I get a team. Welcome to another installment and shot. It's the Bloody You Pro project. What else would it be? Who else would it be but bloody Craig Uper and bloody tiff Cook and bloody Micol. Let's start with Tiffany and Cook. Who's who's the mother of two very precious children, one canine, one feline and the canine's been in all sorts yesterday?
Oh, what a day we had, Harps, what a day we had? Little miss went into hospital?
How is she? How is your daughter Luna today?
She's good as gold. You know what I love is the little lessons you take. And I woke up and she bounced out on three legs and I picked up the lead and she was wagged her tail and was like, come on then, And I just made me reflect on that idea that they don't. They don't think about the what if saw that if only or they you know, it's like, oh well, we footsore, can't use it because it hurts, but let's go for a walk because walking's the best.
Yeah.
And I'll use the other three legs because I've got three more, so fuck it, let's use them.
Yeah.
I just love pondering that. I'm like, well, you are my teacher today, Luna.
I'm no canine psychologists, but I'm pretty sure dogs don't feel sorry for themselves.
But they don't go, oh my god.
All the other dogs have got four feet to use today, but I've only got three lives.
Not fair? Why does God do this to me?
Pretty much?
Nicaul, you're not really an animal person, are you. I don't know that you dislike them, but I've never heard you talk about dogs or cats, and I've never known you to have a pet.
Well, craigy boy, let me just enlighten you. I'm not an animal person, but I do have a dog. I have a black Labrador called Sasha. Oh, and I've had her.
We got it from a breeder.
I've had her for the last She's eighteen months old, and yeah, I love it.
She's awesome, has she?
I mean, so, you say I'm not an animal person, yet you have a dog that you love.
Workshop that with us a little bit?
Sure?
Well, let me give you an example of my non animal loving personality. My oldest daughter, who's now thirty five, about five years ago, came to me in tears, and she was upset because her dog had passed away and she needed to talk to somebody about it, and I had to let her know that although I feel for her and I want to be there for her, I don't have the feelings for animals that she has, So she may need to speak to somebody that can actually empathize more.
Oh wow, wow, Father of the Year, Nicoll, Welcome back to our father or Father of the Year's selection panel.
All out doesn't just hit hard in the boxing ring.
Well, I'll tell you what.
And how did that go? How did that go? That conversation?
Pretty average, Craig, Well average?
Do you reckon?
Because I mean, we don't. By the way you said to me last night. I sent you a message and said do you want to do a podcast? And you said what are we going to chat about? I said, I'll let you know tomorrow. And I still haven't let you know, But that's all right.
Do you reckon?
Because of a lot of the shit that you've gone through in your life? And it's all well documented, so we're not throwing you under the basket. You know, all of the stuff you've been through addiction and booze, alcoholism and prison and a lot of you know, peaks and troughs, probably a lot more troughs than peaks for certain phases. In fact, maybe a long fucking extended trough for a while. But there's in quite a lot of peaks over the last decade or so that I've known you, that's for sure.
Do you reckon that having to deal with really.
Hard shit and have to be in certain environments and situations for survival where you kind of at least have to appear, you know, like hard and unemotional and not vulnerable because in certain environments and places that you've been being vulnerable, being emotion is analogous to weakness.
Right absolutely, And look at is it funnily enough? It is a skill to be able to I guess, not just a peer unaffected or something like that, but be able to switch it on and switch it off. And I think that's different to being one way or the other, you know. And survival has had had become and has become a very ingrained, well learned skill that I have. But of course nobody wants to live in survival mode forever. But it is a handy tool to be able to whip out when needed.
But I also know, like we spoke about you knowing You've spoken about many times you being a lonely, isolated, socially disconnected child when you were young, very young, probably earlier than ten, and then picking up booze for the first time at twelve. And these are not the words you use, but this is how I think of it. It's like, oh, fuck, this is where my best friend
has been my whole life. Or it was feeling like you'd come home when you first tasted booze, because it took you out of that temporarily, out of that pain, you know, out of that social and emotional and mental pain and kind of made you feel better, right, And so there's that bit. Yeah, there's this dichotomy of like Mick Hall, the young child who was vulnerable and emotional and just wanted love and care and attention and acceptance, and then the bloke that became this hard man who
had to survive in jail. It's a real kind of almost a contradiction. It's it's weird, isn't it.
Like I lived my worst nightmare, which is, you know, it's the very thing that I never wanted to experience and I couldn't imagine having to go through, and luckily I had to go through it. I threw there through the card, you know. And the funny thing is when you talked about that, you know that relief, you used the beautiful words with that as well, and then you
explained it beautifully. When I was sort of twelve years old and I had that first drink or whatever, and I got that relief, and I felt like i'd come home, that I just sort of all of a sudden, I could be me. But you know, that gave me relief from the condition that I didn't even know that I had. You see, feeling the way I was feeling was the
only normal I knew. And then when I had this taste of alcohol and I was released, I didn't know that that was possible or real, and so when I got a taste of it, I just needed to chase it.
Well, yeah, you've spoken before about how people are you know, a percentage of people are genetically predisposed or more likely to become addicted because of the way that their brain works or doesn't work, whatever we want to call it.
And David Gillespie's spoken about this, and doctor Bill Sullivan I spoke to the day before yesterday, and he was talking also about how you know, like when you don't some people who naturally don't produce a lot of dopamine and then they have booze and then all of a sudden, this thing that most of us have most of the time, or at the very least most of us have access
to on tap, you know. You know, Tiff plays with her dog, you know, in her cat, and she takes them for a walk, or she goes to the gym and punches some poor unsuspecting motherfucker in the face, and she's got dopamine out of the wazoo.
You know.
But but you probably were born where you didn't produce.
I don't know.
This is just my guess because if you if you're normal, because everyone's got their own normal, but we don't know how it compares to anyone else's. So you know, you've been a certain way for twelve years and then you have booze and then you're like, oh, is this how.
Other people feel? Is this what? Maybe this is what good feels like? Right?
Yeah? And that's open? Is you bang on?
You know, like I work with a lot of people that are suffering from addition, and everyone's you know, oh yeah, hang on, I'm a heroin addict or I'm an ice addict or I'm a gambling addict or whatever addict, and they're concerned about the substance that they're taking. And when really, when you break it down, when push comes to shove, what we're really addicted.
To is the dopamine release in the brain.
The actual addiction is the dopamine, because that's the thing that medicates the mind and the emotions. Hmm, you know, it's the dopamine. It's that euphromoric yeah.
Yeah.
And really the booze or the drugs, or the gambling or the sex. Yeah, it's the pathway to the thing, or it's the conduit too, you know. And I was thinking, I was thinking about you yesterday and congratulations, not last weekend, but the weekend before you. You won a world titled
in boxing, a masters world titled It's fucking amazing. And I was thinking, so, the chat that I wanted to have with you is, you know, I wrote down some things here, loneliness, social disconnection, drinking, booze at twelve, crime, jail, addiction, attempted suicide, rehab, recovery, redemption, working in radio, drug and alcohol canceling, counseling, becoming a dad, building a successful business,
becoming an entrepreneur, talking to thousands of people. And then when most people are kind of going, I mean, your life has been mental, right, your life has been crazy, you know, crazy good and crazy bad. But like we're all in many ways, we're all a byproduct of where we've been, what we've done, and what we've seen, what we've been through.
Right.
And then but when most people like fifty issue going, well, not that people intentionally do, but most people just seem to all right, I'm just going to you know, my brain's going to start to wind down. My body's going to start to wind down. Like most people are not ramping up life in their fifties. Some are have the capacity to do that. But the truth is, I would think the majority are not the majority consciously or not probably not a kind of winding down. You know, they've
done thirty thirty five years of adulthood. They're winding down their career. They were in great shape when they were fucking twenty four and jacked for three weeks. You know, they've had a couple of kids and they're like eh. And when most people are kind of just you know, not pulling the pin. But you know, facing the inevitable in inverted commas with an asterisk, you go, oh, I know I might become an elite athlete. I might train
seven days a week. I might get in the ring and not just trained, but then I might actually start fighting and become a boxer.
And I know you got the bejeebas punched.
Out of you once or twice, and then you went actually, then you learn, then you adapted, then you started getting better, then you started winning. Then you've got a state title, and bibbittybobbedy boo, now you're fucking fifty whatever you are, and you've got a world title. But firstly, congratulations, it's fucking amazing. But whoever thought I'll shut up after this? But I remember you vividly telling me a story about when you were I can't remember if it was like
a warehouse or a factory. Were you living in a caravan some blokes caravan?
Yep, yep, absolutely?
And I remember you telling me about how addicted you were in the absolute grip of I believe it was heroine. And you looked at yourself in the mirror and you essentially looked like death, and you were in your I think early twenties. Maybe correct me if I fucking ear this up. And I thought about this guy that I saw on social media with his arms in the air, this world title belt, his fucking family, Like, who looks like an athlete, not just some old fat fuck trying
to throw a few? Like you look like an athlete, and three decades earlier, you were a fucking heroin addict, at the brink of death, living in a fucking caravan in a factory, And like, what do you think?
What a fucking transformation.
Well, I'll tell you what I do think. Great, you know what that world titled? Like you said, it was two weeks ago, and you know I was in the ring in the in the fourth round. It was for only about ten seconds into the fourth round, and I punched the pajevas out this guy. We had small gloves, so it was through the WBL. So they're required that we wear small gloves. So very powerful, very powerful hits.
And just explained to just explain to our listeners who are mostly not boxing fans. God bless their socks. The bigger the glove, the less punishment on the person, and the smaller the glove, the more punishment.
Right, yeah, absolutely, so most Masters boxes these days are required are required to wear what we called sixteen ounce gloves. That's sixteen ounces of padding on the gloves, which, believe me, there is still a lot of risk and a lot of and they hurt, but they're a lot safer than
smaller gloves. And through the WBL they sanction my fight and their requirements are that we wear twelve ounce gloves which are much smaller padding, which means that there's a lot smaller amount of padding between your knuckles and your fists and the edge.
Of the glove. So when they hit, they hit really really hard.
And when I was in the fourth round and I was getting stuck in the guy I actually actually in the third round, I got what's called a standing eight count, so they had to stop the fight for a second and give him a standing eight count, and then he was saved by the bell. Ten seconds into the fourth round. I went to work on him and the referee stepped in and stopped the fight. The doctor and the referee stopped the fight, and of course I won, which was fantastic.
And my trainer, I've got two main trainers. My main trainer is Scottish. He's gol Rwegian and he's very difficult to understand, but but I love him.
He's as mad as me.
And he's a fantastic person, person who absolutely now here's the key to this.
This is a person who believes in me. It believes in me, you know.
And I've needed that so many times in my life when I couldn't really believe in myself. But I needed somebody to believe in me so that I could grab some belief. And he's always done that for me. And the other person, the other trainer that I have is a guy named Andy Briggs and Briggsy. He had about I think he had about sixty five amateur fights. He had a couple of pro fights. He says, well experienced, and he's my second guy in the corner and he's been with me like I've been mates with him for
a long many many many many many years. And he's been cornering me on every fight in Masters. And when I won that weld time, when that fight got stopped and I walked over with tears coming out my eyes to the corner, Breezy looked at me and so did Carl. They both looked and the said, can you believe this prisen to a world title.
Yeah, yeah, and that might be the name of the show.
Thanks for that, yep, yeah, well thanks thanks Cole, and thanks Andy, you know, like I mean, and that really hit me, you know, it really hit me.
And it was.
An overwhelming experience, you know, and it was just just amazing, you know, just amazing and full respects my opponent and you know, like he he.
Was very gracious in defeat.
And of course I always you know, I always have respect for the people that I get in the ring with and that fight because it's it reveals who you are. You know, it takes a real certain courage to get in the ring. And I've never been in a fight where I wasn't scared. I've been scared every single time, including that world title fight. I was scared before I got in. And yeah, it was just an amazing experience. So you know, like, yeah, I do. I think about it a lot, you know, like the how have I
gone from here? You know, from back where I was to going through what I went through to where I am today. It's amazing and looked there's been a mean twists and turns along the way, as we know, and you talked about the peaks and troughs before.
Well, usually my peaks are very steep, sharp beats.
What goes up comes down, and I'm one of those ones that goes up and down, you know. So it hasn't been a smooth, nice ride. But to just comment to on what you were saying before in terms of, you know, like most people are sort of a fifty you know, I'm fifty three now and they're winding down and that sort of stuff. And I'll tell you, you know, I just.
Have a hunger in me. My boxing journey is not over. My journey.
I've learned in my fifties what I always wanted, and I didn't know I wanted when I was young.
I wanted to be an athlete. I wanted to be an athlete.
And I'm so grateful that because I'm clean and sober, because I'm who I am, because I've been through the experiences I've been through, I'm able to realize that dream at fifty.
Plus, And isn't it amazing? Isn't it amazing? How much like I know that from a few silly things that you did when you were young, one of them trying to end your life jumping off a bridge, a significant bridge, which you've spoken about on this show. And you shattered your ankle, and so there are bits of your body
that aren't in let's just say elite condition. I mean, your cardiovascular system is and your hands go pretty good, but you know you've got a bit of a fucked ankle medically speaking, and you know so, But isn't it amazing?
At fifty three?
Like we talk about potential on this show, we talk about possibilities, you know, yeah, and maybe the thing that I'm the most you know, I'm the most fascinated with the human mind slash brain, but tied into that, which is you know, almost one and the same is human potential. What like what when we actually just have a crack and I mean really really really have a crack fucking boots and all fully committed dive in, not not oh well,
you know, I'll see how I go. Fuck that, don't see how you go do it?
Jump in?
You know, like you do the work, you do the training. You have a fight, you lose, you have another fight, you lose, you have another fight, you win, Then you have another fight you win, and then you fucking then.
You're on your way and you know you lose.
You learn as much from losses as wins, sometimes more from losses than wins.
And sometimes you know, and I.
Know this is cliche, but you just can't escape the truth of the fact that Paine is a great teacher, That disappointment is a great teacher if you let it be. That that uncertainty and the unknown and the unfamiliar and all of that shit.
Is just when you lean into it.
You know whether or not that's leaning, you know, with physical pain, mental pain, and financial, social, emotional, and you go, fuck, this won't be fun, but I'm in because the outcome might be awesome. And even though it's not fun in inverted commas, in the moment, it's who you're becoming along the way, Like the dude that I met I don't know, fuck NELLI twenty years ago doing radio, which is you. You are just a different here. I mean, with full respect, I can say this to you. I wouldn't say it
to anyone else because we're mates. But you were fat and out of shape.
You know, you were.
Probably twenty kilos heavier than you are. You're unfit, you're unhealthy. You were healthier than when you're an addict. That's for sure, because you were clean and sober. But now the guy who's and I mean in inverted commas, this shouldn't happen, you know what I mean.
It's like that.
Shouldn't happen because like on a typical traject So I met you when you were say, thirty five and twenty kilos overweight, not particularly fit or healthy.
Well, what would normally.
Happen, which I'm glad it didn't, is will you would end up being fifty three and morbidly obese and probably with a bunch of medical conditions and on a bunch of medication. But you've literally reversed the aging process.
I mean crazy.
And it's not like you're a freak or you've got some genetic secret.
You know, absolutely craz absolutely, And the one point I want to get across is is that what I've achieved in boxing has got nothing. I'm not naturally talented, I'm not naturally talented, and I am not a natural athlete.
I'm not.
But what I've done is I've absolutely worked. I've worked harder than anybody my age works at this at this Yeah, and what I've lacked in talent, I've made up for in commitment. Dedication, passion, belief, waning, belief even. But that's when I've met it, the other people to believe about me and talk about adaption well, and talk about the human body and how what shouldn't happen. I'll tell you that's what shouldn't happen. When I jumped off that bridge
back in the day and I shattered that ankle. Well, as I started boxing, I'm naturally I'm a right handed person. Everything I do in my strongest hands. I write with my right hand right, so I'm right hander. And when i started boxing, because I've got limited flextion in my right ankle, as an orthodox boxer, I couldn't get my feet in the right position because of my ankle.
So it made me a little unbalanced.
And so how's this at about forty six years old, I've gone fuck everything that I've learned in boxing.
I now need to relearn left handed, and I need to be I need to become better left handed than I am.
Right handed, so because I've got a better balance that way, because my right puts out the front.
Yeah, my left puts out the back, yeah. Right.
And so so I relearned it and I am now way more powerful left handed, biting than I am right handed.
Well, I'm still powerful right handed.
Yeah, And it is like that adaptation for using what is your naturally your weaker, less coordinated, less natural kind of side of your body. Like I'm very left dominant. I'm left handed, right left handed. I throw left handed if I was to play tennis, which I clearly wouldn't, but you know, like, I'm very left dominant my left side by the way I would rock.
A tennis skirt. Don't worry about that, man.
But do you know another thing I think also about you, which you kind of alluded to.
Like you, you.
And I caught up a couple of weeks ago before your world title fight, and.
You basically said you're basically where you've been.
Tiff.
Well, camera just failed itself. I had to reboot it.
Oh, tiss beIN, tis beIN not what welcome back? Yeah, Tip's back on the show. She's been absolutely But you and I caught up. You and I caught up, and you essentially said to me it was more than this, But you went thanks for being my friend, and you went thanks for like just and I love that. And I've said this to Tiff right, It's like I love that I can just support you and there's nothing in it for me other than being your friend.
Right. And the interesting thing I saw about you.
Is I saw this tough guy, this fucking tattered head to toe motherfucker dude who's been in prison, you know, just to sooner have a fight as a fucking hot lunch, all that kind of stuff. But I also saw this strong, resilient person, but also this vulnerable dude who just needed another dude to just like him and to just believe in him and support him. And I also recognized and I think it's really changed in the last ten years because your world is different, your life, lifestyle, you're different.
But I think when I met you, you hadn't had a lot of people in your life that just loved you and accepted you without any agenda.
Very true, and I'll sell you. The other thing that, to just sum that up a little bit, is one of the things that I believe I was, you know, I still am, and I was very grateful for and I am grateful for, is the fact that you know, when the ass fell out of me, out of my world, right, you didn't leave me. M hmm, you didn't leave me. That's all I want. I want someone, Just don't leave me. Now if I'm going bad, if shit's gone bad, just don't leave me. Just fucking hang in there, you know,
like fucking walk away from me. And and I love that, you know, that's that's my highest quality that I hold in people, is that beautiful loyalty and that now that I'm wavering sort of I'm there good or bad. And that's something that you know. In my work that I do helping other people with addiction, something that I want to bring to them.
I want them to know I'm not going to leave them.
Even if I get ship and hard, I'm not leaving if I if I sniff something, if I sniff some authenticity mm hmm, some realness, some genuine desire, I ain't fucking leaving. Simple was that, and I love that, And that's what you gave to me. It would have been very, very easy to just know, Well, you're a busy man, you've got an unbelievable life, you've got you know, you're a professional, you've got so many things going on.
But you still said he's my man, and I'm still going to make time for him.
Yeah, Well, you're easy to be a mate. Too.
But I remember five or six years ago, maybe four or five years ago. We won't talk about what specifically, but things were tough for you. There was a real moment in your life where shit wasn't going great, as happens to everyone, but you were in the middle of some stuff. And I remember sitting outside this window right
now in the bamboo. Do you remember you and me sitting out in the bamboo in the fucking chairs with our feet up on them, and just having quite a lot of chats out in the bamboo about the ship that you were in the middle of. And you know, I knew that I couldn't fix it or change it or wave a magic wand but I also knew that somebody just being there same or mate, you know, I'm here, I'm not going anywhere, you know. And you do that for people, Tiff does that for people? Tif Do you
have any questions for the great? You know? Box at a boxer pugilist to pugilist, thug to thug.
I just want to make a comment on how difficult it is to switch to South poor. I just don't think people could ever grasp the complexity of that. It is. I applaud you for that.
Like when you said that, I was like.
People, even people who write left handed or brush your teeth left handed, when you're a right hander, it'll give you a snapshot. But as a coach being challenged to try and stand in Southpoor to show technique and see technique, I struggle with that. So that is incredible.
Thank you, Thank you, Tiff.
Yeah, it's crazy, really, isn't it, Because I mean, you think everything's going to be reversed when you're in south Wall. Everything that you've learned has to be reversed. But not only that, there's a lot of stuff that you do. Not everything, but there are there are some things that you do in Southport that don't translate to Orthodox and some things that you do an Orthodox that don't translate to Southport. So you have to relearn different ways of different combinations don't.
Work in both stances.
And also imagine changing your stance, but then you could be in front of someone that's an Orthodox or a Southport and so not just your stance that matters.
It's when you're in the ring all of.
A sudden, you're a Southpaw, but you used to be an Orthodox, but now you're facing a South for.
It's triply triply weird.
Yeah, it's kind of yeah, so it's it is. It was a major, a major feat and I'm very very fortunate that I had teachers, or I had a teacher in particular a French guy actually who's but a French guy who was very very high level, and he he.
Put myself and my son through.
I would call it nothing short of sas training for boxing. Over a period of about four years, seven days a week, we're at like sparring at six o'clock in the morning in the rain in a sand pit.
Crawling through, crawling.
Up hills with it was just incredible, you know, like it was just this mad, mad conditioning and training and technique training that it's paid off.
In the end.
And the idea about understanding. So there's that whole tough love aspect, there's that getting in getting hit and just I was just thinking about your background and what you've been through, right, and maybe your opinion of yourself at times. And one thing that's apparent to me is how you you learn to be tough and weather the storm when you need to, but also understand when you might need a bit of self love and self acceptance. Have you been through anything with that? Psychologically?
I've been through that repeatedly, repeatedly.
And it's been the major stuff for me with boxing is around the psychology and the emotional side of it, because my first seven fights were a loss, a lose, a loss. And it's not like playing foot you we can go, oh, I played well, but look we lost by one point or two points. It's like, did you what happened in the fight? Mate?
I lost to right? Okay, yeah, okay.
So you sit with that loss and and it's hard to come back from because there's only two people in the fight. You're only going to win or lose. You're not going to have a bad day or like it's syst it's going to win or lose. And so psychologically what would happen for me when I'd lose is it was very, very difficult because I got in the demons. I'm almost fighting in the demons. And in the demons, Tommy, mate, you don't belong here. You're not good enough, You're not
a boxer. These people can see through you. Are you really do you really think that you've got a fighting spirit? You know, you're a little boy, you know, that's.
What my head.
That's what my head and my heart tried to tell me in the beginning. And I had to find a way to settle with myself and say, now I'm not a little boy, and yes I am good enough to be here, and I believe. And you know, my first fight as a master, as Martha's fight was about.
I don't know.
It was about three years ago or whatever. And I thought a guy whose name was Christopher Hume. Now I fought at eighty six kilos. I now fight at seventy two kilos, right, But I fought then at eighty six kilos, and Christopher Hume he beat me, and he beat me well. And they were interviewing us at the end of the fight in the ring. And when they came to me, and they asked me a few questions and whatever I
said to them. You see, I had this dream, I had this believe I didn't know how I was going to do it, and I was frightened of doing it. But I said, but I'm going to win a title. I will be back, make no mistake. I will not stop until I win the title.
And yeah, very good, Mick. You know I've got the applause whatever, and off we go.
I lost the next six in a row after that, so that speech didn't look to be coming true. But I did keep that belief, and my trainers believed in me, and did you know that it was only however, long later I was standing in the ring and I won a Victorian state title, and that guy, Christopher Hume, was the guy that stood there with the belt and presented me the belt and wrapped it around my waist.
That just gave me goosebumps.
You know.
That's that's the power of consistency. That's the power of doing shit, whether I'm fucking scared or not right, because because I knew that deep down, it's it's who I am, who I want to be, It's who I want to be, and it is who I am. Even though the head noise was telling me it's not, I knew in my heart it was that's who I am.
I'm boxing on a fighter, you know. And I kept going.
And so then the consistency, the discipline, all of that stuff led me to standing there in that ring and the guy that beat me that first fight wrapping that belt around me.
And since then I won.
A WBL Asia Pacific Super middleweight title. I want to WBL Masters Middleweight world title, and I've got you know, after the back of that world title fight, I've been offered more title fights in Sydney, you know, and which I'm considering and weighing up whether I can, whether I can.
Make it happen. But there's lots of opportunities come up.
And I know that my boxing journey isn't finished yet because I'm getting better and better and better every fight. And I have to say too that I don't mind being fifty three years old and having an absolutely rippling stick pack.
You know what I also love.
I love the fact that you used the word scared and didn't change it, didn't change it too nervous or you know, prefect nerves. I love that you said I'm scared every time I get in the ring.
Yeah, I think it's crazy.
I think we we change our language into positive of things, which can be really good, but sometimes that can let us make us leave it behind when we might need it the most. So then when that same feeling is being scared in real life, we don't translate it anymore because it's like, well, this isn't pre fight nerves. Now I'm scared, and I haven't been scared for years. It's like, yeah, you're scared every time you get in the ring.
Exactly right, exactly right.
And the thing I love about boxing is that everything that we've been talking about that goes on psychologically and emotionally, like you think and you know as a box of two tiff that you know when you're under attack in the ring, you know you have to be able to stay calm. You've got to be able to think, you've got to move, you've got to make split second decisions, and you have to be able to negotiate your way through whatever's coming at you. And that translates to life.
It translates to life in so many areas. It translates to business, it translates to relationships, it translates to financial stuff, it translates to friendships, you know, in every aspect of life. And that's why I love boxing because it absolutely number one. It makes me take responsibility for me. You know, I'm the guy in there. There's nobody else can help me. And that's one thing I also learned through all of the stuff that I've been through my life, through addiction
and everything. Craig talked all about stuff before. But at the end of the day, I guess what, nobody could help me. Nobody can save me. Only I can. I need other people, I need help, but only I can do it. I alone can do it, but I can't do it alone. And and boxing just emulates and mimics. It helps me realize all of that stuff. No one in that ring can help me. I've got all that training, everything I've been shown, taught, talked about, all that stuff. I now have to implement it, and nobody can do
it for me, and no one can help me. I have to do it. Helps me take responsibility for me. That's the key to not being a victim. That's the key to empowerment. True empowerment I've found is me taking responsibility for me.
Simple as that.
Was there something you believed about you or how you saw yourself before the boxing ring, that you saw in black and white for the first time, when you saw yourself in the ring and then couldn't deny it, that changed you.
That's a good question.
I don't know if it's something I've seen, but it's something Maybe the word I would use is realized, you know, but it's internal, internally realized. You know, and it's taken a number of fights, has taken ten, twelve, thirteen fights.
Whoever many fights has taken to.
Actually realize that and understand and totally believe that I belong there and that this is who I am. This is who I am. I'm now proud to say and I'll say it anywhere.
I'm a fighter.
I was embarrassed to say it before, even though I was a fighter, I was embarrassed to say.
I didn't feel like it was.
I sort of had any credibility or that i'd sort of I could say that because you know, up a hand on, you're a dad, and you're a business.
I am all those things. But I'm a fighter. That's who I.
Am and I know that now and I love that. And it doesn't make me a hard badass or anything. That doesn't that's all bullershit. It makes me an authentic person who cares and loves for people, loves people and would do anything to help someone. But I know I'm a fighter, you know, I know that I have that internal spirit that is that will not lay down, that will stand up for what I believe in.
So how's the fifty I'm still here?
Everyone, Good work tip, I've just been in the jacuzzi, had a.
Back cracking sackquacks.
Had many head eyebrows done.
No, I just said I had a back cracking sackquacks.
Well, right, ignored. That's sorry.
I don't think about that anyone, and no I didn't.
Just so, when is the fifty three year old going to I know Dana have any immediate retirement plans, But do you ever think about how's my brain going to be if I kept getting punched in the face when I'm you know, do you think about that moving forward? Looking after your brain and your mental health and all of that.
One hundred percent? You know?
And it's a funny thing that looking after your brain and your mental health. That funny thing is that my mental health has never been so good as it is.
Now through Bobs.
Yes, so there's a there's a little spanner in the works. The other thing, too, is is that if I was in a position where I was getting hit in the head too much, then yes, it is time to stop. But I don't get hit in the head a lot. I do get hit in the head, yes, and I'm not but you know, while I'm still performing at a level where I can really reduce. You know, I'm hard to hit, and I've got good defense, and i can move, and I've got all of the attributes that i need in order to do what.
I need to do in the ring.
Then okay, going when they start to fail or get to get to a certain point, and I think the way I look at it.
Is I look at each fight.
If I know that, like, it's funny because each fight that comes up and I'm talking to the train as we go, fuck mate, they're going to be looking at the footage from the last fight that was four months.
Ago or whatever.
They don't know what they don't know what's coming because we've improved, we've got more arsenals. Now, we've got a new we've got new weapons. Now, we've improved the weapons we've had and we've added more.
So while that's still happening, in my mind, it's ridiculous to stop.
But if we're getting to the next fight and it was like more of the same, Yeah, then I'm going to start thinking, Okay, the improvement stop I've kind of platted out, started to decline, then it's time to.
I feel like, when you do hang up the gloves in terms of you fighting. You're probably still going to be involved. You're probably going to be supporting other fighters or coaching a fighter, or and when's the I guess the only the big question really is when are you going to move around in the ring with Tiff and she'll have the pads on and she'll fucking just put you through your face.
Mick, yeah, grouse, I'd prefer that, all right, I would love to.
In fact, we should sort of. I'll come down.
I'll stand in the corner and do some filming and I'll bring my sponge to mop up the blood and to pick up mix mixed self esteem. One's fucking Tiff towels him up. Imagine that here we going, Oh well, titled, I was going great. So I got smashed in the dick by a girl back and now.
That it wouldn't be the first time.
Oh my goodness, Hey mate, it's been great catching up with you. We appreciate you. Do you want to steer anyone towards anything? Do you want to pump anything up? Or do you want to point anyone in a direction?
All good, all good mate, all good bloody gats.
Thanks mate, Thanks TIV for jumping in, and I'm glad you too, finally met.
You might become friends now me too never know. Thanks team, Thanks everyone,