We'd like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which this podcast was produced, the Galligle people of the orination. We pay our respects to Elder's past and present.
It's twenty twenty three and we're bedside in a Sydney hospital with Billy Dibb. The world champion boxer is facing his toughest fight yet cancer. He's in unbearable pain and thinks this could be the end of him. He pulls out his phone and starts recording videos for his young son, a special message for each milestone he won't be there for. He diligently puts them all in a folder and prepares instructions for his wife on how to find them. Billy
knows all too well what could happen next. He watched his first wife go through this less than a decade ago, tragically losing her battle. It takes all of Billy's strength and courage to continue this enormous fight outside of the ring. I'm at Middleton and this is head game. Today a Billy did masterclass on overcoming adversity with faith, family and friendship. Now, Billy is the former IBO super featherweight champion and the IBF featherweight champion, and I say, former mate, you're looking
in great shape. Maybe you should go back and get those belts. You know, I'm looking at you. You're looking well, mate, You're looking You're looking fresh. How you're feeling.
I feel good, man, I feel really good.
You know.
It's good to be alive. I feel fit, I feel strong and man, it's just good to be healthy. Yeah.
You know what this is the gratitude, especially once you've had a career like you've had yours and you just won an award recently, didn't you? I did, man, So before we go into your childhood and go what award did you win?
So recently? I overcame cancer and then I decided that I wanted to leave boxing on my own terms. I never wanted cancer to be the reason why I retired from boxing, so I decided to have a comeback fight
and I won that comeback fight in Germany. And then His Excellency and the team at the Ring Magazine contacted me and said, look, we would like to invite you to London for the Ring Magazine ceremony and I was given a comeback story of the Year in front of all the greatest champions, you know, to finally receive your flowers on such a big platform and in a big stage, it was just unbelievable.
It's huge.
It's like the longest standing boxing magazine in history. So you know, his excellency border Off Oscar the lawyer, you know, so to be at this event, you had Canela Alvaze, you had aj you had Usik, you had all of these great champions there and I was given this award in front of all of them, and I was given a standing ovation, which was unbelievable because you know, obviously a lot of people respect the fact that I overcame canceled.
Billy. Honestly, there's a reason why you got that award, and we're going to dig deep into that right now because your story is fascinating. But let's dig into your your childhood. Where were you born, Billy, and where did you grow up?
Yeah, so I was born in Australia. I grew up in the Suthern tire of Ingadein, which is a predominantly white area. And I grew up with five brothers and a sister, you know, in an area that basically wasn't kind to us, and was that because we come from an Arab descent. My father is Lebanese, my mother is Palestinian, and we look the way we look, and you know, for us growing up in Ingadin, we sort of stood
out like a sore thumb. And I don't really blame the kids because as a kid, you see what's different. You know, we were different, looked different. We had brown, brown hair, we had brown eyes, you know, we were tan skinned. It was people feed that, you know, like who are these people? Where do they come from? So people would often spray on our fence at home, Go home, you dirty wogs, you know, and things like that was racism. Yeah, it was pretty much right. Yeah, it was really really bad.
And I mean, look, I'm grateful for that because the truth is is that without that, I would have never found boxing. And that's that's what led me to boxing. You know that the the bullies, you know, the people who you know, spat at me, people that pushed me around, that kicked me, you know, I mean, all these sort of things, that's what led me to my destiny. And and I'm forever grateful because without them, I wouldn't be
where I am today. I'm really grateful for each and every single person that did that, and the true to God, you know, we were able to turn them around anyway, you know, because through the support of my family, I was able to overcome that, become a world champion, do my thing, and you know, the naysays became supporters. Do you know what?
I love that they became support. Your enemies became your friends ultimately. But let's let's dive a little bit deeper into that. So did you clash yourself as as an Aussie or due to the racism did you sort of fall back on your on your parents? No?
Well, look, we my father was a very proud man and he always made sure that we held the Australian flag up first. You know, even like when I boxed wherever I boxed in the world, my dad was always very very like, You've got to make sure you take this training flag with you. And I was always going to do that anyway, you know. But my dad was such a proud Australian and he used to always tell us like, Australia has done everything for us. Lebanon and
Palestine did nothing for us. Australia gave us the opportunity. You guys are living a good life because of Australia and you know, like my dad had been very very patriotic. I actually was on the you know, on the way to represent in Australia at the two thousand and four Big Games, but due to a motorbike accident, I lost
my opportunity. And then Lebanon came knocking on the door and they offered me this amazing opportunity to represent Lebanon, you know, at the All African Games and to try to win my opportunity to represent Lebanon to do the Me Games. And my dad, I was all in. My dad was like, absolutely not. We're going to have to say thank you for that opportunity, but we're not doing that. And I was like, Dad, why would you do that?
And he's like, listen, if you go and represent Lebanon and you end up finding Australia in the first round of the tournament and you win, he goes, hey, I mean, could you ever come home? You never coming home, like you'll forever be the enemy. And you know, I didn't understand it at the time, but I do understand it now, you know. I mean obviously as I as I grew out,
I started to understand these things. And you know, obviously the support and love that I've been shown by this shame public has been unreal.
But growing up it must have been quite hard to because you've obviously got a very positive mindset to be able to think like that, or you had a very positive influence behind you. Are you your dad and your and your mom. It's very hard not to sort of go, well, fuck you, you know, and and then fall back on on on you know where you where your parents came from, right, But was there any moment joined your childhood that you that you went to go down that avenue or you you felt like that at all?
Never, Honestly, I never never went down that avenue. I never felt that way. I just felt like, you know what, especially at the at the young age of you know, sixteen or fifteen, I was representing Australia all over the world and I was wearing the Australian colors and carrying a flag. I was so proud, you know, I mean, to be able to represent Australia at the World Cadets, the juniors, the seniors. I went all over the world.
I literally boxed all over the world. They wrote that song, I've been everywhere man, that's about me because I literally been everywhere, you know, I boxed everywhere for Australia and I was so proud to carry the flag so high, you know, and like obviously I made a lot of good friends overseas. And you know, where do you come from? I come from Australia. So, man, you do look Australian, I said, I said, what does an Australian look like?
Home?
And home in the way your neighbors. I'm like, nah, mate, I'm from Australia. I'm thinking, though, you.
Know exactly way at Nay, you said that when you were younger, you know that that sort of helped you to and you're grateful for it because it helped you sort of transform into boxing.
Why did you get into boxing first and foremost? And when did you realize that not only you had a passion for it, but you were Talenteday, you.
Know, I'll be honest with you. The first day that I walked into the gym, I remember like it's the most vivid moment in my life because it was a life changing moment that right in that moment when I walked up the stairs, I was wearing the boxing gloves. I actually knocked on the door with my elbow for the train at open door. And once he opened the door, and I actually saw a boxing ring right in front of me, and there was all these posters of Muhammad Ali,
Mirk Tyson, Costas, Jeff Fennick, all these amazing fighters. And I was like, Oh my god, this is what I wanted to do in my life. This is exactly I was twelve years of age. I seen two guys fighting and nobody stopping in the fight. I was like, oh my god, this is right up my alley. And I knew writing that moment that I had walked into my destiny. And I was like, my vision right in that moment
was so clear. I was so clear, Like the vision was so strong that I need to work out what it takes to be like him, him, him and him. What do I going to do in that moment? And I was like I was going to stop at nothing. And I literally stopped that nothing. Because my consistency followed. I was on point every single day i'd turn up to the dem I train. My dad was a really hard man and he was really hard on our education.
So if I ever played up at school, he'd be like listen, you're not going to boxing for a week. And I'd beg and kick and screaming. He said, no, no boxing for a week. You did what you did, mate, cop the consequences. Yeah, And so then I'd it quickly turned from from the back of the class to the front of the class, from getting like fifty percent to get an eighty and ninety percent. Because I wanted to do anything just to get to the boxing gym. I'd run home, give my dad my homework. Dad, I've done
the homework already. I've got to go, Dad, to catch a train of the gym because I just wanted it so bad.
And what made you walk into that gym in the first place. I love that experience where you walked in and obviously hit you in the face. You know that was your destiny, that's what you wanted to do. But what made you knock on that door, well, elbow.
It all started with with the bullying, you know, it all started with the bullying. And then my father was like, listen, we need to enroll you guys in some after school sports. Maybe you guys can make friends with the kids outside of school and then, you know, break down the barriers that led to some football rugby league, and then that really didn't sit well for me, and the trainer pulled out some pads one day and some gloves and said
we're going to do some boxer size today. And I grew up in the household where the Rocky franchise was the number one franchise in our home. All we did was watch Rocky movies from there. Yeah, I'm telling you, sevest Salon and Apollo Creed, all them guys were having Yeah they were our heroes, no joke, and same with me. Yeah.
So and then for me it's like, you know, I just thought, you know what this is right up alley and that's what I want to do, and walk me into that gym and never look back, never look back.
And you say that your childhood sort of shaped you. So do you think once you started boxing and you realized that you were good at it, do you think their respect then was it easier for you to integrate with with finding new friends?
And yeah, I didn't have to find the new friends because what I did was one day the PC yic linked me up to have my first amateur fight, and I thought this is the greatest, Like this is such a great opportunity, your first fight, my first ever fight. So you know what I did. I made a poster and I went to the school and I said to the principal, said, I'm going to be fighting at the Southern pc RC. Can I invite the whole school to come watch me fight? And he was like, you can
put the poster around whoever. So I basically plastered this school with posters. I'm not joking, and like maybe sixty or seventy kids come to watch me fight. Never seeing how crazy, I was like, oh my god, this guy is the real deal. You know, I'm not messing with him anymore, you know, I mean, so I quickly got my respect.
It was such a racism to stop there.
No, I tell you there was. There was a few incidents after that, but it didn't it didn't last long because I was like I was quick to put an end to it, you know, I mean, it was like you had I had to like stamp my authority. This is what this is what's going to be, you know, I mean, you're going to show me respect.
How consistent did you have to be in order to follow your passion?
My dream of becoming a world champion was an absolute obsession. There was there was no other obsession in my life. So, you know, like when I was growing up, you know, I had a lot of cousins who were my age. They were all going out, partying, eating fast food, you know, doing all the all the fun things that you do when you're a kid. But I was so disciplined. I was like, every time they offered me to go somewhere and be like, no, I got to go, man, because
I've got to training tomorrow. But I'd always like, I mean, I'd have fun with them and stuff, but I was always like, this is number one. Boxing is number one. I'm going to do whatever it takes to make it. And if that means saying good night to my cousins early, then That's what I'm going to do. Because I was there was nothing more that I wanted them to become a world champion. I wanted to be forever a stamp in the history books.
How important is that, you think for any youngster to have that that obsession, because obsession does lead to discipline, does lead to drive, it does lead to the determination grit, and a lot of youngsters don't find that, do they.
Yeah, Well, look for me, I'll tell I'll tell you. I actually developed the brand called Believe, which is based on my story coming up. So I believe is that Billy Did had to believe in himself before anybody else did. And the brand is actually be I douby ve so Believe and the slogan that goes with the done that it's clever, vision, consistency, success. Everything in your life starts with the vision. The consistency in the middle will only
help you find success. If there's no consistency, you'll never find success because to find success you need to have consistency, and to find consistency you have to have a vision. If your vision is not clear, if you're waking up in the morning saying I want to be a lawyer sleeping, I'm not saying you want to be a doctor. Waking up next morning saying you want to be an athlete, that's not a consistent vision. That's just the thought. We all have thoughts. But it's the consistency once you find
that vision, that will help you find success. And that was for me Boxing, You know what I mean. Boxing obviously gave me the platform to be who I am today. You gave me the platform to inspire and to be inspired. So you know, I'm forever grateful to the sport of boxing, to any kid out there who wants to be great in whatever they want to do, because each and every single one of us has greatness within us. It's whether you're willing to tap into that fight that greatness to
find it. You know, we could take you to the water, but we can't make you drinks. So any kid out there who has a dream of being anything in their life, as long as you're consistent, you'll find success. If you find something that you really want, you'll stop at nothing, you know. I mean, you know yourself, You've been there before, you know. I mean when you want something really bad, you know, it's takes session, right, it takes an obsession exactly,
and not many people have it. I think there's only like a select amount of people who have that, you know, that obsession thing, you know. I mean, it's like I really want this, I'm willing to do whatever it takes.
Yeah, when did that happen to you? When you thought yourself, do you know what? I could become a world champion.
When I first started amateur boxing, I actually lost my first amateur fight. I had the one that I invited the whole school to was an exhibition, so there was no winner or a loser. But then after that I started fighting. I had my first amateur fight, I lost, but the obsession grew. After the loss of the obsession grew and next thing you know, I ended up having one hundred and thirteen amateur fights. I had ninety eight wins
and fifteen losses. I was ranked as high as number six in the world at one stage, so I basically got the opportunity to represent Australia all over the world. And a lot of the people that I saw around the world, the guys who became world champion during the time that I was world champion in the pros, a lot of them. But there was that point where I hit my fiftieth fight and I thought, man, no one can beat me at the moment. I'm on this winning streaks like, no one can touch me at the moment,
So you start to believe in yourself. And then when I was a young boy at the age of seventeen, I got on a plane and traveled to the UK where I met Princet Sim And when Princess Sim and I met and we started training together, he pretty much said to me, listening, you're destined to be a world champion and trained with Princess Sim I trained. I was being friends with Na since the age of seventeen till today. Wow,
we're very close friends. And so when I went over there when I was seventeen and worked out with him, he was like, man, you got all the schools and attributes to become a world champion. You know, if you believe you can do it, you'll do it. And I didn't only just become a world champion, but I actually won the same world title that Princess Seim held in the same weight division. He was the IBF Fatherweight Champion in ninety seven and I was the IBF Fatherweight Champion
in twenty eleven, which is unbelievable. You know, that was my dream. My dream was to follow in the footsteps of my childhood here and I was able to do that. Wow.
So you're training with Prince Nazim, you obviously entered the elite there. You know, it was there a stage that you realized that, listen, I'm training with the elite. Now need to step up from the amateur sort of realm to a professional realm. And when did that first professional fight come who did you go looking for it or did it come obviously looking for you due to your amateur record.
When I missed out on Liby Games, we had a meeting as a team and we decided as a team that it was time to say goodbye to the amateur boxing and term professionals. So at the age of just a few days shy of my nineteenth birthday because I had a little bit of time off, but I went to see NAS. And when I was in the UK with NAS, I was pretty much on the fence whether I'm going to continue to box or not. And I was was like, listen, You've got everything it takes. Don't
worry about the Libby Games. Just put that behind you and start looking towards the next goal, which is to become a world champion. And you know we're going to guide you there. And so once I spoke to ours and we had that sit down, I got on a plane, come home and basically started preparing for my pro debut and within five five tolls his training champion. After my sixth fight, I'd already become a international champion with the IBO. I won the IBO Fellow Championship in a twelve round decision.
So after six fights, I already had a twelve round fight and so I was fast tracking. And then by the time.
When fast tracking due to at this stage, you're you're you're unbeatable right in your head. So you're fast tracking because you're you're you're winning, you're consistent, you're capable. Yeah, you know, it's very humble of you to say you're fast tracking, but you're fast tracking yourself due to due to your discipline, due to you know, due to surrounding
yourself with the right people, due to your training. What was it like being Australian, you know, being the Australian champion, knowing that you you know everything that you've been through as a child and you know, growing up and then all of a sudden represents you know, the country that, as your father said, you know, gave you everything. Yeah, that's huge. You know you skipped over that, but that's huge. Man.
Winning winning the strained title in my fifth professional fight. I remember the auditorium was at hearstfal Entertainment Center was packed house, and uh, you know it was I mean, it was such a special woman because all of my friends and relatives were there. It was. It was massive. And I went out there and dusted this guy up in one round, like absolutely annihilated him, you know what I mean. It was it was unbelievable. It was like just what a like, what a way to capture that
strained title. And and the guy that I fought, his name was John Star. Mean, at the time, he was he was doing okay, you know, and he was talking up his chances of beating me and called me a kid and said I am I am Billy the kid, you know what I mean. But we'll see, you know when we'll see. Yeah. And when I did the job on him, and when I when I like when the referee stopped the fight, I was, I was emotional, you know what I mean, like a strained professional champion. And
then to be the best in Australia. Then I automatically fall into the common Wealth ratings because you know, we're a comonwealth country, so now we're in Comonwealth ratings. And I was excited about that. But all I my man most figuring, like my mind was just like all I
cared about was being a world champion. I just wanted to follow in the footsteps of my childhood hero I was, and I had just come back from doing a camp with him, and then I won the Strange title and then I knew I was going back to do another camp. Obsession was real, I'll tell you, Like the obsession was that real that I used to cry for it. I used to cry. There would be nice that I would cry and just beg God, say God please, I'm begging you, like there's so much more to unfold with, you know.
I mean, obviously I did win the world title, and you know, and a lot of people say, you know, I've reached the pinnacle and I'm done. But for me, I wasn't done there. I wanted more.
Was it hard for you to win that title and then keep, you know, to edge forward and keep on going to the elite levels? Because I know a lot of people that have reached a certain stage with it. It's in their career, whether it's on a course, a military course, and they go, do you know what that's me I'm going to see at the top of this castle and away we go. Was there any any sort of any resting on your levels?
Absolutely? I was just a kid. That was just that was for me. That was the starting point. That was really the starting point. And you know, and then obviously after that came like in to national titles and things like that, and then eventually I got to the point where I fought for the championship of the World and I was on the undercart of Anthony Mundine versus Crazy Kim.
It was in a packed out stadium in Newcastle, and I thought a gentleman by the name of Theloni Moralei who's no longer with us, he was he was killed in his hometown of South Africa, and so you know, I fought him in an absolute dog fight, and I had to go to places that I've never been before. And you know, this is where I get this whole thing in my mind that in order to be elite, in order to be the best in the world, you have got to be willing to go to a place
that the opposite is not willing to go to. You know, when you want to be the best at something, that was the night that I learned to be the best, you've you've got to be willing to go to a place of death nearly.
Well, you do, you know, in order to be the best and to be the earl, you've hit the nail on the head there. Really you need to in your mind give up the ultimate sacrifice, which I think is your life. Is like that with me in the military, I was willing to trade the ultimate sacrifice for success, you know, to get the job done for mission mission success. And it goes down to that in the ring. It's
no different. It's the obsession is so real that when I say to people, what are you willing to sacrifice my life? If people say in my life, I'm like, you're you're You're there, brother, You're there, you know, just keep on keep on pushing forward.
I tell you, I tell you. In round nine, Johnny Lewis looked me dead in the eye because Johnny Lewis has helped me at the time, and he said, Billy, no one will question your balls if I stopped the fight now. And I looked in there and you and I said, don't you dare. I told you I'm willing to die in the ring. I'm not leaving without the belt.
Don't let me live without the belt, like very stern, you know, in that moment, And he didn't stop the fight even though he could have, because it was getting like that was really rough, even though it was winning but it was a rough fight. It's the first time I'd ever been knocked down in my career. We thought tooth and nail, you know what I mean, like but total to I was willing to go to that place where I nearly died to be victorious. And I'll be
honest with you. After the fight and being crown champion, I remember going back to the hotel and I was shaking, like profusely, and my mom was trying to like console me and help me, but I just couldn't stop shaking. I was like, I feel like I've broken something inside. See, the body has this defense mechanism, I believe you know that's what tallts us don't jump jump, don't you know? It's a defense mechanism. And I'd never pushed the defense mechanism to that point ever. I'd never told my body
go to this place. So when I took it there, it was like I've never been here before. So for a while after that, I wasn't willing to go back there again. I couldn't push myself to the point where I felt like I was going to hurt myself. And then what that led to was after winning that word title, it was like the greed of becoming I wanted to become a multiple time world champion quick because I because you could say, you could say it was greed, but it was like I had the Yeah, I had the drive,
the passion, obsession was still exactly. I lost my next fight. I dropped in. I dropped dow anyway, and I fought for the wo featherweight world title, which was a world title that was held for a long time by Princeton sema Med. He made fifteen title defenses, so there was an obsession to have that. But the unfortunate thing was that I wasn't willing to go to a place of death in that fight to be victorious. And he was, and he was and he ended up. It was a
very lackluster performance by me. It was a boring fight. He won a decision by two points. What that did was it reignited the fire, which then sent me to Mecca to do a pilgrimage. Once I'd done that pilgrimage, I was I remember being in a place called Arafat and my dad said to me, said, listen, when you're an Arafat, ask God for whatever it is that you want.
Said anything, and he goes anything. I said, God, I know you've given me a war title, but if you could just give me one more, God, I'll never ask for anything again, right, And so I got back home and then the rebuild started. I had nine fights. I worked my way back to the number one position. I worked my way back where I was the number one contender, and then I fought for the War title. And because I was a number one contender, we were able to
bring the championship to Australia. We were able to go into a purse bid. We brought the guy here and I won the fight and reclaimed my second world championship and put myself in the history books, as you know, only the third Australian to ever win a furatherweight war title in history, which was Jeff Fenick, Johnny Farmershan and Billy Dibb.
Really, dam of course, is a li with your mentality, mate, and your drive and obsession and you know, willing to give the ultimate sacrifice, which it is. And it's interesting that you mentioned that on your first title win. You know, it's almost you know, hitting that pain threshold. You've never hit it before, you know, to a certain extent where your body feels like it's going to shut down, and you're going to but then you realize that you've gone
from here, You've pushed that bang. This is your new limitation. Guess what limitations are there to be pushed boundaries? I really believe that once you rebelieved that did that? What is that what it felt like for your second title win?
Well?
Were you willing to go back there?
And I was ready to go there again? Yeah, but you know what, I woke up on the morning with that fight. I'll never forget it. I drove to my mother and father's place and I hadn't seen them for a while because I was in camp. But then I saw my mom. Said, Mum, I want to tell you something. Don't stress, Mum. I've got a cover. I'm going to be champion of the world again today. And she's like you sure, And I'm like, Mum, listen, don't even stress. I said, all I got to do is turn up.
I've already won. I've done all of the hard work. I've left no stone unturned. I promise you tonight your son will be world champion. Like you should come up. She's like, I don't want to come I said, you don't have to but don't worry. I'll bring the belt
home to you. And that night I won the world title, I brought home and I said, you know, I mean, I was like, like an incredible you know, to be to be the best in the world, especially the IBF featherweight world champion, to be the best in the world, and to be the first person that tweeted me when I won that world title was Oscar the Lawyer, and he was like, congratulations to my my, you know, my
good friend Billy Dive. That was to me, that was an incredible feeling, Like, wow, Oscar de Laaroy is tweeting me. You know what I mean I was.
I was, yeah, you knew that.
Yeah.
Is it still and just be completely completely honest with me. Is it still going into a defense? Is it still as as you know, sort of passionate as going into winning that time.
I'll tell you, I'll tell you one thing. You go, you go into a realm of untouchable. That's in my mind. I was in the realm of untouchable, like I'm too good to be touched, unstable. Yeah, and so but when I won that world title, it was a vacant world title, so it was a vacant world title that the number one and number two were fine for. So for me, I was like, well, I'm not really going to be regarded as a great world champion until I defend it, so let me go out and make my first title defense.
And poor guy that I thought in my first title defense was an Italian guy who had a record of thirty one wins without a loss. And he came over talking about he's going to do this and he's going to do that, and he's leaving back to Italy with the championship. And I said, listen, do yourself a favor and bring a pillow. I said, you're going to sleeping the kids. I said, bring a pillow, you're going to sleep and I and I actually, did you bring a pillow?
Did you bring me?
Translated into him in Italian? Because I wanted him to understand exactly what I was saying. I told him I'm going to knock you out in one round, and I know exactly what I did. I went out there and I dropped him with his body shot and blaid him right out in the first round. To be world champion and to win your first title defense with a first round knockout against a guy who was the European champion. I was like, man, I am on that pedestal right now,
and you can't shake me off. No matter what you do, You're not shaking me off the pedestal. I was on a major high, you know. And for me, it was like when I was champion, it wasn't just about me, because you know, to be a champion you need a team. It's not just about you, It's about everybody else that's around you, you know what I mean. It's like the minute you hit any sort of adversity in your life, if you've got something to fight for, you'll find a reason
to fight. But if you don't, you'll give up. But for me, it was like anytime the going got tough in the road to becoming a world champion, I would always think about all the people that were invested in me with like number one, my family, my management, my trainer, my fans, my love, like, you know, like all these people had invested in me. They were invested in me, so it was like my job was to turn up and do the job. So when I was winning, they
were winning. Yeah, you know that's how I felt. I felt, like how amazing is that for my brother, who is at the time just a young kid going to school, that he can go to school and tell his mates that my brother's a world champion. Yeah, a two time world champion. My brother is a two time world champion. I was like, what an incredible feeling.
On the super positive side. You know, everyone's winning when you're winning, Yeah, how about when you're losing?
Well, I lost. So when I did lose, you know, I mean, obviously the people that I loved the most were still there, you know what I mean. Obviously it was that, you know, my mom and dad were always going to be there because they're always going to be there no matter what their number one fans, with the winning, losing, whatever's happened in your life, they're always there.
When do you experience it's your first loss.
So basically I went on a great run where I defended my total three times and then I signed this amazing contract with Floyd Malvern and fifty cent. Mind blowing contract. Right, young kid from the Verbs of Ingadeen. All of a sudden, he's in Vegas signings, was gone, big time deals, and then I'm sitting I'm sitting down with fifty cent and he writes up a contract that offers me three point three million dollars of a course from nine fights. Like
I was like, I've made it. This is like I've made it, you know, I mean, this is my And that was at a minimum. That was three point three million at a minimum. So I was like, I'd made it. I was like, man, I'm home and host, you know, I mean. And then and then fifty cent and Floyd Malvin had this massive fallout. I got caught up in the middle of it. And then basically Floyd Malvin being Floyd Malvern and having the power that he has in boxing, he was able to basically have me blacklisted from the
TV it works. Him and fifty fell out. I was stuck in contract with fifty and Floyd wanted to make me pay for that, you know.
I mean, so how mental is that that you were this kid born you know, you know, as you grow up, you experienced racism, bullying, you hit the gym because of it. And then is it surreal and do you ever take yourself back to those moments when that happened to even just be sitting down with these names, you know, and you know, being associated with these names, is it not did you not pinch yourself something?
Yeah, it was. It was listening, I'll be honest mental as a kid. It was unreal to be able to pick up the phone and be like, hey, fifty, can you speak to my friend for a minute, and like that's how it was. It was like that for a good year year and a half. It was exactly like that. Fifty would like be on call, you know, it was on dial. But man, Floyd Malburn became a real bully, you know what I mean. He was an absolute bully. I was like, man, why are you doing this to me?
What do I do to you? I don't even really know you man. Yeah, but you know at the end the day they had their feud, I got caught up in the middle of it. But it makes for a good story. Yeah. You know, I'm a good sport man, like I said, you know, like you got to ride the waves of life. You mean, there's highs and then there's loads, and you know we could we could get
stuck in the loads. But you know, somebody, a great mentor of mindset this to me the other day said, listen, there's the reason why the review mirror is so small and the windscreen head is so big heady because it's so much more correct attaining life. You know, we're looking at that review mirror and getting stuck in the past. Is that's old news? You know, I mean, and I'm
no longer like that. And you know, obviously the experiences that I've had in life have built me to the person that I am today.
So when does the cancer scare come along and there's scare at first or is it just like no, it was it was full on, yeah, it was diagnosis.
It was full on, man, it was full on.
I was took me through when stoppable at the top of your game to realizing wow, maybe yeah, well well I was.
I was rated highly with the IBF out lightweight and I was on the verge of an opportunity to fight George Cambosis in an All Australian showdown, and I was in the gym preparing for it. And then one day a friend of mine he hit me with a body shot and when he in the body he didn't win me, but there was like a really excruciating pain, like somebody stabbed me in the stomach. I thought like I felt
like I had torn something. But then you know, obviously I got out of the ring, and you know, I went about my day and then the next day I come into the gym again to try to skip. When I was skipping, this thing was really hurt. And so then I was like, there's something wrong. I couldn't go to the restroom, I couldn't defecate, I couldn't do anything.
I was something wasn't right, and so I basically went to my mom and dad's place and begged my mom for mercy, know, And it wasn't until it like they actually ended up taking me to the doctors and then I saw the hematologists and they'd ended up doing a scan and they found that I had colon cancer. So they removed a nine centimeter tumor. Was actually a seven set the meter trimmer, but they cut a nine and sent a minute diameter out to make sure that they
cleaned up everything. Yeah, it was massive seven. It was like it was like this, and so had that.
Been there for excuse, you know, going back, but that's that'd been there for.
They reckoned it had been there for a while. But how do I not got hit there? It would have continued to go without any you know, I would have not known about it. Maybe it would have been too late by the time they found it.
Wow.
In that say, when he hit it eruptured. They told me that it actually ruptured and that's how we found it. And so once they did the skin, they took it out. Then they said to me, look, we're going to do a bit of chemo therapy just to clean up around it. And I said, no, no, I'm not doing no chemo. I don't want no part of chemo therapy. And I was like why, And I was like, look, twenty fifteen, my my wife was diagnosed with cancer. She died two months and ten days later.
Wow, and you're still how how do you carry on from that? How do you? How do you? How do you take a step forward.
I'm going to be honest with you. Look, I'm a very God fearing person and I believe that God does everything for a reason. And like I thought about it when when Sara pass, I was like, who can I fight with them? I'm going to fight with God. I can't fight with God. I've just got to be very accepting. And then look, you know God is very merciful and very giving as well. Because today I'm married and I've got a beautiful wife and a beautiful son, and like
life is good again, you know what I mean? Truth be told, I wouldn't change what I have today for what I had. I wouldn't do that, I'd say, And moving moving forward, you know, like everything is just great, everything's in it is a really good position now.
So how did you what happened there after? Then?
How did you know what happened? I went home and things were good for for about a week, and then a week later I was with my wife and my son and I was not feeling too well. And next thing, you know, again, I felt very, very sick, and so my wife's like, look, we've got to take it to hospital. And I pretty much begged her not to take me, and she's like, look, I'm going to ring him he told us, and just let him know how you're feeling.
She rang him, She's like, he goes, look, I'm really sorry to tell you this, but we've had to look over Billy's bloods. We'll hopeing we didn't have to tell you guys to Monday, but you got to bring him straight back. We we think he's cancer spread. And so then I go back to hospital and then I was basically riddled with the cancer was all over my stomach area and my stomach lining and everything, and so, you know, I still didn't know what was going on. But then
a doctor walks in. His name was doctor aber Bartacharan and we had a talk and he basically said to me, he goes, you're not in a very good state. Do you know what it is that you have?
Not?
Had no idea? And he goes, mate, you've pretty much got six months to live. And in that moment, I was obviously gob smacked, but the only thing I could think about was not being a quitter. I'm not going to quit, you know. So I asked him the question. I said, how do I turn six months into sixty years? And he goes, why what you said? Yeah, I said, how do I turn six months into sixty years? And he asked me the question why? That's all he had
to ask me. When he said why, I said, Look, I've got a son who's on the verge of turning three, and I need to walk into school in two years time, so I need to do everything in my power to beat this cancer. And he goes. He goes, So, he goes, you gotta start chemotherapy yesterday, And I was like I'm on boarding. He goes just like that. I said, yeah, so it's not about me anymore. This is about my son and my wife and my family. It is like
I can't quit because if you're a quitter. In my mind, I'm thinking like if I quit, then I give permission to my wife to quit, who then gives permission to my son to quit. And you know, quitting is like a chain reaction thing. And I didn't want to.
Be like the mold.
I was never going to quit, So I said to mum board and I'll tell you, I've never experienced pain like chemo therapy in my life. It like I found the new found respect for my deceased wife in that moment because I was like the amount of pain that I that I that I had to endure during the chemo treatment and was like no other pain that I've ever tried to.
Try and explain that pain. What's different about it was so.
It's like, yeah, it's like you know what it was like it was bone breaking, like bone crushing pain, you know. I mean like it was the pain of not having the energy to even stand up, you know, like I couldn't even gather myself to make it to the restaurant one time. Like excuse the listeners in that, Like I was basically having accident to myself because I just couldn't
make it to the restaurant. I was in a really, really bad way, and I got to the point where I actually said to the doctors, I can't believe I gave you permission to kill me. They're like, we're not trying to kill you, but we're just trying to help you get better. But this is what it takes to get better. I was like, you're to kill all of this in order for me to get better. Basically, it's a reset of the body, you know. I mean, imagine they turned every sort of power button your body off
and then they turn it back on again. You know. That's what it was like. It was there was numerous twenty three hour cycles of chemotherapy.
And what does it feel like to go from you know, Billy the kid, the unstoppable, the invincible, you know, to being the complete opposite of you having accident so you can't get up?
Was there? Wow?
Talk about I don't want to say a fool from Greg's it's not that, but talk about being on the size of the spectrum it.
Just became like I started to understand that the importance of time.
Did it affect you psychologically?
No, No at all. Honestly, I had this thing about I can't quit, and I actually wrote it on the wall. My brother rode on the wall of the hospital where I was because I was in that ward for six months to get up, your son of a bitch, because Laife loves you. And every time I felt like I couldn't get up, I don't just think about my son and be like, no, I can't do this to him. He's going to go to school until his mates said his dad passed away, Like my dad quit. I'm not
a quitter. If he's going to tell his friends that his dad passed away and say, my dad went out like a warrior. My dad did everything in his power to fight to be here for me.
Did that become the new obsession?
That was the obsession. The obsession was walking him to school.
That was it.
That's all I cared about. I was like, you know what, my son's not going to be that kid that goes to school. That is dad not doing that. And like three weeks ago, I got the chance to walk into school for the first time, and I really enjoyed that moment. I walked slowly, I held his hands, that this is the moment that I waited for for all those years.
You know that, I thought, So he doesn't. He does understand, but he won't really understand until he's a lot about what that meant to me to be able to say, you know what, I walked into school. I beat that cancer and I walked my man to school.
Did you take every single moment in.
Every single step, man? And it wasn't even just that I wanted to show the world that everything that I'd been talking about about never giving up and setting goals and overcoming adversity, I wanted to show them that that wasn't just fluff. That was real talk. And I'm a real life example of that, you know. And even even the fact that when I decided that I was going to have a comeback fight, people like like, you're crazy, man.
You just come off having cancer. You're talking about having to comeback for us, And listen, this is what dreams, the dreams are made of, you know. I mean, you've got to set goals, you got to have that vision.
You know. How hard was it to get back into a training camp I'm believing into.
Man, I never listened. It was like, there was days where I felt like, you gotta be real yourself married, you know, when you're done. But you know what, then there's a day where it just flips and everything gets better and you're like, oh, I'm back. Oh my god, look I'm letting it go. And you know, I start feeling good about myself and I start turning up to the gym every day and I'm running and I'm feeling
healthy and clean and fit. And you know, you know, when you feel like that, you give off this energy, and like when you give off that energy, everyone around you starts feeling that sort of energy. They start being positive and all of a sudden, you're back. And then you know, I got to leave on my own terms, man like, and not many people led to leave the boxing Sporter boxing on their own terms. Boxing has a thing of you either leave on your back, yeah, or you retire on your own accord.
Leave on your back, or you leave on your belt.
That's it. And for me, I was like, there was a chance that I could leave on my back, you know, I mean, because it's coming off cancer. But obviously, being sensible, we picked the right opponent, because I'm going to be a realist. We did pick the right opponent, and even though I showed him a lot of respect and he still brought it, I was able to do, you know, I was. I was in good enough shape to do what I wanted to do nearly, you know what I mean.
But when you think about a lot of great fighters who have left the sport of boxing on their back, I can name ten of them, you know what I mean. But to go out on my own terms as a winner, to leave the sportter boxing on my own terms as a champion, and to go on to get the award of Ring Magazine come Back of the Year was just like the complete top off. It was like the flowers that I always wanted from boxing.
I love that village, you know. But one thing that really really stands out to me, and before we finish, is the positive mindset. You have the power of positive thinking. How important is that in life? And how do you ascertain that mindset?
I think it's two for me to explain it to other people. It's like it's one of the most important tools to have in your life to be able to overcome, you know, to be able to experience that, because we're all going to experience, you know, the highs and the loads of life. And when you're high, you know you're in this amazing place. When you're in a local you know. I mean, like there's a lot of people that are going through darkness, but they just have to understand that
after the darkness, there is light. And I always understood that. I always understood that, you know what, there's going to be good times and there's going to be bad times. Not everybody is going to have an amazing life. It's not written that way, you know. I mean, we're all going to experience certain things in our lives. And I've experienced certain things and that's built the platform for me to be where I am today, and that's to go
on and inspire people to achieve their own greatness. You know, we all have that within us, and we're all going to go through certain things. For you of that, if you are born, you're going to go through a whole bunch of stuff and then eventually you're going to reach that point where you know, the lights turn out. But it's about just that happy medium, you know what I mean, and being an accepting person and just understand that you've got to roll with the punches. That's life.
Love it, mate, I love you. You're full of positive energy. I can feel the energy from across the room here. And you know what, people are going to get so much out of your book. Pick it up. It will inspire you tenfold. Billy, thank you so much.
Thank you.
I guess today was Billy Dibb. If you'd like to find out more about his books, head over to Billydibb dot com. Thanks for listening to this episode. If you enjoyed it, please leave me a review. I'm at Middleton. See you in the next episode.