#164 - This Is What Happens When You Keep Showing Up For Yourself I Leon Scott 💥

Leon Scott is an entrepreneur, boxer, model, former footballer and co-owner of eyewear brand Circular.

From humble beginnings, Leon went on to play football at a high level, become the face of global brands, build a successful business, step into the boxing ring at almost 40, and complete his first marathon.

In this episode of The RunThrough Podcast, Leon joins Ben Sheppard to talk resilience, fatherhood, self-belief, entrepreneurship, boxing, mental strength and why keeping promises to yourself can change your life.

From modeling campaigns and business success to having a war in his first boxing fight and coming back stronger, Leon’s story is proof that growth happens when you lean into discomfort.

🎧 Subscribe for more episodes of The RunThrough Podcast.

Leon Scott - https://www.instagram.com/leon3scott/

Ben Sheppard - https://www.instagram.com/bensheppard93/

Transcript

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Welcome back to the Friends Food Podcast. It's French. And let me ask you a question. What happens when you decide to keep going at Feed Star? Leon Scar is an entrepreneur. From Hustle beginnings, Leonard, we're also high levels. And we completely first marathon a couple of weeks after. In its episode, we get into resilience, fatherhood, self-belief, entrepreneurship, boxing mental strength tests, and what you can really change life. From modeling campaigns and business success to having a war in its first coming back to strong, Leon is proof that growth happens when you lean into discomfort. It's a class conversation. It's not exercising. If you just get exercised, I thought of the food. If I thought I might get a little bit snappy, I might get a little bit food. So this is the furthest I was ever running. As long as my legs hold up, I'll be okay. Obviously, I was disappointed and got the draw. As I reflect and got to speak to real bottom people and real bottom coaches, he said, that's your first fight. The best thing had ever happened to you. So it had everything that you needed. My name is Leon Sco. I've been involved in the fashion and fitness industry over 15 years now. Going right right back to my beginning of my career, my background, it was specializing in working with autistic and dancing drum. That was my day-to-day job. Then I moved into football. Very successful years. I had a good career at the lower end with Darlington, Scarborough, Harrigates, Whitby Town, Newcastle Blue Star. Over several football clubs that are, you know, conference level football. And again, winning the leagues with Darlton was probably one of my highlights in football with them having over 3,000 supporters at each game. It's a very big club for where it is. Then from football, I was it actually came from football. I um was scouted to be a model, something that I'd never considered. And then from then on, it was a bit of a snowball effect. The next following 10 to 15 years, I was able to travel around the world. Um in the face of many different brands. Nike being one of them, um, been on billboards around the world, you know, um LA, Dubai, New York. Um all the places to be honest, that I never thought I'd be able to get to travel. Um, because like my upbringing was um a single parent, my mom and Nana raised me um from a council estate. Um so I was very fortunate of what I was seeing and what I was doing uh in them 12, uh, 10, 15 years I've been a fitness model. I was able to feature on Men's Health. Um, the day the the Sunday Sun compared me in their back page when I was playing football and modelling, crossing the two over. As is this is this guy more ripped than Ronaldo? That was the headline at the time at the back of the papers. Um, as as it was a little bit of a difficult, well, I say difficult, it was a very good position to be in. My football, but I was doing well with my football, but modelling was also taken off, so it was almost like a crossover between the two. Sometimes the model and that come before the football, as it was a bigger job. Um, so it was uh it was a bit of a difficult trick uh juggling the two, but it wasn't a bad position to be in. Um as my modelling career, I still model now, but as my modelling career slowly came to an end, um I went into a business with a guy called Danny Buck, who owned, he originally owned the brand called Um Circular. It was uh a watch brand. Um ERC had come into business with him. I didn't believe back then that a watch brand had much legs in it in terms of lifeline. Um people rather wear uh an Apple but a fitness watch or a really expensive watch. So I didn't think there was a market for continuously changing watches, but I did believe in sunglasses, eyewear. Um, I believe eyewear is part of an everyday wear you can change your eyewear to how you look. There's you know blue lights, prescriptions is running, there's all sorts of uh eyewear out there. So we switched the brand to an eyewear brand, me and him, very successful in that, and then we started moving on that. Then we got uh an investor in board. Uh, in terms of an investor, he came on board, but he was also very um brand driven. He believed the brand uh it fit with his ethos, was a bit star from the sideman. Um he jumped on board, he invested into the brand. Like say he's he front leads the brand. It it wasn't just for us, it was important that we didn't just get an investor, we got someone who was uh passionate about the brand, who believed in the brand, and he did after hundreds of meetings back and forth to London. We uh we finally got it over the line. So currently running my own iwear brand, and then as football as football came to an end, um I wanted to take on a new challenge, and that new challenge would have been boxing, um, which was a bit of a bizarre one because it does require a lot from the body, and I'm getting older, I'm 40 in two weeks, two weeks today. So we I went into boxing, I went to my local gym with a bit of a goal, told the coach I want to have to have a fight, so if you have a fucking fossil said, no. So I looked at me a bit bizarre, but again, I'm very lucky and fortunate with my following and presence. So the boxing industry is sort of moving that way in terms of uh it's a bit harsh on the real boxers because you almost have to it's a social media is a bit of a presence as part of you know, not can you fight, it's what can you bring. Um which it has pros and cons in that. Um so yeah, I had a goal on that to fight. Uh and I did, I got on a card out in Dubai, fought in Dubai in front of thousands, it was on paint of view. My first fight was a bit of a wild one. Um we drew it, but he the guy actually dropped me once and I dropped in twice, a bit of a rough fight for my first fight, as so I'm getting told. Uh apparently your first fight's meant to be a bit of a warm-up, but this was a full-on war. So I wanted I wanted to do it again from the back of that, let's say the least, I wanted to get away. Um, so we did. We fought at uh Sunderland Arena, got that win, and then got a bit of a bug for it, to be honest. And then I've recently fought back out in Dubai and won that one, and now we're looking for another one. My main aim is uh to get a fight on misfits, so that's me in and out. And now I'm a I'm a dad to a two-year-old, uh the only one. Um he was a IVF baby, me and my partner were try uh trying for many years, but then we were very, very lucky and fortunate again. First time around, IVF. It worked, it happened. Uh, and we had our little boy called Cruz Fio, Cruz and the Crucify, and uh Fio meaning a gift from God. So yeah, I'm a I'm a dad now and a very busy, uh let's say a businessman, a drilling junkie in terms of what can I do next. What mate, what's that like? Like talking about you know the A to Z of you basically, like what you've done over the years and where you're at now. Like it's gotta be kind of weird going back and thinking about the whole journey because it has been some journey. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's sometimes I do get caught on my own on my own self-critic in terms of my partner's very good at me and reminds me to slow down because I obviously I I've done a lot of you know reading and I've been to meditation camps and retreats, and so I'm I'm I'm very well educated on the mindfulness and that side of it, but I'm a worse corporate in terms of I never really pause to slow down and have this like type of conversation with myself. It's almost well, I did end on it then. It's like what next? It's like just relax and just remind what you do. And I do sometimes put a lot of pressure on myself, but I guess my partner she she pulls that in and she does help with that a lot. But yeah, it it's crazy when I look back on it to see you know, the last let's say the last 20 years now. I've been involved in you know football, modelling, fitness, um caring uh out in the community was my original job for you know that was three years. It was intense, rewarding with autistic and dancing drunkids. Um a lot of that I learned a lot about myself in that job, to be honest, going into the real world, just regarding gratefulness and what my body's capable of doing, anyone some other people would would die to be able to do what what I can do. So I never take anything uh for granted, but it is crazy when I do, you know, have that little moment and pause and look back. When you look back at like the years spent in a change room and playing football, and then kind of I guess relating it to where you are today, and you know, boxing's very individual, isn't it? It's like you and you, and you're the person that like the buck falls with. Whereas you can actually have a pretty good game and still lose, can't you, when you're in a change room. Like, what is the difference between those two things? And that's got to be was that a bit weird getting your head round in the first instance? It was, yeah. Boxing is uh I seen and identified and felt it's very lonely. Um when you take it to the level of uh fight level, competitive level, it's like you say, foot football, you could I I was centre-made, I was a bit of an engine, but at the same time, you're right, I could we could I could have a bad game and we could win. So, all in all, it's a good day. But you're not going to get hurt. Buff when you flip the boxer, if you have a bad day, you're potentially going to get your nose broke. Uh you know, so not only are you fatigued and alone, someone's coming to hurt you. So, football, I could like pre-season. I related it to the boys when they asked. It's like, you know, when we're in pre-season and you're just really fatigued and you're gonna you're gonna spew up because you've not done the F side for a long time and you're back from all days. You can sort of lie down and be sick, and that's okay. But whereas boxing, you're fatigue, you feel sick, you feel dizzy. You can't lie down because someone's gonna punch your head. You know, so you've got it's testing a different um it's it's it's testing different places, uh mentally, not just physically, mentally. Like you've got to be switched on. And like I said, the one of the the main reasons I love that is because when every time I pull up for sparring at the gym, I'm like, here we go again. I'm gonna literally potentially get my head punched in, I'll come out with bust noses and what have you. But I always I'm not really going to die. So if I get out, I'm gonna be okay. I'm gonna be okay. If anything, when I come back to my car, I'm gonna be a stronger person. It's gonna make me you know more aware of life tests or life situations that might feel overwhelming. I'll be like, no, I can tackle that a little bit better because I've my I've got less brain fog. I've if I can tackle that, I can tackle that, which is you know, life itself. Um, it allows me to come back to life, you know, a little bit more energised. My partner knows that now and she's on board, which is good. Like if she knows I'm not I'm not offload, she's like, you need to go and do something. Yeah, yeah. It's like getting that getting that demon out of you, isn't it? Like that's that's I mean, I think a lot of people listening to this will be able to relate to that because I'm the same if I've got like a busy period in life or whatever, and the first thing that goes out the door is training, isn't it? Sometimes because you're like, that's one thing that I can just kind of put to the back burner for a second. But actually, that makes it even worse because then you feel stressed more and you feel more overwhelmed. You're like, you need to make sure that that's kind of still there front and centre. And I imagine like coming out of playing, you know, sport. I know you said you're not retired quite yet from football, but coming out of playing, like, you know, training on X day and playing on X Day, like there's so much rigidity and structure to that. It must be a bit weird then when you come out of that. And I know you went into kind of the modelling game for a long time, but you lose that structure, I would imagine. So it's like getting that back, isn't it? It's it's adapting to uh you know what's next. And it's for me, it's not so much like I've read a good book, Chim Paradox, and it's basically it's the chimp inside my head, and he needs exercising. If he doesn't get exercise, he rattles in the cage. Well, that's like demonstrating in my head. It's like I can hear him saying exercise me, exercise me. And if I don't, I might get a little bit snappy, I might get a little bit moody. So I always call it exercise the chimp, you know. I mean, and then he'll go because I'm never gonna get rid of him because I've got obviously life issues, life problems, he's always there, it's just how I manage him. Um, can I can I settle in so he goes back to his cage a little bit more peaceful until the next day he's gonna start rattling my cage again and want to exercise, so it's managing the chimp inside me that will always, you know, and he'll sometimes go against me and saying I just have that deal, I'm alright. And then I'll I'll half believe that, and then next minute he's rattling the cage, I'm like, You wanted the deal. And these are the little battles, you know, within the chimp, within my head that I'm having. So I don't believe he's ever gonna go, but it's managing him with with the right pattern, with the right, with the right routine at the right time, uh, and it's always adapting, it's always changing. There's nothing I'll get a really good set structure, and then some of it might just get shot in the spanner in the works, and I'm just like, right, we need to adapt here. Uh, and I think that that is the main thing, it's just being able to adapt but still work with it. And again, I have a it's a three-day rule where I try not to go longer than three days without any exercise, and that can be as little as a walk. If I'm three days, if I'm three days past, I'm like, there's a problem, there's something's going on. I need to I need to get back out there. It's that recalibration, then, isn't it? Yeah, I mate. I find it really interesting when you were talking about the boxing portion, and you said like I went to a gym and went there for the first time and was kind of like, kind of want to fight. And they were like, Yeah, have you ever done this before? And you were like, Well, no. What why did you know that that's quite um put it bluntly, it's quite a ballsy move, isn't it? To go into a boxing gym and be like, I want to fight. Like, where where did that come from? Why did you want to do that? Again, it was another personal task. I was like, what in terms of what next the type of person I am? Football, everything else, I was gonna go to something. Maybe it required a little bit of a team effort, but this was on my doorstep, there's a few lads that were already doing it, past family members have done it, and I've just never done it because yeah, I I probably am I'm known as a little bit of a the good-looking one, so I was like, You don't want to get your face damaged. I was like, Well, my foot my career's sort of coming to an end now, so it's not that bad. Although I recently had my nose fixed, and my parents like, why are you starting pockets of the sinus? That's just a stupid thing. Well, I could have struggled with my breathing and got it fixed, but now I'm I'm probably gonna do it again. So but it's funny one life. I don't want to be that guy, you know. That two-year-old was a massive uh reason and passionate to do it. I don't want to be that guy who who could have done it when he could have done it and didn't do it. You know, it's like I remember when I could have done that, but now I physically can't. I'm just trying to take advantage of maybe not at a high, high level, but just taking little risks where it's challenging myself physically and mentally, just you know, to awfully being inspirational to him, and regardless of the age, you can still take on challenges that seem difficult. Where does that come from? The like, I'm gonna do the thing. Because you've you like you've you've kind of done that right through your life when you look back at your life story, you do what you want to do and you like challenge yourself to do it, but that's got to come from somewhere. I think that comes from my mum and nana. I was raised by them. Um, you know, I didn't have my dad's uh because he moved back to his company when I was four years old. So I didn't really have a connection with him, but my mum and nana from me looking on to them, they always were they were always givers, but they were always trying to do something, they were never you know waiting for things to happen. I just and that's right. I see my mum, you know, provide the family of five with very little that she's got, but she'd always make the most of it. My nana would also do the same. So it I I'd say I'd seen them for my own eyes that they were, you know, they were hungry to make the best of what they had. So now it's it sort of comes from them, I believe, in terms of my passion to do things that are hard. I think as well, like for anybody that follows you on social, and I'm sure many people listening are, and we'll stick your links in the bio as well if if you don't go and check Leon out. But like one thing I notice is what a passionate dad you are, and I think obviously part of that probably does come from your mum and your nana as well, and kind of your upbringing. Um and you yeah, you I mean, it's obvious to see how much you love your family and you love your little one when you did become a dad and you went through that journey. Like, what's it like finally having somebody that's been brought into the world after the difficult times? It was there's no feeling like it. Obviously, people with parenting would understand it, but I had friends saying like they had kids, it's like, what's it like? Nothing like that. It can't be that good. That's not the kid. But then when we actually had cruise, I was like, wow, this is like everything's changed, everything is different now. It's just like and it's hard to put into words that what I mean by different. It's just me and my partner sometimes sit at all and be like, what did we do when we didn't have cruise? Because neither of us drink, and I everything revolves around him now, it's bigger than me. Um and I understand when I say bigger than bigger than me, I've still got to put myself first in certain situations for me to go back to him to be the man I want to be. So that doesn't mean just like uh what he says goes, because if I just you know either let him lead, he's still a child at the end of the day, and he he just couldn't he does sometimes. His mum says, You let him do what he wants, you know, you've been too nice, but that's me just you know wanting to give him what he wants, but at the same time, I've got to you know, but pull it back a little bit, let him learn his own way instead of me giving everything, and that's how I want it, because that's how I had it. But the only thing I didn't have that he's got is he's gonna have a present, he's gonna have a present dad that's always there and gonna support him in everything he does. Yeah, and I I I I I love the way you put that. Like, you want to you almost want to be the person that he looks up to, and to do that, like you have to be the person that's doing the thing and doing what you're doing and moving forward and progress in your own personal life as well. Because if you're not doing that, you're not putting across the messages that you want to put across lessons, yeah. And and I'm a big believer of that in my mum teaching uh teaching, you know, he's he's not gonna learn by me telling, he's gonna learn by seeing me, you know. It I could I can tell him everything I wanted, but if I'm not doing what I'm telling him, I'm not leading by examples, just actions more than words. And if he's seeing that, and it I'm he's watching, I know he's watching every day. Um, even in his behaviour, my mood, my energy, my attitude. You know, I I I have little moments when I've had a really busy day at all at work on the road, and I know he's gonna require my energy and a lot of attention. So I'll have five minutes on the drive, you know, to get myself present, bring myself in instead of storming in the house and being that grumpy, oh my dear's been this, my dear's been that. Because I know it will affect his feeling and it'll affect Dan's and dad's and bony house, dad's grumpy. Like, don't get me wrong, there's going to be times when he catches me at that moment. But I try to not, you know, I try to deliver what I see I'm doing. If you know, if dad's word means nothing, then whose word is he gonna believe? That piece around presence, then, because that's basically what that is, isn't it? Like being present in that moment, that must be quite hard and probably has been something you've battled with, I would imagine, because when you've got a business and you're modelling around the world and you're still playing sport and you're doing XYZ as well, like it's hard to pull yourself back and be present at home when you've got a million things going on. Is that something you have had to work at and think about? Yeah, I struggled with that, and again, my partner she's very good at reminding me. Um sometimes I may be playing and I'm guilty of it. There is times where I'll say, right, these next two hours, phone, work, everything else related is not important. My time's with you when when we go out or when we're doing something. But there's times when I'll come home and I'm still not resolved something that's going on with the business, and I'm I'm back and forth playing with him, playing my message, which is like you're here, but not here, Leon. You need to decide you're either going to office and do your work or be here. And and and Cruz has now started to pick up on it because he will say, Dad, put your phone away. So I'm like, right, okay, son, yeah, I know now you've reminded me, sorry. And I'll put it away. So, yeah, presence, you know, in and out of business and in about of you know life that's going on. It's a daily battle, but I'm aware of it, and I think that's that's the main thing that I'm aware sometimes when I do get lost down that rabbit hole of not being present, I can pull myself back. Yeah, definitely. Let's go back to the modeling piece, man, because obviously that's been a massive part of your journey as well. When did that first happen? Like when was the first do you know what, Leon? I think you could do I think you could do this. How did that happen? I was playing for Whitby Town against Scarborough. Um And I I was in the the clubhouse after the game, and a guy approached me and said, Have you ever thought about modelling? I thought this guy was winding me up at the time. One of the boys, like one of the boys that I think. Yeah, yeah, literally. Because he it was like one of the boys, and it was now like, Oh no, what's your brand? Like, what's your idea? What tell me more? Because I'm very open to have these conversations when people suggest things that maybe improve me or uh gain experience or benefit from him, and it's a win-win. And he's like, Well, I've got my own brand, um, and the brand was six silk. Um, I said, Alright, okay, and that is massive. Now Ronaldo's where's it, Messi wears it, Danny Alves. They've done all these clubs with these big people. He said, Why don't you test it out and come to Scarborough uh one day? Um, no pair. He said, You just you just travel, we've got a photographer. I've got four tops, we'll we'll model them. So yeah, I'll help you out, let's do it. So we uh we did a photo shoot in Scarborough, and I remember it. We were down these these alleys of Scarborough, and he was a plumber at the time. Uh and he's getting the tops out the back of his plumbing van and I'm having to like get changed in the alley and stuff like that. So, anyway, his tops went out, they blew up uh within the first three weeks. Mario at the time when Taui was really big, uh, he was seen wearing one, and his brand just went crazy. So he went, I'll come back, do a few more. So I did a few more, then I started, he started saying, I'll give you £50. I was like, Wow, £50 just for this, this is brilliant. And then uh from the back of that, foot asylum was my biggest one. They got in touch and they were like, Oh, we want to do a campaign with you. Now I was like, right, this is going crazy now. And they sent me a budget was which was a couple of thousand. I was like, whoa, like for a for a day's work. I was like, right, I need to uh maybe reach out to an agency and see what what's the best approach in all this now. But the agencies were all like, yeah, any work you send us, we take 35% off. And I was like, that doesn't sit right with me. I'm sending you the work. Um, so I made a decision myself to reach out to my old football agent. He helped me free of charge, just give me advice around deals and contracts, and I managed myself, and then I managed myself from every uh every agreement, every deal, every brand. Um, I set up an email called Ellis Inquiry, so even sometimes I wasn't replying as if it was me. I love that. I rate that I was replying as if it was my agency, as if it was a brand. That way I could get away with being a little bit cheeky in terms of you know pushing the budget off. Um, so yeah, it was just a snowball effect from there. Then soon as um foot asylum got me on board, I'd done a uh a campaign and a beefer. I was still working in social work uh with autistic and dancing drunk uh children, and I remember going over to my local foot asylum in Seaside Park, and there's a big shop window, and I was on the shop window and I was like getting pictures next to me, then a big shop window in Manchester, then started going around the world, and then all the bigger brands started getting too much for me. Then I was getting flew out to you know, like Dubai, uh New York, LA. Like I said, it just went crazy, and that's when I had to quit my job because modelling just went mental. Um so the whole time I managed myself throughout it, but yeah, it's been a bit of a wild ride doing the modelling with the brands that I've done it with, to be fair, as well. When you're sitting on a plane out to New York or Dubai, is there a moment and you're like, Leon, what is going on here, pal? Yeah, every time, every time. Even to this day, two weeks ago I got flew out to Istanbul to do a shoot out there, and I I I'm just like, it's still going on, it's like 15, 17 years later, and it's like still happening. Like the amount of playing and experience I've you know, yeah, Pair's brilliant, Pair's really good, but the amount of experiences and the people I've met and the places I've been off the back of that guy approaching me after a football game is just I would never have been able to see that or do that in my life. I know I wouldn't have, you know, been coming that guy coming from the council of state, and all the guys around my end are like, Well, as if you've been there, as if you're doing that. So I'm very aware of them, I'm very lucky and fortunate that I've been able to do what I've done and still doing it. Yeah, and I think like mentioning kind of the money and experience piece there, it's like money's obviously important to make life work, right? But it's not probably the thing that you're gonna remember, is it? The thing that you're gonna remember is the you know, the playing out to New York and the experience when you're there and looking up in I don't know, like an incredible location and seeing a billboard with yourself on it. Like, that's got to be almost an out-of-body experience. I know you mentioned like the Manchester piece, but when you're seeing it around the world and on adverts and on telly, like all that sort of stuff must be mad. Yeah, yeah, that that's when it all sort of becomes surreal. You're just like, is that really me? Like, you know, you get a picture's mixture, and I'm getting loads of messages saying, I've just seen you on this billboard in this company, and was doing a billboard in a beefer. You were everywhere, so I was just like, Yeah, that's me. But at the same time, like, yeah, it it was just it's just crazy that you know, because I'm just an average guy, you know, I surf and council, so it's never I never really thought I'd be able to get to do this. Um, so yeah, it is it is a crazy experience seeing it. I've still got all the pictures. Well, when my mum, God bless her, she's passed away now. She used to, you know, get them printed out and laminate them, and she made like a little bit of a memory book of me getting in all the shop windows and what have you now. That's class. You're proud of your roots, aren't you? I can tell that you're really proud of where you're from and and where you've come from. Uh-huh. Yeah, 100%. It's um it was a rough area, a rough estate, uh, but I've got a lot of friends from there, and it and and I from being there and seeing that I understand that it's you know, it's hard to get out in terms of make a way for yourself, make something successful for yourself, because you know, there's a lot of crime and a lot of drugs, and a lot of the main ones for me is broken families, which is why I'm very passionate not to break my family, to be a man to my partner, to be a dad, to my son. Um, because I've seen the effects that it can have um, you know, on your family tree. Um, although I didn't have a dad, I'm very passionate to be a dad uh and to break that pattern of my life. I think as well, like like you said, it's it's because you've lived that experience, but at the same time, you understand how important it is to stay true to those roots as well, I guess, and then to move forward with the lessons that you've learned from that time. Um from the modelling, then back to the boxing piece, because I I think connecting those two things is seems insane to me, and I'm kind of on your partner's side here that like when you're earning cash from uh modelling, going to get your face punched in is probably the most not the most sensible to play, but um, here we are. What's it like when you do, you know, you've made that decision, you've gone to the gym, you've said I want to fight, but then the fight's booked and you're in Dubai and you're in the tunnel and the music's playing, and you're like, This is happening now. Like, I'm I'm about to walk to this ring and stand in that square circle. What is that moment like? What's that feeling like? All mixed emotions, terrifying, excited, um, emotional. But I I listened to a podcast, uh David E, and one thing that he said he he regretted as a fighter is nothing to do with any of his fights, it was mostly his ring walks. He if he could go back in time, he would slow that ring walk down and soak that experience up as much as he could because they don't last forever. Although at the moment at the time you may feel like you know it's gonna be here forever. So then, and to be honest, that's probably the best part of the boxing. You're walking out by yourself, everyone's hearing you, no one's gonna eat you. So just that that moment alone, soak it up. So I I was able to listen to that before my first ring war. So I had a lot of people say it looks like you've done it before, but I just remember listening to that, and I am a bit of a confident person. I sort of just got lost in that moment and you know really soaked it up and walked out really every other fight of that night on the show. Um, the the the the rush to the ring. I remember um listening back and David Caldwell, one of the uh boxing commentators of a well-known trainer at Tony Vallio, he actually said on the conference that night, uh, this fight is absolutely uh milk in the ring walk. And that's exactly what I wanted to do. Because like I'll although I've had two two more since then and I've done it to say that could be my last ring walk, so I want to make sure you know I am scared. I've identified I'm scared, I'm nervous, but more so than everything else, I'm gonna try to take this in as much as I can and walk as slow as I can, enjoy the moment, entertain the camera, and just get out there and do my best. Yeah, if you haven't seen it, I would I would go and try and and find it to watch because um I've watched that fight, and it's you walk into the ring, is it's absolutely class. I mean, you you go you go you go to the sort of um warrior into battle scenario there, but it's like you've always got to be more scared about the man that's calm than the man that's not, right? And it felt like that's what it that's what it felt like you walk into that ring, and as you say, you've kind of done it the same way moving forward with your other fights as well. It was a battle that first one, and it was like a proper scrap, like it's like looking back at that now. Obviously, it would have been lovely to have a first round knockout, right, in your first fight, but at the same time, you're getting kind of the experience that everybody almost wants, really, when they're thinking about like a boxing match. Like, how do you reflect back on that now? Yeah, so at the time of the night, obviously I was disappointed. I got the draw. Um as I reflect and got to speak to real boxing people and real boxing coaches, and then I met up with David Calwell himself on that night with my coach, and he said, That for your first fight was the best thing that ever happened to you. You know, it tested you, you were knocked down, you got back up. If I've been honest, you looked like you were done in the second round, you came back the third round, you knocked him down. So he had everything that you needed, and it will make you stronger as a person, you'd you'll have gained, and I did, a lot more from that than coming out and knocking him out in the first 30 seconds. You know, he said, and not only that, you've again, he said himself, a lot more respect from me, and I know so more fighters for the entertaining, for the grip, for the art that you put on display. Like, and I didn't know back at the time, but professional fighters is what they have now as journeyman, so it's basically just a guy that's come to get his head punched in by this prospect or this other guy. He said, You didn't have that, you've gone straight into a scrap. Where like the boxings went out the window at this point for me. Like, I trained out to box and out to jab and slip and parry. It just turned into well, just got scrap. And uh it was good, it was entertaining. Like I said, I come out with a bit of black eye, but that's where I am in boxing with the crossover and the influencer. That's what they love, they love the entertainment, they love the scrap, they don't like this, you know, standing off and finding your job and being patient, they just want entertainment. And I guess for my first fight, that was entertaining. Yeah, it was definitely entertaining. And then the the the two since then, like, do you think that because of that experience, and you know, like you said about David saying about that to you, it being you know the best thing that could happen to you, did those words ring true, do you think? They did, yeah. So in my uh calm approach in terms of when I was under attack. Um, you know, the first one it I think he caught me early on, and it was like, right, I'm getting you. So it was like attack, attack, attack. So my approach in the ring was a lot more calm, a lot more presence, a lot more when I attacked that uh you know I attacked properly. I didn't um just swing my hands like armbangs, you know, matt. So uh my overall box and performance in the next two was a lot better and a lot more improved than the first one, but I wouldn't have been able to do that in the next two if I didn't experience the first one the way I did. Yeah, no, that makes total sense. And then I guess moving forward in the boxing game, man. You mentioned you mentioned Misfits and you mentioned wanting to get on one of those cards. Um, how close are we for making the next fight happen, whether it be on Misfits or somewhere else? Yeah, so July is what we're looking at. Uh Misfits, we were pushing hard on that one. Um my problem now, or my issue now is finding an opponent that's because let's say I've been for it now. That's that for it, Leon. Yeah, basically. Um I've been fighting now for over a yeah, I'd training. So we just got Misfits like a good match, which is what all I want. I just want someone very even where it's gonna be a 50-50 and it's gonna be a good scrap. So hopefully July, we'll push a Misfits, if not Misfits, is a card in Germany that we're trying to get on that who's actually just collabbed with Misfitts called Fame academic, fame fighting. So I'm looking to get back out there as late as July, hopefully sooner. That's sick. Um, I want to touch on circular, and obviously I want to touch on the marathon before we wrap this up as well. Yeah. Um when it comes to circular, like that's obviously a massive part of your life now, and one of the biggest, right? Like uh alongside, well, I say that, and then I'm like, I'm trying to work out the pie chart of Leon's life, and there's a lot going on in there. Um you know, when you when you first got the I guess the investment, you flicked the idea, and then Victor got on got on board as well. What what did that what did that feel like as a moment? Did that feel like as uh almost a not a rebirth of the brand, but uh a way to really push that brand forward? Because at the moment it was popping. Yeah, it literally was green light as soon as Vic came on and it was like, right, let's go. And I knew the brand had life, and I knew iWare is big uh and it's gonna be even bigger, but obviously coming from the US and the US market that the wear sunglasses are eyewear in clumps everywhere, and it's slowly moving to the UK with the in the right industry. So as soon as Vic come out, I knew what he could bring in terms of not so much the investment, more so the you know the connections, the reach of people. Whereas these people that we've had in, you know, KSI, Haaland, uh Carcinot, uh Marlon, these guys to represent your brand or to be seen in your brand, we've got you watching it these days, thousands and thousands. Where for us, with Vic being their friend and in and around them, the YouTube scene, it's all gifting, it's all free of charge, so it's free marketing for us. So, like I say, it it gives me the opportunity. I designed the glasses and obviously share them back with Vic. Uh, he'll sign some off, he'll say yes to some, no to some. So it's just freed me to be able to be more creative. Uh now Vic's on board, knowing that these glasses are going to get reached and seen by a lot of people and big profile people. So it's been it's been up to me to make sure I get the product right, uh, which have made a lot of improvements since Vicks came on board in terms of the actual product itself in lot in loads of little details. Do you think that the connection that you've had with brands over the years from the modelling space? Do you think that's given you such a good understanding of a brand moving into like being the creative lead that you are now? Yeah, 100%. Um, like I said, I've I've seen it, I've seen it happen to big brands, and I've seen it, you know, over the years. Uh people say sign up, but I think it's it's only got bigger with the interesting of you know live streams now blowing up. Um the guy we recently uh were down at the side mentality match at the at the training game, and these guys that are all putting the glasses on and talking about them, they're all live on on stream, and they've got like 50 to 100,000 live on on a live is it's ridiculous, and they've all got like tens of millions and thousands of followers. So create a lead it is the way forward for a brand, and we're very lucky and fortunate that we've got one of the biggest creators in the world um leading the brand, and obviously we have the onboard of the sideman team itself and everyone else. We're in a new world, I think, when it comes to marketing a little bit, and it's all so new. Like, I think sometimes people forget that like Instagram hasn't even been around for that long, TikTok even shorter, then like your Twitches and your live streams. They're really just in their kind of in their kind of first stage to like it it's so different, isn't it, now to what it to what it was 15, 20 years ago. You're not marketing something by sticking it in a magazine, you're marketing it by putting it on someone's face or you know, getting it seen by X amount of thousands of people on a stream or an Instagram post. And I think it's quite exciting though, because it's it's uh it's uh it's a means and ways that there's just so much exploration still to kind of get into, I think. Yeah, that's what exactly what it is. It's exciting, and I think it's still early years. Uh people may people who are coming onto it now might be like, oh, it's been around uh been around for it's early years in this old industry, but you've got to get it. Um commercial side sometimes don't get it, and I believe you get it in terms of the old collab with an influencer across run through. It's just like if you get it, it will work, and if it's natural and organic and not forced, even better. You know what I mean? Whereas some, like you say, no advert no advertisements uh happen in newspapers or things like that anymore. You've got to be working with someone who's got eyes on them and collab in the right way for them to get new eyes, new customers. Um, and then it's it's just a mutual thing, and and that that's how it's gonna work, and that's how it is working across social media. But like I say, some old commercial brands or corporate companies that don't get it, so they need someone you know with a Gen Z attitude and understands that this is the way forward. HMV that believed that CDs would never would never go out the way, and they were that stubborn, they just carried on creating CDs and now who uses the CDs for music now. It's uh you know, because of that. It's such a valid point. Um through all of this, everything we've talked about, I then get a text one morning and it goes, uh, you got a marathon in Newcastle Gate Ted coming up soon. I fancy doing it. I'm like, alright, mate, yeah, I know you're a busy man, throw that in there as well. Um running 26.2 for the first time. What was that experience like in your hometown? Uh one on my legs, not so mentally, but I got told by a lot of people it's it's very tough up here once you get to the back end. But I believe I'm quite tough already up here, so it wasn't, it was my legs, it was very hard, very hard, don't give it one of the hardest things I've done, if that's been truth be told, in terms of my legs putting up with it, because I I think I prepared two weeks, two and a half weeks training uh to go into it. So I didn't I'd never even run out. The furthest I'd run was half hour from with myself before. Uh so this was the furthest I was ever running. So I was like, just as long as my legs hold up, I'll be okay. Because mentally I can just sit with my force, it's fine, I can get further. Um and with it being a bit of a loop, the gates said one, it was just like, here we go again. But I really like to be honest, after it, the very next year I could barely move. But overall experience, I love the whole idea of coming back into Gateshead, into the track, into the stadium. It's like last time I play last time I was in there, I was actually playing against uh Gateshead for Darlington, so it was a little bit of a different experience being at the stadium. But yeah, over I'm definitely gonna do one again, uh put it that way. This time I want to I want to make sure I would this one was just get over the finish line. Next one was I'll do I will do a little bit of training and I want to aim for a time. I haven't decided on that time yet, but I want to go for a time. I think sometimes that's it's about proving to yourself, man. And like I think throughout your whole story, right, there's looking back and proving to yourself that you can do whatever that thing that you set your mind to, whether it's you know play football at a very high level, whether whether it's model for the biggest brands in the world, whether it's stand inside the square circle, whether it's running a brand, whether it's you know, dropping into a marathon on two weeks' notice, you've got that thing of like making sure you're proving to yourself that whatever you do, you can do. And I think you probably, you know, I think to a lot of people, having that as part of your personality is probably require an inspiration as well, which must feel kind of weird to you because you do have these people looking at you and young men looking up at you, and you know, the followers on your social media dropping comments, saying that you inspire them and all that sort of stuff. What is that like? Like, is that weird that you're almost not, you know, you're a you're a father to your little one, but in some ways you're putting that message out to a lot more people. Yeah, it to be honest, it inspires me, it inspires me more that you know I'm I wouldn't score I wouldn't go as far as thinking that people rely upon me, but some people have actually DM'd me and since just seeing what you've done and where you've been and how you go about things has inspired me to do X, Y, and Z. So I'm like, oh Chris, I'm I'm actually you know having an impact on some people's lives here. So if I stop showing up, if I stop keeping the word that I say to myself, you know, what effect can that have on other people that are following me, that are looking up to me, that are watching my next move. So I want to con that actually inspires me to keep doing more. The more I see that I'm like, right, okay, yeah, you're you're you're changing people's lives in in a positive way. So I get a buzz off that, I get a kick off that, that I that I actually am helping people by doing the things that I'm doing. Um, so yeah, it it it's nice to see them type of things, but It definitely inspires me to do more. And I guess it's it's that piece, isn't it? You're not thinking about it because it's just you. Like you're just this bloke, you are that guy. You're not being like, I want to do this because XYZ. You want to do it. One to keep that chimp quiet and the old noggin. But also at the same time, like you're doing it because you want to do it. And I think that's probably something that you put across as well. Like, you're gonna do it because you want to do it. You're not doing it because anybody's telling you. Keep the word to yourself, yeah. Yeah. If if I say something, it's like respect, respect yourself, keeping the word to yourself, you know. If if if you promise someone else something, you tend to do it and give it. So the person that you need to respect and keep the word to you is yourself, you know. And that and that's why sometimes I have said some things to myself, but not put it out there. But sometimes when I'm like, right, I'm ready to put it out there because now I'm gonna be held accountable by thousands. Remember when you said that, Leon, I didn't do that. So every every everything that I'm like, right, I'm ready to put it out there. So when I put it out there, it must be done, you know. Again, keeping that word to yourself, keeping that promise to yourself. And one of the reasons obviously I reached out to yourself was I I had a quick scan over my notes and on uh in terms of goals, and one of them was complete a marathon before you're 40, Leon. I was like, shit, I'm 40 in two weeks. I need to get that marathon come, please. So yeah, that it's little checkpoints and goals that I just need to need to continue doing. And mate, I don't think you're gonna be the sort of person that's you know gonna be uh scared about turning 40 or anything like that. But it is one of those things that you know when you turn 30, you turn 40, you turn 50, I'm sure you get the same thing, but you're you're kind of you're kind of forced sometimes not by yourself but other people more than anything to kind of look back and reflect and think about the last X amount of time. Like, how are you going into that 40th birthday looking back at the last 10 years? Again, very grateful. Um within the last two years, most of my son coming uh into the world. Um so yeah, to see why I am sometimes I get caught in the limelight and everything, and don't give myself a bit of a pat on the back, but for what I've achieved and what I've done when I slow down and zoom out and perspective, um, I'm very grateful for what I've got uh and who's around me and and excited to where I'm going. And we'll wrap with this, man, because we'll go one step further and take you back to you know, you're with your mum and your nan, and you're you're in the council estate that we've spoken about, and you're you you know you're so proud of those routes. But if you told that little lad back then that at age 40 you'd have this back catalogue of I'm gonna call it mayhem because there's so much in there. Like, what do you think he would have thought about? Organised chaos. Organised chaos. There you go. I like it. Like, what would he have thought? Being honest, he probably wouldn't have thought he'd have got this far. Uh, you know, this just with everything that was going on, single power. If he I don't think probably made it out of I'm not saying I I never because they always go back, I have made sure. Um they're all doing well, they're doing good for themselves, but for what the aspirations and the and the things I wanted to achieve and where I wanted to go back then was probably not I probably wouldn't win the fight I'd got here, if I'm being honest. So like I say, perspective of looking back, I am proud of myself, but it's always uh that chip in the uh in the back of my head's always like, what next? What where do we what do we do now?