Noel Wilder said that you rank with some of the best in the world and you’re one of the hardest hitters. But in that fight he got a couple in on you too. Were you sore the next day?
Nah. I was out playing football with my brothers the next morning. He didn’t get me that bad.
You’re undefeated as a pro boxer, but have you ever gone up against someone and thought you might lose?
There’s always someone out there with a style that might upset you; I haven’t met him yet. You can never go into a fight with the thought that you might lose. It never even enters my head that I’ll lose a fight. I know what I’m capable of.
Are you as high maintenance as a supermodel when it comes to your diet?
I maintain a healthy diet the whole time and work with a nutritionist, plus my wife’s pregnant at the moment so we eat well – if she weren’t maybe we’d be eating McDonalds every night. Like all boxers you have to watch your weight. I’m eight stone ten, but when you’ve got a high level of fitness you don’t have any problems burning off extra weight. Boxing doesn’t stop me having a good Christmas dinner anyway. The fighting’s the easy part, it’s the conditioning and the dieting before you get in the ring that’s hardest. As I kid I could never eat eggs at Easter because we always had competitions that time of year. That’s a lot of dedication to expect from a youngster.
You used to live in LA. Did you hang out with any of the stars?
I used to train in the Hollywood gym with Mario Lopez and Hilary Swank, when she was doing Million Dollar Baby. Cuba Gooding Jnr, John Travolta and Mickey Rourke used to train there too. Mickey trained there when he made his comeback. He wasn’t a real boxer though, it was all show business. He picked his own opponents, took them out on the piss, got them laid and then hopped in the ring the next day and beat them. We all trained together. Boxing gyms are like that the world over. You can have world-champions and celebrities punching bags beside bricklayers and painters. Would you get that in football? Peter McDonagh, the Irish Lightweight Champion, credited his last win to the help of Uri Geller.
Would you ever employ the services of a spoon-bender?
That wouldn’t be for me. I mean it works for some people and it worked for Peter but I don’t need the psychological edge at this stage and I certainly don’t need the bill. How much was he getting for that?
Can a weak boxer beat someone stronger than him simply by using tactics or psychological games?
A lot of mind games exist but it’s all about knockout power. That’s much more important than strength. You can have the biggest guy with muscles all over him but he couldn’t knock out a baby. I’m a slim guy, there’s very little muscle on me but I’ll knock you out with either hand. You have to have balls.
So what could I do to beat you in a fight?
Pray.
