The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Boxing with Chris Mannix - Paul Spadafora

Episode Date: February 22, 2024

Mannix is joined by former lightweight champion Paul Spadafora, the subject of a new book "Fighting Till the End." Mannix and Spadafora discuss Spadafora's rise in boxing, his battle with drugs and alcohol, his greatest regrets, his pursuit of a fight with Floyd Mayweather and much more. #Volume #HerdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Or somebody, punch him in the face. Anthony Joshua is a composed and ferocious finisher. Watch this. Hosted by S.I.'s Chris Manix. That was my moment. Now with interviews, analysis, and everything going on in the world of boxing. When you have talent, you are given another chance. Here's Chris Manix.

This is Boxing with Chris Manix. Part of the Volume Sports Podcast Network. I want to welcome in everyone. listening on the podcast feed. If you are not a subscriber, get over there. Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you download podcast. Hit that subscribe button so you get this show and all the shows we do in your feed every single week. So we have a good one today. Paul Spadafora is a name most boxing fans are familiar with. He is a former lightweight world champion who made a name for himself in the late 1990s, early 2000s, fought mostly out of Pittsburgh, but appeared on ESPN,

on HBO and was considered a rising star for a number of years. He also lived a life that was demonized by problems with drugs and alcohol problems that led to serious issues outside the ring and were a big reason why his career never lived up to expectations. He is the subject of a new book called Fighting Till the End, which chronicles what was really an outrageous and deeply troubled life. Paul joined me and he opened up but everything. The drinking, the drug use, the near tragic incident where he shot his now wife.

We get into all of it. So stick around for that. Really interesting conversation with Paul Spadafore. Before we get there, a couple housekeeping notes. One, we will have a second episode this week. I'm headed down to Orlando for the DeZone show headline by Edgar Berlanga and Patrick McCrory. Big event for Edgar Burlanga.

for Edgar Berlanga, who really needs to look good in this fight. I'll talk to some people while I'm down there, try to catch Eddie Hearn, try to catch Edgar Berlanga. All else fails. We'll catch Sergio down there. So there will be a second episode later on in the week. Last thing, we have been talking here at the show about doing a live show at some point in the next couple of months.

There is a huge event on April 20th. Ryan Garcia, Devin Haney. That's at a zone fight. Probably in Las Vegas, though no official location has been announced yet. I wanted to gauge the interest of the podcast audience in going to a live show. Are you interested in seeing me and Sergio

and a handful of other boxing guests sit up there and talk boxing for an hour, hour and a half, whatever it may be? If you are, fire off some feedback in the comments on Apple Podcast. podcast on any of my social media channels. Love to get some feedback from the pod audience about a live show in the next couple of months. You guys know I love this audience. You are everywhere. I ran to a podcast listener in Memphis when I was on the road this week. You are terrific.

I love talking boxing with you. I would love to do a live show if there is interest in people showing up for a live show. So let me know about your interest in being a part of that. So with Without further ado, here is my conversation with Paul Spadafore. Okay, so my most frustrating ticket buying experiences often involved looking for tickets to see the late Tom Petty. For many years, I was one of those people that whenever Tom Petty was playing live within 100 miles of me, I would want to go and see him planned. Want to hop in the car, train, plane, whatever.

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Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's superhuman. documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win.

A win is a win. I don't care which I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement

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Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do a little kill? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s.

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Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, joining me now on the podcast is Paul Spadafora, the former lightweight world champion. and he's the subject of a new book called Fighting Till the End. It's a book written by Chris Garnati, available on Amazon and is in bookstores right now. And Paul, I guess my first question for you is,

this is not an autobiography. This is a book written by somebody else. When you first read the book, what was your reaction to it? I mean, it brought back a lot of memories and stuff. And the reason why I did it, I just wanted people that don't know me or anything like that and understand what I was going through and what I went through.

And to be honest, I feel like it's almost an amazing story for me to be, make it to where I made it as a fighter from coming from what I came from. You know what I'm saying? And I want my kids to understand. Let them, I want them to see it. And I want them to, you know what I mean, get to know me before they even was born. So I just wanted to get it out there, you know what I mean? Yeah, when this book first popped on my radar, it brought back some memories for me because

I started covering boxing at Sports Illustrated back around 2008 when you were trying to bounce back and get back into the world title picture. And I remember reading the old stories about you that we did in the 1990s, the Pittsburgh kid, you know, kind of the fourth franchise in that Pittsburgh area. When you were being interviewed for this book and you were reliving, a lot of the things that you went through. What was the most difficult part of it to kind of relive? The most difficult part for me was, listen, I had to live with a pedophile.

I lived with a pedophile for damn near two years until I met P.K. Like, I had nowhere to go. Like, I was living on any porches. I had nowhere to go. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, you know what I'm saying? It was just a rough time.

My mom was having a rough time in her life. and you know my brother my brother was doing his thing doing concrete and stuff so I was like basically but when I met boxing and I met PK it just like everything changed and gave me something like you know whenever you ever

I never had no father so I so he was like my father figure you know what I mean and it was every and it was like I couldn't wait to go to the gym like I I didn't do well in school you know what I'm saying so I would get up in the morning I do my road work

I would try to get up and make it to the first class, but nine times out of ten, I missed all the classes. You know what I mean? Just because I run it. See, that's the thing. Like, when I was coming up, people don't understand. I was when I was 14, 15 years old, I was, I was fighting all the time and I was spawning the pros and everybody that was, anybody in Pittsburgh there was a pro fighter, I would, I would get all of, I'm spawning with them. because P.K.'s gym was pretty nice back there.

And it was Pittsburgh. You know what I mean? I'm not saying it's like out here, but I'm just saying it was a lot of work back there for me. And it got me better. It didn't, to me, and when I turned pro, like, it didn't matter who I fought because I was in the gym working on my craft. So when I did fight whoever they thought they could fight, I know what I could fight. I know I could fight.

I was really like that as a fighter. You know what I'm saying? it just brought back a lot of memories and stuff. You know, and I've been done, I've been, I've been done boxing and stuff like that. And now I'm finally getting back. I finally got myself together. You know what I'm saying? Like, I'm together right now.

Like, I'm clean. I'm living good. You know, I'm married and I have a family. It's like something that I never had. You know what I mean? And I'm just like, I'm excited for, what I'm going to do for boxing in the future. Like even just by, and my YouTube channel, like, just by my girl,

because I don't know how to get on this computer. I'm illiterate with the stuff like this. I'm just telling me, I'm being honest. I'm not good. I'm not a handyman. All I do is box. But listen, I was telling my girl, and this is no cap, I'm being all the way really.

Since she started my YouTube channel, I got a couple guys that are coming in, that want to come in. I'm talking about guys that won the nationals. You know what I'm saying? I'm talking about people that are, that people reached out like my friend Bobby, you know Bobby Chess. And yeah,

and now I'm going to go meet up with them and talk to them and stuff. So it's opening doors for me that I would have never had if I would have never started, even if I would have ever put this book out there, if I would have never, you know, got myself together. You know what I'm saying?

It's just everything's opening up and I'm excited what's going to happen. happen in the future. My gym right now, I'm in here doing this right here. My gym is right now people aren't there working. So you know what I mean? It makes me feel happy. Very early in the book, you dropped the bomb that you voluntarily moved in with a child molester with a pedophile. Explain that. Well, this is how it worked out. Listen, I had nowhere to go, nowhere, nowhere to go. Like came home from my, I came home from school. I had a padlock on the door.

You know what I mean? I kind of knew that this guy, listen, no one's talking. I'm just going to keep a word with you. No, I've never been touched like that, but I'm going to keep it real with you. At the school I was going to, he was always with the kids

and always paying attention to the kids. And he took a liking into me. And you got to remember, I used to play football and stuff like that. You know, I was a little kid. You know what I'm saying? But it's the only way I could get, it's the only way I would be able to get spikes. Only way I would be able to get a face mask.

The only way I would get, you know, once I got introduced to PK, and then I was able to go on my own and do my own thing because P.K. basically adopted me, be basically, you know what I mean? If I wasn't at the gym, my rent wasn't getting paid. I was, I was on my own when I was young, 16 years old. You understand what I'm saying? So it was like, you know what I'm talking about? My decision for me to do that, I don't think I had another decision.

I mean, any other decision could be life in jail. Because the people that were at my neighborhood, most of my friends are doing life. Most of my friends got 10, 20 years. You know what I'm saying? So I just didn't want to be that person. You know what I'm saying? So I had to do what I had to do to get what I had to get. And that's what happened.

So you're coming up in the early 1990s, you know, coming up the amateur ranks, you're a very skilled guy. And at some point along the way, you get involved in an incident where you get shot. Explain what happened there and how that impacted your career. Well, well, I went, I was at a party with a friend of mine, right? It was in the, and the crazy thing is, listen to this. So I was sparring with Eric Ptoleck. He was getting ready to fight, Hector Camacho.

I was, at the time, at the time, I was, I mean, I'm, I, Eric's my friend, but I was, it was murder. You know what I'm saying? I was, I was 16 years old doing, doing, I won the most outstanding boxer. I beat Eric Green was ranked number one in the country as a, as a, uh, J.O. I beat, I, I went, ran through Williamsport, ran through Pittsburgh, and I was going to the national. I don't know if it said this in a book. but the day before I was leaving, I got mad at my trainer,

because my trainer told me, P.K., he's like, I'm not going, I'm not going to be able to go to the nationals with you because Eric's fighting Camacho. I got to be at the show. Meanwhile, I'm thinking he wasn't going to be. I didn't want to get on a plane without him.

I didn't want to go without him. So I went to a party. I was one to the party. You're not going to go to the day. I was like, I'm not saying going to go. Listen. this, listen to this. I went to

that party. My friend wanted to take this girl home. We was kids. While I run, I have no idea, but we did. You know what I'm saying? We went running, we ran from them, and that's what they came, they brought, come up to the car, and that's what happened. It shot me. You know what I mean?

I mean, there was no criminal, there was no, no one did no criminal thing. It was what they did. That was what they did. You know what I mean? But, and that's what happened. And how it's, changed my life tremendously. I mean, in a crazy way, because that was the hardest time in my life ever when I never, I thought, because they tell me I was ever going to fight again. If I don't

never fight, I'm probably not going to be here. You know what I'm saying? Like, I'm just keeping it real with you. Boxing wasn't in my life. I probably wasn't going to be here, like here as a human. You know what I mean? Like my dad died at 33. My whole family had, had drug addictions and alcohol addictions. You understand what I'm saying? So boxing say when I got my leg together, it was hard for me to sit down on my left hand. I'm really naturally a right-hander. So I was fighting left-handed, but in the amateurs, I had a lot of stoppages just by going to the body. So listen to this.

So it made me develop a style that was, how can I run? I have no legs. I literally got no legs to run around the ring acting crazy. No, I had to do my thing. If you ever see me boxed, I'm right in front of you, but I'm not in front of you. You know what I'm saying? I'm taking little angles and putting things. I'm getting myself in position because I believe, well, I know.

I don't have to believe. I know positioning will be power and speed every day all day. If you're in a position where you can't hit me, you're booked, you know? You were, you finished with 49 wins, 491 and 1. but the story of this book, the theme of this book, seems to be a man that spends his life battling demons, specifically alcohol, drugs. When did that become a problem for you?

Drugs didn't come into my life until I was 28, but alcohol was in my life since I was like seven years old. I was drinking when I was seven years old, but I always drank. I always, it was always a problem. You know what was you know the thing about that is check this out So when I first when I would when I first turn pro I was making $50 a round You understand so I I really didn't have enough time that I had to get back in the gym to get the fights

I was fighting once a month sometimes twice a month So my benches I always had binge I couldn't wait to fight so I can fight Fight just to go drink fight just you know what I'm saying But now when I won the title, I had money. Now you can't get on HBO every month. You understand what I'm saying? Now the benches are becoming more benches than it is more boxing. And it caught up to me.

Heavy. When you think back of those days, as far as low points for you go, what would you identify as a low point? my little point was after when I come home from prison and I just got I didn't get no boxing fights no real fights you know what I mean no real fights that I even like cared about

you know what I'm saying like and they just it and then they told me I was going to fight Floyd I was in there that was the lowest point of my life right there because I had to get then then I went to I had to be in a squad house that's even that was after I had to This is after. So I went from never having no money to having money and then back to that not having no money.

You got to remember, I mean, I love Mike. He did a great job with my career. But listen, I'm going to keep, listen, from 1990, when I got out of prison in 96, until I met Roy Jones, I never made $1. I didn't make no money. I didn't make everything. I don't know what would happen. They might pay for my kids. My managers are great people.

But I have they have they I I cost them money because of my my demons Well now we can't have you train in here you got to move but go to Gary you have to get go to Gary Indiana You got to go to Los Vegas. You got to go to out here with Jesse you got to so basically I'm paying for me to where I'm staying at off my fight I ain't making no money when they when that Floyd fight never because when I was supposed to fight for Floyd when he fought Victor Ortiz That's what they told me. Who know the pride wasn't true. Who knows? You know how boxing this.

You know how people are too. This is boxing. So not everybody's word is what it is. You know what I mean? So yeah, man, it was, it was definitely a rough time. You know what though? It's what I like to have had to tell my girl. A rough time, but I lived it.

You know what I mean? It's hard to make anything rough for me right now. You know what I mean? Let me just give you for an example. I got to the trouble with the law, and this is like probably seven, eight years ago. Me and my brother got my brother passed away. We got to do it. Man, I was on a porch.

They beat me for three hours straight. They takes me seven times, seven cops. I had seven aggravated assaults on the cops and I'm handcuffed. But the reason why I told you that is because my indoor to, to, to, take it, I can take it. I can take it. You know what I'm saying? And I know that I would never have been able to endorse something stuff like that if I wouldn't never have to live the way I was living at the time.

And you know what? I don't blame out on nobody. I can tell you right now, I blame that all on myself. That's all my stuff. Nah, man, you can't do. You have to be a man enough. Listen, I told my manager, I said, listen, I love Mike. But I have to leave them.

I have to leave them. I have to, I can't, I can't listen to more lives no more. I'm not fighting nobody. I'm going, I'm going from one of the most active fighters to not, no action. You know what I'm saying? So it was like I had to, I had to leave my guy. And I went with Roy, everything Roy Jones said he would do for me, he did it to the tee. Every, I didn't come through because of my dumb stuff.

You know what I'm saying? but it wasn't because of no one but me. You know what I mean? So let me ask you this because there, again, there were a couple of or a few eye-catching moments in the book where I kind of sat back and was like, wow. One of those moments was the night that you accidentally shot Nadine, who is your wife.

When you think back on that moment, what do you think about? How did it all unfold and how did you get past it to the point? where you two are back together? Well, she knows me. She knows who I am. Like, I was blacked out. Well, I wouldn't touch.

I don't fight nobody. I don't hurt nobody. You know what I'm saying? Like when I'm not drinking, it's like Jack wouldn't hide. You know, and she understood that. She understood that. You know what I mean? Not too many people would be able to understand something like that.

But think about that. You know, and it makes me. It makes me, I'm just, because I let her down, I hurt her. But not only that, I let a lot of people down in my life. I let, I let, man, bro, I let my whole city down. You know what I'm saying? Like, I was bringing in a lot of people that was coming to them fights. You know, I let my family down, my brother, my nephews, you know what I mean?

Like, that shit was crazy. Like, it was something that was different, man. It was just crazy. You know, obviously when you look back in your career, I'm sure there are a lot of things you would have done differently, most notably the drinking and drug use. But from a boxing perspective, what would you have done differently if you could go back and do it again? See, back in the day, we was never like, I'm not, I wouldn't look, the man, the man, like when I fought, when I fought Cardona, and they're talking about me fighting God or he can fight. God, he can fight man, Freddie. This is 99.

I would put him in there with Stevie Johnson. Then why didn't you? Then why didn't I fight them guys? You tell me why. It wasn't because I didn't want to fight him. It wasn't, there was no, I didn't want to, but that was the dream of, if you're, once you win the title, you want to be the best champion.

Finally got a chance to unify with Leonard Dorn. That took how many years. You know what I'm saying? I get kind of, you see how mad I get when I think about. that. And then we had a draw, and then we had a draw, which I really don't think it was a draw. I think I won the fight. That's just me. I think I knocked him down in the fourth round. That's his me. But on top of that, though, when I went, he, he, we had a agreement. We had a rematch coming. And the rematch was going to be at a neutral site. I didn't care. I knew I was going to

stop him with body shots. I told my brother, I said, he can't take it to the body. This guy can't, and I was killing him to the body. He was making different noises. Man, I'm in a boxing camp. He retires. That night, I go, that happens to me. That day, that night, like the night. You know what I mean?

Boom. I went to the county jail for drinking. I didn't, I got right out because I didn't do nothing wrong. I went right to the bar drinking, kept drinking, and blacked out. And that happened. And it was, and then, bro, when I woke up in that, County Jail. And I'm all over to know all over every five. You got to remember every five seconds they're putting you, I'm like when I start drinking, I'm, I go there. You know what I mean? I mean

torture. I'm a torture. You know, I'm just being honest with you. So they're coming up to the cell. It ain't looking like she's going to make a champ. So it was a, it was, it was in you, I'm not, there's not words can't even explain how serious it was. there were a couple of kind of critical points of your boxing career you mentioned the Leonard Doran fight where that was a draw there was as you said plans for a rematch that rematch never happened you move up to 140 and things were really never the same after that what what would have happened do you think with your career if there had been a rematch with Leonard Doran and why wasn't there ultimately a rematch of that fight well he retired

at camp. You could Google that. Leonard Dorn retired at camp. Came out of retirement and father of Toro Gadi. Got knocked out with a body shot. What would have happened if that would have never happened that night? I would have went on and beat Leonard Dorn.

I'd have had Mayweather's his HBO deal was already up. So I would have had two I'd have been the WBA champion and the IBF champion and me and Mayweb, I think that we would have been able to unify the belt either I win or I lose,

but at least I fought Floyd Mayweather. Like, that's like the best fighter ever. It's like a dream thing to do if you're a real fighter. You want to fight the best people, you know what I'm saying? But it didn't work out like that. But it's all good because, you know what? It's going to work out eventually. In boxing, it don't lie.

If you know what you're doing in boxing, I don't care what it is. I'm not a boxing anymore. I don't fight no more. sometimes I sport, but I shouldn't do that either. I'm just being serious. But listen, but I know I'm a trainer. So I like it too being a four, I'm a four-round trainer. That's what I call myself.

Because I got to prove to everybody what I can do. You know what I'm just like every trainer has to prove their way before they make it. You just don't get like, here's a gift, here's a gift. Not everybody gets gifts like that. You know what I'm saying? And me personally, I prefer starting them from the beginning to up because if you have a bad happy, guess what, that's all me because you should never have no bad habits when my eyes are on you because little bad habits are hard to break. You know what I'm saying?

Explain your history with Floyd Mayweather. That's a big part of this book as well. He's woven in, he's well, he's woven in a few times during this book. I mean, you guys were both amateurs right around the same time. You turn pro right around the same time. And there is this infamous story of you and Floyd sparring where you apparently got the better of him. Explain kind of the history between you two. Floyd always was a great fighter.

I remember Floyd and the amateurs. He was like unbelievable fighter, you know what I'm saying? So it was just like, but it was just spawn. So I was in the gym, I was fighting. I was training getting ready to fight. I'm talking 10 days before. fight and he coming I was born with all mr. Mayweather's uh fighters and I was doing well against them so I guess he got kind of like I got somebody for you guys and he brought his son in

you know I mean I mean like I just came to the gym to sport him I didn't know who who I was I was I was for you know what I mean and we we sport and and and then whoever did put it on the YouTube and all that I believe me personally I believe that's why I never got the fight I believe that's why I probably never get no kind of exhibition with with them or anything like that because that's just my my opinion on about that you know what I mean and I look at it like it's a sparring match for anybody to think of me as like oh well he he's sport he got he got the best out of Mayweather look check us out I can fight for real I'm a boxer I'm a boxer I'm a boxer I'm a boxer like I'm a hit not get hit

I can I can I know how to fight I know how to use the whole clock I know how to do I know how to work but I not do boxing I know the road work I mean I'm saying that I don't know too much but guess what though I don't know at all is you learn something every day especially when you're doing this because you learn off a different individuals instead of always focusing on yourself you when you're training people you got to you're responsible for them and some people people don't get it the way everyone gets it. But once they get it their way, you just got to find a way to make it right. You know what I'm saying? I like doing what I'm doing right now. I'm excited as hell, especially about my YouTube channel coming up where I get, where I do what I do. And I think,

I just think that I just think I'm going to be able to help boxers. You know what I mean? I don't, I'm worried about helping anybody else. I can't tell you on. Hey, listen. Oh, I can, I'll help you take your groceries to your car. If you need some concrete, I'll pick it up and shit like that, pour some trees down and some shit like that. But I'll be able to help boxers. I mean, help them. Let me ask you, in 2010 and into 2011, you were back.

You were having some success. As you mentioned, there was talk of a fight between you and Floyd Mayweather. Ultimately, Floyd chooses to fight Victor Ortiz. what did not getting that fight do to you? Oh, I was glad. Well, I was dead. Two days later, I was dead for an OD, two days later. And I never, and I didn't even, I never was like that with them, that drove with heroin.

I specifically left the house, went and copped and died. That's what that did. And it was terrible. when I came up, when I woke up, and my manager, it was just terrible, and it was just bad. I mean, everything was bad because my manager didn't want me to leave Mike, and I refused to, what am I going to do? Keep not getting fights. Keep dying.

No, no, I wasn't doing that. So I had to go do, I had to get, do a whole new thing. And at the time, I had no money. I had to go to be at a squad house. And then once my friend Mark Mackie seen how I was living, and he was like, he was like, Paul, man, you don't need to do this to yourself. Once you go to rehab, he said, I can, I was like, well, I can go to rehab because this is we're in December, motherfucker, and it's, and there ain't no heat in this house.

And I ain't got no water in this house. So, yeah, rehab sounds really nice right now. I'm going, ASAP. I'm in Miami. I go to that nice, beautiful-ass rehab. It was so crazy. And I went there and then Tommy hooked me up with Roy and Roy come down. And you know what I'm saying?

And the craziest part about one I'm about to tell you, you might not believe it or not, but I'm telling you it's a fact. That South Paul movie, that was my, I was in the, I was, they flew me out from the rehab. At the time, that rehab was called Transitions. The Lee was in the making movies. And I sat and told everybody my story and this and that. And they kept me there for a year and a half. My boxing gym, they made a boxing gym like, that boxing gym right there cost me $20,000.

That boxing gym, they made a boxing gym in their rehab for me to be there. Buddy McGirt was coming up and training me. And I felt like, you know what I mean? meanwhile I'm not even knowing but you can't I'm not going to be a boxer at a rehab you can't be training in it they're living at the rehab and then you know what I'm saying it just Roy wanted me to go be with Tommy and that's what I did but they made them they made a movie they made a fucking movie that's real shit that's that's crazy it's crazy it's like nuts like if you look at the the wedding's coming up before the move that's the same steps that I ran up

when they did that little inspirational video. And I couldn't believe that on that note. I couldn't believe it. I just didn't know there was people, didn't know there was people that calculated. Yeah. Your last fight in 2014, you won. You beat Hector Velazquez in an eight-round decision.

How did you know that you were done? I was done. I was done. When I was getting, I was getting, even in the, you know how you're done. This is what P.K taught me. when you get hit with shots, you've never been hurt with them type of shots. Now you're getting hit with anything you're getting hurt.

It's over. Now, Pernela, Pernil used to tell me, you don't want to be chasing. I don't want it. What am I, chasing what? And listen to this. Even after that fight, I went out to Las Vegas.

I went with Kenny Porter and then I thought I was going to get a chance to fight Adrian Brun. Of course, you would want to do that. Who would not want to do that at the time? and for real A, B is one of my favorite fighters. And at the time, he was a beast, like a real beast. And of course, you wouldn't want to end your life with that. Me, personally.

That's my, my, me, who I am. So I went out to Las Vegas. I was winning for six months. And Kenny was like, no, you're done. You know what I mean? When you're getting hit it, I wasn't even allowed this for Sean. Sean wasn't even allowed this for me. You know what I mean?

You just working on his defense. You know what I'm saying? I'm just keeping it real. You know what I mean? I'm not embarrassed about that. I'm 40 years old. You know what I mean? I was 40 years old.

I mean, I mean, to say that I was 40, so if I'm saying I'm 40, I'm probably 80 with the life I'm 80. I'm 80. I'm 80. I'm 70. Yeah. This book, it wraps really last year. You know, it goes all the way into 2003 writing about. your life and where you're at health-wise. And as recently as early 2023, you were still having

some issues with alcohol. Yes. In the book, it says you've had a handle on that since this past summer. Is that still true? And how confident are you that you do have control of these demons? Well, I'm 100% confident. But I'm a hundred percent confident. Hers is out of confidence. there's one day at a time. It ain't no, and like, it's just one day at a time. And my schedule,

the way that I, my girl puts my schedule together, it makes it, and I'm already healthy. I feel great. So it's, it starts to, look,

it'll always be there. I don't, but it's, it's, it's, it's almost like, I was telling my girl, that shit's almost,

it was like a phase. Like, damn, that was a long-ass face. They dis, This never stopped destroying my life. I have never been in no trouble if I wasn't drinking. I'm talking about never.

I've never been arrested. None of that stuff. None of that. No fistfights. None of that stuff. If I was drinking, I'm 10 times. I'm in trouble like pretty, pretty fucking fast. Like if I go drinking, I'm probably going to be in trouble tonight.

You know what I'm trying to say? Mm-hmm. So, you know, and it was just like, you know, every, everything, everything, every, how do you say? Everything, everything, everything, everything got to come to an end when it's, when, when, when, when, when you're living that type of lifestyle or you will come to an end. You know? My dad passed away. He was 33 years old. I'm 48.

before I let you go the great what-if of Paul Spadafora and Floyd Mayweather at your best and Floyd at his best what happens in a fight like that I mean here's the only thing you can listen to I'm going to tell you this probably just take us out if he if his perspective

was what it was when he seen me and told me I'm going to run right through you then that would not happen. Like he would lose probably seven, eight rounds. And then he didn't get, he's more enough to understand that, boy, this ain't working with this. So he'd have to, it would be a good. I mean, I'm confident when I'm at my best, when I was at my best, I don't, how do I, how do I, I can't see too many people beating me like that. I just don't.

Especially, but listen, no, hear me out. If Floyd's boxing the way Floyd boxes, like the boxing floor, the guy who moves in boxes, that's a problem for me. Who am I going to lie? Who are you? That's Floyd Mayweb. He's the best effort. You know what I mean?

I'm not a jerk off, dude. I'm a real person. I'm not a jerk off. Come on. Well, Paul, it's a gripping book from start to finish. It's called Fighting Till the End, available on Amazon and in bookstores. I appreciate your time, Paul. and good luck with everything moving forward.

Thank you, man. I appreciate it, man. Thanks for having me on, man. Thank you very much. That's it for this week's episode. My thanks to Paul Spadafor if I'm joining the show. As always, subscribe, rate, review this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you download podcast. And I will see you later in the week. Manix, I'm a man on the run and I'm not doing your fucking podcast.

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