird [ __ ] out of
00:59:25
character out character like David's weird anyway but I was even weirder and
00:59:32
um yeah we go and then well he was getting discharged from hospital we' send him to hospital and not say now
00:59:37
he's got delayed concussion and stuff like then he had some sort of episode at
00:59:42
night like 2: in the morning his head was all throbbing and rushed to hospital and they put D in his head and found
00:59:48
three bleeds and one of them was old so he fought for the world title with a brain wow which is crazy and went 12
00:59:54
rounds um so these these injuries were were they boxing related or they say you can't
01:00:01
tell but of course they were of course they were so um they did an operation on his head and they took the bleed out
01:00:09
well no no they they don't cut you open in the head now they stick a tu up up
01:00:14
your up your ass or up your dick one of the two and it come but they can do it like that it's amazing so they take the
01:00:20
are you being serious I'm serious yeah yeah yeah so they don't cut it's got to
01:00:23
be an easier way like through the ear or the nose they don't it's it's one of
01:00:28
the and he had a stroke when they took it out so we came in and he was [ __ ] like he was I don't know like wheelchair
01:00:37
bound like as bad as it gets yeah real lucky not to die um so that was a big one well how is he
01:00:45
now he's good he's in Australia with Matt Mao as one of my cornermen at the
01:00:49
moment actually because I meant to be with Andre but our sparing got canceled this week so Boaz my brother Boaz he's a
01:00:54
big part of um what we do as well he's my assistant coach um are in Australia now we' met so
01:01:01
David is doing good like he's a big part of the gym but he's still not right like
01:01:06
he's yeah like just like 80% 90% sort of thing yeah yeah yeah he's still he's
01:01:11
still not working he's still not quite capable but he he's [ __ ] He's luy to
01:01:15
be alive and he's of improvements man it's been a long year for him but you
01:01:20
know and so he he can never like fight again or box again no no no um that must leave a hugee when when that's something
01:01:28
that defines you like it did him um it's got to leave a huge hole in your life he
01:01:32
when Suddenly It's forcibly taken away from you yeah I think for him I'd hate
01:01:38
to I'd hate to be like I think that's what was so upsetting when it happen is
01:01:43
what's he thinking now he can't even talk you know and it's like wow imagine
01:01:47
being that guy you're on top of the world you're this athlete fighting for a
01:01:51
world title and then you're sitting in a whe chair not being able to function
01:01:56
like we had to teach like we would go into the RS we teach them to walk again like help them and they you know like
01:02:01
they have those things you hold on to like it was really bad to learn everything again what sort of impact did
01:02:07
that have on you yeah it was big I think it still is yeah um but he's Dave's my
01:02:14
old mate he's David's like he boxed with me so I knew David I remember taking
01:02:20
David on his first um what do you call it boxing New Zealand camp he was 17 and I got ped and
01:02:28
we drove he's a 17-year-old private not private school what do you call it homeschooled rich
01:02:33
boy and I'm his driver and I'm stopping every Pub drinking all the way to this
01:02:38
Camp I end up getting kicked out of this Camp um that was [Applause] David's we've been G ever since but
01:02:49
um yeah so he was I don't know we boxed together for years and then when we started the new gym he friends with my
01:02:55
wife wife cuz he met her there and I don't know so he's just like family he's
01:02:59
like me was just and he's still there he's at my house now four or five days a
01:03:03
week has dinner with us he's part of the F which is important to me that now
01:03:09
boxing's finished that he's still there you know does he he still like boxing
01:03:13
like in terms of yeah which is weird um probably weird because what happened but
01:03:20
he's um he's was he now he came to drumes for the other week he's I know
01:03:29
he's got he's going to America soon I think to do something and he's got some
01:03:33
ideas of what he wants to do but he still loves boxing he's still very much a part of what we're doing oh speaking
01:03:39
of America you what you so you guys went to Miami together for some fight with some big Cuban dude what happened there
01:03:44
would you like run out of town yeah wasn't there some some Scandal there yeah we went uh we went to
01:03:52
Miami and it was just it was crazy the promoter put us there but we had no promoter with us and we just got ripped
01:03:58
off and treated like [ __ ] all week we're having punch-ups at the floody weighin
01:04:03
and glove thing it was terrible and I found my mom's Bing now but she was sick
01:04:07
I just found out so I found out on my way over there so I wasn't feeling very
01:04:13
good so everything that was kind of bad was real bad you know like I wasn't in
01:04:18
my behavior wasn't the best but it was [ __ ] a hell of a week and then we were in the stadium and it was all
01:04:24
Cubans and he's the Cuban in that chair and then David knocks him out first round car just like there's not a sound
01:04:31
in the place and then the father of the GU like crying jumps in the ring to attack us and he's getting held and but
01:04:38
we were smart we parked the [Music] car like ready to go get up pretty much it was like yes get the belts get the
01:04:46
gear it was crazy it was like a movie it was in like this old Casino outdoor it was all um what do you call
01:04:53
this fing um what do you call those B Boots my favorite boots I can't think what they
01:04:59
called the ones that stand on one oh flamingos flamingos like 100 flamingos oh yeah you got a flamingo T
01:05:06
yeah CU I said if you're knock him out because there's like hundreds of flamingos at this um outside sort of
01:05:12
Raceway Hotel then and I said if you knock him out inside four rounds I'll get a flamingo T behind my ear just
01:05:19
knock out fish wow but yeah that was it was pretty crazy experience that whole week like
01:05:27
it's fun they're looking back at it oh it's [ __ ] so fun like people just
01:05:31
purely hate you and I don't know I feel like you quite you to thrive on that a
01:05:36
little bit yeah it is it it was yeah it was pretty amazing week so that when when he's in hospital sort of fighting
01:05:44
for his life like do you like how do you I mean it's a sport that's given you so
01:05:49
much and you've given the sport so much but like does that sort of impact your
01:05:53
relationship at least at least in the short term like to get do you start to question what you're doing and oh you do
01:06:00
but we had we had fight for life on the Thursday night and this was like the Saturday or the Sunday that so I only
01:06:06
knew and then Mia got wind of it so I took her to the hospital CU she ref she was went for the world title for the
01:06:13
first time and I was like I don't think you should see him CU you won't fight
01:06:16
he's like no she said no [ __ ] you I'm not fighting unless I see him it's okay
01:06:20
well you can't tell Jerome and Russian so everyone knew DAV wasn't well but not
01:06:25
to had to keep it quiet and then they won and then I took them to see him and it was just [ __ ]
01:06:31
horrendous and then the media and that was that was it was a [ __ ] it was just a real [ __ ] time
01:06:39
and then we had to like media conference I to front them and I don't know it was
01:06:44
just [ __ ] yeah it doesn't get much worse for me but I don't think that I had the
01:06:50
choice to quit I I wanted to quit yeah to be honest when I had um wonder what the [ __ ] the point is like
01:06:58
it's only a [ __ ] sport you know what I mean like really you do so much and
01:07:02
it's so much invested in your heart and your whole life's invested and that
01:07:07
happens what the [ __ ] do we even what's the point when we just go to Eng you know why we just be a plumber
01:07:15
and go there go there and not fight and not fight and just go s I don't know oh [ __ ] it yeah it's it's crazy
01:07:22
it's like is this even worth it like what what is this stupid thing we're
01:07:27
doing but did it made you make you so reassess the importance of what you do in terms of looking after these people
01:07:33
and making sure they're going in there like I mean I always did yeah but there's only so much you can do it just
01:07:39
makes it harder and I had drone fight the other week and we lost split decision to go to the world title which
01:07:46
was a huge disappointment for all of us and um but that was hard that was a real
01:07:51
hard fight he's taking big shots and it's it's tough man it's tough Sport and
01:07:57
going through the David thing just makes all that decision Mak it even tougher and you you got to make the right
01:08:03
decisions how how did you get through that that David stuff without like turning to cies or alcohol again it
01:08:09
wasn't an option yeah it's not an optional for me anymore so if that was
01:08:14
earlier but if I mean if there was ever going to be a time where where you relapse like that would be before like
01:08:21
I'm done with that [ __ ] now but if that was four years ago M I don't think I
01:08:28
think I would have off the wagon probably but that's not an optional for me now like nothing's going to make me
01:08:33
drink again I made that that I'm I'm determined that nothing can make me
01:08:37
drink again and like you say if anything was going to that was going to yeah yeah
01:08:42
[ __ ] you've come a long way but also in that situation for me to go drink in
01:08:46
that situation that would be selfish as [ __ ] like that was a big deal and it wasn't about me it was about David and
01:08:53
there's a whole lot of other people that were broken about that you know you got
01:08:55
his family for [ __ ] sake you got to explain it to them you got to face them you got to face your own gym all those
01:09:02
Fighters that knew now have to fight knowing you know it makes everything pretty real what what do you mean you
01:09:08
have to face face these people it's not like it was your fault yeah but still
01:09:12
still to face him still the coach you're still the leader of of what you do it's
01:09:16
like the ship goes down you go down with it you're still responsible doesn't PE people will
01:09:21
always give you that it's not your faults but if you're a good coach you take
01:09:27
responsibility for [ __ ] man if you're a [ __ ] coach you blame your fighter you
01:09:31
blame your stuff so it is what it is but I definitely will always take responsibility for that [ __ ] and you got
01:09:40
all your other Fighters and I've got to see it and now they've got to get up and
01:09:43
they've got to figure out if they want to do it but you got think about all them that David trains next to them
01:09:48
every day and then suddenly this happens like do you guys really want to do it cuz I'm okay if they don't you know what
01:09:54
I mean don't blame you [ __ ] don't [ __ ] that yeah like right now I'll be
01:09:59
happy for none of you that that's what you go through a little bit wellow you've come a long way
01:10:05
haven't you are you proud of yourself um I feel like yeah no I am I mean you built something you've built
01:10:16
and you're building something really cool I think I I yeah I just don't feel
01:10:20
like I'm nearly there at all I just don't feel satisfied I I feel like I'm
01:10:24
just starting now M I do and I I don't know where I'm going with it people always have PL I don't really
01:10:31
much of a plan I'm more of it I just find myself there but I I do work hard like that's one thing I do with whatever
01:10:40
I do I work really hard I try and outw work the other person like I was saying with school work and [ __ ] like that I've
01:10:45
never been good at any stuff like that so I lack in a lot of areas so I probably got to work twice as hard as
01:10:51
everyone else so that's one of my strengths definitely is to work [ __ ] hard to get what I want and I'm driven
01:10:58
ass so I feel like things are just starting for us but I don't know where it's going yeah I was going to yeah I
01:11:05
was going to say what's next but you just don't know I want world champions
01:11:09
and and people can say they want W it's a [ __ ] hard thing to get and I haven't
01:11:15
got one I've got M but I haven't got a male World Champ and I've got Andre it
01:11:20
isn't out it's out this week I think but Andre is fighting for the world title
01:11:24
and to get these guys to win the World title from my garage is [ __ ] super hard we're fighting guys that are in
01:11:30
living in altitude camps with chefs and you know what I mean it's it's it's
01:11:37
laughable that we would it's the most it's the most wisy thing either you know
01:11:42
it's just crazy but we're knocking at the door and we're going to do it and I
01:11:46
firmly believe Russian can win a world title and he's going to win the World
01:11:49
title it's going to be so satisfying when we when we get that done you know [ __ ] the money who cares about any of
01:11:55
that [ __ ] [ __ ] like it'll be that will really make me happy and look Eugene's
01:11:59
done it with Israel look at that that's [ __ ] unbelievable so it's double yeah
01:12:04
different sport similar sort of [ __ ] and those guys have done it and and if you look at their Journey
01:12:11
like that wasn't all plain sailing everyone sees it now and Israel's the
01:12:14
man he he he got knocked out a few times that's hard dr's just been just lost you
01:12:19
know we we want those guys to got put on boxing it's hard yeah I reck you'll get there I mean
01:12:26
there's a lot of parallels as well uh yeah when Eugene was on the podcast he
01:12:30
he talked about this he a made of his like died in his arms in the in the ring and after that he wanted to give up
01:12:36
coaching um and then a friend of his came and had a word and basic basically convince Eugene to see that he he cared
01:12:45
about these guys and would do what he could to protect them more than anyone else that's what kept Him in there yeah
01:12:50
for a safety thing I feel like um maybe it's the same with you I think yeah I
01:12:57
think being a coach is the best job in the world I think it's the most satisfying job in the world but it's
01:13:02
tough being a coach is tough because you got heaps of responsibility you've got
01:13:07
feels like got the world on your shoulders a lot of the time and people see the results of fighting and that but
01:13:11
there's a lot more to it than that and you kind of you got to kind of look after these guys lives you got to try
01:13:18
and you know you help a young people get better in life as well as boxing it's
01:13:25
know it's a rewarding thing yeah well I'm proud of the work you're doing it's
01:13:30
bloody bloody good and I appreciate you coming on the you don't do many of these
01:13:33
he no I don't know yeah no not really why why did you say used to this my wife
01:13:41
said I had to did she oh that's amazing why why did she say you had to I don't know you can
01:13:48
ask you I oh how good I'm pleased about that I got your number off M I said oh I
01:13:53
think Isaac would be a great gift just like yeah get them on get them on so I'm
01:13:57
pleased we made glad I did it man yeah it's like anything once you do it it's
01:14:01
fine well it's cool I mean you're you're um like you're incredibly humble and
01:14:05
very straightforward and black and white but it's um it's a like a hell of a
01:14:09
thing that you're building and um Al from a personal perspective like everything you've been through in the
01:14:14
last 10 years it's really cool and I think a lot of people can get a lot of good from you know your story I hope so
01:14:20
yeah I think that's what life about is trying to trying to help people and have
01:14:26
experience and [ __ ] things up and try to either get people out of the ditch that have already got there or prevent
01:14:34
people from going there yeah 100% all right Isaac paach thanks for coming on the podcast mate thanks man appreciate
01:14:41
it me cheers oh [Music]