The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett - Chris Eubank Jr. Opens Up About His Grief, Living In His Father’s Shadow & His Future

Episode Date: July 11, 2022

Chris Eubank Jr. is a boxer on his way to being the best in the world. A journey into boxing like no other, Chris didn’t just have to step out of the shadows of his own demons to make his name in the ring, but out of the shadow of his own father. But Chris’s journey to the top hasn’t been seamless. He’s been knocked back by some bruising defeats, and - as he explains - by tragedy. When his brother tragically died of a heart attack, Chris’s world almost fell apart. But it isn’t how you get knocked down, it’s how you get back up. Over and over again in Chris’s life, he’s had to look deep within himself to find his inner strength to match his outward toughness. It hasn’t been easy for him, but he wouldn’t have had it any other way. Follow Chris: https://twitter.com/chriseubankjr https://www.instagram.com/chriseubankjr/ Follow me: https://beacons.ai/diaryofaceo

Quick one. Just wanted to say a big thank you to three people very quickly. First people I want to say thank you to is all of you that listen to the show. Never in my wildest dreams is all I can say. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I'd start a podcast in my kitchen and that it would expand all over the world as it has done. And we've now opened our first studio in America, thanks to my very helpful team led by Jack on the production side of things. So thank you to Jack and the team for building out the new American studio. And thirdly to to Amazon Music, who when they heard that we were expanding to the United States, and I'd be recording a lot more over in the States, they put a massive billboard in Times Square for the show. So thank you so much, Amazon Music. Thank you to our team. And

thank you to all of you that listened to this show. Let's continue. I don't do a lot of interviews like this. So there's not a lot of people that do get to see this side of me. Chris Eubank Jr. The biggest fight of his life. Growing up, I was always Chris Eubank's son. A lot of people would say, you're trying to steal your son's limelight. To a certain extent, maybe he was.

I have to do something here to where people know me for me. I got myself into this gang. Some kid had gotten my number. I got my number. He was like, wait till I find you. I went into school with a baseball bat to find this kid. I take the baseball bat out. That changed the path of my life. The first time I went to Dubai, there was a young guy there and offered to train me. That was your brother? I just started crying, man.

It was, you know, one of the worst days of my life. I knew my brother was in Dubai and I didn't go and see him. That would have been the last time I would have saw him before he passed. A man named Nick Blackwell. He got taken to hospital. He actually died on the way to hospital. They had to revive him with an adrenaline shot. Those types of incidents are what put things into perspective and make you think about what you're doing.

Have you ever had this conversation with your father about your emotions? This is too much. So without further ado, I'm Stephen Bartlett, and this is The Di so without further ado I'm Stephen Bartlett and this is the Diary of a CEO I hope nobody's listening but if you are then please keep this to yourself

Chris one of the really remarkable things about your story that I was that kind of broke the mould a little bit was someone that comes from a family, as you described, where you did have comfort because your father was very, very successful in his career. and appetite for struggle and pain? Because usually that comes from, typically, stereotypically, that comes from a background of intense hardship. So I guess my question is,

where did that come from in you? And is that something you saw in all of your siblings? I always had that very competitive personality, you know, and before I found boxing, I was heavy into sports in school, cricket, rugby, football, athletics, swimming. And I just got a high off of competing and winning just just competitive that's all I all I wanted to do was test myself against other guys um and then obviously when I found boxing uh I quickly understood that this was the ultimate form of competition you couldn't get anything more intense, more hardcore, more pure than two guys putting gloves on, getting into the ring and, and going until somebody can't go anymore.

Did you have that from your dad at all? Was he ever pushing you in those early years before you even knew he was a boxer to be competitive, to win and that that was important? Or was it more just innate in you? You know, it's funny. My father actually, he was the opposite in terms of supporting or, you know, pushing me towards boxing. He banned me from going to boxing gyms for a couple of years. He didn't think I'd be tough enough, you know?

So, you know, I was begging him all the time. Let me go to the gym. Let me go and spar. Let me go and train. And he would just tell me, no, no, you're not going. Stick with your athletics. Stick with your rugby. Stick with your football.

Stick with your studies. That was a big thing for him, you know, because he didn't have that education growing up um boxing's gonna be too tough you know you've got so many look at look at where you are you're in a mansion you go to private school you know you've got everything you need and want here why do you need to go down to the gym and and get your ass kicked every day. So, you know, it took years of me nagging and begging, let me do it, let me do it. Finally, he gave in. And I guess the rest is history. Now we're here. When I was younger, I remember my older brothers could all eat really spicy food. And I remember

someone saying to me at the table, maybe one of my brothers, maybe my mum, she was like, don't give that to Steve. He can't eat it. When I heard that, it sounded like a challenge to me. Now, when you said that about your dad, it almost sounded like a dare. It sounded like a challenge. Did you receive it like that? Him saying you're not tough enough to do that? Absolutely. You know, as a kid, when you're told you can't do something you want to do it 10 times more do you think he was aware of that he's a smart man you know what i've never thought of it like that i've never thought about that like was he was he trying to bait me you know was he saying this or stopping me so that when i actually did start i would go so hard that i would actually you know make my make something of myself in the sport.

I have no idea. If he did, then that's a hell of a, you know, a thing. But no, I mean, I genuinely think that he did really think I wasn't tough enough. I mean, world champions, the best fighters in the world generally come from poverty, from hardship, from broken homes. And they fight because they have to fight. There's no other option for them. If they don't win, if they don't succeed in boxing, they don't eat. You know, they don't have a home to go to. They can't pay the bills.

So that's what fuels them to make it. They have no choice. Whereas me, I had many choices. So in a way, I see it as actually more of an accomplishment because I didn't have to go through everything I went through to get to where I am today. 34 fights, 32 wins, the pain, the hardship, the sacrifice, the suffering. I didn't have to do any of that. I could have stayed in school. I could have kept the rugby up or the,

or the, or the football or the cricket, you know, and I would have made it in any sport that I wanted to make it in. I know that. Why? Just because of my passion and my drive. You know, once I zone in on something I want to do, nothing else matters. And I will do it and I will get there

by any means necessary. People that don't know about boxing or don't know how to fight, they think that you got to be big and strong and mean and full of hate. And that's what enables you to be a great fighter or to be able to win in the fight game. And sure, some of those things are going to help you you know speed power all of that stuff plays a big part for sure but the biggest part of being able to be a great fire is is this and a lot of people don't realize that or don't know that it is in my opinion, I don't know, 70, 80% mental. You know, the balls and the grit that you have to have to, you know, once you get to that ring and walk up those stairs, you're going to have to take off your jacket.

The bell's going to go and you're going to have to fight somebody. You're going to have to get hurt and you're going to have to hurt somebody in front of thousands of people and millions of people around the world. That in itself, that walk, most people on the planet cannot do that. Just the walk, let alone the fight part, takes a lot of mental strength. It takes a lot of guts, a lot of heart, you know, mental strength. It's a huge thing in boxing. It's a big thing in life, even outside of heart, you know, mental strength. It's a huge thing in boxing.

It's a big thing in life, even outside of boxing, right? In business and in all, I think, great endeavors. Do you think it's something that you can, from what you've seen in the gym, something you can teach or train? I think you can. Have you seen it taught to someone that didn't have it? I've seen fighters improve, you know, I've seen fighters over the years become more confident and in their abilities and, you know, that does

transfer for, that does transfer over to their performances in the ring. I think to a certain extent, you do have to have that strength, that, that belief and that courage and that mental fortitude to fight, it can be enhanced in some ways, but only to a certain extent. Because at the end of the day, there are going to be times in training, in sparring, and definitely in the fighting, where you're going to get hurt, you're going to be in a position where you're questioning yourself. What am I doing here? Am I going to be okay?

Can I beat this guy? Should I give up? Should I find a way out? This is too much. Every fighter experiences that moment, you know? Have you experienced that? Yeah.

In a fight? There's one time where I was close to giving up. One time I went to Cuba before I turned pro. Out there, obviously they have the Olympians and the Olympians and their Olympic training is second to none. These guys are animals. They're monsters. In Cuba, they have this thing called technical sparring, which I had never done and I never did ever again until maybe up in like two years ago. But technical sparring is basically, you're sparring, but you're not sparring to hurt the guy.

You're sparring to work on technique, you know? So it's like an agreement. All right, listen, I'm not going to go all out here. You know, we're going to work on the jab today or we're going to work on foot movement. We're not trying to bang each other out.

You know, they're big on that. They're big on technical sparring. I had never done anything like that my my whole mentality was if i'm going to spar you i'm going to try and get you out there because that's how my mentality is going to be when i'm in a real fight so i i need that's just how i need to be um the cuban olympic heavyweight representative walks up the stairs and gets into the ring. I thought he was coming into the ring to shadow box and warm up for his sparring session with somebody else.

He said, no, no, no, you guys are going to spar. I was like, he's about three times the size of me. What do you mean? He's like, yeah, yeah, it's okay. It's okay. Well, you know, he'll work with you. He'll work with you. Technical sparring.

So I thought, sure, that's fine. Let's go. First round goes, first bell goes, this guy sprints over to me and just starts laying into me. The biggest shots, bang, bang, bang. bang head up moving out the way dodging running around the ring and he's just coming at me and i can't get this guy off of me he knocks me out of the ring he punches me i i fall out of the ring i drop down it's like a three four foot drop onto

concrete my knee hits the hits concrete. My leg goes dead. Right? This is the second round that this happened. I still have one more round afterwards. So I'm getting up. Leg's completely gone. I'm looking up. And there's heavy weights like leaning over the ropes,

looking at me, looking down at me. And I have a decision to make. Do I get back in or do I say, listen, my knee's bad. You're too big. I've got a concussion. Let me, you know, let me just take a break. So I'm sitting there, I'm looking around. Everyone's looking at me.

My dad's there. I was like, you know what? Let's fucking go. Let's there. I was like, you know what? Let's fucking go. Let's go. Walk back up, knowing what I was about to receive once as soon as I got back in the ring. And that's exactly what happened. You know, clapped us back in,

just starts laying into me again for another two rounds. But my whole thing was, I have to finish the three rounds. Why? Because I said I was going to do the three rounds. But my whole thing was I have to finish the three rounds. Why? Because I said I was going to do the three rounds. I said I would bar him three rounds. I'm not leaving this gym with everybody knowing that I quit. Why not?

Why not? Because I couldn't live with myself. I've got to go home and go to sleep. How am I going to go to sleep with that on my mind? I can go to sleep with getting my ass kicked by a guy who's three times bigger than me. I can sleep like that. I can't go to sleep knowing that another man made me quit,

made me run out of the ring. No. So I got back into that ring and I took my beating like a man. And from that day on, I was never scared again. So that was the worst experience of my life in terms of boxing, but it was also the best experience because I knew, I knew what I was capable of. I knew I had it inside me to not give up. I knew I could take a shot. I knew I had what it, what it would take to make it. If he can't make me quit, who's going to make me quit? Nobody.

So that stuck with me for the rest of my career. Something really interesting, which i gained from that which is like we we basically create a personal like philosophy or story with ourselves and in that moment when you're looking up and stepping back into that ring with that massive guy in there it's like you're you're writing or making a story about yourself one that will probably follow you forever and i think about this sometimes when I'm on my own and I'm on my like peloton and I'm either exhausted or knackered and I know there's seven minutes left and I know I can just get off it but this thing in my head goes but then Steve you're changing your own personal story which is that sometimes Steve

quits when it's hard and the thought of having to live the rest of my life with that and it sounds like a very strange thing I've never said before but the thought of having to live the rest of my life with that, and it sounds like a very strange thing I've never said before, but the thought of having to live with that personal story, that personal philosophy, that that's who I am, is never worth getting off the bike. Because, okay, it's seven minutes today, but it's a lifetime of thinking that's who I am. And it sounded like that in that moment,

you had a choice about who you were going to sit, you know, and it's a self thing. I know there's other people there, but sometimes when, I'm sure you have it in the gym or whatever, no one's around it's just you and you yeah you have a decision to make about who you are right yeah happens a lot in training i imagine as well right no that that's actually when it happens the most you know there are times you know i'll be i'll be on the treadmill where i'll be running and i'll you know i'll get a cramp in in the uh in my calf

i've still got eight minutes to go because you said you were going to do because i i've set the timer for 40 minutes on the thing so i'm on i'm on 32 minutes the the cramp starts going you're on the treadmill yeah you got you got 8 minutes to go and I'm running like this now but I'm not getting off the treadmill because I've got to do the 8 minutes why? no one's there? nobody's there

but if the treadmill can make me quit what happens when I get into the ring with a guy who's hitting me and I'm hurt he's going to make me quit what happens when i get into the ring with a guy who's hitting me and i'm hurt yeah he's gonna make me quit too so i'm i'm on that treadmill for eight minutes like that just try and just try and not try not to get the pressure on this leg but i'm finishing the 40 minutes now that is you know it's it's huge because it it teaches you to believe and to know that, you know, no matter how hard things get, you will find a way. You'll find a way. It doesn't matter who's watching, you know, you know, because, yeah, no one's around right now. So no one would know if you took that break. But what happens when you're in a situation where the world is watching and you're in that same position of pain

or of uncertainty about, you know, you got a big speech or, you know, something's happening and everyone's watching and you don't know, you don't really want to keep going. You know, then you'll get that same feeling you know what i'm gonna do it not all right listen i'm i'm done i just this is too much you don't ever want to put that uh that spirit inside yourself you know you gotta you gotta keep those demons out you know and they are demons you, you know, and if you let them in enough, they take over.

I don't let anything like that inside me. I always beat what it is that's in front of me, what it is, whether it's mental, whether it's spiritual, whether it's physical, I always make sure I come out on top. One of the ways we learn about who we are, and I guess that self-story that I was talking about there is by looking at others. We can sometimes compare ourselves to our peers or those around us or whatever it might be and say, I know that I'm different

because everyone around me isn't like this thing. They're not like, they don't have this trait or quality or thinking this way that I do. When I look at your career and what you've done, it is remarkable because, as you said, you had so many other choices, but you chose what I consider to be the most tumultuous, struggle-filled one. And so when I sit here, I go, what is it about you that's made you where you are today and this great champion? The character traits, the attributes, what is it? I've always had a strong mind. I've always had a strong soul.

I've always known what I wanted to do and that I was never going to stop until I did it. I had a lot to live up to. You know, growing up, I was always Chris Eubank's son. You know, from an early age, I was like, yeah, but that's not my, I'm not Chris, that's not my name. My name is Chris. He made it even harder by calling me Chris. He made it even harder, this guy.

But I knew that that's not, I couldn't go the rest of my life as that, as just being the son of. I have to do something here to where people know me for me. That was a big driving factor. Becoming my own man, doing something that people would be proud of and that my family would be proud of and that I could say was my own. Now, some people would say, well, then why did you go into boxing, which is, you know, the same sport your dad did? You know, it's a good question.

I mean, I guess that, you know, I guess that competitive soul inside of me maybe wanted to see if I could be better than what my dad was. See if I could be better than the guy who said I wasn't tough enough. I'm sure that was in my mind in the early stages. Now that I've done so much, it's not at all. You know, I don't ever compare myself to my father. People do all the time. You know, who would have won in a fight

if you and your dad fought? Or, you know, would you ever spar with him? I don't think about any of that, you know. I just have to be the best fighter I can be. Because at the end of the day, especially in boxing, you know, you're, you know, you're, you're only going to be competing with yourself. That's how you, that's how you elevate. That's how you get better. Not by focusing on other people. And I think that that goes for, you know, any industry. If you, if you're constantly looking

at other people and what they're doing and, you know, why they made it or why they didn't make it, you know, you're losing out on you and what, you know, and on what is best for you and how you're going to progress. I never looked up at anyone and said, I want to do that and I want to be there. I just, I always just thought to myself, you know what, this is going to be so hard as it is. I don't want to put any added pressure on myself. I don't want to, you know, can I get as many wins as my dad? Or, you know, can I be more famous or make more money? Like all that stuff, it just messes with your mind. So you just have to focus on day by day, week by week, fight by fight,

just being the best you can be. And that's what I did. And I just built that up over the years until, you know, until I had made my own name and made my own path. My father's always been there. He's always been there to support me and guide me. I think he's now taken a backseat a lot, a lot, a lot more than he was originally. He was front and center at the beginning of my career. You know,

you look back on YouTube at the, at the, at the press conferences and the weigh-ins, he was right there, you know, and he'd be talking on my behalf sometimes. A lot of people would say, you know,

oh, you're trying to steal your son's limelight um to a certain extent maybe he was or maybe he i don't think he was doing it consciously like oh i want to i want to steal his son's life but it's just he's such an entertainer he's such a people person he just couldn't help himself you know he'd have to get up in the middle of a press conference and do some poetry or talk shit to my opponent or he had to, he just, that's just who he is. And early on, I actually didn't mind it because I was so hell bent on just becoming a good fighter. I didn't even really want to talk to the public.

And I always got, and I still do get a lot of trolls online, social media. So it gave me like kind of like a bad taste for publicity and media. And so I didn't really even want to deal with that. I just wanted to fight. I just wanted to get my record up so that people could start saying, okay, yeah, this kid's a bad boy. That's all I cared about. So it was actually him. He actually did take a lot of pressure off of me by him kind of doing the

talking for a certain amount of years. Now that I'm established, now that I am, you know, where I am in the sport, that isn't needed. You know, I'm 32 years old now. I can't have another man at my press conferences speaking on my behalf. It's just not going to fly. So for the last few years, he hasn't been doing that. I'm comfortable in front of a camera now I wasn't comfortable at the beginning the beginning I was very and I look back and I look back at the all these pictures I used to take with fans and interviews and I was always very serious and stone-faced and not fun to really listen to in interviews.

And people would say, oh yeah, I met you. I met you, you know, I met you in 2013, 2014. Look, look, here's a picture. And then I'd be sitting, I'd be standing up sitting like this. Why was that? You just, you just had a bad opinion of that? No, I just, I was just so serious. I was just so obsessed with boxing.

And for me, when I'm in the fight, I don't play. Some guys, they walk in into the ring, you know, Manny Pacquiao and Manny Joshua and the high-fiving guys and smiling and, you know, dancing to the music. I'm not that guy. I can't be like that. If I know I've got to fight, I'm a barbarian.

You know, it's wartime. And even though I'm light outside of the ring now, as an adult, even now, I still want once it's fight time, I'm not smiling. I'm not a nice guy. Now, at the start of my career, I guess I couldn't separate the fighter from the guy in the street. They were the same guy. So whether I was in the ring or I was taking a picture with a fan, I wasn't smiling. I was a the ring or I was taking a picture with a fan, I wasn't smiling. I was a

serious dude. Now, as you get older, you, you know, you understand you can't, you can't be like that around normal citizens because it's, it's, it's just weird. You know, you, you have to be able to smile. I smile in all my pictures now because these pictures, they have them for the rest of their lives and they show them to their friends, their family. And what do you want? Do you want that or do you want, oh, he's a nice guy or, oh, he's an asshole.

He couldn't even smile. He looked so serious. He didn't look like he didn't want to be there. You know, that's one thing I've learned. It's very important being in the public eye. You have to give people time and you have to be happy about it because, you know, one encounter

is not just one encounter. If you meet somebody, you're actually meeting their friends, their family, their son, their daughters. You know, that one person, it's a spider web. So that one person is actually a thousand different people. And it's either going to be, he was a really good guy. He was a cool guy. You took a picture and he spent time and talked to me. That's the story that goes out to the thousand people. Or what an asshole. What a wanker. Which one of those stories do you want being spiderwebbed out into the universe? And it all comes back around because you meet the friends, you meet the family.

You see the tweet. Yeah, you see the tweets, you know? It all comes back around. So good energy, positive vibes, give people your time, you know? Because those pictures and those stories stay with them for the rest of their lives. And becomes your karma. And becomes your karma. And becomes your karma. It becomes how people treat you that you've never met before.

You know, you really got to be aware of the power of your energy towards other people. If you give off bad vibes and then you get bad vibes. If you're a good person, if you give people time, it all comes back around. There's been this kind of perception because of that because of your very stone face that you're unemotional sure you've heard this before yeah what's the truth in that are you unemotional i've heard that i've heard that word many times uh throughout the years with girls I've dated. That's always been a really bad or hard thing for them to get past is that I'm not an emotional guy.

Apparently I'm very hard to read when I'm in a relationship or on a date or whatever it is. They don't know if I even like them. Am I emotional? No, I'm not. I have emotions obviously, but you know, like for you to upset me, it's damn near impossible. I, you know, I will never, I don't think I've, I can't remember the last time I shouted at somebody. I don't have that emotion to, you know, if you, if you do something wrong to me or to disrespect me or, okay. And then I just never see you again. I don't get that, like, you know, what are you doing, you know, like that so many people get.

I don't have that in me. I don't know why. You know, if I knock somebody out in the ring, I stand there, I look at them while they're on the floor, that's it. You know, 99.9% of fighters, they knock a guy out. Yeah, you know, jumping up onto the brink, high-fiving people, seeing people crying. You know, I don't have that emotion.

It's like, yeah, I knocked you out. This is what I said I was going to do. This is what i've trained for for my whole life so yeah that's what happened um do you ever worry though that that's gonna get in your way a little bit in terms of especially romantic relationships women are a little bit more emotional than men um they're more in touch with their feelings i mean the data shows that quite clearly so do you ever think that's gonna inhibit you from forming romantic relationships i mean i've never really thought about it and it's not

because you said you wanted kids i remember hearing you say that of course yeah i mean who doesn't um well i mean some people don't but eventually I do want a kid but you know the woman I'm going to have a kid with is not going to be a woman that needs an emotional man you know some women don't need that was your father emotional? no your mother?

yeah father emotional at all? no affectionate? I knew he loved me Yeah. Father emotional at all? No. Affectionate? I knew he loved me and that, you know, I knew I could, I knew he wanted the best for me. He was emotional enough for me to know that that's my dad and I would do anything for him.

And I love him, you know. Some people don't have that relationship with their dads, you know. I love my dad, but I respected him and I feared him. I did fear him. So, and that was, you know, he was very strict growing up. I couldn't get away with anything. I think that sometimes about myself i think you know i actually grew up i still to this day call my mom and dad by their first names never called the mom and dad and then i i think there was a lack of affection and emotion in my child in my childhood so i had to kind of learn growing up

how to be affectionate and emotional. I remember someone calling me their best friend and me feeling this like internal repulsion, like the fuck? And then when I would, when I'd get into a relationship with, well, no, this was even worse. When I'd find someone that I fancied and I'd pursue them, the minute they showed interest in me, I'd reject them. And so until I realized that was going on and i had this like weird thing in me it controlled me and it meant that 27 i had my first proper relationship so yeah that's uh i'd learn a bad model of affection relationships and emotions so i feel like i've become a little bit more emotional as i've gotten older, you know, before nothing could phase me, you know,

it doesn't matter what would happen. Nothing would phase me up until a few, maybe, maybe over the last like two or three years, there's been a few times where I've watched movies and I'd get this like, you know, something sad would happen and I'd get this feeling, you know, like, and I never cried, you know, but, you know, like that start of like, I might cry. And I was like, what the hell is this? You know, like, this is weird. And that's only started happening over the last couple of years. So I don't know if I'm becoming more mellow or I don't know,

but I'm just not an emotional person. You know, I haven't cried, you know, the last time I, well, I was, the last time I cried, I was 12 years old. And then I cried again when my brother died last year. So, you know, that's 20 years. In 20 years, I've cried once. So, yeah, I mean, I guess you could say I'm not emotional,

but that's what I needed to be to do the things I've done in the ring. That was my journey. That was how I was able to do it. I had to get my emotions out to be able to perform ice cold. You know, some guys use their emotions to help them fight more. That was my path. You know, if I ever felt emotions getting involved in, you know, whether it was hate or anger or being afraid, I noticed that it affected my fighting negatively. I would make mistakes.

You know, if I went into a sparring session i really didn't like the guy you know and i went out there and really tried to hurt him i'd actually hurt him less than if i was just cool calm cold and calculated you know i'd make mistakes i'd attack when i wasn't supposed to attack or i would i'd move and i would do certain things which i'm just i'm only doing because i just want to get him you know and it And it's like, boxing is a chess match, you know? At the highest levels, you have to think about everything that you're doing. The guys that think while they're in the ring,

not just react, those are the guys who make it to the top of the top. Have you ever had this conversation with your father about your emotions? About dealing with emotions, suppressing emotions whatever because i don't know i struggle to believe that you're not emotional as you've seen you does come out and you but it just seems like you've learned how to suppress and not express those emotions i have never had this conversation with my father no we've never talked about emotions or feelings.

I'm not going to say he's not that type of guy because he actually may be now at this stage in his life. You know, he's found God. He's very religious now. So maybe I actually could have this conversation with him. But, you know, 10 years ago, 20 20 years ago there's just no way I could never sit down with him and and talk about my feelings you know he'd be like feelings let me take my belt off and show you about feelings you know really it was not you know very strict very, very, I got away with nothing as a kid, you know.

But I think I needed that because I was very boisterous. I was very, I had a lot of energy. You know, I got myself into this gang when I was a kid and you know I was going around I was fighting I was you know skipping school um the only thing that somewhat kept me in line was knowing that if I got caught or if I went too far my dad was waiting for me at home do you really think he would have taken his belt off if you tried to chat to to him about feelings? I'm exaggerating that part. But listen, the belt came off many times. But when I stepped out of line as a kid, you know, that strictness, that punishment stopped me from going even more overboard than I already did.

And I did go overboard. You know, you can go onto YouTube right now and see a video of me street fighting at 16 years old in the car park in Brighton. And I was doing that every other week, you know? So imagine what I would have been doing if I could just have free reign, if I had nothing stopping me from doing anything. It would, you know, I'd be in jail, 100%.

You know, we're Jamaicans. We're built differently, you know. There's just something in our DNA which, you know, we have this thing where we, you know, we like to cause trouble, man. I don't know why. My father was the same. You know, he got into all types of trouble as a kid, you know, stealing and getting arrested and fighting.

You know, that's just, I don't know, we come from a bloodline of ruffians, you know. That's just how we are. I'm a lot more refined now as an adult. You know, I look back at some of the things I was doing and I'm just like, what was I thinking? I remember I went to college for maybe a month or two before I ended up moving to America, some kid from the school that was opposite from the college had somehow gotten my number and I had got in a fight with his brother. And these are two really big kids. And he got my, he called me at like 2 a.m., woke me up.

He was like, yo, who do you think you are? I'm gonna fuck you, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna eat you, I'm gonna do all this stuff to you. You know, watch, wait till I find you. Watch. Hung up the phone. I knew who the kid was because I knew his voice. Right.

The next day I went into school with a baseball bat in my gym bag. So I have the gym bag. So obviously no one can see it lunch bell rang went picked up my bag started walking across to the other school to find this kid and when i say find him i mean like i was walking in and out of classes i was opening the doors and seeing you you know, and the teacher was looking like, who are you? What are you doing? I'm like, don't worry about it.

So I was walking from classroom to classroom to classroom to classroom. On your own? On my own, yeah, to find this kid with the baseball bat in my bag. And, you know, I thank God. I thank the good Lord above that I didn't find him, that I didn't see him. Because, you know, I walk into a classroom or I see him on the football field, I take the baseball bat out and I hit him with it.

Finished. You know, one, I could kill the kid. I'm in jail for the rest of my life you know I would have been banned from going to America so my whole my whole foundation everything that I learned going over to the States

at 18 years old having my first amateur fights, training with Floyd Mayweather and his father, that would have all been washed away. I would have never, I would have never done it. So I would never have done anything in boxing because that was, that was, that start was what built me up, you know? You know, I just, so I just thank God that he wasn't there that day

because that could have changed the path of my life you know and I just look back at that like how

what were you thinking like how stupid could you be but obviously as a kid you're not thinking about

consequences are America you know you're just upset that some kid called you up and called you an asshole

and said he's going to mess you up the next time you see him you're not thinking that some kid called you up and called you an asshole and said he's going to mess you up the next time you see him. You're not thinking about traveling and getting banned and going to prison. And you're just thinking, I want to be a big man and show everyone I'm hard. You know, so it's just, you know, you have to have,

that's why I say I thank God for my father as well for how strict he was because, you know, there were other times where there were things that i was going to do but i didn't do them because i didn't want to suffer the consequences of my old man so um yeah you talked earlier about your the death of your brother, Sebastian. The first time I went to Dubai, I went to the gym there and there was a young guy there that came over and offered to train me.

And he trained me for about, I think, two weeks individually. I was your brother. I've got loads of photos, hundreds and hundreds of photos of him training me on the bags there i remember him as being just the most generous pure pure is the word that i always come back to giving person he did not ask me for any money

he never asked me for a thing he trained me on the bags both times that i came to um to buy and i wasn't he didn't necessarily know who I was or what I was doing, but he did that out of the goodness of his heart. And then he continued to message me and speak to me on Instagram about superfoods. And we talked a lot about that. Obviously he, there was a tragic accident and he passed away from that. What can you tell me about that incident and the lasting impact that's had on you and those around you?

I mean, you know, this is fresh. This only happened a year ago. And I never had to, I've never dealt with anything like that in my life. I told you I'm not an emotional guy. The last time I cried, I said I was 12 years old. But the day I found out, I cried the whole day. I cried the whole day. I cried for like two days straight. Yeah, so my dad actually, I had COVID. I had COVID when I found out. My dad came to my house. He woke me up. He said, come outside.

And I thought I'd done something wrong because he had a look in his face, which was, I don't know. I just couldn't, I can't describe it, but it was, I knew something was wrong. So I thought that, you know, I don't know. I wasn't sure what I was about to hear. He took me outside. My little brother, my little brother Joseph,

he lives with me and I have an outhouse. So he lives there. He went and got him and he sat us down and he told us. And, yeah, I just started crying, man. It was, you know, one of the worst days of my life. It's so crazy to think that somebody that is so healthy, like you said, he's telling you about the superfoods and he trains every day, peak physical condition,

can just have a heart attack and it's just gone. Still just blows my mind, you know. I thank God that, you know, he didn't suffer. He didn't really feel anything. He just went. And I also thank God that he had a son uh his son was born maybe a month or month before he passed um and he rahim and he looks just like him so we have that you know um we haveeem to carry on his legacy.

And I thank God for that every day. You know, he's just now starting to walk, learning how to walk. He has seven or eight teeth. He's a great kid. Very good looking kid. I guess that one instance, I feel like that has made me more of an emotional person since that's happened. It makes you think just like how,

before something that happens to you, you hear about all that stuff on the news and to other people and you see it in movies and it's just like, well, whatever, you know, it doesn't really register. But when there's a death in your family, then the next time you hear about someone passing away, then you get that immediate feeling of what you dealt with

and then you start to sympathize and empathize with the people that it's happening to that you don't know. And I never had that emotion before until this happened. And it just, you know, like I said, I had COVID. And that meant that I actually couldn't make it to his funeral, which is, you know, it's just crazy. Like, I was in Florida for the whole of COVID, right? And when I say that these guys didn't care in Florida,

like the beaches were full. No one's wearing masks. I remember going to the beach and I would walk along the beach, thousands of people, and I'd be wearing a mask. This was like peak COVID. And people would be looking at me like, what are you wearing a mask for? They did not care.

I went to Texas. I was in Dallas for a month. I was partying every night. Never got COVID. And then the day my brother dies, I have COVID, and I can't get on a plane and fly to Dubai for his funeral because I have COVID. And in the Muslim religion, they have to bury him as quickly as possible. They couldn't wait.

I thank God that my family were able to go out. I had to stay. You know, I don't believe in regrets. I believe what's meant, you know, what's meant to be will be, and you know, you should be happy with whatever happens in your life, you know, but I would say there is one regret I have in my life. And that was, I actually went, so I hadn't, I hadn't seen my brother for quite some time. And I was, I had a holiday. This was, I don't know, maybe three or four months before he passed away. I stopped off, I had to stop before he passed away I stopped off I had to stop

off in Dubai and I stopped off in Dubai for like a couple days before I flew to this destination and um I didn't want to I didn't want to see anybody I nobody knew that I was making this trip I knew my brother was in Dubai and I didn't go and see him. I just, I didn't want people knowing I was in Dubai. So I just, I stayed in my hotel room and I didn't see anybody. And then I left and I went to the next destination.

That's probably the one regret I have in my life now is that I didn't go and see him, you know, because that would have been the last time I would have saw him before he passed. You know, and these things, it just teaches you, you've got to appreciate and you've got to, you know, don't take anything for granted. Nothing is guaranteed. You know know the people you love be with them as much as you can appreciate them enjoy them don't get into fights you know don't

do things which are just wasting time because one minute they're there and one minute they're gone and then you've got to think about all the things you could have done with them or should have done with them that you didn't because, you know, you're too busy or, you know, oh, I'll see them again another time. You know, it's crazy how the world works. But, yeah, I appreciate everyone at all times. And, you know, family is number is number one you know don't let anything ever get in between that don't take it for granted that's one thing i've learned you know investing a lot of time in your relationship with rahim absolutely yeah we're

on the phone all the time i've got a million videos of him on my phone. My brother's wife, Seb's wife, Salma, she sends me videos every day of Raheem. They're coming over to England actually in a month or so. And yeah, so Raheem is now my son, you know. That's how I feel. You know, it actually makes me want to have a kid. I was never really planning on having a kid until after my career,

and I still may not. But I want Raheem to be able to grow up with my son, you know. I don't want them to be too far apart. You know, me and my brother, Seb, we were, you know, a year and a half apart. So we were very close, you know, we did everything together. So I want Rahim to have that. So, you know, within the next few years we'll uh we'll see what happens one of the things i couldn't quite ascertain from googling was if you are if you are in a relationship or if you're dating you keep all that stuff very private i don't blame you to be honest but i couldn't quite ascertain where you're at with that um most things said you weren't, but is it a part of your life?

Absolutely. Yeah. One thing I've learned is that relationships and social media don't mix. I've just, I've seen social media mess up so many relationships uh that i just you know i decided a long time ago that whoever i was with uh is not gonna be it's not gonna be a public relationship my life is public people can see what i'm doing every day i want something that's for me uh you know and you got so many girls out there who, you know, they're just clout chasers. You know, they just want, they want to say, you know, look at me, look at these pictures.

We went here, we went there. I don't need that in my life, you know. I've got enough clout. I've got enough attention on me. So I keep my private life private. So much so that I've actually seen comments online saying that I'm gay. This guy's never in pictures with girls. He's got no girls on his Instagram.

I think he's gay. I've seen that like multiple times and I laugh my ass off whenever I see that. But yeah, I just don't believe in mixing the two I don't I don't see any positives from it you know people see something if they see something if they see people happy some most people yell that's great but there's there's a large percentage of people that if they're seeing something happy they they want to try and make it unhappy that's what is crazy as that sounds that's what some people do you know so uh i'm not going to let anybody take shots at or try and

muddy my relationship because i've seen it happen before it will you know and it happened it happens all the time I believe a private life should be private and that's that's how I've chosen to to keep my relationships it's good to hear I agree I'm not gay you talked a bit about um Seb there and his approach to like health and fitness i actually looked back through my conversations with him before you came and all of our conversations were about health and fitness he'd asked me a few things about social media and some advice there but did that incident also impact how you viewed the health implications of the sport that you do because you know you can get one one hit in boxing and it can and it can cause really bad damage, right?

Has that brought it more into the spotlight for you, the fragility of your health? I hear a lot of boxers talk about not overstaying their welcome. Tyson Fury this weekend, after he won the fight, talked about that as well. Is that front of mind for you when you think about your career? I wouldn't say that what happened with Seb has... No, it hasn't affected how I think about boxing.

You know, I've been doing this game, I've been in this game for a long time. I've been in fights where, you know, I've hurt people to the point where they you know have been in a coma I've fought a man named Nick Blackwell years back and you know he he uh he got taken to hospital he actually died on the way to hospital they had to revive him with an adrenaline shot and he was in a coma for two weeks um you know that that was national news um you know those types of instance of incidents are what really put things into perspective and make

you think about what you're doing and the risks and the implications as a youngster you don't think about it you know when something like that happens then you do think about it and you and you think about it even more as you get older because as you get older especially in boxing you you're affected more by the punishment you take i feel like when i was young it's like I could do anything and I never get hurt. You know, at 32,

you know, you pick up little injuries and, you know, you, the shots you take, you feel them that little bit more than you used to. You start forgetting things, you know?

Do you think that's correlated, that forgetting things? So what you'd forget, like a name or something and you'd yeah and you'd like my recall is is a lot worse than it used to be so you know in my 20s um if i couldn't remember something i'd sit there and within five seconds i get it you know you do that thing when you think about it oh yeah now it's 10 minutes you know i it's it's it's really embarrassing to say but i forgot the name of somebody one time it took me a week every day sitting there like throughout the day whenever i would remember

what was the name what was the name and then a week later bang it just came to me i just i couldn't it was just nuts you know because now now i force myself to remember because it's like you're training your brain it It's called recall. So I'll force myself. I could easily just go on my phone and what was the name again? Google. Oh yeah, that was it. But now I force myself to pull it out of my mind. And there was one particular name

and it took me a whole week before it just snapped back. Do you have recall apps on your phone? I read that somewhere that you had like recall apps on your phone i read that somewhere that you had like a an app on your phone to help you train your brain so i have an app now it's called um elevate and it's basically going to the gym but for your brain you know so i've got here so you've got like spelling recall eloquence, precision. You know, it's games. It's games that you play, you know, vocabulary, math equations,

you know, just little games to play each day and it just keeps your mind working. Your mind, your brain is like a muscle. You know, if you keep using it, the more you use it, the better it gets, right? The stronger it gets. And I think it's important, you know, especially because as you get older you know i do i know i notice it you know i'll go into a room and i'll put my phone down somewhere and then i'll walk off and then i and i'll walk around the room looking for the bloody phone

it's you know and it's like i'm 30 you shouldn't this should not be happening um is that from getting hit in the head i don't know is it just i'm getting i don't know um sounds like me to be honest and i don't get hit in the head i don't drink you know you know i got i got friends they drink every night you know and they're very smart guys you know they're in business they're in economics they're you know they they're in tech they but they drink a lot sometimes so it's like and i i feel like you know drinking kills brain cells right just like a punch would but they seem to be okay i don't know so maybe maybe that maybe that impact is is different. I don't know. We talked about feelings earlier, right? And how there's been a lot of sort of generational changes around men expressing their feelings.

And one of the big changes I think I've seen in the last 10 years from 10 years ago when I was 19 to now is this topic of mental health and men. And I think it's really been pushed to the forefront because the stats around mental health in our country, you know, you've heard them, we've all heard them, that the biggest killer of men under the age of 45 is themselves. And a lot of people point and go, well, why is that?

A lot of the mental health charities cite that men don't express themselves enough, they're not emotional, they don't talk. And we've had all the campaigns about talking and those kinds of things. Have you ever experienced anxiety or depression or any sort of mental health ailment? That's one thing that I do thank God for, is that I've never experienced any of that. It's hard for me to relate to hearing about people with depression and anxiety. Like I've just never experienced anything like that. I know it's a thing, but I'm just an extremely happy and content person. And I'm not saying that to, you know,

pick myself up. That's just how I am. It's like, it doesn't matter what happens. I'll find the bright side. Or if there's something bad going on in my life, I'm able to just cut it off and move on or deal with it to where it stops being an issue. I've never been the type of person

that will let something affect me. From day one in my career, I've been a target. I get a serious amount of shit online to this day. Haters, doubters, non-believers. I have like a whole army dedicated to just sticking it to me on a daily basis online. It's unbelievable. And the funny thing is, if I walk out into the street, it's pictures, it's autographs, it's love. None of these guys are around.

Why is that? You know, I got it at the beginning. Well, actually, I didn't get it. At the beginning, it really got to me because, you know, I'm young, I'm coming into the game. I'm trying to be the, you know, trying to do the best I can. And I've got people constantly coming at me. Oh, you think you're old, man. You're a copycat. You'll never be as good as him. Uh, you're a wannabe, you know? And when I, when I saw, when I first started experiencing this, uh, this hatred and

this, um, you know, this trolling, it did affect me. Um, I didn't get depressed because I'm not the type of person, but angry, you know, why are these people saying these things? What have I done to them? I couldn't understand it, you know. Maybe that is why I had for so many years, that kind of, that stone wall when I was taking pictures, doing interviews, because I'd seen so much, so much negativity online, you know? But then after a while,

I don't know, it just, it just switched one day. And I was just like, why am I getting upset? Why am I getting pissed off with these random guys? I know what it was. Some guy wrote something, I think on my Facebook.

I think I just had a fight and he said, terrible performance. You're an embarrassment to your family name. I hope you get knocked out in your next fight you scumbag right i'm i'm a 22 year old kid i've got something and you know i'm looking i'm like jesus like you know it's just nuts i clicked on his profile i was like i've got to see who said this i mean who is this guy he must be some amazing guy to be saying this to me. And, you know, it was this fat, bloated, just nobody. And he was sitting on his couch with a beer. That was his profile picture. And he had his cat next to him. And

he was in shorts and like a wife beater. You guys don't say wife beater. That's my American thing coming up. Tank top. And I was like, hold on. This is the guy that just called me a scumbag? I'm letting this guy affect my day? No, no, no.

This has got to stop. And from that day on, I just realized it's not, it's not even me. It's, they're unhappy with themselves. They're not unhappy with me. You know, the people that are trolling, you know, they've got whatever they've got going on in their lives. They're upset. They're unhappy. They, and they're projecting that onto other people who are, who they see as doing them, doing well for themselves. And they, you know, oh, he's looking at me, you know, he's got all that. And, you know, let me see if I can bring him down. You know, I'm upset. So let me see if I can make him upset. Like, that sounds crazy to me to do that, but that's what I've come to understand that some people do, you know, they're're unhappy so they want to make other people unhappy with them as soon as i realized that i i never i never worried about trolling or bad comments again i actually and now i actually enjoy them you also must know that it's profitable for

you absolutely mayweather taught us that absolutely yeah i mean in, in boxing, that's another thing which made me stop worrying about it because I knew after a while I started seeing these trolls at my fights. You know, I'd be walking to the ring, boom, you're going to get knocked out, one of me. I'd hear all this stuff walking to the ring, right? And I thought, hold on a second. That guy bought a ticket. He paid to be there to shout at me as I walked past. And I'm, you know, I'm getting a percentage of that ticket. What am I upset about? All right, he shouted at me, but I've just made some money off the guy. So then I understood, right, you shouted at me, but I've just made some money off the guy. So then I understood, right, you have to be a villain or you have to be a hero in the sport of boxing. Love or hate,

you can't be in the middle. I have a lot of fans and I have a lot of haters. Both buy their tickets, both buy their pay-per-view subscription to watch on TV, both get online and talk and build a profile. The guys that are in the middle, they're the guys who don't do well because when you're neutral in the sport of boxing, people don't tune in they don't talk they're not interested it doesn't matter how good of a fighter you are if you're not a character that can inspire emotion whether good or bad then on a saturday night when you get into the ring you know the people will be sitting there when they get off work or wherever they are oh yeah he's fighting tonight, but there's this really hot girl

and she's going to be at this club. Yeah, I'm going to go to the club. I'll watch the replay or I'll just, I'll find out what happened the next day. I don't need to. That's what happens when you're neutral or when people aren't really that interested. If they hate you, forget the girl in the club.

I'm going to that fight to see him get knocked out let's go let's go forget everything else and if they love you forget the girl in the club I want to be there when he wins

those are the guys love and hate that will tune in that will watch you every fight that will talk about you so that's one thing I learned early on

you have to be you have to be a character you have to be something that people can either get behind or get against and that's one thing i learned early on you have to be you you have to be a character you have to be something that people can either get behind or get against and that's very much i feel what i am um at the beginning most people were against me because they saw me as a gimmick as somebody who's just trying to make a quick buck use my name to get a bit of profile have a few fights and then probably go on love island or big brother or whatever it is and you know whatever but then obviously as the years went by

win after win after win a lot of the haters turned into fans um there's still a lot of haters left but you know we're working our way to making them into fans uh slowly but surely quick one we bring in eight people a month to watch these conversations live here in the studio when we're here in the uk and when we're in la if you want to be one of those people all you've got to do is hit subscribe do you feel like your career is complete and if the answer is no what do you think is required in terms of your boxing career? With the knowledge that, as you said before we started, that there is a window of time where you get to do this and you get to do it at the highest level. What is required, if the answer is no, to make you feel that your career was complete?

It's an absolute no. I've had a lot of great fights. I've had a lot of great wins, but there's still so much more left, you know. There's still so many more big fights out there for me to take part in and to win. You know, I want to capture these world titles. You know, I've been a world champion at super middleweight. I'm back down at middleweight now. And, you know, the map is wide open.

There's a lot of great fighters and they have belts. And I can get in with these guys and I can beat these guys. You know, boxing, you do have a short window. But I live my life correctly. I live the boxing lifestyle. is not just a sport it is a lifestyle um you know outside of a fight camp i'm not drinking i'm not doing drugs uh i'm not overeating and blowing up in weight, which so many fighters do. And then they have to spend weeks or months cutting that weight back off to make whatever weight they're going to be at on fight night. I don't do any of that. I stay in the gym. I stay dedicated. I stay healthy. I stay responsible. So that being said, I will be able to fight until,

I will be able to fight effectively, and I would say until I'm 37, 38, 39 years old. I'm 32 now. You know, my father retired at 32. So retirement isn't even close to what I'm thinking about. You know, I am financially stable. But there's still so much more money out there to be made. There's still so much more accolades out there to collect. And I still have a lot left in the tank. To answer your question, no, my career is not complete. Far from it. Even though I've had 34 fights, you know, more fights than a lot of fighters have had,

and 32 wins, it's still not complete. There's still so much more I'm going to do. And the next few years are the money years, and they are the years where I need to fight the best, beat the best, and really cement my legacy. We have a closing tradition on this podcast where the last guest asks the next guest a question. They never know who they're writing it for. They said hello, which is the first time anyone said hello, but hello. I was wondering what you believe happiness is and how it can be achieved. Um, as I said before, I'm an extremely happy person. I may not look at it at times, but I'm

very content. Um, I don't get angry. I don't shout. I don't put other people down. I don't wish bad on other people. If someone's successful, if someone's doing better than me, I look up to that. I praise that. I respect that. You know, other people, they see people succeeding or doing better than them and they think,

oh, I wish he would trip up. You know, why has he got all that? Why is she doing that and I can't do it? Don't be like that. You can never be happy if you're constantly comparing yourself to other people and, you know, not wanting the best for everybody, including yourself. You know, it's a mirror. Life's a mirror. You know, whatever you're projecting is projected back to you. If you're negative, that's what your life is going to be. And that's whether it's thoughts,

that's whether it's tweets, that's whether it's what you're saying to people. Everything comes back around, you know? So happiness is positivity, is being a good person, is being a genuine person. You know, don't lie to people. If you think something's wrong, say it. You know, if you think that somebody's doing something wrong

or that they're doing something wrong or that they're on the wrong path help them because you're helping yourself you know be positive that's the key to happiness chris thank you for doing this it's been a huge honor and i can't wait to see what you do over the next couple of years in your money years in and outside of the ring. And I thank you for giving me the opportunity because, yeah, there's not a lot of people that do get to see this side of me. You know, all they see is the big bad guy in the ring. He's throwing punches. You know, I don't do a lot of interviews like this.

So, yeah, I appreciate you putting me on here and hopefully the fans get to see a different side.