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[Music]
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David Nia welcome to my podcast thank
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you for having me friend oh mate I I um
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on my my uh run this morning I was going
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back through um our our DMS to set up
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this podcast and I'm sorry I'm like a
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mosquito I've uh I messaged you first in
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I think April May 2022 and then every
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couple of months there like yo David
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come on my podcast you kind of have to
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do it you kind of have to do it that's
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like um I wor you down it's badgering
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it's badgering yeah you're the honey
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badger you're the honey bger of the
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podcast world man no no no no I I
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honestly like um uh like I was saying
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just before for uh that's kind of the
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way you have to do it like um first and
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first serves but when it comes to like
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um tracking people down you have to keep
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bading them man and that's the that's
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why you're up to almost 100 yeah like
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yeah 100 podcast 100 podcast let's go um
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I I did I did wonder cuz um our our
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interactions going all the way back
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you've always been um impecably polite
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and well-mannered and your nickname is
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the nice guy um but it did make me
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wonder like are you are you a people
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pleaser do you say no if it's if it's
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something you don't want to do % of
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people pleas it yeah that that's pretty
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much me yeah it's um like uh I'm proud
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of it to a degree uh like there there
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have been times where I feel like um uh
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I probably could have put my foot down
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but um not to people like yourself like
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I've I've I know your voice since I was
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like since I was a kid you know so this
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is a privilege so thank you for having
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me oh thank you the privileg is all mine
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no cuz I um we'll get into your
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relationship with some other people
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including Israel ad you later on um but
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Kanye here I
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um I watched a podcast that I he did and
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he talked about uh you know his
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boundaries and he respects it now so if
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he's out for dinner or something someone
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comes up and wants a photo he's got no
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issues saying no whereas I feel like you
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would just be like h i I'll just say yes
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and get it done with I'm probably I'm
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probably not that famous yet probably
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not that famous I probably don't have
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that many people recognize me in public
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you know uh and be I tell you what being
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um uh a little bit moved as well so
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obviously living over in Australia now I
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think uh I have um you know like not as
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many people uh like familiar with me
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over there so I think there's there's a
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little bit of that um but uh yeah I I I
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probably am that's kind of kind of it's
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kind of trademark now the the the nice
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guy I actually I do have a hard time
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saying no to people um uh but I don't
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think it's it's not uh it's not hurting
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my career all my life you know I've I've
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uh um you know got to where I am today
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by being the person I am you know so I'm
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very proud of very proud of that yeah
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and if it's if it's who you are and not
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an act then it's it's not a difficult
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thing to do that's it that's it yeah
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it's like um uh
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we like it's it's part of uh part of my
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Integrity I like I try to upkeep that
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but I also don't I probably don't uh
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like I don't do many podcasts I don't I
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don't go out of my way to to uh being
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the public eye all the time you know
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this is um uh like when I when I when I
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come back to New Zealand now it's
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usually I want to see family or I have
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or it's it's work or it's business or a
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bit of both like this trip like I wanted
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to wanted to make sure I got to have a
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good chat with you so uh no it's um it's
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just kind of part of who I am anyway
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yeah I appreciate you making the time um
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and another thing that surprised me
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about you doing this research um this is
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on me I just assumed you were moldy
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you're you're Ugandan yeah yeah I um I
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kind of get uh I've got that that kind
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of complexion I get lumped in with like
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pretty much everyone I could kind of I I
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I um I identify as a white man uh and
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I'm 75% white I just get like a really
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good tan in summer you know so my my
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Heritage is uh I'm a quarter Ugandan and
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a quarter Welsh and the rest is like a
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like a a European mix yeah yeah is your
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dad Ugandan yeah my dad's my dad's the
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Ugandan Welsh so half Ugandan half Welsh
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is pretty quite a good quite a good mix
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I feel like um you know you get pedigree
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dogs and it's like uh a lot of them have
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like say they've got heart conditions or
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they've got like um you know they're a
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little bit too much of one thing I feel
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like I've got like just enough mix that
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you know I get eczema asthma and hay
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fever but that you know oh you you're
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one of those you're one of those I'm a m
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yeah come on come on yeah um
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another thing that surprised me about
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you're like a massive Disney fan right
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yeah well like hardcore you think about
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like um uh my generation grew up with
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with Disney and it was like uh I'm
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probably probably this I'm probably the
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start of a of a of a generation where we
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grew up with like really good TV good
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solid wholesome TV that was uh um kind
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of we were sat in front of the TV
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probably more than the generation before
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us I think like every I think I feel
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like my generation we all had TVs I'd
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like to say so having that kind of um
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exposure I took so much of my kind of uh
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inspiration and whatnot from from these
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cartoon characters you know what in
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particular Lion King or I um Lion Lion
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King was the first uh my first idea for
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my my pro deo actually so I did um I had
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a really cool uh like a ring entrance
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song that my friend M from high school
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uh like put together he like uh composed
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it like in his in his at at his family
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house you know and um I've always kind
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of Taken inspiration
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from uh you
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know it's easy to say now because like
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we've got social media everywhere and
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there's like we've got all this
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inspiration all this digital inspiration
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but um for me it was
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like I had so many Heroes that weren't
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actually real a lot of them were like
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they they're all uh fictional and made
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up but at the same time that was where I
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found my inspiration and they've all got
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like really wholesome kind of uh
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wholesome wholesome themes to it so for
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me it was like oh I can actually inspire
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the youth through a fictional
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story written and directed by myself you
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know only only uh we don't know the
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outcome I think that's I think that's
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kind of magic yeah I really like that
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there's there's so many little things
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like that to the David N story like
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including your love of bonsai and we'll
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get into that later as well um I yeah so
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many things that seem weird when you
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pitch them against you being this um
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Savage in the ring um which is is
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interesting first of all let's go back
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to the early years in Hamilton so um
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you're born and raised in Hamilton yeah
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so born born in Hamilton uh
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1995 uh and we we we move uh I lived I
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went to a little Country School in
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called Paha uh and then as a family we
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moved over to the UK for 3 years from
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age 7 to 10 uh my mom mom was born in
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born in London actually so we've got
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British passports so we kind of got that
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dual citizenship um and coming back
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spent the next pretty much pretty much
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my entire life yeah in Hamilton went to
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Hamilton boys uh did my time and came
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out and was was straight into straight
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into uh professional being a
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professional athlete which uh which was
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which was kind of always the goal I had
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uh in the back of my mind I could uh you
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know study in sports science um but by
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the age of about 16 I kind of lost a lot
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of interest in everything but boxing so
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it really really kind of like
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encapsulated me yeah were you quite
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smart I no I was I was I was uh what I
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found moving to the UK they've got a
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wicked education system and I think I
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went to a good school I I went over
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there and kind of came back in my PR
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school was a little bit like you you you
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kind of outgrown the um our curriculum
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here so we'll get you to teach the other
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kids and by the time I got to H boys it
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was a small small country school and
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like um I it was more focused on
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leadership leadership and uh kind of uh
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uh you know uh building core values for
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for young young adults which I I I think
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that's paid dividends down the line you
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know I I like to think that I um
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uh am a am a natural born leader being a
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Leo I'm a Leo um so that this is this is
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something that I've always kind of
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strive to achieve uh but uh yeah over in
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the UK I got I got pretty clever I got
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pretty clever and that was uh purely
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just because I didn't want to be
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ordinary I didn't want to be average I I
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remember the a parent teacher
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interview uh I was a teacher's pet over
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there and like that was saying like he's
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really well behaved like what do you
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want to achieve what do you want to
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achieve out of your time here cuz we
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weren't going to be there forever but
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they were saying you know what do you
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want to achieve while you are here and
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um we spent 2 and a half years there and
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my my goal was to uh I didn't I just
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wanted to be better than average at
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something and that was kind of uh it
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seems like a very like rud like very
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kind of simple goal but I achieved that
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in in mathematics of all things and
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can't remember any of it now but it was
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it was just a it's just it was a good
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like uh goal for myself and I I I knew
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my future wasn't in academics um being
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the person I am and uh having so many
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other aspirations and like uh other
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hobbies that like I'm you know they get
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pretty distracting but I've got so many
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things I want to achieve and uh uh I
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feel like I'm finally in a place where I
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can actually start turning those into
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something something really quite special
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and quite beautiful yeah so why um why
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did you gravitate towards boxing you
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really you are a really good runner uh
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you and I were in Sydney at the same
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time the marathon you did the half you
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finished like in the half marathon bro
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your time was like an hour 22 yeah yeah
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which is which um forone that's not much
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of a runner it's it's really quick it's
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like a well under sub formate case and
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to give you some perspective you were I
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think 37th out of about 5,000 yeah yeah
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well and for for like for a big musly
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like to be a really really good
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longdistance runner you you want to have
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as little muscle on you as what you can
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you're stacked you're carrying around a
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lot of extra weight so you I suppose my
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point is like you you could have been a
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really good runner yeah um like I'm
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definitely a natural ectomorph um like I
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like weight just sheds off me that's
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part of I guess part of being um having
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ugand in Heritage you know I just like
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weight just falls off which is um which
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is really good but uh the the running
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was more of uh when I was young I was
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good at it and then through my younger
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years uh like early early High School I
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uh really struggled with the growth
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pains and stuff and so I lost the love
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for it like immediately immediately and
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I I like I started quitting in runs and
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I um I beat myself up a lot uh when I
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when I started kind of quitting at that
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uh at something that I used to think I
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really loved but I I didn't I was just
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good at it I was just good at it so um
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having grown up and kind of of yeah put
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a bit of weight on but uh I'm naturally
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I'm a really good runner uh and so um
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that that was that was something that I
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was like I'll set out a little challenge
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for myself and having having put on a
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bit of size that was a strategic thing
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leading up to the
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Olympics uh I wanted to move up to the
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next weight division so I had to do that
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uh I say artificially but I worked like
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a absolute spot and I ate seven meals a
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day if I did it again now I would
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wouldn't have eaten half as clean as I
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did cuz I was such a good boy man but um
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uh it it was it was really hard working
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I I transformed my body into a a three
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uh a 9 Minute fighter so uh my fights
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were three three minute rounds at the
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Olympics um and I really wanted to
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maximize my uh ability in that space and
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obviously transitioning to professional
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boxing now you fight for up to 12 rounds
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um in a fight and that's a completely
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different animal it's like a 400 met
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next to a 10K Runner it's like
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um completely different completely
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different and so I wanted to I wanted to
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kind of unpack a little bit and like
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that comes with being a bit more patient
00:13:06
in your training and uh kind of dialing
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back the intensity at times as well uh
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in order to change your like it's not
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it's not just you know changing your
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mindset or changing how many rounds you
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train for but uh it's it's actually uh
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like changing your whole physiology and
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like I don't like I'm not a sports
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scientist myself if I went to University
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maybe I would be but but um but uh for
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me it was a matter of um kind of adap
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like re
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adapting but that that adaption was
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actually just undoing a lot of the
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things that I had uh worked so hard and
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tirelessly to to achieve um and yeah so
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now now I feel like I'm probably an 8 to
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10 round Fighter um and yeah we've got a
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little bit of work what do you mean I've
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seen I've seen your fights bro didn't
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last that long ex exactly exactly but
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but I'm built for probably built for
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eight rounds eight really solid rounds
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right now I could go 10 um but it's it's
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a it's a it's a whole it's a it's a it's
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a it's a package I need to kind of
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unpack um but it's a natural advantage
00:14:15
of mine is being being a distance Runner
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so that um right so good bit a bit of
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like aerobic engine or something yes
00:14:21
yeah yeah yeah yeah so that was always
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my strength when I first started boxing
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and then realizing oh okay you kind of
00:14:26
need to shift that up a little bit we've
00:14:27
got 9 minutes to work at the Olympics um
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and uh the the three or four years
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leading up to the the Olympic Games it
00:14:36
was myself and my strength coach you
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know uh I didn't have uh a lot of uh
00:14:43
external input in terms of my my boxing
00:14:46
my boxing uh my technical boxing like I
00:14:50
had a a gym partner that I was training
00:14:52
alongside but um a lot of it was um I'd
00:14:56
like to think I I did that myself you
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know yeah yes so what's the since you
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brought it up what's the um what's the
00:15:02
difference between being an amateur
00:15:03
boxer and a professional boxer so
00:15:04
amateur you don't ear any money
00:15:06
professional you do am has small shorter
00:15:08
fights professionals longer fights yes
00:15:11
so completely different sport and I I I
00:15:13
probably didn't appreciate that uh
00:15:16
during that transitional period so as an
00:15:18
amateur boxer you fight three three
00:15:19
minute rounds at the highest level three
00:15:21
three minute rounds uh and as a
00:15:25
professional for a world title fight you
00:15:27
fight 12 three 3 minute uh 12 3 minute
00:15:31
rounds um and obviously the the gloves
00:15:33
change the gloves you can choose your
00:15:35
gloves uh you don't wear head gear um
00:15:38
obviously you don't wear headgear at the
00:15:39
top level in amateur boxing either but
00:15:41
um for me I found uh the biggest the
00:15:46
biggest difference between amateur and
00:15:49
professional boxing was uh it's a it's a
00:15:52
mentality it's a shift of mentality
00:15:54
between uh an amateur boxing you're
00:15:57
competing against against an opponent in
00:16:01
professional boxing you're fighting it's
00:16:02
a it's a fight and um uh that's
00:16:05
something that I started to kind of
00:16:07
learn when I went went over to work with
00:16:09
um like Tyson the likes of Tyson Fury
00:16:11
Joseph Parker um working in uh two
00:16:16
cruiserweight um world champions camps
00:16:19
as well Chris bam Smith Lawrence AI um
00:16:22
and I realized I was like oh this is
00:16:24
we're fighting this isn't um this isn't
00:16:27
something you can't break him man down
00:16:29
in 9 minutes but if you have uh you know
00:16:33
45 minutes over over the course of 12 3
00:16:36
minute rounds with one minute recovery
00:16:39
uh the adrenaline runs out you know the
00:16:43
well runs dry and all of a sudden you've
00:16:44
got to dig and find something something
00:16:46
else you know uh and that that's that's
00:16:48
been the biggest learning curve for me
00:16:51
is actually being a little bit more
00:16:52
patient um kind of uh letting let
00:16:57
letting go of the rains a little bit and
00:16:58
actually just letting the fight unfold
00:17:00
as it does uh and not forcing anything
00:17:02
so uh I I I uh I guess I can say um I
00:17:09
owe a lot of that to my to my new coach
00:17:12
n Thornbury he's he's kind of
00:17:15
uh really committed to my my development
00:17:18
and that's uh I feel like I've come come
00:17:20
a long way in the last 18 months kind of
00:17:22
thing oh yeah he's going to come into
00:17:23
the conversation later on potentially
00:17:25
your future father-in-law love that guy
00:17:27
yeah um
00:17:29
okay well since we're on the amateur
00:17:31
stuff yeah let's stick on there for a
00:17:32
bit because um there's a lot to chat
00:17:34
about with the a lot man how long we
00:17:36
gone for how long you got how long have
00:17:37
you got no I'm here is this an amateur
00:17:39
podcast or a professional
00:17:41
podcast for the distance man I'm
00:17:44
breaking you down over 2 hours you ran a
00:17:45
marathon I've only run a half marathon
00:17:47
so we'll see you see who cracks first so
00:17:49
um your first fight do you remember your
00:17:51
very first fight how old are you 14 15
00:17:53
uh 15 yeah 15 I was uh 51 kilos um
00:17:58
fought a guy with a with a pretty sweet
00:18:00
mustache like just like you know little
00:18:02
little mustache he he had no fights
00:18:04
either um same age same age yep yep um
00:18:09
and I remember getting to the ring I've
00:18:11
been training for about maybe 8 to 10
00:18:14
months I want to say uh before I got a
00:18:16
fight and
00:18:17
um I just remember getting to the ring
00:18:19
and being like I can't remember how to
00:18:21
do any anything I just you know like SP
00:18:24
just nervous I couldn't remember how to
00:18:26
box couldn't remember how to box at all
00:18:27
but um
00:18:30
uh I ended up stopping him in the third
00:18:32
round but it was it was just a matter of
00:18:34
kind of getting in there and thrashing
00:18:36
around and I think by my sixth fight I'd
00:18:39
uh I'd kind of developed a little bit I
00:18:40
had a couple of good fights against
00:18:42
other novice kids uh one of my first uh
00:18:45
North iseland Golden Glove title um in
00:18:48
the novices so under 10 fights but I got
00:18:51
selected for the junior World
00:18:52
Championships in in
00:18:54
Kazakhstan uh and uh obviously having
00:18:57
having won my six prior I went in there
00:18:59
and I was like you know full of beans
00:19:01
kind of thing and I
00:19:03
um do you want me to keep going let me
00:19:06
let me know if you want to cut cut me
00:19:07
off or anything cuz I I I'll I'll keep
00:19:09
going man no no way no way I'm invested
00:19:11
I I went to I went to my uh First
00:19:14
International Tournament and um it was
00:19:17
it was really funny cuz when you're that
00:19:19
young and you're that confident and
00:19:21
you're that excited about a sport it's
00:19:23
like uh I didn't feel like I could I
00:19:25
could lose I didn't really know how to
00:19:26
lose it didn't really know the landscape
00:19:28
of of
00:19:29
uh amateur boxing or which which
00:19:31
countries were tough which ones weren't
00:19:33
we um uh I drew I drew Ukraine first in
00:19:37
my my first bout and I I called home to
00:19:40
my coach and I said hey coach I've um
00:19:42
I've got this is Rick Ellis from uh in
00:19:44
Hamilton and we um uh I called him and
00:19:47
said yeah I've drawn Ukraine and he and
00:19:50
he was like oh yeah that's good they're
00:19:51
a good strong boxing Nation but um uh
00:19:53
kiwi uh tend to do really well against
00:19:55
them and I was like oh sweet little did
00:19:58
I know had won the most Olympic goals at
00:20:01
the at the at the uh previous Olympics
00:20:03
I'm pretty sure and and the world Champs
00:20:06
and I was like um I was like oh thanks
00:20:09
coach I was like oh well I'm sure I'll
00:20:10
do great then and um I went and beat
00:20:13
went in and beat the kid uh and yeah it
00:20:17
wasn't it wasn't a bad wasn't a bad kid
00:20:18
actually and um uh progressed to fight
00:20:22
the the Russian in um in my next B might
00:20:25
have been round a 16 or quarterfinal or
00:20:26
something and um
00:20:29
he went on to win the gold and that was
00:20:31
my first loss and it was like I just
00:20:32
didn't really know how to lose at that
00:20:34
point but um was that was I feel like
00:20:36
that was a really really kind of good
00:20:38
way I feel like I had the right kind of
00:20:40
leading to uh to an amateur career and I
00:20:43
um I I do o a lot to to to wreck from
00:20:46
from ringside um in Hamilton that was a
00:20:50
like a huge huge kind of step towards oh
00:20:53
it was a very small step towards a
00:20:56
massive career a massive career which um
00:20:58
is really feels like it's just just
00:21:00
getting started now 14 years later oh
00:21:02
mate it's been an incredible career so
00:21:04
far so that first that first loss like
00:21:06
how um how much did how much did that
00:21:08
suck you learn a lot from it I did yeah
00:21:10
I felt I felt more bummed out that I
00:21:13
like I think that because they scored
00:21:14
the fights back then per punch and I was
00:21:16
like it was 1910 and I was like no I
00:21:19
didn't lose I didn't lose that bad I was
00:21:21
I was more more bummed out that he um
00:21:23
that he beat me by that much I was like
00:21:25
wasn't that close wasn't that close it
00:21:26
was closer than that it was closer than
00:21:28
that but um uh I I I think I leared
00:21:31
pretty early that those losses kind of
00:21:33
form the way you uh treat your
00:21:37
development beyond that like I've
00:21:38
learned so much more from my losses than
00:21:40
my than my wins and um I think a lot of
00:21:42
the time that's like life as well you
00:21:45
put your you put your losses behind you
00:21:47
oh no you put your wins behind you cuz
00:21:48
you're like uh uh been there done that
00:21:51
been there done that what you don't
00:21:53
realize the people that uh that you've
00:21:56
beaten they hold in their memory a lot
00:22:00
clearer than the than the winds you know
00:22:02
so uh the guys that that have beaten me
00:22:04
to date I remember every one of them I
00:22:07
don't remember all of my wins how many
00:22:09
how many how many have you been your
00:22:10
professional record at this the time
00:22:12
we're recording this it's like eight
00:22:14
eight wins for eight fights seven by
00:22:15
Knockouts yeah yep and and my my amateur
00:22:18
career I think was uh 98 fights 85 wins
00:22:22
13 losses um as a professional like it's
00:22:26
it's really important I to have a clean
00:22:28
record like like as soon as you've lost
00:22:29
a fight you like damage Goods is that
00:22:31
how it well it uh it depends depends who
00:22:34
you're with like your your uh
00:22:37
promoters uh your promotional team is
00:22:40
really important so if if you're if
00:22:42
you're a salable fighter if you if
00:22:44
you're marketable if you uh if you're
00:22:46
exciting that's really important if uh
00:22:49
if you have a couple of losses but
00:22:50
people want to see you fight people know
00:22:52
that they're going to get a good fight
00:22:53
they they know that uh you're going to
00:22:56
uh rip tear and bust before you go out
00:22:58
they'll keep paying to see you fight and
00:23:00
they'll want to see you win because uh
00:23:02
because you're entertaining so uh a loss
00:23:05
in a boxing career is not it's
00:23:07
definitely not the end of the day it's
00:23:09
not it's not the end of the world but uh
00:23:11
uh having a clean record Being able to
00:23:14
say that no one's beaten you as a
00:23:15
professional is huge it is huge it's um
00:23:18
a little bit different when it comes to
00:23:19
like UFC and whatnot because those kinds
00:23:21
of sports are like very very chaotic and
00:23:24
uh you know there are so many more
00:23:26
elements to it but boxing it's like uh
00:23:32
it's a it's a little bit more damning if
00:23:34
if youve if you've picked up a few
00:23:35
losses and and say for example if uh you
00:23:39
run out a favor with your with your
00:23:40
promoters finding another promoter is
00:23:42
really difficult you know so you as an
00:23:45
amateur you did um was it two
00:23:47
Commonwealth Games cycles and two
00:23:48
Olympic Cycles or two comms one Olympics
00:23:51
two and one yeah two two and one com
00:23:53
games at day so you mled at each of them
00:23:55
you got two Comm withth games gold and
00:23:56
one Olympic bronze yeah yes the wrong
00:23:59
color of gold a yeah rose gold it's rose
00:24:02
gold you know I to to be to be sitting
00:24:05
here with someone that's got two
00:24:06
Commonwealth Games gold medals and an
00:24:07
Olympic medal it's it's it's it's
00:24:09
phenomenal it's amazing but I suppose
00:24:10
for you to win a bronze medal at the
00:24:13
Olympics it still means you've lost
00:24:14
somewhere along yes exactly line yeah
00:24:16
yeah so it's better sweet it's better
00:24:18
sweet 100% And
00:24:20
um you know no one wants to be the the
00:24:23
third best you know no wants to be the
00:24:25
third best is like be fourth
00:24:29
yeah if you're not first you're last you
00:24:30
know uh and like um I've I've like I I
00:24:35
have an element of that in my mind I'm
00:24:37
thinking like you know a loss is still a
00:24:39
loss and you know it like kind of um it
00:24:42
kind of tarnishes the achievement but at
00:24:44
the same time knowing uh what I had to
00:24:46
get through to get to that tournament
00:24:49
and um you know the the hurdles that you
00:24:50
overcome along the way it's like it's
00:24:52
it's I'm like I can I can be proud of
00:24:55
myself today and I I have uh no regrets
00:24:58
uh whatsoever for my for my amateur
00:25:00
career no and nor nor should you are
00:25:02
those medals um special like where are
00:25:05
they are they in a in a Sal drawer or
00:25:07
they are they framed up somewhere at
00:25:08
your parents house or uh I have my
00:25:10
Olympic medal in Australia um because
00:25:12
obviously I wanted to you know show show
00:25:14
my partner Lexi I wanted to show her
00:25:16
family um and uh I think my first my
00:25:21
first com games gold medal I I took to
00:25:23
every school like like I when I I had my
00:25:26
first kind of taste of um of like Fame
00:25:29
and people wanted to talk to me I was
00:25:30
like that's like uh for 18-year- old kid
00:25:32
I was like it was it was uh it was
00:25:34
bizarre like I'd never spoken in front
00:25:36
of my uh my high school before I went to
00:25:38
Hamilton boy high and uh the first time
00:25:40
I ever spoke in front of them was after
00:25:43
I left school like I didn't get a hell
00:25:44
of a lot of recognition while I was
00:25:46
there uh but going back there and being
00:25:48
like yeah I was like um not that cool
00:25:52
not that cool not that smart not that
00:25:54
good at other sports but uh here I am
00:25:56
like um but uh I I I didn't um I didn't
00:26:01
really think of the medal as uh you know
00:26:04
like I don't I didn't like take good
00:26:06
care of it I think it actually got to
00:26:08
the point where um my dad asked if he
00:26:11
could take it to work and show his
00:26:13
workmate uh work colleagues and I was
00:26:14
like of course yeah take it away and I I
00:26:16
didn't see it for a couple months and I
00:26:17
was
00:26:18
like I wonder if he's going to give it
00:26:21
back you know I was like I was like man
00:26:22
I was like Hey Dad have you still got
00:26:23
that he's like yeah yeah yeah I've still
00:26:24
got it I was like okay thank goodness
00:26:26
and um uh it was my it might have been
00:26:30
my 20th birthday he um gave it back to
00:26:34
me in a in a framed glass casing it was
00:26:37
like here you go like stop like cuz it
00:26:39
was hanging on by a thread kind of thing
00:26:40
like here you go but um uh that
00:26:44
um if yeah if anyone has kept up with
00:26:47
like the history of my medals I got my
00:26:51
uh 2018 com games Metal stolen out of my
00:26:54
like glove box compartment compartment
00:26:56
not sure if the car was locked or not
00:26:57
but it was was on my property and um
00:27:00
someone ended up pinching it and we we
00:27:02
actually went to the police and put out
00:27:03
a um we got uh we got footage of people
00:27:09
we got footage long long story short of
00:27:12
people involved and uh uh came full
00:27:14
circle on it ended up back in my my
00:27:17
capable hands my in my not so not so
00:27:20
watertight hands you
00:27:22
know what a strange thing to steal
00:27:25
though like it means they're worthless
00:27:27
really he like it's precious metal metal
00:27:29
I mean but it's um it means something to
00:27:32
you but it means absolutely nothing to
00:27:34
anyone else that's right that's right um
00:27:36
was pretty bizarre I actually I went on
00:27:38
to uh do a bit of study about like um
00:27:42
obviously like if you went to uh Olympic
00:27:45
gold medal I'm like man like I wonder
00:27:47
how much those are actually worth like
00:27:49
cuz I I heard that there was uh there in
00:27:52
order to call it a gold medal at the
00:27:54
Olympics there has to be a certain
00:27:55
percentage of gold in it so I was like
00:27:58
if I melted it down what could I what
00:28:01
could I get I learned that the oh this
00:28:04
sounds terrible but like the bronze
00:28:05
medal I'm pretty sure it's worth about
00:28:07
20 bucks yeah pretty sure it's worth
00:28:09
about 20 bucks it's like the midle you
00:28:11
got at the syy half marathon me
00:28:13
something to you nothing else um so at
00:28:16
the the Olympics um where you got the
00:28:17
bronze is that where you got bit in the
00:28:19
year um that the I've bit a few times
00:28:21
man have you yeah uh I got bitten I got
00:28:24
bitten in at the on the gold coastcom
00:28:27
games uh that was that was on my chest
00:28:29
that was on my chest I got a good little
00:28:31
good little ring from it actually like
00:28:32
um had to be checked by the our um the
00:28:36
doctor Yeah by yeah the the the medic to
00:28:39
make sure they hadn't he hadn't broken
00:28:40
the skin um and then uh at the Olympics
00:28:43
a um Moroccan boxer um I thought I
00:28:47
thought he was trying to bite my face
00:28:48
but like looking at the replay and
00:28:50
slowmo he's trying to get a good he had
00:28:52
his mouth guard in so he wasn't going to
00:28:53
get a really good handle on it but yeah
00:28:54
he had took a good crack at it yeah was
00:28:58
that was bizarre but um uh we're already
00:29:01
fighting so I wasn't it's not like I'm
00:29:03
going to get uh butt hurt by like
00:29:06
someone trying to like bite me when I'm
00:29:08
already like I was beating I was beating
00:29:10
him up like well obviously it's an act
00:29:11
of desperation is yeah yeah exactly yeah
00:29:14
um yeah don't even really blame him to
00:29:17
be honest in the um in the the Olympics
00:29:19
that's where you were um joint Flag beer
00:29:22
with Sarah hiy yeah um God they must
00:29:25
what happens there like when do you hear
00:29:27
about it like do you did you get told a
00:29:28
couple of weeks before do you get asked
00:29:30
if you want to be a flag bearer uh so um
00:29:33
originally I wasn't supposed to be the
00:29:34
flag bearer it was um it was like a late
00:29:36
call up and it was because uh Hamish
00:29:39
Bond had a like a scheduling uh Clash
00:29:42
like I think his his competition clashed
00:29:45
with with the opening ceremony so um I'm
00:29:48
very aware I wasn't supposed to be the
00:29:50
flag bearer however the the validation
00:29:55
that you get from getting the call up
00:29:57
and as a kiwi uh and like me
00:30:01
personally uh I've always felt like I
00:30:03
kind of
00:30:05
uh I can blend in but I haven't always
00:30:08
fit in with say the multiculture like I
00:30:10
I I don't um I don't really have I'm 75%
00:30:14
pucky myself so uh I've never really
00:30:17
felt like
00:30:19
a um like I've like I've fit in into
00:30:23
anyone culture so my culture is very
00:30:25
personal it's my family's culture you
00:30:27
know uh and only only we only it's only
00:30:30
special to us but having um having Rob
00:30:33
woodell come and approach me in the
00:30:35
village and say um hey M like uh Hamish
00:30:40
can't do it um but we as the as you know
00:30:45
the shift de Mission and the and the the
00:30:48
rest of the staff in the village would
00:30:50
like you to carry it I was like come on
00:30:52
man that's that's really validating cuz
00:30:55
um because because of all of that and
00:30:57
like you know
00:30:58
uh I've um that's always been a little
00:31:01
bit of an identity crisis to me I've
00:31:03
been like uh why can I why can I uh um
00:31:08
blend in but not fit in you know and
00:31:11
that and yeah so for me that was a
00:31:13
really kind of like a turning point
00:31:15
where I could say okay no this is um
00:31:18
this is who I am and I am that kiwi you
00:31:20
know it was a really really powerful it
00:31:23
surprises me that that was the um that
00:31:25
was the moment that you had that sort of
00:31:26
epony I thought that would have had
00:31:27
happened at the gold one of the previous
00:31:29
gold medals at the com games you know
00:31:32
yeah well like um but uh nobody put the
00:31:36
cloak like the the cloak the cloak
00:31:38
around me you know like no one no one
00:31:40
really um uh like I didn't feel blessed
00:31:44
I felt like I'd achieved something um
00:31:46
but I didn't feel like I'd been blessed
00:31:47
you know and like uh uh like receiving
00:31:51
like a tire half from um uh my gym in
00:31:55
Hamilton from Kyo George and like it was
00:31:57
blessed fire um you know I I like it
00:32:02
it's it's something that you
00:32:04
don't you can't buy and uh you have to
00:32:07
be gifted and you have to be given um
00:32:10
and so that that for me was was just
00:32:11
validating and I've I've I've always
00:32:13
kind of like cherish those moments and
00:32:15
being present in those moments makes me
00:32:16
feel like oh yeah I belong here you know
00:32:20
like I don't know I don't know like I'm
00:32:23
yeah it was it was I think you're you're
00:32:24
articulating it really nicely I can tell
00:32:26
um just the way you're reflecting on now
00:32:28
it still means something to you yeah
00:32:29
totally totally and and I'm still I'm
00:32:31
still uh setting out to impress I'm
00:32:35
still trying to like uh uh I'm still
00:32:39
trying to impress myself I'm still
00:32:40
trying to impress like my nation I'm
00:32:42
still trying to do do everybody that I
00:32:44
care about proud you know
00:32:46
um and uh I I I think like like the Next
00:32:51
Generation needs people to like needs
00:32:53
needs like inspiration it needs Heroes
00:32:55
to kind of uh validate their own
00:32:58
concerns and their own feelings and it's
00:33:00
like uh I think people I'd rather be I'd
00:33:03
rather be felt than heard if you know
00:33:04
what I mean like I'd rather people feel
00:33:06
feel what I feel then uh then just hear
00:33:09
me uh say hey you should you know like
00:33:12
uh don't swear be nice like you know
00:33:14
like I don't know don't Litter it's like
00:33:17
just um just do good just do good man
00:33:19
just do good yeah yeah yeah I feel like
00:33:22
you are do um does it sit comfortably
00:33:24
with you being a role model I feel like
00:33:26
you are you are a role model but yet
00:33:28
I've heard um you and other podcasts or
00:33:31
interviews talk about your role models
00:33:33
and you you your view on it really good
00:33:36
your quote was something like I prefer
00:33:37
my RO role models to be closer to home
00:33:39
like my parents and family and stuff
00:33:41
which I think is how it should be
00:33:42
because if you have sports people as
00:33:43
your role models they're only human you
00:33:45
got no control over their actions they
00:33:47
might let you down not that you ever
00:33:48
will no no but they do but they do and
00:33:50
like I'm not perfect either like I've
00:33:52
I've done I've done bad things um my
00:33:54
parents have done bad things but like um
00:33:56
knowing uh knowing their story and being
00:33:58
a part of their Journey uh and like
00:34:01
feeling their hurt and feeling their
00:34:02
pain and you know like uh um knowing
00:34:06
that uh like your parents are flawed and
00:34:09
that they they make mistakes uh some
00:34:12
people don't have those wrong worlds to
00:34:14
look up to they don't have something so
00:34:16
close to home uh but um everyone knows
00:34:20
Hercules everyone knows tazan you know
00:34:22
like so I I want to I want to create a a
00:34:25
vision and um uh you know an
00:34:30
idea that uh we can like we can be
00:34:35
whoever like whoever we want to be but
00:34:37
uh it takes it takes a very courageous
00:34:39
man uh to break the cycle you know to
00:34:42
break the cycle that their forefathers
00:34:45
kind of like laid out in front of them
00:34:46
and um I feel like
00:34:49
uh uh this
00:34:51
generation is uh better than the last
00:34:54
and I would like for my next Generation
00:34:56
to be better than mine you know like I'd
00:34:58
like to keep building um like a like
00:35:03
creating better communities and like um
00:35:05
I I I don't follow I don't follow many
00:35:07
Trends or many um kind of movements but
00:35:12
uh this is this is something very
00:35:14
personal to me and I feel like um uh
00:35:17
I'll create my movement if you want to
00:35:18
follow it follow it but if you don't you
00:35:20
don't have to you know it's um it's is
00:35:21
very personal yeah I like that why um so
00:35:25
so you went to the last Olympics and you
00:35:27
turned Prof after that yeah yeah why why
00:35:30
did you spend so long as an amateur so
00:35:31
you're an amateur like over 10 years
00:35:33
stubbornness man I'm hard-headed no I CU
00:35:35
I missed out on the 2016 Olympics uh by
00:35:39
a whisker so I um you're hanging for one
00:35:41
more I hung out for another 5 years dude
00:35:44
I had Co for a year yeah yeah so I
00:35:47
qualified for the um for the 2020
00:35:50
Olympic games um the qualification
00:35:54
tournament was actually set for Wuhan
00:35:55
China believe it or not and I feel like
00:35:57
if your uh history is sound you'll know
00:35:59
that's where like the wet markets are
00:36:02
with the bats yeah yeah yeah yeah the
00:36:04
bats let's let's start the conspiracy
00:36:06
theories um no we um so we were two days
00:36:10
away from flying into Wuhan China and
00:36:12
the um uh my actually my strength coach
00:36:16
Sean Patterson had uh warned me he was
00:36:18
he was saying he's like hey like um
00:36:20
probably nothing to worry about but
00:36:23
there's uh there's this virus going
00:36:25
around in in Wuhan that um there 67
00:36:28
cases right now sounds pretty severe but
00:36:30
just be a little bit on guard kind of
00:36:31
thing we went to we flew to Thailand for
00:36:35
our training camp prior to the prior to
00:36:37
the
00:36:38
competition um two days before we flew
00:36:40
in there were over a thousand cases uh
00:36:43
and the the pin was
00:36:45
pulled the qualification tournament was
00:36:47
shifted uh to Aman Jordan uh so like
00:36:52
fast forward a couple months we went to
00:36:53
this qualification tournament uh
00:36:55
qualified came home and I was ready to
00:36:57
you know celebrate with my family the
00:36:59
day after I got back to New Zealand uh
00:37:02
we went into our first quarantine I
00:37:04
hadn't seen my family yet I hadn't seen
00:37:06
uh I went back to my flat I hung out
00:37:08
with my dog for about uh you know like
00:37:10
my flat matate to my dog for about a
00:37:12
year or however long the first lockdown
00:37:14
was so didn't it was a bit of an
00:37:16
anticlimax if I'm honest and uh the
00:37:19
Tokyo Olympics themselves were just
00:37:21
bizarre oh yeah cuz you they were nice
00:37:24
yeah so you and um you and S Hy when you
00:37:26
flag bearers you got those big masks on
00:37:28
yeah and there were no Spectators
00:37:30
watching your do they have sound effects
00:37:32
like sound effects of crowd cheering not
00:37:36
like maybe I I can't really remember but
00:37:38
like um uh the the most bizarre thing
00:37:41
was looking down the barrel of the the
00:37:43
camera lenses and thinking okay there's
00:37:45
no one here but like there's probably
00:37:48
couple billion down there you know um
00:37:51
totally totally bizarre um and even even
00:37:54
the the um the the boxing tournament was
00:37:58
uh hosted at a uh at a Sumo uh Arena a
00:38:03
sumo wrestling Arena and they've got all
00:38:05
these like uh amazing like um banners of
00:38:08
all the uh past and present Champions
00:38:11
and it was like it was like glorious
00:38:13
glorious and I imagine it with a crowd
00:38:15
it would have been so amazing but um
00:38:18
what they did this was uh really bizarre
00:38:20
and people probably don't know this but
00:38:22
they you'd get in the ring and I was
00:38:24
like like why can I I can hear people
00:38:27
talking but there's no one here they had
00:38:29
ambient noise above the ring they had
00:38:32
like a speaker above the ring and I was
00:38:35
like who's like who's controlling that
00:38:37
cuz there's no one here and there was
00:38:39
just like like murmuring in the crowd
00:38:40
and then you start the fight and it'ss a
00:38:42
little bit louder and then when it's
00:38:44
like uh when you hit like when you land
00:38:46
a punch there's some guy with a dial
00:38:48
there's some guy sitting down there and
00:38:49
he
00:38:51
go I was like how bizarre is that like
00:38:55
um I I had no like uh
00:38:58
and it seem it seems like that like uh
00:39:01
I'm not going to say that that any any
00:39:03
uh fights that might have impacted the
00:39:05
the decision but like when do you when
00:39:08
does the guy know to turn the dial up
00:39:09
who's in charge of the guy with the dial
00:39:11
being like you know what this is getting
00:39:13
good you know uh it was it was really
00:39:16
weird though and like that was um that
00:39:18
was something that I just didn't expect
00:39:20
it was like totally bizarre totally does
00:39:23
it feel like um you were you were almost
00:39:25
in a way like cheated out of the
00:39:26
authentic Olympic experience yes yes
00:39:30
however um performance-wise uh I think I
00:39:35
probably perform better like that anyway
00:39:37
you know so uh there's a there's yeah
00:39:40
it's kind of a catch 22 but I I I felt
00:39:43
like um uh having it felt like a really
00:39:46
intense sparring session uh so I I think
00:39:50
performance-wise it probably helped keep
00:39:52
me calm and levelheaded um I was
00:39:55
harboring a pretty nasty injury to my
00:39:57
elbow going into it and um like I had
00:40:01
like a liament Holding On by a thread so
00:40:02
I knew if I threw the the wrong punch at
00:40:05
the wrong angle that my arm was
00:40:07
basically going to become become like
00:40:09
some wet spaghetti I could probably
00:40:11
still use it but like it wouldn't be it
00:40:12
wouldn't be much good but um yeah that
00:40:15
was
00:40:16
um uh like I I I think I think having
00:40:19
like a a quiet Arena was actually fine
00:40:22
and it was aery it was Airy so if
00:40:24
anything it was like no other Olympics
00:40:27
for sure yeah so I I think as you get
00:40:29
older I mean this something like this is
00:40:31
unlikely I would say touchwood to ever
00:40:33
happen again in in your lifetime so in
00:40:36
some ways this Olympics and the way they
00:40:38
were held will become more and more
00:40:39
special as more and more Olympic Camp
00:40:41
hope so yeah I'd have to go to another
00:40:43
one to know the difference you know
00:40:45
comparison yeah yeah yeah but um yeah
00:40:48
the the amateur versus professional
00:40:49
thing so the thing I'm curious about
00:40:50
that is like um amateur you don't make
00:40:52
any money right is that right or uh like
00:40:55
you you can um I I think uh to to to to
00:41:00
make money as an amateur boxer in New
00:41:03
Zealand very very difficult uh you have
00:41:05
to prove that you're um basically able
00:41:09
to to produce a top eight result at an
00:41:13
Olympics and to do that it's like it's a
00:41:15
lot of lot of Hoops to jump through and
00:41:17
like um I had to get pretty good at
00:41:19
acrobatics to get there but like I I was
00:41:22
able I was able to um earn a grant
00:41:25
through uh high performance Sports New
00:41:27
Zealand in order to like keep keep me
00:41:29
going anyway um and that that's that
00:41:33
that really kind of saved me at a at a
00:41:35
pretty crucial time in 20 2017 I think
00:41:38
was um was when I first kind of like got
00:41:41
that Grant and then I could kind of like
00:41:44
okay let me focus on let me focus on
00:41:46
training yeah I've had Eric Murray on
00:41:48
the podcast he was one of the early
00:41:49
guests and he talked about that high
00:41:50
performance Grant and it's um I forget
00:41:52
how much he said it was but it's it's
00:41:54
fine but it's not like a you know you're
00:41:56
not going to become Tyson Fury if you
00:41:58
know what I mean I'm pretty sure there
00:41:59
are some countries that like uh if you
00:42:01
win a if you win an Olympic medal you're
00:42:04
kind of set for life kind of sit back
00:42:06
and like just chill you know but uh if
00:42:10
you know I don't think that's probably I
00:42:12
don't think that would help me in any
00:42:14
way shape or form you know like I've I
00:42:16
always want a goal to Chaser like um and
00:42:20
making money obviously is is is
00:42:22
important um but it's it's it's just
00:42:26
it's just a vehicle really having having
00:42:28
Financial Freedom is great but uh like
00:42:30
what you do with uh the rest of your
00:42:32
life it's kind of up to you but if if
00:42:34
you kind of if if my identity was oh no
00:42:37
yeah I'm going Olympic bronze medalist
00:42:39
and um that's it you know that's me
00:42:42
that's kind of me done I'll see seeing
00:42:43
the next life kind of I was like come on
00:42:45
man I was 26 or something you know yeah
00:42:48
well that's prob maybe I'm just more um
00:42:51
focused on on money and dollars than
00:42:53
what you are but it just seems to me
00:42:54
like boxing such a such a finite career
00:42:57
like by say 35 to maybe 40 at the oldest
00:43:00
you're completely done um and you've
00:43:03
devoted so much of your life to it and
00:43:05
it's such a high level as well like you
00:43:06
want to have some some something to show
00:43:08
at the end of it I guess yeah yeah I
00:43:10
think there are um a lot of boxes like
00:43:13
uh the ones that make it to the top and
00:43:15
the ones that don't quite make it to the
00:43:16
top that uh you know it doesn't matter
00:43:20
how much money they have made along the
00:43:22
way a lot of them stumble over and they
00:43:24
haven't got their their life planned out
00:43:26
Beyond boxing um and I like I I I'm
00:43:30
promising to myself right now that I I
00:43:32
won't be that guy you know so uh I've
00:43:35
I'm planting seeds right now to to
00:43:38
um not necessarily to for for like find
00:43:43
I I like my my goal isn't to make keep
00:43:44
some money and be really rich I like
00:43:46
obviously I'd like to have Financial
00:43:48
Freedom but um Beyond boxing I'd like to
00:43:51
do a lot more good a lot more good and
00:43:53
like be REM be remembered for the good I
00:43:55
did not the not the people I kick the
00:43:57
[ __ ] out of you
00:43:59
know and and there there have been
00:44:02
people and there will be more people
00:44:03
that you kick not about kick the [ __ ]
00:44:05
punch the [ __ ] out what was your what
00:44:07
was your fastest fight like there was
00:44:09
one that I saw on YouTube it was like 12
00:44:11
seconds 16 seconds um yeah I think 12 12
00:44:15
seconds was was my was my PB unreal um
00:44:18
like it was there was a weird fight
00:44:20
actually I um uh I was fighting in
00:44:23
Albania I was trying to qualify for the
00:44:26
um
00:44:27
2014 Commonwealth Games and I um I went
00:44:31
over there with like one coach uh it
00:44:33
wasn't my coach but he was a coach that
00:44:35
kind of offered to go over uh cam Todd
00:44:37
he was like really good guy uh and he um
00:44:42
took me over there and like I needed to
00:44:44
win a certain medal and like uh I came
00:44:46
up against a Macedonian fight I was like
00:44:48
Macedonian good I'm not really sure and
00:44:51
um I think I hit the guy with like
00:44:54
uh two two right hooks to the body and
00:44:57
then one right hook to the head and he
00:44:59
went down and I was like oh like um I
00:45:02
guess they're not that this is yeah I
00:45:06
guess they're not great but I was like
00:45:07
Wow next day I like I sat sat at
00:45:10
breakfast with him and he didn't speak
00:45:11
any English his coach did though and he
00:45:13
told me it was his first fight and I was
00:45:15
like oh okay I like why would you put
00:45:17
him in why would you put him into an
00:45:19
international competition if if he's had
00:45:22
never had a fight before oh did you feel
00:45:24
being the nice guy you are did you feel
00:45:25
mean at that point no I thought his
00:45:27
coach was a dick in I was like come on
00:45:29
man think about it um are you you so you
00:45:32
said you got that guy with um two right
00:45:34
hooks to the body and then one to the
00:45:36
Head where does it hurt the most to be
00:45:38
hit someone that's never been
00:45:41
hit probably the liver probably the
00:45:43
liver so your liver your liver kind of
00:45:45
sits on the right side of your rib cage
00:45:48
um and like doesn't matter how tough you
00:45:50
are how many how if you got uh one AB or
00:45:54
or 85 like that's going to that's going
00:45:56
to sink a lot of ships man um in terms
00:45:59
of like that's probably if I were to get
00:46:01
knocked out I'd rather get hit in the
00:46:02
head than to the liver I think cuz you
00:46:04
feel all of that and it's like um have
00:46:07
youever have you ever been badly hurt uh
00:46:09
I've been hurt yeah like um the times I
00:46:12
have been really hurt I think like the
00:46:14
times that have been really hurt
00:46:16
sometimes it's harder to see uh other
00:46:19
times you might get uh say like a
00:46:20
grazing punch on the top of the head and
00:46:23
something about it like I don't quite
00:46:24
know the entire anatomy of my brain but
00:46:26
but you're clipped on the top of the
00:46:28
head and it just completely like your
00:46:31
legs just turned to Absolute jelly kind
00:46:32
of thing this I tell you what the most
00:46:35
painful place to get hit is probably
00:46:38
squaring the nose right Square in the
00:46:39
nose cuz it's like there's a lot of I
00:46:41
feel like there's a l a lot of nerves a
00:46:42
lot of sensitive nerves around around
00:46:44
the front and center of your face back
00:46:47
of your head uh you I think it's like
00:46:49
more of a blackout spot so you know like
00:46:52
um uh say if you get up and you're
00:46:54
really light headed it's like like black
00:46:56
it's like black and white uh side of the
00:47:00
head like right in the temple that's
00:47:02
probably like uh KO that's probably like
00:47:05
you get knocked out there and then the
00:47:06
top of the head is the the legs that's
00:47:08
what I think anyway forehead you break
00:47:11
your hand
00:47:13
yeah I've had a few of them actually I
00:47:15
think I've broken I've broken uh my
00:47:19
hands um all together probably like
00:47:22
maybe five or six times all of them on
00:47:25
heads all of them on like forehead or
00:47:27
Topp of heads through the gloves through
00:47:29
the gloves man like and the the amateur
00:47:31
gloves you have to remember um they're
00:47:34
not designed to like knock people out
00:47:36
they're designed to protect your hands
00:47:37
and protect your opponent uh but you hit
00:47:40
someone on the top of the head it's
00:47:42
really really hard really really hard
00:47:44
it's the hardest bone in your body I'm
00:47:46
pretty sure and um I've I've pulled I've
00:47:49
pulled plugs of bone off of fractured uh
00:47:52
fractured uh like they call it they
00:47:54
literally call it a Box's fracture where
00:47:55
you snap the Nick OFA yeah met a couple
00:47:58
and um yeah none of them are fun sure so
00:48:04
last year you went to um a place called
00:48:06
moram uh which what's the what's the um
00:48:10
Fury reality series have you seen that
00:48:11
on Netflix Furies at home with the fuy
00:48:14
yeah at home with the furies that's
00:48:15
right yeah moram looks like a bleak
00:48:17
Place yeah yeah yeah yeah it's all right
00:48:20
it's so how how did you end up over
00:48:21
there was that through your uh
00:48:23
friendship or mentorship with um Joseph
00:48:26
yeah pretty much pretty much and um uh
00:48:29
uh David Higgins has uh has had a lot to
00:48:32
do with um my kind of uh progression
00:48:35
actually through through my early stages
00:48:38
in in my professional career so like big
00:48:40
shout out to him because him and doo
00:48:42
have done uh like so much for me without
00:48:45
really kind of asking for much
00:48:46
recognition and they they kind of sit in
00:48:48
the back a little bit cuz I I believe
00:48:51
they're mostly um you know Event Event
00:48:55
Event uh or
00:48:58
like big now is that synthony yeah black
00:49:01
Clash everything like that like um uh
00:49:03
but yeah they've done a lot for me so
00:49:05
getting over to that camp
00:49:07
um Joseph was uh was and has been like a
00:49:11
mentor for me I feel like with uh like
00:49:14
I've learned so much through him and
00:49:15
he's I I never felt like I could asked
00:49:18
like like a dumb question you know um so
00:49:21
he's been he's been a brother to me
00:49:22
which is which is really really cool and
00:49:24
I think um having those mentors in a
00:49:26
sport like boxing is like I can't even I
00:49:31
can't even tell you how important it is
00:49:32
cuz there are like I said earlier there
00:49:34
are so many boxers that have been abused
00:49:36
by the sport and um none of them know
00:49:39
they're being abused at the time none of
00:49:40
them know because ons is like shady
00:49:43
management and things I mean David T
00:49:46
comes to mind like with um his dealings
00:49:48
with um whatever his manager name was
00:49:50
yeah and like 100% that's um that's been
00:49:52
a um that's a a recurring theme in the
00:49:55
boxing world and
00:49:57
uh it's it's it's so easy to it's so
00:50:00
easy to be abused when you actually love
00:50:03
the sport you love the sport and you
00:50:05
give everything you literally give your
00:50:06
life to it and um you come out with no
00:50:10
money and uh and CTE youve got like
00:50:13
concussive trauma so um be hard
00:50:16
especially if you're a trusting person
00:50:17
as well 100% yeah and like I am that guy
00:50:20
I tell you what like I've I've developed
00:50:22
a few trust trust issues along the way
00:50:24
and I think they're serving me really
00:50:25
well you know like just being a little
00:50:27
bit weary uh when it comes to you know
00:50:30
uh there are a lot of um promoters that
00:50:32
are like they're really good at their
00:50:34
job you know a lot of the big promoters
00:50:36
they can sweet talk you and like make
00:50:37
you feel really good about yourself um
00:50:41
but at the end of the day uh you're
00:50:43
another porn on their chessboard you
00:50:44
know um and if I if I uh like I I am the
00:50:49
main character I am the main
00:50:51
character how like I'll I'll be the side
00:50:54
character when as long as I'm as long as
00:50:56
I'm learning you know as long as I can
00:50:57
like sit in the back and learn from from
00:51:00
from what's going on around me but at
00:51:01
the end of the day we're all the main
00:51:03
characters of Our Own Story if we don't
00:51:05
if we don't take ownership of that and
00:51:06
actually um grab Life by the balls you
00:51:09
know and actually uh like go for it
00:51:12
we're we we we we're not going to we're
00:51:15
not going to reach our potential but
00:51:17
along the way you get you get Shady
00:51:19
people and they're like they're always
00:51:20
going to be Wolves at the door that want
00:51:21
to kind of like cut your lunch um but we
00:51:25
I think there are so many boxes that
00:51:26
just aren't aren't aware of it um until
00:51:29
it's too late and you know their their
00:51:32
career is kind of like already sring
00:51:35
down the toilet yeah and I suppose
00:51:36
that's where where you go back for just
00:51:38
one more one more silly fight or
00:51:40
whatever just try to recoup some of the
00:51:42
losses yeah there is a bit of that there
00:51:43
is a bit of that but yeah um Alo so yeah
00:51:46
so you go over to morom um as um
00:51:49
Joseph's guess I guess how intimidating
00:51:51
is that walking into a gym with um like
00:51:53
Tyson Fury Tommy Fury sunny sunny Bill
00:51:56
he was at the same time right yeah yeah
00:51:58
it's bizarre the whole thing was like a
00:52:00
bit of a trip but um I saw stuff on
00:52:02
Joseph's Instagram stories it was like
00:52:04
it was just a who's who of international
00:52:06
sport yeah yeah like um tell what Sunny
00:52:08
Bill's a good dude I like um I learned a
00:52:11
lot from Sunny Bill and like um talking
00:52:13
to him about his faith and stuff I like
00:52:15
I really really appreciated how far he's
00:52:18
comeing in his life not just obviously
00:52:21
his career but um he's he's a like he's
00:52:25
a top dude man and I feel I I feel
00:52:27
really blessed to have spent a bit of
00:52:28
time with him uh with with Joseph um
00:52:32
Tyson is one of a kind oh no sorry I
00:52:35
should I should say Two of a Kind him
00:52:37
and John Fury are like he's a carbon
00:52:40
copy he's a carbon copy and he's a
00:52:42
little bit uh more filtered you know
00:52:44
like John's hilarious John is like one
00:52:46
of uh the most entertaining men I've
00:52:50
ever met same with Tyson but um it was
00:52:53
like what you see what you see is
00:52:55
exactly what you get whatever you've
00:52:57
seen on social media with the furies is
00:53:00
exactly what you get the TV show I'm not
00:53:01
sure did it quite did it justice I think
00:53:04
they take a little bit of an angle like
00:53:05
um they they want to they want to tell
00:53:07
their own story but what you see um of
00:53:11
Tyson Fury is is exactly who he is and
00:53:13
he's um I've never felt like a fraud
00:53:15
before but he made me feel like I was
00:53:18
someone like I was acting like I was
00:53:20
someone I wasn't because he would tell
00:53:21
you exactly what he's thinking no matter
00:53:24
how it will make you feel if it if it's
00:53:26
offensive if it if you know if he
00:53:28
attacks your person it's like okay
00:53:31
you're going to have to take that on you
00:53:32
can't beat him up can you CU you're
00:53:34
going to have to listen to it and just
00:53:36
swallow it you know but um no like uh I
00:53:39
I like I appreciated that Honesty
00:53:42
because in a in a sport like boxing you
00:53:44
only get one shot at it if if people are
00:53:46
going to tiptoe around you kind of thing
00:53:48
and uh blow smoke up your butt like
00:53:50
you're going to you're you're not going
00:53:52
to learn you're not really going to
00:53:53
learn aren't you and um you start to
00:53:55
believe your own hype which dangerous
00:53:57
that's really dangerous and I've like
00:53:59
I've I've been a victim of that 100% um
00:54:02
uh and I
00:54:03
feel I'm glad I'm glad I'm aware of it
00:54:06
at least you know because um I think a
00:54:09
lot of people believe it until uh you
00:54:11
know the balloon pops and
00:54:14
then yeah so so you meet Tyson Fury you
00:54:18
you say hi I'm David from New Zealand is
00:54:19
he a we of you has he watched some of
00:54:21
your fights to see if any idea who you
00:54:23
are um kind really remember actually no
00:54:27
I don't think so what what does he say
00:54:29
on the first meeting well um so I flew
00:54:32
into morham and uh Joseph came and
00:54:34
picked me up from Manchester Airport and
00:54:36
said oh we we're going to go have lunch
00:54:38
with uh Tyson oh no no no sorry he we
00:54:41
we're going to go back to the to the
00:54:42
hotel he's like I'm going to go have
00:54:44
lunch with Tyson and them and I gets a a
00:54:46
call from um one of Tyson's close
00:54:49
friends and says hey like um you still
00:54:51
coming to lunch and he says yeah I'm
00:54:52
just going to drop uh Dave back to uh to
00:54:55
the apartment he says oh just bring him
00:54:57
along just come straight and we're
00:54:58
already here so he was like oh Dave do
00:55:00
you want to come and I was like I'd just
00:55:02
come off at like 30 35 hours of travel I
00:55:05
was wearing like like a dirty dirty like
00:55:08
uh dirty hoodie and like I felt terrible
00:55:10
and stinky and I was like okay well yeah
00:55:14
of course of course like I'm not going
00:55:16
to say no am I um but I I don't think he
00:55:19
he had just come home from his third
00:55:22
fight his Trilogy Bel against um Deontay
00:55:25
Wilder so
00:55:26
uh he still had like a black eye and um
00:55:29
was kind of just still uh celebrating
00:55:31
the win and stuff and it was it was
00:55:33
totally bizarre totally bizarre like
00:55:35
ended up having a few bears with them
00:55:37
and like dehydrated super Dusty and I
00:55:40
was like what is going on where where am
00:55:44
I what's going on but um I've always
00:55:46
been uh I've always like I said before I
00:55:50
am a bit of a people pleasure I don't
00:55:51
want to like ruffle anyone's feathers so
00:55:54
um I've been like I am I'm a of a yes
00:55:56
man I'm like you want a beer yeah you're
00:55:59
all right like Tyson Fury offered it to
00:56:01
you you know so um uh I've kind of I I I
00:56:07
appreciated the time I had there because
00:56:09
I learned so much and just by uh being
00:56:13
there and say um I got to spy a lot of
00:56:15
his sparring partners and his
00:56:16
preparation to fight dillian white and
00:56:19
um I did I performed really really well
00:56:21
and like I I got the nod from you know
00:56:24
as manager from Tyson Tyson came in sat
00:56:26
in my corner for some of this barring
00:56:28
and um kind of like uh help me along the
00:56:32
way and so I I gained their their their
00:56:34
trust their respect um and actually
00:56:37
they're they're bringing me into their
00:56:38
camp for the usyk fight in in February
00:56:42
17th yeah so oh my God amazing it's
00:56:44
worked out dude so he he came to watch
00:56:46
my belt in uh in Melbourne um which I
00:56:49
where I fought predominantly as a as a
00:56:51
southb as as a as a left-handed fighter
00:56:54
and um I got I got a call about a week
00:56:57
AG I'm not sure when you're going to
00:56:58
drop this but um got a call about a week
00:57:00
ago asking if I would uh go and be one
00:57:03
of the spiring partners um and on top of
00:57:07
that they want to put me on the card so
00:57:09
that's that's the next step man that's
00:57:11
my uh that's that's where uh where where
00:57:13
I'm headed from here they're talking
00:57:15
about potentially um putting a deal
00:57:17
together in Saudi Arabia so um so is
00:57:20
that is that a big deal because um you
00:57:22
get to train with those guys in that
00:57:24
environment or is it a big deal because
00:57:25
you get to on the same card and pays
00:57:28
some good money yeah it's everything
00:57:30
it's everything so like um uh obviously
00:57:33
getting the nod from from his team and
00:57:35
saying hey uh we want you to come and
00:57:37
work with the heavyweight world champion
00:57:40
in the biggest clash in recent
00:57:43
heavyweight boxing history so this is
00:57:45
the first time since uh
00:57:49
1999 Mike Tyson's era Mike Tyson was the
00:57:53
last person to unify the heavyweight
00:57:54
world championship uh and fast forward
00:57:57
25 years we're doing it again and I'm
00:58:00
one of the sparing puns so I'm like oh
00:58:01
that's that's neat that's that's
00:58:03
validating again so like um I shared a
00:58:05
little tear for that one I was like yeah
00:58:07
that's a that's a nod man that's a nod
00:58:09
and I like I feel like I've done uh i'
00:58:13
I've sat quietly and I've um I've
00:58:16
appreciated where I am when uh when when
00:58:21
I was and who I am and now like things
00:58:24
are starting to come together and like
00:58:26
like the the Universe I feel like is
00:58:27
smiling and I'm just going to lean into
00:58:29
it and kind of send it you know this is
00:58:32
um next this is the preludes over now
00:58:35
now I can start talking my [ __ ] you know
00:58:37
it's been a big apprenticeship 100% it's
00:58:39
been many years 14 years man that's half
00:58:41
my life I'm 28 years old yeah and as I
00:58:43
said before it's a finite career as a
00:58:44
boxer you know you have so many good
00:58:46
years so so you you spy with Tyson then
00:58:50
uh I I sped I spared once with him um I
00:58:53
think he had had a he had had a surgery
00:58:55
recently so like it was it wasn't the
00:58:57
heaviest sparring but um uh they've yeah
00:59:00
they're bringing me in for a 5we camp in
00:59:02
in Saudi Arabia to to prepare for yeah
00:59:05
one of the biggest clashes in recent
00:59:06
history and so you you you hit them as
00:59:09
hard as you can when you're sparring
00:59:11
with them or uh not that time no that
00:59:14
time because he did he was uh like
00:59:16
recovering from an injury but um uh yeah
00:59:19
I I don't think I don't think I need to
00:59:21
hold back being a cruiserweight fighter
00:59:23
against against you know the 270 lb
00:59:26
uh fully fledged uh world champion
00:59:29
heavyweight boxer I I think I reckon I
00:59:32
could probably let a couple slip in
00:59:34
he'll be fine he'll he'll be fine yeah
00:59:36
exactly he W hold a grudge David David
00:59:39
it back it back I I I heard something I
00:59:41
thought I heard something I read
00:59:42
somewhere that when you first met him he
00:59:44
basically pulled your boxing game to BS
00:59:47
yeah yeah yeah yeah like um and like I I
00:59:51
kind I respected it but I I like I also
00:59:54
kind of understood I was like okay so so
00:59:57
I'm not going to undo everything like
00:59:58
I'll undo a few bits I I understand what
01:00:00
you're saying but the the the biggest
01:00:03
thing that I learned was more uh what we
01:00:06
were talking about before is that it's
01:00:08
the fight game it's the hurt game it's
01:00:10
not a competition you're not competing
01:00:12
against someone you're trying to break
01:00:13
their will and like dig into their
01:00:16
deepest darkest secrets to find out uh
01:00:19
where their where their weaknesses lie
01:00:21
you know um and uh it's it's a brutal
01:00:25
sport like that and I've I've I've taken
01:00:27
my lumps you know along the way I've
01:00:29
been humbled and um now is my time to
01:00:32
actually uh make a run for a you know
01:00:35
for for a world title it's exciting man
01:00:39
pumped man it's incredibly exciting and
01:00:41
you deserve it as well yeah couldn't
01:00:42
happen to a nicer person thanks man oh
01:00:45
that that's really nice and and um Tommy
01:00:47
and Molly did you have anything to do
01:00:48
with them there's there's like a slight
01:00:50
sort of tenuous length here I guess cuz
01:00:51
your partner was in love Island
01:00:53
Australia no yeah you training with him
01:00:56
he was been training at the gym right
01:00:57
yeah no no so he was um he was in Camp
01:00:59
while I was over there uh obviously he
01:01:01
fought on uh Tyson's undercard uh for
01:01:05
for that dillian white fight so I was
01:01:07
one of the uh one of the I I spared with
01:01:10
Tyson uh with Tyson and but most more
01:01:13
more so Tommy um in his uh prep for that
01:01:16
fight but um he's like he's lovely he's
01:01:19
he's actually like um like a really
01:01:21
downto Earth dude and I um he seems like
01:01:25
the kind of guy that
01:01:27
uh is is a little bit guarded um because
01:01:30
of what social media can do to people
01:01:33
and you especially at that level yeah
01:01:34
yeah and I like um it took me a little
01:01:36
bit of while uh took me a little bit of
01:01:38
time to kind of get through to um you
01:01:41
know a lot of the team but um uh I kind
01:01:45
of uh I think they kind of just
01:01:47
appreciated that I just um got in got
01:01:49
stuck in did my did my thing and got out
01:01:52
I didn't bother anyone like you know I
01:01:53
was I was spending uh
01:01:56
$100 a night of my of my own money um to
01:02:01
live in an attic while I was there for
01:02:02
about six months um and like I didn't
01:02:05
bother anyone I didn't I didn't ask you
01:02:07
know I wasn't asking to be picked up I
01:02:09
wasn't asking to be dropped off I wasn't
01:02:10
asking for any special treatment I went
01:02:12
over there and I um I did
01:02:15
exactly as I was told but I would also I
01:02:19
I was always extending hand trying to
01:02:21
trying to help you know and um uh and I
01:02:24
feel like you know um I feel like
01:02:27
there's a lot of good karma out there
01:02:28
and like um I've I feel like that's just
01:02:31
kind of coming coming back around
01:02:32
because I've I've you know I've been
01:02:34
I've been like a I've been the support
01:02:36
the support person for so long and now
01:02:38
now I'm finally getting getting some
01:02:40
just do which is um which is really cool
01:02:43
makes G gives me a lot of faith in um in
01:02:47
what it means to be like a good person
01:02:48
and stuff so do do you do you practice
01:02:51
gratitude or is this just like um an
01:02:53
inbuilt sort of person tra of yours
01:02:57
what's uh like I yeah I think it's just
01:02:59
having a gratitude Journal where each
01:03:01
day you write down a few things you're
01:03:03
thankful for and um it's something I I
01:03:05
always thought it was a bit sort of woo
01:03:06
woo but once you do it for a while you
01:03:09
you do become just more consciously
01:03:12
aware of all the things you do have um
01:03:14
but it feels like you've just um
01:03:16
sharpened that pencil without even
01:03:17
trying yeah I um I I
01:03:20
I uh my mom my mom taught me um she G
01:03:24
gave me a couple of piece of pieces of
01:03:26
advice and I'm pretty sure she got this
01:03:27
from her mom she said she says uh do
01:03:30
something every day for yourself and do
01:03:33
something every day for someone else and
01:03:35
that could
01:03:36
be like big or small um do something do
01:03:39
something nice for yourself I had a
01:03:40
couple beers before I came here and um
01:03:43
you know like just do do something
01:03:45
simple like and hold the door open for
01:03:47
someone when they like uh if they want
01:03:49
to walk into it you know it's like it's
01:03:51
basically it is just being a good person
01:03:53
it's like just do something every day
01:03:54
and like um if you remind yourself every
01:03:58
day all of a sudden that will start
01:03:59
becoming a habit you know it will start
01:04:01
becoming a habit and then I kind of lay
01:04:03
it on top of that um on those two ideas
01:04:06
uh do something every day that scares
01:04:08
you so um if you're scared of heights if
01:04:11
you've got social anxiety um talk to
01:04:14
someone uh give someone a compliment um
01:04:17
you know like uh go up the sky tower you
01:04:20
know like there's so many things you can
01:04:22
do um I have a c I have have a cold
01:04:24
shower every day cuz cuz I'm scared and
01:04:26
I don't like it you know um but it's
01:04:29
it's like when you start doing those
01:04:31
things every day and like I'm I'm guilty
01:04:33
of like letting that slip as well but um
01:04:37
it's just something that I've always
01:04:38
kind of it's always kind of been in the
01:04:40
back of my mind I'm like it's so easy
01:04:43
and it's actually just fun it's like
01:04:44
it's like okay well like um if you want
01:04:47
to do something right now um give
01:04:49
someone a compliment you know um yeah
01:04:51
it's good makes them feel good makes you
01:04:54
feel good it's a win I know there are so
01:04:56
many cultures out there that like um if
01:04:58
you're suffering from depression they
01:04:59
tell you to go and like do something for
01:05:01
someone else you know go go um spend a
01:05:03
bit of time at an orphanage or go um
01:05:05
like I did a lot of fostering for the
01:05:07
sbca for a while uh while I was in New
01:05:09
Zealand and um every day I was just like
01:05:12
like that's that essentially that's kind
01:05:14
of um I try to take myself out of my own
01:05:17
mind cuz the uh a sport like boxing is
01:05:20
so uh it's so draining and like you you
01:05:23
spend so much time thinking about
01:05:25
yourself and
01:05:26
I I feel like um you know how you're
01:05:28
talking about like money and stuff
01:05:29
people count their pennies and they're
01:05:30
like well how can I how can I get more
01:05:32
of these pennies and it's like well just
01:05:34
um don't worry about it like uh if you
01:05:38
if you if you if you keep doing the
01:05:39
right thing and you keep offering um
01:05:42
offering a hand and lending extending a
01:05:44
hand not like don't get me wrong there
01:05:46
are a lot of people that don't deserve
01:05:47
it but um you can make people feel
01:05:49
really silly when they say when they um
01:05:53
you know when they don't deserve it and
01:05:54
you and you still go and lend L
01:05:57
hand um and I I think it's just a great
01:06:00
a great kind of um attitude to to live
01:06:03
by when because in this world there
01:06:05
there are enough there are enough
01:06:06
[ __ ] out there today there are
01:06:07
enough villains like it's better to just
01:06:09
be be the hero and if that hero just
01:06:11
means like helping um helping someone
01:06:14
helping an elderly lady get up the
01:06:16
stairs or something do it man do it
01:06:19
you'll never you'll never regret it
01:06:20
you'll never regret it yeah speaking of
01:06:23
that um you had a job at a time once you
01:06:26
like that's my only job the only job you
01:06:30
had scho yeah I was 16 I was 16 like an
01:06:33
after school
01:06:35
job yeah I worked um that was the only
01:06:39
uh like um I think they called pay slips
01:06:42
right that only pay slip I've ever
01:06:44
received was cleaning dishes for about
01:06:46
four 4 hours uh for three nights a week
01:06:50
why why why did it suck so much I just I
01:06:54
just realized I was like I'm not going
01:06:56
to do this this isn't this definitely
01:06:57
isn't for me I'm not like and imagine
01:06:59
doing that 8 hours a day 5 days a week I
01:07:01
was like ah I like I I would really
01:07:05
really suffer I'd really suffer if I um
01:07:08
didn't have the same kind of purpose
01:07:09
that I have today and like um I
01:07:11
encourage everybody to to learn from
01:07:14
that and to to think okay well can I do
01:07:16
a bit more or can I do a bit better like
01:07:18
um you don't necess have to do more but
01:07:20
when I say better I mean um do it do it
01:07:23
for for the right reasons you know like
01:07:25
um are you doing it to to to stay alive
01:07:28
or you doing it to like just just
01:07:30
survive or like do you want to actually
01:07:32
uh see Improvement every day and like
01:07:34
when you see Improvement in
01:07:37
um external things things people uh you
01:07:41
feel better about yourself and like you
01:07:43
see growth in yourself um I like truly
01:07:46
believe in that um and yeah I think I
01:07:48
think that comes from being raised right
01:07:50
man I feel like good parents that like
01:07:52
love me and um yeah yeah feel feel very
01:07:55
lucky yeah oh they've done a good job
01:07:57
but then you've done a lot of work on on
01:07:59
yourself as well as an ad and um I read
01:08:02
about your Three core values Integrity
01:08:03
loyalty resilience um so were you raised
01:08:07
with them is that something from your
01:08:08
parents or no that was um Dave galra you
01:08:11
have you heard of Dave Dave galbreth
01:08:13
he's um uh sports psychologist he he's
01:08:16
written uh book Chasing greatness he's
01:08:17
worked with the All Blacks and whatnot
01:08:19
yeah yeah yeah I tell you what get him
01:08:21
on the podcast if you can he's he's um
01:08:23
he's a he's a bit of a wizard um he felt
01:08:25
like uh one of my kind of guardian
01:08:27
angels when um things got tough even
01:08:31
though I didn't even spend much time
01:08:32
with him it was just a few little key
01:08:34
things that um he he kind of uh taught
01:08:39
me about like
01:08:42
um uh doing like senseless acts of
01:08:45
beauty and like um that's kind of like
01:08:48
doing doing things that won't make sense
01:08:51
to anybody else but you'll actually uh
01:08:55
you know it's so liberating and freeing
01:08:57
when you can kind of um do something for
01:09:02
like for no real reason but it's
01:09:04
beautiful like just be yourself uh when
01:09:06
no one else is expecting it you know um
01:09:09
I I think he's he kind of taught me to
01:09:11
to hold those values and to actually be
01:09:14
um like don't like don't filter yourself
01:09:17
if you're not a bad person don't filter
01:09:18
yourself and um that's that's kind of
01:09:20
like stuck with me um because if if
01:09:23
you're any decision make um should be
01:09:28
based around those core values right and
01:09:31
uh uh given that
01:09:34
idea every decision you make should be
01:09:36
easy if it fits those three uh three
01:09:39
values you know if you're if you're
01:09:40
thinking um if you're thinking a should
01:09:43
you know should I eat that chocolate bar
01:09:46
it's like hey okay well my loyalty says
01:09:49
you know like you know I've spent a lot
01:09:51
of time with my nutritionist and she
01:09:53
said don't you know I'm loyal to her
01:09:55
resilient you know so I'm going to stick
01:09:57
to my routine and uh my Integrity is
01:09:59
like come on you know you know you
01:10:01
shouldn't you know you shouldn't eat
01:10:02
that chocolate bar Dave but I eat that
01:10:04
chocolate bar sometimes cuz sometimes
01:10:07
you have to treat yourself man and
01:10:08
you're only human as well you can't get
01:10:10
to I've got this I've got this Uganda
01:10:12
metabolism as well so that does me some
01:10:14
solids Man Yeah you mentioned it may
01:10:16
have just been a throwaway comment but
01:10:17
you mentioned um Dave G breth came into
01:10:19
your life when things got tougher is
01:10:20
this in reference to um just leading up
01:10:23
to the Olympics when you suffered some
01:10:26
po mental health um DG came into my life
01:10:30
way before that um well before that I
01:10:32
might have been
01:10:34
uh I might have been 17 and I I only saw
01:10:37
him like a handful of times and I I
01:10:40
never I
01:10:41
never I never felt like I needed to see
01:10:44
him I never felt like I needed to see
01:10:46
well the times that I did feel like I
01:10:48
needed some advice or I needed to see
01:10:50
someone about it um the the ad device he
01:10:55
gave me was so simple and it's not like
01:10:58
it's so holistic and it's so kind of
01:11:00
like um I would I would kind of just
01:11:03
think I was like what would DG say what
01:11:05
would DG say you know and that that was
01:11:07
enough for me to kind of like uh throw
01:11:09
myself back on track but um I I I really
01:11:12
loved the the way he kind of um uh uh
01:11:17
Illustrated his ideas I love I love like
01:11:19
a good analogy know I love an analogy I
01:11:21
love someone uh give me an idea don't
01:11:23
tell me what to do why to do it but just
01:11:26
like like tell me a story you know tell
01:11:29
me a story and that's um that's kind of
01:11:31
helped me through a lot of dark times
01:11:33
but um the yeah the the the times
01:11:37
leading up to the Olympics that was
01:11:40
um that was uh that was more a matter of
01:11:44
um kind of
01:11:46
unpacking my first exp like my first
01:11:50
very limited might I add experience with
01:11:53
depression and that's um uh like I I
01:11:56
remember I remember kind of like going
01:11:58
through the going through the motions
01:11:59
and being like well I've got I'm healthy
01:12:02
like you know I'm fit healthy I've got a
01:12:04
good family you know I've lived with my
01:12:06
dog my dog's great like like people love
01:12:09
me um what am I missing you know and it
01:12:12
was um at the time I it felt so
01:12:14
irrational that I should feel so sad and
01:12:17
um as as men I think a lot of us think
01:12:19
oh you know um if you want to you give
01:12:22
people advice and you say you know
01:12:23
there's a lot of people worse off than
01:12:25
you are so um so you know don't don't
01:12:29
don't beat like like get on with it kind
01:12:32
of thing but at the end of the day our
01:12:34
problems are relative to ourselves and
01:12:36
um the my lack of purpose during that
01:12:39
time uh was what made me feel really
01:12:41
terrible uh and you know like having
01:12:44
because they kind of pulled the Olympics
01:12:47
for a while and I was like well I've
01:12:49
spent you know the last 11 or however
01:12:52
long it was about about 11 years trying
01:12:54
to get to those Olympics so um I didn't
01:12:58
of course it was rational of course I
01:13:00
should feel like crap you know but there
01:13:02
was no immediate solution to that the
01:13:04
solution was um uh kind of bit of self
01:13:09
chat um bit of talking to others but uh
01:13:13
I what I I did find I started uh a bit
01:13:16
like overcompensating a little bit I
01:13:18
start I felt like I I spoke a few too
01:13:21
many things into existence that I could
01:13:23
deal with at at that time so um when you
01:13:27
when you say things out loud you hear it
01:13:29
and it's like it's like a [ __ ] you can't
01:13:31
it's gone now I can't get that back you
01:13:33
know so I like like I said it so now now
01:13:35
you have to deal with it right um so for
01:13:38
me I I felt like um it was just a like
01:13:43
a it was a it was a it was a problem and
01:13:46
then as a man you're like better fix it
01:13:49
but I spent a little bit too long kind
01:13:51
of like dwelling on it and um I felt
01:13:53
like I I I opened I opened the
01:13:56
floodgates and L in some bad stuff as
01:13:59
well I let i i l in some demons in that
01:14:02
time and like obviously you don't want
01:14:04
to be the victim all the time and I felt
01:14:06
like I kind of leaned into it and I kind
01:14:08
of relied on people's sympathy and I was
01:14:09
like well that doesn't help does it and
01:14:12
um and like at some point you need to
01:14:15
like switch off the valve and get to
01:14:18
work you know like we do have to grit
01:14:20
our teeth and like uh playing the victim
01:14:23
all the time won't get you any in the
01:14:25
long run we actually we actually I think
01:14:27
men especially you need to fix a problem
01:14:29
and you can't do that without gritting
01:14:32
your teeth and actually doing the work
01:14:33
and um really proud to say that I like
01:14:36
made it through that because um like I
01:14:39
said everyone's problems are relative
01:14:40
you know like um there are a lot of
01:14:43
people out there suffering from
01:14:45
illnesses that I can't even imagine you
01:14:47
know oh yeah BR yeah I mean if you're
01:14:49
there's that saying comparison is the
01:14:51
theft of Joy but if you compare down you
01:14:53
never have to look far to find someone
01:14:55
that is a lot happier with a lot less
01:14:57
that's right one thing I've got from
01:14:59
this uh this podcast is um everyone
01:15:02
everyone deals with some adversity he
01:15:04
like nobody gets through life unscathed
01:15:06
and uh you're either going to have some
01:15:07
[ __ ] to deal with or you've got some
01:15:09
[ __ ] to deal with or had some [ __ ] to
01:15:11
deal with but you yeah you you need to
01:15:13
be tougher than the problem like you
01:15:15
need yeah you need to to quote David
01:15:18
goggin's like callous your mind yeah
01:15:20
yeah yeah yeah and that like that was
01:15:22
that that um uh you know in this in this
01:15:26
uh day and age in this kind of society
01:15:29
uh we we do sugar coat things a lot and
01:15:31
like we we have to remember what makes
01:15:33
us what kept us alive all these millions
01:15:36
of years is uh we don't have a we don't
01:15:40
have a choice we don't have a choice
01:15:42
like um we have to survive we have to uh
01:15:45
you know like um I had an epiphany not
01:15:48
long ago I was like you know when a lion
01:15:51
gets hungry right they literally have to
01:15:53
get off their ass
01:15:55
Chase something grab it kill it with
01:15:58
their mouth eat it raw all of it just
01:16:01
eat all of it like do you want to eat
01:16:02
the eyeballs not really but like oh
01:16:04
guess a better you know like imagine
01:16:07
that imagine that like like
01:16:09
um um there I I highly doubt there were
01:16:14
many like suicides back in the caveman
01:16:16
days you know it's like oh I can't
01:16:18
really afford to do that I've got to
01:16:19
stay alive you know yeah um fames fam's
01:16:23
got to we I got yeah and like um suicide
01:16:26
would have been easy back then they just
01:16:27
go in front of a lion yeah yeah exactly
01:16:30
yeah it's like everyone ran right
01:16:31
everyone ran because they want to
01:16:32
survive yeah but um I feel like today
01:16:34
we've got so many so many kind of um
01:16:37
distractions and like so many things
01:16:39
that are uh like don't actually matter
01:16:41
they don't actually matter like social
01:16:42
media doesn't actually matter um and
01:16:46
like it's it's more of a distraction
01:16:48
it's more of a distraction from uh much
01:16:51
dire much more dire things that are
01:16:53
going on in the world and um
01:16:55
that's why I don't want to be distracted
01:16:56
by any of the like the trends that are
01:16:58
going to take away from what um what's
01:17:02
what's really important you know you but
01:17:04
during this um this confusing time
01:17:06
leading up to the Olympics where I
01:17:07
suppose you s lost your purpose or you
01:17:09
weren't
01:17:10
sure I suppose you felt like a a boat
01:17:12
that just had no sail that was just like
01:17:14
bobbing around the ocean exactly um but
01:17:16
you were recording like um pieces to
01:17:19
camera on a GoPro like a video diing you
01:17:21
never you never posted them what have
01:17:23
you done with them have you deleted them
01:17:24
you still got them no they're still
01:17:26
there they're still there but um how do
01:17:27
you feel when you watch them back uh
01:17:30
what's the sort of yeah really
01:17:32
interesting question
01:17:35
um uh I feel I I yeah I feel validated
01:17:40
that like um those
01:17:43
times like I I I watch myself and I'm
01:17:45
like ah you were really really sad like
01:17:48
yeah you had a good reason to be sad um
01:17:51
but at the time when you're in it you
01:17:53
don't know you don't know what uh you
01:17:55
don't always know what the problem is
01:17:56
you don't always know what the solution
01:17:58
is uh and it seems like like hope starts
01:18:01
to kind of like like fade right and
01:18:04
you're like imagine like I I try imagine
01:18:07
if I didn't have all the things that I
01:18:08
had you know if I didn't have all the
01:18:11
like those core things that make me feel
01:18:14
Joy and make me feel love and like all
01:18:17
the all the good all the all the warm
01:18:18
fuzzies you know um and I'm like like
01:18:23
you have you have every right to feel
01:18:24
that way but um uh I feel like that the
01:18:29
the main lesson I learned from that
01:18:32
was um you have to feel the way you're
01:18:36
feeling uh and like talk talk to people
01:18:40
uh understand the problem but then you
01:18:43
have to solve it you can't leave the
01:18:45
faucet open because uh creepy crawlies
01:18:48
will get in there and they'll like
01:18:49
they'll they'll lay eggs and they'll
01:18:51
they'll uh create webs they'll set traps
01:18:54
and it's like um next time you turn next
01:18:57
time water comes through you're not
01:18:59
going to want to drink it you know like
01:19:00
it's going to that's poison um so for me
01:19:04
I I just I kind of use that to um really
01:19:10
like like you just have you have to
01:19:13
understand that we're we're all flawed
01:19:14
you know we're all flawed and like don't
01:19:17
uh we're not we're not bulletproof as
01:19:19
much as as much as I've always felt
01:19:20
bulletproof you know like um we're all
01:19:22
going to have we're going to have times
01:19:24
like that but um
01:19:25
uh there's there's so much we can we can
01:19:27
learn from just looking inwards and
01:19:29
asking for help yeah will will you ever
01:19:32
share those videos or no I don't know I
01:19:34
probably will I probably should
01:19:37
um uh yeah I I probably should there's
01:19:41
um uh similar to what I'm saying uh
01:19:46
now that would be opening the faucet so
01:19:49
speak like for me personally I want to
01:19:51
speak from a pos position of power a of
01:19:56
um uh like when I say when I achieved
01:20:01
when when I got to the Olympics when I
01:20:02
got to the Olympics and when I achieved
01:20:05
uh the things I set set out to do then
01:20:08
you can talk about those things then you
01:20:10
can uh speak about them as a success
01:20:12
story because they weren't a success
01:20:14
story at the time right and um uh one
01:20:18
day when I'm done competing you know
01:20:21
when I'm done competing and I'm and like
01:20:23
uh you know there's there's um there's
01:20:27
no uh there's no drawbacks to showing
01:20:31
weakness and the in the public eye you
01:20:34
know I like I there it might be it might
01:20:37
be worth doing that but um for now it's
01:20:39
just it's just a it's a personal diary
01:20:41
for me to look back on and to to kind of
01:20:43
Reminisce because that's um uh I like
01:20:47
feeling sad is great feeling sad is good
01:20:49
for you like if you can cry if you can
01:20:51
feel if you can um feel sad it means you
01:20:54
have loved you know like there's no
01:20:56
there's no sunshine Without Rain yeah
01:20:58
are you quite good at um showing
01:21:00
vulnerability yeah 100% yeah that's um
01:21:03
that's never been um an issue for me but
01:21:06
at the same time I'm aware that uh
01:21:09
showing too much vulnerability for too
01:21:11
long uh you start becoming that frail
01:21:15
character that you that you you start
01:21:17
paying too much attention to it and like
01:21:19
if I were to say if I were to post those
01:21:22
videos now I'd be speaking to them
01:21:24
speaking them into existence for
01:21:26
everybody to see you know for everybody
01:21:28
to have and whatever comes back in uh if
01:21:32
I read that or if it if it comes back
01:21:34
full circle and someone says it to my
01:21:35
face that's one of my problems with
01:21:37
social media today is people uh people
01:21:40
have a direct link to your Consciousness
01:21:42
Consciousness so they can they can
01:21:44
message you and you'll your your leg
01:21:46
will buzz oh let me find out let me find
01:21:49
out what anyone has to say again anyone
01:21:52
asking about the God damn
01:21:57
we'll move on from this in a second I
01:21:59
can tell you're place but but you must
01:22:01
have been um when you were in this like
01:22:02
mental health slump which is the first
01:22:04
time you've ever experienced it in your
01:22:05
life um you you must have been really um
01:22:08
like wearing it on wearing your heart on
01:22:10
your sleeve because I I I even heard a
01:22:12
story about SAR Walker the the famous
01:22:13
bmxer coming up to you in the gym one
01:22:15
day and asking if you're okay she was
01:22:17
the first one she was the first one and
01:22:19
um she just tell you went yourself or
01:22:21
don't know don't know but um that was a
01:22:24
really that was a uh that was kind of a
01:22:27
there was another light bulb moment
01:22:29
where I was like I I wonder if she saw
01:22:31
that or if she was just asking you know
01:22:36
and after that I started seeing sadness
01:22:39
everywhere I went I started seeing I
01:22:41
started s like um uh there were other
01:22:44
athletes in the gym and I was like man
01:22:46
like um I think I talked to my partner
01:22:48
over the time I said um she just asked
01:22:51
me she just asked me and um I could
01:22:55
easily have just said yeah I'm fine but
01:22:58
like um now yeah yeah yeah and it's like
01:23:01
all it took was being like Oh yeah
01:23:02
things have been a bit tough um such and
01:23:05
such is happening it's a bit weird isn't
01:23:06
it yeah oh anyway like um you're doing a
01:23:09
great job cool but it's like oh like all
01:23:12
a sudden you take like six layers off
01:23:14
and you're like man like that feels
01:23:16
great and uh after that um I I kind of I
01:23:20
sat on there for a while and I was like
01:23:21
I started um uh like all of a sudden
01:23:25
people watching became way more
01:23:26
interesting because I was like oh that
01:23:28
person's hurting that person's that
01:23:31
person's hurt you know and you start um
01:23:33
appreciating some people that maybe you
01:23:35
didn't appreciate before because it's
01:23:37
like oh they've they're damaged you know
01:23:39
they're damaged good and um and maybe
01:23:42
they need a hand you know uh and it it
01:23:45
takes it actually takes a strong person
01:23:49
to uh it's one of those things like I
01:23:51
was saying do something for someone else
01:23:52
just ask them if they're all good you
01:23:54
know you know and um uh obviously you
01:23:57
don't want to you don't want to become
01:23:59
that uh Vice for someone because like I
01:24:02
said The more I talked about it the more
01:24:05
I kind of leaned I leaned into that idea
01:24:07
of being like Oh like you know what I am
01:24:10
I am frail and I'm a man I'm a man and I
01:24:13
I need to feel uh like I've got like I
01:24:17
like I can fix things and that I'm
01:24:19
powerful and that I'm strong uh like so
01:24:22
I'm I'm thinking I acknowledge the
01:24:24
problem then I got to do something about
01:24:26
it I got to do something about it and
01:24:27
whatever that takes I'll do it because
01:24:30
um because now it's out there if I just
01:24:32
leave it there it's going to Fester you
01:24:34
know and it's going to it's going to sit
01:24:35
in the back of my mind I'm like I wonder
01:24:37
if the person that I said that to is
01:24:39
still thinking about it and still
01:24:41
thinking about how I'm doing and you
01:24:43
start processing what like what that
01:24:45
what that might have meant to what that
01:24:47
might have meant to them or what that
01:24:49
might have meant to other people but
01:24:50
it's like beyond that moment you you you
01:24:55
get through that task and then you say
01:24:57
then you say Dave you did a good job you
01:25:00
give yourself a pat on the back you know
01:25:02
cuz that that like cuz you have to you
01:25:03
have to treat yourself and it's um yeah
01:25:06
I think that that's really important oh
01:25:08
thanks for sharing that stuff I
01:25:09
appreciate it appreciate you being so
01:25:10
open about it all right have we got time
01:25:12
for one more round ding ding ding ding
01:25:14
ding okay let's talk about Lexie yeah my
01:25:18
baby Lia your baby so um so she was on
01:25:21
love Island
01:25:22
Australia um I believe the relationship
01:25:25
started as a a DM slide she slid into
01:25:28
your DMs you read it let her on uh left
01:25:31
her on scene and ignored it yeah I don't
01:25:34
think I I don't think I opened it so she
01:25:36
was in my request oh right okay she was
01:25:37
in my request I didn't I didn't open it
01:25:39
but cuz you're you're in a relationship
01:25:40
at the time yeah yeah yeah okay um so
01:25:42
you didn't even read it from me like
01:25:44
from memory there was a time remember
01:25:46
scrolling through like my explore page
01:25:48
and um like I don't follow any uh love
01:25:51
Island um uh anything about love Island
01:25:56
but like because it's so big across New
01:25:58
Zealand Australia um I'd been scrolling
01:26:00
through and like these they all come up
01:26:02
with a like a a fluro color line down
01:26:05
the side of the square and I was like
01:26:07
like this is really weird and i' like
01:26:08
kind of gone I was like so what's this
01:26:09
all about they're all through my explore
01:26:11
page and um obviously they're that it's
01:26:13
that popular it's that big in like
01:26:15
austral Asia and um and I remembered uh
01:26:20
a DM coming through from a from a
01:26:22
someone from lava and I was like I was
01:26:24
like that's kind of flattering right had
01:26:26
the verified te what well I saw her
01:26:29
profile picture was because she had just
01:26:32
come off the show so she still got that
01:26:34
photo with the with the Flur thing down
01:26:36
the side and I was like that's like
01:26:38
flattering right flattering and I was
01:26:39
like I left it um fast forward uh you
01:26:43
did you didn't even read it you didn't
01:26:45
even open it and read it uh from memory
01:26:48
it was something really silly and like
01:26:49
it was like um it was like oh like
01:26:53
um uh it was something like I'd let you
01:26:55
punch me in the face or something okay
01:26:58
that's what she said like um she she she
01:27:00
probably remembers exactly what what she
01:27:02
said but I I can't quite remember but
01:27:04
she is as you're in so much trouble no
01:27:06
no no no she thinks it's hilarious but
01:27:08
like she was so ashamed when uh uh she
01:27:12
got
01:27:13
um uh her she got a phone call from her
01:27:16
dad saying hey yeah so um I have like
01:27:20
her dad no like um he he calls everyone
01:27:23
he's he's a call Guy calls everyone so
01:27:25
like I get a I get a phone call from him
01:27:27
every day like while I'm here pretty
01:27:28
much and um and he uh sister to oh yeah
01:27:33
I've got a I've got a New Zealand boxer
01:27:35
that's coming to train with us for for
01:27:37
four weeks um and she was like what's
01:27:39
his
01:27:40
name and he was like oh it's David N she
01:27:43
was like you're kidding you're kidding
01:27:46
and um and uh so like Fast Forward I um
01:27:52
I'm like training with the thought with
01:27:54
the thorn Brees and uh they they do a
01:27:56
Sunday lunch every every Sunday and we
01:27:57
watch the fights and that the extended
01:27:59
family comes down so grandparents um are
01:28:01
over like the the families the siblings
01:28:03
are over and um and I meet Lexi she
01:28:06
comes she pulls in and her like beat up
01:28:08
hyi I I oh I30 or something it's like an
01:28:12
all like old beat up car she comes out
01:28:14
she's like full full uh hair and makeup
01:28:18
and um her family's looking at her
01:28:21
like what's she doing and I meet her and
01:28:25
like obviously like I'm respectful I'm
01:28:27
respectful and like uh I'm like
01:28:29
obviously she looks really really nice
01:28:31
like adorable gorgeous and
01:28:33
um uh I
01:28:36
um I make a conscious effort not to look
01:28:39
at her because because you're being nice
01:28:42
guy yeah because I'm being respectful
01:28:44
right and so we're watching the boxing
01:28:46
and um uh I didn't hear this but uh
01:28:48
apparently uh her her Nana says to
01:28:52
everybody when I went to the toilet they
01:28:54
go he must be gay he didn't even bloody
01:28:57
look at
01:28:58
here go then yeah yeah go on then and
01:29:04
um yeah like there was like this um
01:29:07
funny thing going on for a while where
01:29:09
like um uh sh like we clicked like
01:29:14
immediately and it was um like I i' I
01:29:17
would already I was already like really
01:29:19
close with uh I say really close but I
01:29:21
get on with her all those siblings her
01:29:23
brothers um they're all boxing as well
01:29:25
so we're training together every day
01:29:27
she's training uh she's coming up from
01:29:29
Brisbane a lot more often apparently and
01:29:32
her parents are saying oh it's really
01:29:33
nice having Lexie around morning and I'm
01:29:34
like what she does she not come up this
01:29:37
does she not usually come up this often
01:29:38
they're like No And um Penny must have
01:29:41
dropped for you like you're not you
01:29:43
you're you know you're a nice guy but
01:29:44
you're not naive you must be like oh
01:29:47
yeah I see what's I kind like Part of Me
01:29:49
Part of Me hoped for that part of me
01:29:51
hoped for it but at the same time I'm
01:29:52
thinking uh okay Dave like um Keep Your
01:29:56
Head on you're only here for 4 weeks
01:29:57
don't go and uh like become a like a
01:30:00
home wrecker by by doing something silly
01:30:03
uh when you're going to be leaving in a
01:30:04
few weeks anyway and so I get through
01:30:07
this fight and I wasn't really satisfied
01:30:09
it was a it was a really it was actually
01:30:10
a difficult fight and it was obviously
01:30:12
working with a new coach and we'd only
01:30:14
been working together for four weeks I'd
01:30:16
had a couple of like tough and like
01:30:18
niggly sparring sessions and I was like
01:30:20
um after the after the performance I was
01:30:22
thinking uh
01:30:25
like I'm not really happy with it and I
01:30:28
didn't actually have any plans back in
01:30:30
the UK and so uh noled said well there's
01:30:33
another um another card coming up that
01:30:35
I'm pretty sure I can get you on if
01:30:36
you'd like to and I said yeah sure like
01:30:39
um like I think a lot of the stuff that
01:30:42
we've been working on we hadn't really
01:30:43
been able to implement it in sparring
01:30:46
let alone into a fight and so I was like
01:30:47
okay yeah let's let's keep trying and um
01:30:51
uh so over the course of the next maybe
01:30:54
two months uh I'm training with uh with
01:30:58
null with his sons and Lexi is coming in
01:31:01
like spending a lot of time and we had
01:31:03
gotten like quite close by this time and
01:31:06
um I remember like uh was like a really
01:31:11
awkward um conversation I had with with
01:31:14
nol um wasn't even a conversation we
01:31:17
were at sparing I was at I was at
01:31:18
another gym in Brisbane for sping and um
01:31:23
he had uh like I was checking my weight
01:31:25
on the scales he like how heavy are you
01:31:26
you look you look pretty lean right now
01:31:27
and I was like yeah I'll go check so we
01:31:29
went into like it was kind of like a
01:31:31
little kitchenet area and it was like
01:31:33
kind of dark and I like jumped on the
01:31:34
scale and we' been talking about how cuz
01:31:36
me and Lexi had been hanging out quite a
01:31:37
lot um and I S oh like um yeah like
01:31:43
really really like lexio and um I was
01:31:45
kind of explained to him I was like yeah
01:31:47
we've um like she she's like a really
01:31:49
cool Che you know like we like really
01:31:51
get on kind of thing and um
01:31:54
I didn't get any response I just
01:31:58
got and I I had no idea what to what to
01:32:01
what to think of that and like by this
01:32:03
by this point we had like um I'm pretty
01:32:05
sure we had like become intimate you
01:32:08
know yeah yeah and so I was like
01:32:11
dreading dreading that conversation but
01:32:13
I couldn't I couldn't not say something
01:32:17
you know I couldn't not say something
01:32:18
because I was like um like I actually
01:32:22
really really respect no respect uh
01:32:25
their entire family and um I'd spoken to
01:32:27
my dad uh at home uh back in New Zealand
01:32:30
saying um uh just it seems it seems a
01:32:34
little bit wrong and like it's it's
01:32:36
almost too good to be true right cuz um
01:32:39
uh I've I've finally found uh a coach
01:32:42
that I trust you know thatd put me into
01:32:44
a house like uh I'd I'd come straight
01:32:46
from the UK where I spending $100 a
01:32:49
night to um to live in an attic and they
01:32:51
just um they' freed up a space he's in
01:32:54
real estate so he was able to take a
01:32:56
property that was um uh like kind of
01:32:58
vacant and he'd gotten permission to uh
01:33:01
let me stay there while I while I was
01:33:03
training and
01:33:05
um and I was like Dad this seems like um
01:33:08
seems kind of off and a little bit wrong
01:33:10
like I needed like I'm asking for advice
01:33:14
and um and he says hey man um the the
01:33:18
universe is speaking and it's smiling so
01:33:21
just lean into it you know just trust it
01:33:23
um you know obviously be yourself like
01:33:25
youve um you're not doing anything wrong
01:33:28
you're not a bad person um and that's
01:33:31
one of the best best decisions I've ever
01:33:33
made man really cool yeah I I can I can
01:33:37
tell your eyes light up when you how
01:33:39
long has it been now uh we're about uh
01:33:42
officially we're probably between about
01:33:44
18 months almost 18 months I think and
01:33:47
say her dad and I was like actually I'm
01:33:49
I'm not okay with this it's like me and
01:33:52
the boxing training and I'm coach or
01:33:54
it's my daughter up to you which way
01:33:56
would you have gone i' like I i' would
01:33:59
100% respect that I would 100% respect
01:34:02
that however I
01:34:05
think they all knew that I'm really
01:34:07
really good for her and um and I'm good
01:34:11
for uh you know I I'm really close with
01:34:14
her siblings you know I've uh like spent
01:34:16
a lot of time with them in the gym with
01:34:18
them like socially uh you know like um
01:34:22
Cassidy her middle brother like was
01:34:25
having like kind of like issu like girl
01:34:27
issues at the time and I kind of came in
01:34:29
and like uh like really G him up and I
01:34:31
was like cuz he's the he's the like
01:34:33
honestly like probably one of the nicest
01:34:35
guys I've ever met like um to a fault
01:34:38
and so I kind of like gave him a bit of
01:34:41
like um uh a bit of like I je him up and
01:34:44
made him feel really good and he he
01:34:45
ended up like he's he's like the coolest
01:34:47
dude now with an awesome girlfriend so
01:34:50
um I felt like I was really really good
01:34:52
for for her and for their family and so
01:34:56
it's actually ended up being um one of
01:34:59
the one of the biggest blessings I think
01:35:01
for myself and for their for their
01:35:03
family as well oh it's a win-win and
01:35:05
also um s diit us like the fact that she
01:35:08
she was thirsty for you tried to slide
01:35:10
into your DM and then next thing you
01:35:12
know you're working with her dad I mean
01:35:15
what the [ __ ] it's manifestation dude
01:35:18
man I was I was like she said I was the
01:35:21
only person she had ever she' ever d
01:35:23
like um she had never gone she said she
01:35:25
never she deleted the she deleted the uh
01:35:28
the message she uh never talked anyone
01:35:30
else cuz she was like a shamed she
01:35:31
thought she was really cool because she
01:35:33
had just got off love Island she was
01:35:34
like that's my celebrity crush that's my
01:35:36
celebrity crush she saw me at the
01:35:37
Olympics and was like that's that's him
01:35:40
and I was like obviously that that sound
01:35:42
I sound like a massive [ __ ] saying that
01:35:44
now but it's it's believable we it's
01:35:46
amazing and I think it's so cool man um
01:35:50
and I feel like that is one of those uh
01:35:53
aha moments where it's like ooh we
01:35:56
that's you know that's it's like it it
01:35:59
feels like home I've never felt homesick
01:36:01
while I'm there and um come back to New
01:36:03
Zealand and I don't really have a home
01:36:04
base anymore you know we don't have a
01:36:06
family house now so um I feel really
01:36:08
really happy and like my cup's very full
01:36:10
out there you know and I've he I've
01:36:13
heard her on a podcast talking about how
01:36:15
in the early days you were sing each
01:36:16
other [ __ ] um you were training together
01:36:18
at the gym and should um like uh
01:36:21
rehearse things to talk about or things
01:36:23
to
01:36:26
she is that true yeah she won't bloody
01:36:28
shut up
01:36:30
now it's one of those things it's really
01:36:33
good of her to admit it down the TR
01:36:35
because it's
01:36:36
embarrassing no she's awesome it's
01:36:38
really worked out well and did you so
01:36:40
you you're um so busy on with your own
01:36:43
[ __ ] did you have you gone back and
01:36:45
watched any of her love Island stuff or
01:36:47
no I like it's just one of those things
01:36:48
it's like um I'm not a jealous guy uh
01:36:51
but I could be you know so it's like why
01:36:53
why open that can of worms cuz I had a
01:36:55
bit of a a YouTube Wormhole last night
01:36:58
watching some stuff and this guy Ryan
01:37:00
there she was singing this guy Ryan you
01:37:02
want me to take him out oh you probably
01:37:05
could from memory that they're not
01:37:07
they're not they don't seem like tough
01:37:09
guys I know yeah um they did a thing
01:37:11
called a comp compatibility test which
01:37:14
she wrote um so I've got the two
01:37:16
questions that she asked Ryan I'll put
01:37:18
them to you describe a perfect
01:37:21
relationship in one word
01:37:27
easy easy yeah I think it should be easy
01:37:31
and like um like loving Lexi is so easy
01:37:33
it's so easy and like it's never felt
01:37:35
forced it's never felt like something
01:37:37
that um that we we uh need to do it's
01:37:41
just it's like it's not even a choice
01:37:43
now it's like we just we just do it man
01:37:45
it's like um uh yeah I feel feel very
01:37:49
lucky that I can say that cuz I I've
01:37:51
been in I've I've only had longterm
01:37:54
relationships really I've only been I
01:37:55
was only single for a very short amount
01:37:57
of time um and this has been such a um
01:38:01
kind of Eye Opener to what What Love Can
01:38:04
Be You know so um the fact that I uh I
01:38:08
like I'm I'm in love with a family I'm
01:38:09
in love with her and um uh you know
01:38:12
she's uh uh like my my nephew is have
01:38:16
like massive crushes on her like it's
01:38:18
like they're all under 5 years old I
01:38:20
should add but they're like um it's just
01:38:22
it's it's man it's it's beautiful so
01:38:25
yeah oh yeah I mean you're a
01:38:27
good-looking couple like if you guys
01:38:29
ever have kids they're going to be goodl
01:38:30
looking baby they going be so tall I
01:38:32
don't know I don't know how would feed
01:38:34
them I know how much I ate as a kid also
01:38:37
if if you did have a baby um and it was
01:38:39
a son what would you call
01:38:41
him don't know actually um this is
01:38:43
another love Island question yeah yeah
01:38:44
no it's good um uh I've got a few I've
01:38:48
got a few ideas and they um uh um a lot
01:38:52
of them's uh like revolve around uh kind
01:38:56
of a lost a lost community and a lost um
01:39:00
kind of
01:39:02
uh idea of like where I come from so
01:39:05
like obviously my granddad moved to New
01:39:07
Zealand uh when he was like in his early
01:39:10
20s to do his Dentistry um but since
01:39:13
since traveling back to Uganda and then
01:39:16
fleeing during the idam in regime uh
01:39:19
he's only returned once and so um I kind
01:39:22
of want to know a little bit more about
01:39:24
that background but he brought the name
01:39:26
Nika over to New Zealand that was the
01:39:29
that was actually a nickname that he was
01:39:32
kind of given um because he like
01:39:35
mimicked his the chief of his village at
01:39:37
the time his name was Kika I believe and
01:39:40
his um his original his original first
01:39:45
name his name is Tom ner um but his
01:39:48
original name was uh darus like Darius
01:39:51
and um like I kind of like Darius and
01:39:54
it's like like Double D you know like
01:39:56
DAV Darius I I I think that's really
01:39:59
beautiful she's all right with it I
01:40:01
think she's okay with it um but um if we
01:40:05
if I say it on enough podcasts she might
01:40:07
be like fuing have to now you
01:40:10
know I think that's beautiful anyway
01:40:12
because yeah like um uh we we are the
01:40:15
first gener we're like a new generation
01:40:17
we're a new uh species here in in uh in
01:40:20
New Zealand and um I like our culture is
01:40:24
very very special and like very unique
01:40:27
to our family and so I'd like to kind of
01:40:29
bring a little bit of that through to um
01:40:32
to like the Next Generation but um so my
01:40:36
one of my nephew's name is Amos and
01:40:37
that's my dad's middle name so taking my
01:40:40
grandfather's um you know original name
01:40:42
would be would be pretty cool that's
01:40:44
wonderful and this this chief that
01:40:46
you're talking about is it is he the one
01:40:47
that used to carry around a stool yeah
01:40:49
that's the one yeah you've done your
01:40:50
research man so he always had a stool to
01:40:52
sit on yeah so yeah my my granddad would
01:40:55
follow him around the village when the
01:40:57
the chief sat down on his stool he'd
01:40:59
stop he'd stop he'd sit down on the
01:41:01
stool my Grandad would sit down with his
01:41:03
own little stool and he'd sit down and
01:41:05
like um I I think you I think the chief
01:41:07
was like uh I don't know if he was a
01:41:09
good person I think he might have been
01:41:11
like a bit of a drunk but like it's uh
01:41:13
it's a it's a really neat story so um I
01:41:16
I love that um I love that I kind of
01:41:18
have these like uh romanticized ideas of
01:41:21
of what his life may have light but um
01:41:25
that has since been left behind you know
01:41:28
I I just love how connected you are or
01:41:31
how um motivated you are to keep your
01:41:34
you know these these sort of links to
01:41:35
your extended family I think that's
01:41:37
really cool and really special yeah you
01:41:38
what yeah well I I haven't really like
01:41:41
actually touched on it yet I've the
01:41:43
these all like seeds that I'm kind of
01:41:45
kind of planting every time I talk about
01:41:47
it you know I planted them in my own
01:41:49
mind as well yeah yeah oh that's great
01:41:52
what what a wonderful relationship yeah
01:41:54
do you when do you think you'll propose
01:41:57
like have you talked marriage well you
01:41:58
want to get married at some point or is
01:41:59
it just not on the radar yet yeah
01:42:01
apparently uh marriage comes before
01:42:03
babies so like we we'll do that but but
01:42:05
we're talking we're talking about um uh
01:42:08
like I think we're probably a few years
01:42:10
away from babies like I want to I want
01:42:11
to I want to I want that like you know
01:42:14
Financial Freedom is is is important and
01:42:16
I know that as soon as um like kids are
01:42:20
as soon as I like we do have kids um my
01:42:24
entire kind of life will change and I
01:42:25
want to I want to have I want those
01:42:27
seeds to turn into little trees before
01:42:29
before I'd start uh before I you know
01:42:32
have my own little ones to to look after
01:42:34
so um yeah got to be like a little bit
01:42:36
responsible and she's only 22 so we like
01:42:39
we want to explore the world you know we
01:42:41
want to like travel and whatnot um and
01:42:43
so yeah that comes first for sure and
01:42:45
this may be from an earlier an earlier
01:42:47
interview that you did that I read but
01:42:49
um you talked about your goals post
01:42:52
boxing and some of them includ maybe
01:42:53
having like a dog Century somewhere or
01:42:55
doing some conservation work in Africa
01:42:58
um has that changed since Lexi came
01:43:00
along no no no no I'm um I'm actually I
01:43:04
feel like I've I've planted the seeds
01:43:05
for the um for the conservation and for
01:43:07
the um for the charity work that uh high
01:43:11
impact athletes are doing and um uh it's
01:43:13
a it's a foundation a charity Foundation
01:43:15
that I'm uh a part of now and so we're
01:43:18
trying to uh we're raising money um to
01:43:22
fight against area um in Rwanda and like
01:43:25
the neighboring countries Uganda one of
01:43:27
them so um one of my goals is to yeah
01:43:31
you know improve the lives of of
01:43:32
thousands in in Uganda and it like I
01:43:35
have I have no real Connections in
01:43:38
Uganda other than my own uh you know the
01:43:40
color of my skin and my family so um at
01:43:43
the
01:43:44
moment like that that's that's a that's
01:43:47
a that's kind of like the the start of
01:43:50
um of a a bigger a bigger project but um
01:43:54
yeah just kind of like planning those
01:43:56
seeds now and I think um I I'll still be
01:44:00
like that's kind of it's kind of it
01:44:01
feels more real now anyway because I
01:44:03
like uh the founder Marcus Daniels I met
01:44:05
at the Olympics he was um amazing guy he
01:44:08
was in he was in my apartment was in my
01:44:09
apartment at the Olympics so that's how
01:44:11
he met and he asked me to kind of jump
01:44:13
on board and make a pledge so I pledge I
01:44:15
pledge a small amount of money every
01:44:17
week to go towards uh these uh
01:44:19
incredible Charities that have been like
01:44:21
uh really thoroughly vetted so say you
01:44:23
say you give $100 to to a charity 95
01:44:27
like 95 of those dollars are going to go
01:44:30
um into the actual cause you know
01:44:32
they're going to go into that's going to
01:44:34
go towards buying these bed nets you
01:44:36
know $10 for a 10 New Zealand dolls for
01:44:38
a bed net to protect two people for
01:44:40
three years um that's that's kind of
01:44:43
where where I think I'm going to find
01:44:46
the most um joy out of uh being um being
01:44:51
a person of influence like because I can
01:44:54
actually do that and I can speak about
01:44:55
it and like hopefully people are going
01:44:57
to listen you know so um that's that's
01:45:01
yeah just the start of that's just the
01:45:02
start of my um my larger story but um
01:45:06
yeah yeah I'd like to I'd like to like
01:45:08
to keep um keep nurturing that idea I
01:45:10
love that yeah Marcus Daniel he's a he's
01:45:13
a great guy he he came on the podcast
01:45:14
earlier this year he actually um he he
01:45:18
messaged me to ask to come on and when I
01:45:20
first got the message I thought oh this
01:45:22
guy [ __ ] rates himself um and then I
01:45:26
um the more I thought about it I thought
01:45:28
I'm the problem here like this this is
01:45:30
tall poy Sy that's your that's your ego
01:45:32
100% yeah um I'm just good on you for
01:45:35
recognizing that yeah absolutely and the
01:45:37
reason he wanted to come on is not just
01:45:39
to say you know I won a bronze meal and
01:45:41
double tenis and I'm really cool it was
01:45:42
like four high impact athletes which is
01:45:45
um he's so alteristic and he's so
01:45:47
passionate about it wants to spread the
01:45:48
word um since then a few other people
01:45:50
have messaged me wanting to come on the
01:45:51
podcast and I've I've changed my mindset
01:45:53
completely instead of having that New
01:45:54
Zealand mentality where I'm like oh [ __ ]
01:45:56
this person [ __ ] R them I've I've
01:45:58
recognized it's an issue with me and
01:46:00
that's something I need to get over and
01:46:01
we should applaud people that are um
01:46:03
yeah prepared to put themselves out like
01:46:05
that like what what's the answer to that
01:46:07
though like what like how do you how do
01:46:09
you keep nurturing that idea like for me
01:46:12
personally like yeah well you personally
01:46:14
or what would what would you say like
01:46:15
cuz cuz that that's something that's
01:46:17
that's everywhere in New Zealand and
01:46:18
that kind of stems from
01:46:21
uh I don't really know what it stems
01:46:24
from like what's your take on that like
01:46:25
cuz that that's something that a lot of
01:46:27
athletes deal with you probably see a
01:46:29
lot of it being being in like uh like
01:46:32
radio journalism podcasting now you know
01:46:34
yeah I don't I don't know what the
01:46:35
solution is necessarily but it's um it's
01:46:38
a anyone anyone in New Zealand that sort
01:46:40
of puts themselves out put puts
01:46:42
themselves out there it's like our thing
01:46:43
like oh this person's getting a bit big
01:46:44
for their boots we need to sort of pull
01:46:46
them down yeah um but Marcus Daniel was
01:46:48
incredibly humble he just wanted to come
01:46:50
on the podcast to um try and basically
01:46:52
raise more money for the caes that he's
01:46:54
really cool I haven't had much to do
01:46:57
with uh I've had little bits to do with
01:46:59
like SPCA and that was like purely
01:47:01
because I wanted to like you know Foster
01:47:04
Foster animals and lot I really thought
01:47:06
I was going to adopt one of them
01:47:07
eventually but um cuz I was like
01:47:10
mourning the loss of a family like our
01:47:12
family dog kind of thing but um the I
01:47:15
just I've I've kind of done a little bit
01:47:17
of research around um some of the bigger
01:47:19
Charities and I've uh you know volun
01:47:22
volun ered I've like applied for
01:47:24
volunteer roles in Australia since
01:47:27
moving over and it's just it just
01:47:29
doesn't seem like um doesn't seem like a
01:47:31
lot of the big Charities really want to
01:47:35
maximize you know that yeah like uh like
01:47:38
having having people to like the only
01:47:41
the only option I had to go and um to to
01:47:44
be of value at these um Charities that I
01:47:48
apped for was to sit in a retail store
01:47:50
and I was like what am I going to do in
01:47:52
a retail store like I'm I'm I'm going to
01:47:54
sit there for what like I'm not I can't
01:47:57
do more than a few hours at a time on a
01:47:58
training day but like that's um just
01:48:02
like it's it's not us it's not using
01:48:04
your profile and on top of that on top
01:48:06
of that it's like I don't really want to
01:48:07
be um you know a lot of a lot of the big
01:48:10
Charities the money kind of gets skimmed
01:48:13
off and skimmed off a lot of it goes to
01:48:14
Administration some of it goes towards
01:48:17
paying off like paying someone's car you
01:48:19
know like yeah some of it's horrendous
01:48:21
some of it's it's like 30 and the dollar
01:48:23
ends up going to the charity maybe Le
01:48:25
for some um hey a couple of
01:48:27
miscellaneous ones to finish with um
01:48:30
bons side trees this is like a hobby or
01:48:32
a passion of yours yeah I tell you what
01:48:34
I've actually had to I've had to hand
01:48:35
that down you know um I moved to
01:48:37
Australia and obviously couldn't take my
01:48:39
trees um how many are there I tried to
01:48:42
start again I Tred I had I had a fair
01:48:44
few but um I I moved over and I tried to
01:48:46
start up over there but it's so hot and
01:48:49
so dry I like was a bit of a bit of an
01:48:51
eye opener like my trees just died
01:48:53
immediately so um I I handed it down to
01:48:56
my brother and he's actually he's taken
01:48:58
um a few of my like favorite trees and
01:49:01
he's actually started um his own
01:49:03
collection in there like it's looking
01:49:05
awesome he's actually done a really good
01:49:06
job with it so where did this patient
01:49:08
start is this from karate with lock it
01:49:11
was during lockdown when I was really
01:49:13
really sad and like I I I um I was
01:49:16
trying to find a way to um uh to heal
01:49:20
myself and so I I had I had my fosil the
01:49:22
kittens and looking after them was good
01:49:24
for me uh and then I was I needed
01:49:27
something else and so I started um uh
01:49:30
creating Bonsai and there's something
01:49:32
you
01:49:33
create pain and Beauty in something
01:49:36
other than yourself and it's it's a it's
01:49:38
kind of a brutal art form where you you
01:49:40
like you're trying to turn what's a
01:49:42
small a small um plant you're trying to
01:49:46
twist it bend it torment it and like
01:49:48
torture it to like near like near death
01:49:53
but what comes of it is like um it look
01:49:56
it's like aged Beauty it's like it's
01:49:58
like a really it's a really kind of um
01:50:02
special art form yeah oh [ __ ] I've
01:50:05
dropped I've wet myself sorry man that's
01:50:07
all
01:50:08
right that's interesting um another one
01:50:12
another thing I want to ask you about
01:50:13
there I've seen a couple of you maybe
01:50:14
maybe it was just one or maybe it's more
01:50:16
of um like the weighin before a boxing
01:50:18
fight there's one in particular where
01:50:20
you're you're with a um an opponent
01:50:22
that's short than you and you guys are
01:50:23
like like butting foreheads like your
01:50:25
noses and foreheads are almost touching
01:50:27
each other and when you're doing that
01:50:30
like what are you saying to each other
01:50:32
uh what's the conversation depends
01:50:34
depends if they're talking you know if
01:50:35
they're talking [ __ ] or not um you like
01:50:40
uh I think I think it'll change I think
01:50:42
it will change over time like um I'll
01:50:44
get to know the players better and the
01:50:46
players will get to know you better and
01:50:48
um at the moment it's kind of like uh
01:50:50
the guys I've I've been up against know
01:50:52
I'm going to beat them and I think
01:50:54
everyone else knows that as well but um
01:50:56
it's essentially uh like a I call it the
01:51:00
Prelude this is the Prelude to um a
01:51:02
really exciting career um and so like
01:51:06
getting to know the players more all of
01:51:08
a sudden you'll starts like you'll start
01:51:10
knowing more about your opponents and I
01:51:12
think uh there'll be more to say you
01:51:15
know but at the moment it's like it's
01:51:18
like you know like is it
01:51:20
just I'm going to waste you you a
01:51:22
[ __ ] going down don't know I don't
01:51:24
even know I think like gets in your face
01:51:27
it's like oh it's going down like let's
01:51:29
let's go man like um like like people
01:51:32
try like G themselves up and it's like I
01:51:34
just I'll just match your energy I like
01:51:37
right here man right here like yeah I
01:51:40
don't know what you're going to I don't
01:51:41
know what you're trying to do but like
01:51:42
um I'm going to kick your ass um uh
01:51:45
another one from miscellania section
01:51:47
Israel what's your relationship with him
01:51:48
you you've trained together a bit you've
01:51:50
taught him some boxing tips I wouldn't
01:51:53
say I've taught him boxing but like um
01:51:55
uh We've uh I was actually brought in
01:51:57
this is uh this is quite a cool story
01:51:59
actually
01:52:00
so uh I first the the first time I
01:52:04
really spent time with you want me to go
01:52:06
right back to the start yeah go right
01:52:08
I'm intrigued with oh he's awesome he's
01:52:11
like um he's uh he's what he's probably
01:52:15
probably one of my favorite he's
01:52:17
probably my favorite sporting person
01:52:18
alive today only because I I I
01:52:21
appreciate and I understand
01:52:23
what he's doing why he's doing it and
01:52:27
where I feel like I understand a little
01:52:28
bit of where he's come from
01:52:32
um I first met him uh after a Joseph
01:52:36
Parker fight um that I went to I
01:52:38
attended I like I got um
01:52:41
complimentary complimentary like uh
01:52:44
corporate tickets uh for myself my
01:52:46
brother and a couple mates and um we
01:52:48
were we were going to leave later that
01:52:50
night and um we were walking through the
01:52:51
car park and we hear some guy and like
01:52:54
come out of the dark and he says Hey
01:52:55
like where are you guys going into town
01:52:57
we turn around we're like uh not really
01:52:59
we're not going towards the city we're
01:53:00
going back to Hamilton and he says oh
01:53:02
like um do you think you could drop me
01:53:03
into the city and we're
01:53:05
like
01:53:06
um yeah sure it sounds like a sounds
01:53:09
like a Jour sounds like a like a fun fun
01:53:11
side quest you know like so so this is
01:53:14
this is isra this is this seems like you
01:53:17
with your boundaries and not saying no
01:53:18
to people yeah yeah pretty much pretty
01:53:20
much this is um I want to say this is
01:53:22
2014 so this is uh well before he um
01:53:25
makes it into the UFC um and I I just
01:53:28
won my first kroth games gold medal
01:53:30
that's why I'm getting like free tickets
01:53:32
and stuff and like I think this is
01:53:33
through doco even and uh so they've been
01:53:35
like uh I've been connected to them ever
01:53:37
since then and
01:53:39
um uh they um so he's he's he's bald
01:53:43
he's drunk he's like loud and he's
01:53:46
talking like the most [ __ ] the entire
01:53:49
car ride and um we we couldn't really
01:53:51
get a word in and then he's finally kind
01:53:53
of like I like what do you guys do and I
01:53:55
was like oh well um I've um I I I boxed
01:53:59
I went to like the com games want to
01:54:01
call me he's like how old are you I 18
01:54:03
he's like oh that's that's awesome like
01:54:05
I real recognize real and that's the
01:54:07
first time I heard this like I recognize
01:54:09
real and I was like oh like appreciate
01:54:11
that that's nice like still don't know
01:54:13
who the [ __ ] you
01:54:14
are I was like I was like yeah you see
01:54:17
like you seem pretty sure of yourself
01:54:18
though so I was like that's awesome um
01:54:21
and fast forward
01:54:23
he's uh made it onto the UFC scene and
01:54:27
um uh they're looking for sparring they
01:54:30
were looking for like like striking
01:54:32
sparring for their fight the upcoming
01:54:34
fight against Anderson Silva and if you
01:54:37
rewind
01:54:38
another kind of four years Anderson
01:54:41
Silva was actually the reason why I got
01:54:43
into Combat Sports in the first place he
01:54:45
was this uh amazing uh like uh versatile
01:54:49
like totally like unorthodox had the
01:54:51
craziest shots of ction like the um just
01:54:53
the most wild outrageous kind of fighter
01:54:57
and um this was kind of like the coming
01:54:59
of age for for Izzy for israa so it was
01:55:04
the passing of the mantle from uh
01:55:06
Anderson the spider Sila to the style
01:55:08
Bender so if he can uh you know if he
01:55:11
can overcome that hurdle he's like you
01:55:13
know he's he's kind of taken the mantle
01:55:15
so I thought what a crazy opportunity to
01:55:18
be um to be able to like help this guy
01:55:23
overcome um such a hurdle like and and
01:55:27
that was special to me because Anderson
01:55:29
Silva was my hero you know and I was
01:55:30
like oh that's really neat there's
01:55:32
something about that as well and so um I
01:55:35
was like yeah I'll do it and like oh the
01:55:36
only issue is like um Anderson Silva is
01:55:39
a southp you can spy southp right and I
01:55:41
was like uh yeah yeah so southp is
01:55:46
essentially being a left-handed Fighter
01:55:48
um and I'm I'm very right-handed you
01:55:50
should like I couldn't kick a ball with
01:55:51
my left foot but um uh I was like yeah
01:55:54
sure I was like let's do it so that was
01:55:57
how I that was how I first became
01:55:58
involved with with uh with Izzy and
01:56:00
since then like we've um uh I think we
01:56:03
we share a lot in common you know
01:56:04
there's there's this uh like you say
01:56:06
This Tall poppy syndrome there's also
01:56:09
this kind of um we have similar uh we've
01:56:12
had similar experience but quite
01:56:15
different experiences in New Zealand
01:56:18
um uh culturally so he was born was born
01:56:22
in Nigeria uh raised in Niger until was
01:56:25
about 10 I believe and then came to New
01:56:27
Zealand and um was obviously like looked
01:56:30
at as the black sheep and um myself I
01:56:34
have like a differing experience where I
01:56:37
was kind of expected to be uh to be M or
01:56:40
to be uh like U pacifical or to be
01:56:43
something um something that I wasn't and
01:56:46
so I was accepted by the Mali uh
01:56:49
Community however I didn't connect I
01:56:52
couldn't connect and I I could it's not
01:56:54
your culture not my culture yeah and um
01:56:56
however like I'm also you know um not
01:57:00
I'm not white I'm not white I'm not you
01:57:01
know uh alter's idea of white and so um
01:57:06
we we had this kind of like we we I feel
01:57:08
like feel like we shared something in in
01:57:10
that space um and so like yeah I've I've
01:57:14
really appreciated what he's done for um
01:57:16
for the sport but also uh how he's kind
01:57:19
of tackled a lot of those um cultural
01:57:22
kind of
01:57:23
um I call them their disappointments
01:57:26
they disappointments because I like I
01:57:27
find it disappointing when um you know
01:57:30
people are like judged by by something
01:57:32
that's so so like um so dumb so dumb
01:57:37
like like something like skin color or
01:57:38
like uh like oh you don't look like
01:57:40
someone I should trust what does that me
01:57:43
yeah it's bizarre yeah I think I think
01:57:45
he's great um and um he like he yeah he
01:57:47
made a speech when he won the hellig
01:57:49
sports award about to Poppy and um
01:57:51
amazing aming then sure enough like um
01:57:53
last earlier this year he got done for
01:57:55
for drunk driving and just the comments
01:57:57
you read online it's like there is so
01:57:58
many people just sitting there waiting
01:58:00
for the opportunity to tear them down
01:58:02
it's disgusting yeah and um like that
01:58:05
that was really um that's that's
01:58:07
actually that time period is actually uh
01:58:11
this this is another weird kind of um
01:58:13
the stars align moment where um Israel
01:58:16
came to watch my fight in uh Melbourne
01:58:19
Tyson furrious happen to be at the same
01:58:21
fight they both came to watch watch me
01:58:22
watch me fight there I fought that fight
01:58:25
entirely as a left-handed fighter
01:58:27
because I had learned over that like
01:58:30
like I'd learned a lot more over that
01:58:31
period of time working with the likes of
01:58:33
Izzy uh to fight as a southp and like
01:58:37
because I had to and like um fast
01:58:39
forward I've actually spent quite a bit
01:58:40
of time in South boy and it's become
01:58:42
quite a um quite a weapon as well and
01:58:45
Tyson Fury's watching watching me fight
01:58:47
and he's seen me Spar and um I remember
01:58:49
remember one thing he said to me and I
01:58:51
thought this is hilarious um someone in
01:58:54
the gym was saying oh like so so you can
01:58:56
fight southb and Tyson yells out he goes
01:58:59
theyve thought that uh southp was a
01:59:01
flavor of ice cream and I was like oh
01:59:04
you [ __ ] and then fast forward
01:59:06
he comes and watches my fight and um now
01:59:09
he's now he's calling me into camp for
01:59:11
to to to spar as a southp as a
01:59:14
left-handed fighter against um for For
01:59:17
an upcoming bout that's the biggest
01:59:18
clash in recent boxing history so yeah
01:59:22
it's a it's a it's a strange world man
01:59:24
but the the universe keeps smiling on me
01:59:26
so I'm going to keep smiling back you
01:59:27
know I'll keep doing the work well you
01:59:30
you is that saying you reap what you say
01:59:32
yeah 100% I believe yeah that's awesome
01:59:35
yeah I I believe in it to and all the
01:59:36
success that's coming your way you
01:59:38
deserve it and you've worked so [ __ ]
01:59:39
hard for it for such a long period of
01:59:41
time um and just before we wrap up like
01:59:43
I I was listening to a podcast that you
01:59:45
did with your girlfri like you're
01:59:47
sitting here you look perfect you you've
01:59:49
said all the right things but you fting
01:59:51
you sleep
01:59:52
yeah a lot a lot apparently a lot yeah
01:59:55
probably pretty loud I've got a do you
01:59:57
want a story about that is that what
01:59:58
you're asking for okay your story no I
02:00:01
can no I no I just wanted to shoot you
02:00:03
down before we finish it's all right no
02:00:05
like I'll um I'll double down for you no
02:00:08
so um I I I had some back like lower
02:00:11
back issues
02:00:13
um uh well I'm still dealing with it it
02:00:16
was probably when I was like in my like
02:00:18
earlier 20s like maybe 21 22
02:00:22
and um I'd had like a a quite a bad like
02:00:26
disc uh bulge in in between one of my
02:00:29
discs and um I was getting a an x-ray um
02:00:33
scene at at high performance sport in
02:00:35
Cambridge um at the vome and I I went in
02:00:38
with my physio because it was actually
02:00:41
was it was really crippling like I um
02:00:43
like I couldn't I could barely change my
02:00:45
underwear kind of thing like it was was
02:00:47
that bad for for quite a while but they
02:00:49
they they're epic I big shout out to
02:00:55
do this without them um but I went into
02:00:59
the the sports doctor and I'm like okay
02:01:01
he's going to bring up like we're going
02:01:02
to talk about the progress um like you
02:01:05
know the the prognosis what what do we
02:01:07
do now now that you've got like an
02:01:09
80-year-old back and so um he pulls up
02:01:12
the X-ray and goes o and I was like oh
02:01:15
that doesn't sound good right and he
02:01:17
goes um yeah you see there's a lot of
02:01:20
black dots there if you can I'm not sure
02:01:21
if you you can see them and I'm like oh
02:01:23
that can't be good and he's like yeah
02:01:25
those are um those uh air pockets he's
02:01:28
like so um that's those are little
02:01:31
pockets of gas and I'm was
02:01:33
like he's like oh so you've got a lot of
02:01:35
gas and I was like what the I like I'm
02:01:37
with like a like a a younger a younger
02:01:39
female physio who's sitting right next
02:01:41
to me and I'm like can we please get to
02:01:43
the point I'm get i s like I'm a gassy
02:01:46
guys like can we let's just [ __ ] get
02:01:49
me tell me what to do and let's get me
02:01:51
the hell out of I'm I'll never never
02:01:53
coming back here he was funny no I I
02:01:55
love that guy he um yeah it's crack up
02:01:59
just goes to show no one's completely
02:02:02
perfect thanks bro yeah anyway great
02:02:04
note to end on yeah yeah yeah David NAA
02:02:08
um Commonwealth Games double gold
02:02:10
medalist Olympic bronze medalist uh
02:02:13
future world champion no doubt and I
02:02:16
mean you're still still so young I feel
02:02:18
like boxing is not going to be I I I
02:02:20
don't know maybe I'm getting h of myself
02:02:22
here but I feel like boxing is not going
02:02:23
to be the ultimately the thing that
02:02:25
defines you and what you're do in your
02:02:26
life I don't think so no and I I
02:02:28
appreciate that and thank you for having
02:02:29
me on the podcast cuz um yeah long time
02:02:31
the making and this is an epic podcast
02:02:33
um I really appreciate what you're doing
02:02:35
you do this is all for good you know
02:02:37
this is um uh like uh all the topics
02:02:40
that you've talked to me about I I I
02:02:42
love because I can actually speak on it
02:02:44
and I think um the more we talk about it
02:02:46
and the more we uh express our ideas and
02:02:50
like share a few like share our
02:02:52
vulnerabilities and our like our stories
02:02:54
and our um Journey the more people can
02:02:56
kind of pick it up and run with it um
02:02:58
and like we might save a lot of people
02:03:01
from uh some serious harm by doing this
02:03:03
so good on you man thank you so much Dom
02:03:05
oh thanks I I really appreciate it and
02:03:06
I'm I'm pleased I was so persistent in
02:03:08
making this happen get on now you can
02:03:11
unfollow me and get on hey thanks mate
02:03:13
love your work thank you cheers mate
02:03:16
[Music]
02:03:20
awesome
02:03:25
[Music]
02:03:30
n
