How Grant ‘Tassie’ Brown Built A Boxing Life From Tasmania

A kid from Hobart starts hitting his dad’s hands in the kitchen, then six months after walking into a real gym he’s winning fights at the same hall where his father and grandfather once boxed. That’s the through-line of our talk with Grant “Tassie” Brown, a former undefeated pro who now lives on the other side of the ropes as a coach, manager, promoter, and boxing media voice traveling to the biggest stages in the US and Saudi Arabia.

We dig into what “boxing discipline” actually looks like when you’re 13, broke, catching two buses to training, running before school, and saying no to the shortcuts your friends are taking. Grant explains why he sees boxing as a craft with heritage, why MMA-to-boxing crossover events feel like spectacle, and how the “villain” role in fight promotion can print money when it’s played right. We also get practical on the fight business: contracts, opponent pullouts, weight cutting, making weight like a professional, and why weight classes exist for a reason.

Then the conversation takes a hard turn to real life in Australia: youth crime, knife crime in Melbourne, consequences that don’t deter, and what community pathways could look like if we actually backed gyms, coaches, and mentors. Grant even puts an offer on the table to train kids who want out of that lifestyle.

Subscribe to Million Dollar Days, share this with a friend who loves boxing or needs a reset, and leave a review if you want more guests like Grant. What part hit you hardest: discipline, the fight business, or the street-level reality check?

Transcript

Welcome And Meet Grant Brown

George 0:00

Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, to Million Dollar Days. We're joined by a special guest. We've got Grant Tazzy Brown, former undefeated boxer, now turned boxing promoter. Thank you very much, mate, for joining us. Excellent, excellent. Hey, it's great how we connected, you know, the social media world, how it is at the moment. We put up a random post one day on most of our pages and said, Hey, we're looking to get people on board. If you've got an interesting story, we'd love to hear from you. And then you said a friend of a friend reached out to you and said, Hey, check out the boys, and and here we are.

SPEAKER_00 0:30

Yeah, Matemoy and Boris, he's a very big uh entrepreneur himself.

George 0:34

Oh, yeah, we know Boris. Well, shout out to Boris.

SPEAKER_00 0:35

Yeah, but shout out to Boris. Yeah, so he's the one that you know, I used to train him. I was his boxing coach. Oh, there you go. We've got a very good connection through like um Russia. Like, I'm very close to Costa Zoo when I've been to Russia on um you know three, yeah, three occasions. So me and Boris are good mates, and he hit me up and yeah, he actually came to my um my event the other week with with Crawford, which we'll touch on. But yeah, he's a good dude. So shout out to Boris.

George 0:59

Yeah, that's it. Um yeah, I know, right?

Boxing Roots In Tasmania

SPEAKER_00 1:04

How funny. So, yeah, like mate, how'd you get into the world of boxing? Yeah, well, um growing up in Tasmania, yeah, my surname Brown, it's you know, pretty big name in in boxing. Like my father and grandfather were um both fighters and both, you know, both champions, both legends of the era. I think um my grandfather, I think his first fight was in like 1935. I got a trophy actually, say it's 1935 on it. And his great uncle, my great uncle Bobby, his his brother, oldest brother, was 1933. So there was there was um five brothers, and three of the five boxed. Um, yeah, Lenny, Bobby, and Reggie. And the other two were yeah, quite well known in their field as well. Um, and uh that so that generation were were very uh established, and my grandfather had a lot of professional fights, and then my dad's era, he was the first of uh his generation, and then him and all my cousins, him and all his cousins boxed, and um, and that led into the brown name in boxing. And um at the age of five, like dad used to show me, you know, get me just to hit his hands in the kitchen, and and I, you know, I was sort of into wrestling back then. I was watching Hulk Hogan and and all that stuff, and and he used to say, Oh, it's fake. I'm like, nah, nah, nah. And um, anyway, um, you know, the dinner table talk was always boxing, and my my mother knew a lot about it, and my grandmother, because they had no choice, because that's all it always got into the topic of boxing. My grandfather and father would debate the great Joe Lewis and Muhammad Ali and Rocky Marciano, and so uh that's all I knew, you know, and um, but it wasn't until I was 13 that dad actually took me to the gym. I had very bad asthma as a as a kid, and um my grandfather straight away said he wouldn't have a fight because I used to get a lot of um come down for a lot of chest infections, and and I played footy, you know, um footy's footy, but not quite as intense as boxing, because at least on the footy field you can you can go off on the bench and have a rest, but in boxing there's there's no rest, you know. I mean you've got a guy trying to take your head off. So it wasn't about 13. I I never grown out of it, but I got a little bit better, and dad said we'll take you to the gym. And um, and I was 45 kilo, and six months later had my first fight. At 13. I clicked into 14, just on 14. Yeah, 48 kilo. Had my first fight and won it at the Hobart City Hall, which was the same place as my father and grandfather fought, and that's where it all began. Never looked back then, that was it. And um, and you know, in primary school, I guess I was a bit of a mix. I was sort of shy, but I was a bit cocky as well. Like I was sort of shy around the girls, but cocky around my mates, and um, and I always just say, like, one day I'm gonna represent Australia, and then you know, one day I'm gonna do this and that, and and then um, and then at 19, um, you know, I I represented Australia, which was my dream, to wear the green and gold tracksuit and travel to international tournaments and you know, be based at the Institute of Sporting Canberra, and then um, and that was a huge achievement for me. And then um, and obviously, um, but before that, when I was 18, I got the offer to move to Sydney to train with Johnny Lewis and Jeff Fenneck. So that was that was huge. 18-year-old kid to leave his mum and dad, which was hard, and went up to Sydney and um trained at the famous Newtown PCYC where Jeff Fenneck and Jeff Hitman Hard and then Costa Zoo and all the legends, that's where they all trained, and then um yeah, then I started my my really more serious career was in Sydney.

Robby 4:34

So 13, never trained before, trained for six months, first fight.

SPEAKER_00 4:39

I wouldn't say look, my dad taught me I would say, yeah, you dad taught me the basics, yeah. Yeah, but yeah, never never proper properly hit hit pads before, just pretty much learnt the basics from dad just hitting his hands in the kitchen, pretty much, yeah.

Robby 4:53

Yeah, but and that'll still teach you though, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:55

No, I learnt more than the average kid now, man. Yeah, yeah.

George 4:58

At what point were you like my uh Mike Tyson said that too? It's like everyone's got a plan until you get punched.

Robby 5:05

So 13, first fight, you win. At what point are you like, this is it?

SPEAKER_00 5:10

Yeah, no, I knew you straight. I just knew from the training and the sparring. The thing is, I've always been very ambitious and I've always wanted to be the best at something. And um, I played cricket, and you know, I was okay cricketer. I played footy, I was a bit too small for footy, um, and it wasn't the most skillful gutsy. Like I'd always been on the in the bottom of the pack. That's what dad, that's what dad seen me that day, see me tackling these big ruckmen, and they're all twice my size, same age. And that's what he said, come in the box in. Box in's the same weight and and the same sort of you get matched around your same school level up until you're in the open division. But and I just thought that this suits me, you know. Like I'm yeah, I can I can hold my own against these guys, and and then once I started sparring guys better than me, started going okay. I'm thinking, geez, yeah, by the time I fight someone on my own level, I'm I'm I'm gonna be ready. So I just knew the boxing was for me. It was I finally found my my thing.

Robby 6:06

Yeah, okay. Do you um do you do any other form of combat sports like MMA or you know kickboxing or wrestling or anything like that?

MMA Crossovers And Influencer Fights

SPEAKER_00 6:13

Yeah, that wasn't really even around back then. I mean, like I guess karate was I think growing up was pretty much boxing and karate after the karate kids. So the other two, yeah. I mean I watched both, but um, yeah, look, you had your kids that went to karate and that, and then you had, but there was no such thing as MMA, not when I was around. I mean, I'm yeah, it's probably more recently. Oh, it is more recently, yeah, yeah. 15 years or something. No, I've trained, I've trained guys to work on their combat, um, to work on their stand-up, but I mean, yeah, no, it's always boxing for me. It was always um always the dream, as I said, represent Australia. Then obviously I turned professional um at the age of 23.

George 6:52

Yeah, so well on that now that we're we're speaking about it, what do you think about the the cross sport of you know you're seeing a lot of MMA fighters coming down to boxing? Yes. And most of the time, correct me if I'm wrong, it's for a payday. Yes. You know what I mean? You're getting a significant amount more doing a boxing match with a well-known person compared to what they're getting in the MMA space. Like, what do you what are your thoughts on that? Do you think it's it's just all show, it's a waste of time? Do you think like what do you think about MMA fighters and their pay? Like, should they be getting a lot more? Do you follow that at all, or do you just keep your distance or just do your own thing?

SPEAKER_00 7:28

No, it's a good question. Um, all my friends know me, and what listens to this interview, I'm very old fashioned, and I'm very, I'm um, yeah, very like just when it comes to boxing, I'm I'm old school. You know, like I I'm just like the heritage of the sport. I'm very much um yeah, a big believer in just the fine art of boxing. So um I'm not one to yeah, watch MMA. Look, I'm I'm I give credit to any athlete that trains for any sport.

George 8:01

Yeah, I mean it's a difficult, like if I don't know, anyone that's ever done a boxing circuit of any time of any sort.

SPEAKER_00 8:07

Any sport at all I give credit to, in whether it's tennis or whatever, badminton, a combat sport, I give extra credit to. So then guys are going out there, it's just not my thing. I'm not a fan of it. Like, I don't, you know, like it said in them, credit to them for doing what they do, the machines, but I'm not a fan of the wrestling and the stuff. I just believe boxing is number one, and there's nothing like it. And you know, people are doing bare knuckle now, they're trying to get that going, and they're trying to do another thing that's like um boxing but smaller gloves, and then you've got MMA. I believe that, and even kickboxing, and I'm not putting people down, but you could be a kickboxer and win 20 world titles and no one knows who you are in boxing. If you do something, you're known. Yeah, hence why Conor McGregor, who we spoke about, he came to boxing against Floyd Mayover for his biggest payday. He had to come to boxing.

George 8:59

So that's right. But do you feel that the the athletes that are doing that, it's like tarnishing the boxing reputation or the shit? Like it's do you feel like it's a yeah?

SPEAKER_00 9:09

I I personally do, I don't like it. Yeah, because I'm a I was trying to work out the name before I'm a purist. Yeah, so I'm a purist. So I don't like it, and I never watched McGregor Mayweather. Oh, you didn't watch it. Didn't watch it. I actually took a uh deliberately my or everyone watched it and I took a stance and I went and had lunch at Crown, done a video on Instagram and said, What's everyone doing today? I knew everyone was there watching it. People watching it the the cinemas, even yeah, it was like so I deliberately because I wasn't a fan of it. I thought a guy that hasn't boxed doing MMA, it's and it worked out to be what it was. Even though he probably went a little bit better than what people thought before he wasn't even really trying, and he just he done it for a payday. So yeah, Tyson and Jake Paul, I didn't watch Francis Ogani versus Tyson Fury. I didn't watch.

George 9:53

Yeah, it's another one.

SPEAKER_00 9:54

Um Jake Paul, um Jake Paul, Jake Paul and Joshua, I didn't watch. I just watched that one. Yeah, so I don't I just don't watch it. And I'll be honest with you, I've only watched one UFC fight, and that was because I had a personal interest in it, because it was Khibib versus McGregor, and because I'd met Khibib, and I'm very big with um Russia, I'm very pro-Russian, very pro-Chechnyan, Dagestan. I like them countries, so I've actually traveled to them countries, which we'll talk a bit later later at the moment. Because I met a I met the president of Chechnya, which you just don't do, trust me. So um, and Connor, I've always liked Connor, and I only met him recently, but I didn't need then. But that was just so I did watch that fight, but it's the only one I've watched. Yeah, look, I love that great fight to watch.

Robby 10:36

Yeah, I know.

SPEAKER_00 10:37

It was so much hype, yeah.

George 10:38

McGregor Virgo, oh yeah, it was good, yeah. It was good. McGregor, I I quite liked McGregor early on in his career. Yeah, you know, I loved how it was the underdog story, he'd come from rags to riches, he made his way up, and then the guy just got so big with a freak. Like he had a mouth, so everyone backed it up there. He had the following of his country, 100%, and they're all like you got you look at all the Irish, they're just loving it.

Robby 11:01

Yeah, I'll tell you, man, bigger than the like there's a lot of fighters that have a mouth, yeah, but he backed it up. No, that's right.

SPEAKER_00 11:08

But you know, you know who started the whole thing, don't you? Muhammad Ali started the theory. She's talking, yeah. And he's the greatest of all time. Yeah, I mean he started it. Not many guys can can keep it up. Floyd did. Floyd made a lot more money. See, Floyd had two careers. Floyd was pretty boy, which he was a gun, unbelievable fighter. But then he turned his persona into money made, and that's when he started making the money when um they made the 24-7 documentaries about the fight hypes, and and he started making more money when people wanted him to lose. So yeah, when people when it's like I tell everyone the same, you know the best ever in Australia is Anthony Mundine, my dear brother. No one has done what Anthony Mundine has done. He's made millions of because people hated his mouth, they want to pay him to get beat, but he keeps winning. Yeah, so I always say this there'd be no Batman without the Joker. You always need a villain. And in sport, if you can play the villain properly like McGregor, you've made it.

George 12:03

Yeah, yeah, because he he turned to villain, didn't he? You know, he was he was top of the game and then shot your mouth. Yeah, exactly.

Robby 12:10

Who the fuck is this guy? Yeah, so so do you think um Jake Paul falls into that category? Because a lot of people say he plays a villain well. Like he is good at he because he he is not a whilst a lot of people watch and blah blah blah, he is not a super loved people are watching to see him get nothing.

SPEAKER_00 12:28

Yeah, yeah, no, 100%. We have him though, look different because like he didn't start from bot, he's famous for something else, he's famous for YouTube or or whatever other stuff. And and I mean, look, I know this is the era we're in, even though I can't stand it.

George 12:46

It's like we don't love social media, but we love it. Yeah, I know 100%.

SPEAKER_00 12:49

Like this, I'd be off it tomorrow if it wasn't good for my business. Yeah, but I mean, you know, being 48 years of age, like what I just mentioned before, um, look, I'll give him credit. He still has done something, yeah. And I give him credit. Like, I don't I'm bigger, look this way. If you're making money and you're not hurting anyone, good on you. Like, so bravo to him and his brother. His brother did an expression with Floyd Mayweather. Now he's in WrestleMania. That's talk about living a childhood dream. That's right. As for Jake Paul, look, he'll never be a boxer, even though they they say, Oh, he's a boxer. Look, he trains with the best trainers, he's got the proper nutrition, he does it all, but he just is no good. He just hasn't. So you watch him and you're like, Well, I told you I didn't watch those fights, but uh the clippers I've seen, yeah, he's no, he's he's yeah, he's not not good. He never will be good. So he's got the best trainers and everything, he does everything properly in Puerto Rico. Thing is, if everyone could fight or box, everyone would be doing it. Most blokes that have come from uh you know, that are from uh I don't know, like a macho background, that red-blooded, red-blooded male. Everyone wants to be known as the tough guy in in the in the in the pub, but not everyone can be, you know. So he he's done great from what he what he can do school-wise. The Tyson thing was a joke. Obviously, yeah, what I've heard about that was set up and the little rules I've seen. Because I said I don't know, I've never watched it, but I've seen rules, and looks like Tyson was holding his punches, and yeah, at that age, Tyson still knocks him out because you don't lose your power.

George 14:20

Yeah, then we saw some of his training clips as well.

SPEAKER_00 14:23

Like, Anthony Joshua, um Anthony Joshua played with him until we knocked and look, I'll give him credit for getting there with Anthony Joshua, like, and he was always gonna get knocked out. I can't believe he actually done that because now his persona's probably changed a bit. But Andrew Tate, what's Andrew Tate done? Andrew Tate has got this whole big persona as this man, but he's shitty, he can't fight. He got bashed by a guy that can't fight the other day. So that hasn't done a matter of fact, I've barely heard from him since that fight.

Robby 14:52

Yeah, I think it's he was trending, he's quiet now.

Retirement Identity And The Itch

SPEAKER_00 14:55

So look, it's not for everyone, but I do take my hat off. Anyone that gets in a ring or a cage, bravo to you. But for me personally, being a purist, I don't support anything that's not proper amateur and professional boxing, and you've come from that background.

George 15:09

So, how long have you been retired for now?

SPEAKER_00 15:12

Um I've retired for uh what was it now? Retired in 2010.

George 15:18

So do you reckon if you someone said to you now, cool, let's get into a training camp, you reckon you could jump back in the ring and be competitive?

SPEAKER_00 15:25

I was thinking about it last year. Yeah, yeah, I was thinking about it last year because um, you know, I know Do you have the itch?

George 15:31

Like you're still young enough. Like you're still like you just you get back in the gym, you train, you get back at you see everyone's seen the Rocky movies.

SPEAKER_00 15:37

Yeah, like well Well, the thing is like my partner, she's never seen me fight because we met after a boxing career. So she's like, I'd live it'd be good to my stepdaughters and that. And I just I like that excuse to get fit. I need a carrot to be dangled for me to train properly because when and all fighters will understand this when you're not fighting no more, you're meant to train, but you don't have to train. We all need a date, a date to to look forward to. So when you have a date that you're fighting, okay, just say 10 weeks from now, that's it. I train my diet, my nutrition, my rest, no nights out, no eating naughty stuff, you know, training twice a day, six days a week, rest day Sunday, and that's it. I live for that 10 weeks. That's all I live is that fight. When you haven't got that date in your head, how do us fighters? It's hard for us to live. That's what a lot of fighters do put on weight and do suffer depression. I mean, you look at even because we hit a wall.

George 16:34

Any sport. Like you look at all a lot of footballers, they're very much the same. You a footballer finishes his career and then the next year you look at them and they've put on 15 kilos.

SPEAKER_00 16:41

Well, the footy player usually they have their first kick of the ball when they're probably five, yeah, playing junior footy. Yeah, they play right up until say 31, 32. That's all they know. What are you meant to do now? Go get a job. Yeah, they I mean, it's tough for us. I hit a wall. I I I suffered, I suffered of um, you know, a big down slide after my career because um I didn't have to retire at the time, but I just wasn't getting the satisfaction. I wasn't getting the fights that I was meant to have. Um, I don't know how many, probably at least 20 pullouts, you know what I mean? So you have a fight, then you train for a few months, then you you get uh ready, you lose weight, then someone pulls out, and you get ready again, and someone pulls out, then you might get another fight. There was too much stop start, stop, start. So after all the years I've been in it, and I think, geez, like it's so hard to get motivated to get up at 5 a.m. now and run like I used to, you know. So, but look, in saying that, look, I'd love to say right now, I'll make an announcement. If I can get a if I can get some sort of motivation, get a date, get a venue, and just train and just have one more just to come back, not at a high level, but just uh still a professional level. I'd never do an exhibition or nothing like that. And just um, who knows, mate? But I do need an excuse to get fit. I know that much.

Robby 17:53

Someone we want someone call through and give them a date. Let's go.

Learning To Fight And Stay Safe

George 17:58

Do you do you think that do you think that every man should know how to fight?

SPEAKER_00 18:05

From where I'm from? It's hard to say this, man, because like it's um my partner's got no idea where I try and tell her about where I'm from, like in like in Tasmania.

Robby 18:14

Where where are you from for the audience?

SPEAKER_00 18:16

From from Hobart, Tasmania. From uh I say always say two suburbs in one, Moraine and Mornington. So I lived in both suburbs, they're both like literally like bang bang next to each other. So both the same postcode, 7018. So Moraine, Mornington's where all my family's from. Um growing up was rough. So from where I'm from and where my parents, where my dad's and grandfather, yes, every man needs to fight. Every man should know how to fight. That's the only way growing up in Tuzzy. If you didn't know how to fight, man, I'll tell you now, mate.

Robby 18:48

You was just walked over.

SPEAKER_00 18:50

Yeah, 100%. Like, look, I growing up was awesome in Tussie. Like it was awesome, and it was, you know, there was no like I'm being pretty advocate. If you see my socials, like there were knife crime, and I might get into that later. Um, but I'm very topic, I think. I'm very, yeah, let's get into that later. Hit me back later on that one. But um, I'm very just against it so much. Like, look, all I say is this I don't condone fighting, but boys will be boys growing up, yeah. And especially around the rough neighborhood, um, you know, you you should know how to look after yourself. So, but a fair fight is two men one-on-one or two boys one-on-one. Um, you know, no weapons and no no two on three or one on two on one and no kicking, just two gentlemen, and that's what it's called. The gentleman's sport, have a knuckle and then shake hands or or rematch the next day, or just leave on leave it on bad terms, but leave it as it is. But there's one winner, one loser. That's how we were brought up. And yeah, I do believe most men should know how to fight, especially in this day and age. Um, but these days you've got to be careful because most guys don't want to fight. Like this younger generation, they all want to go the easy way out, you know what I mean? They don't want a copper ass kicking, you know. So, but yeah, all my older cousins, there was a lot of a lot of violence around my area, a lot of drugs being dealt, a lot of drugs being taken, which is something that I'm proud of that I always just never took part in, you know. And I was really like, it's like I think most people look up to their older cousins and that, and I'm not bagging my family because I love a lot of my family, not all of them, um, done this, but some of them. But I just thought, no, man, like I'm not gonna go down that path. I'm not gonna, you know, get in trouble with the cops, I don't want to do the drugs, I don't wanna be around, and I just knew that I'm gonna make it, I'm gonna be a champion boxer, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do something special. And, you know, and um, yeah, and I feel like I did, you know, I feel like um that I achieved more than pretty much anyone I know growing up, and and um and that and that's it, man. That's where I started the whole, you know, the whole Tassie legacy thing come in, you know, that the whole Tasmanian devil, you know, got named that, and um the rest is history, but I'm very big on troubled youth. Like you do have a choice. Don't think that um, you know, I don't believe in peer pressure on it at all because I had it, and then and I just said, no, mate, you go do what you want to do. If you want to go steal that car or go and smoke that bong or go and smoke them cigars, I'm going to training. I'm getting two buses because my parents never drove from Roraine to Glenorkey, which is from the east to the west. So, you know, uh two two buses to training, get home at when it's dark, and that's my second session for the day because I ran at 5 a.m. before the school bus.

George 21:39

And this is 13 14. So So that's that's that's not um that's not a there's a level of motivation there, but there's something more powerful than that, and it has to be discipline.

SPEAKER_00 21:49

Yeah, it's discipline.

George 21:50

All right, so what it what gave you that edge to even at a young age? Because mate, at 14 15, 13 to 15, I was playing video games. Yeah, yeah, I was hanging out with the mates. Doing whatever I was going to do.

SPEAKER_00 22:01

Yeah, weekends, weekends I'd you know, I'd play video games on the T. Look, absolutely, there's nothing wrong with that. I'm just saying, yeah.

George 22:07

But you're talking about something that's difficult, like boxing and getting fit and being and training twice a day, six days a week, eating you know, chicken and rice every day.

SPEAKER_00 22:16

Broccoli, steamed fish, steamed chicken. That's right.

George 22:19

Like you for you to have the temptation of going down the path of going, you know what, I'm gonna go hang out with my mates, I'm gonna go have a drink, I'm gonna go to the beach today. I've worked hard. Yep. Like what gave what part of you was like, no, no, it's this. We're burning the boats, we're we're going all in on this. How do you how did you get to that space for yourself?

SPEAKER_00 22:38

It's a great question. Like, and as I said, I I don't really know. I just had I just thought, if I've if I want to be the best at something, I've got to do more than I've got to do extra. Like, you know, go on go on with your mates after school. Usually they'd go and smoke behind the the sheds and then go down and you know, probably steal something or buy something or whatever. Um, you know, and back then there was um you know, smoking bongs and siffle fly spray was the go.

SPEAKER_01 23:05

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 23:06

Um yeah, in a bag. Don't know why they used to do that, but um, and all that stuff, you know, drinking on weekends and going to parties. Look, I always get teased a bit. Oh, you know, you're not you know, you're boring and you're this.

George 23:17

You're going against the norm. Yeah, with it.

SPEAKER_00 23:18

But I had I had this thing in my head, you know, and as I said, like dad, I know dad made mistakes in his career. Like, dad, you know, drank and and fought in pubs and you know got arrested by cops and you know, and and they used to gamble and bet on horses, and and he used to tell me, son, don't make the mistakes I made. So he was a motivation, but deep down in my head, I just had that Kobe Bryant mumber mentality. I just said I want I want it. And I thought, you know, I'm not giving I'm not blessed with anything. I'm a small, skinny white guy with you know, red hair and freckles. You know, God didn't God hasn't been kind to me. You know, shout out to the gingers, but I just had that belief and and that was it, man. And and um, you know, and then the kids that you know probably said, Oh yeah, you're you're born or you're this. A couple of years later, once I started making the news and getting the pri Oh, now I'll say, Oh, now you want to come watch me fight. Oh, now you want tickets to my fight. Okay, so it all changed. So I just look, I just had self-belief. That's all I had, and that's what I told the kids. It doesn't matter. You don't need your mum and dad to believe in you, you don't need your friend, you don't need the teacher, you don't need no one to believe in yourself. If you believe in yourself, that's all that matters. And that's I can't believe any more than that, mate. That's I just wanted that that bad.

George 24:30

Well, yeah, I mean, people want what you have, but more often than not, they're not willing to do it, to do what they need to do to get what they have. And that's what separates champions from you know the average Joe is their ability to push through adversity, to push through the pain, to be uncomfortable so they can get in a position of growth and then excel. And you see it like success leaves clues, yeah? You see it everywhere. And you've met some um highly successful people in business, in life, in the ring, wherever it is. And you just need to as a consumer, if you want more in your life, if you're looking at these things in your life now, all you have to do is look at the clues that they're leaving behind. What do they need to do? But it's so often that people just they don't want to do the hard yards that don't want to do the hard yards, and I've said it so many times. It's like you don't need to do that much to win in the sense of everyone's playing the game over here, everyone's doing the fucking bare minimum to get through, and you just do that much more than everyone else. Like you're you're already miles ahead of them.

SPEAKER_00 25:28

Well, can I say look, there was a lot more naturally talented, talented boxers around my age group back then, like in the state team, and in you know, like there was a lot more naturally gifted, just just them kids that just got that natural, whether it's football or boxing. Yeah, but they made they won a few trophies at 13, 14, 15, then retired. Like they weren't into the training up early, um, not going out Saturday night to be up for trainer Sunday. They got into the girls and and all that. So I've done all that later. So I skipped all that pretty much till I was like 20. Yeah, you know, from them years I was just sad, and obviously no drinking and no drugs and all smoking, but I um so that's the thing. So there was kids better than me, and um, but you know, it's about what, you know, it's about what you're willing to sacrifice, and what's that saying you get comfortable being uncomfortable and and hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard. Doesn't work hard, that's that's so true, you know. So that that's a big thing, and as I said, but yeah, just that belief. Um you know, I always knew that I was destined for bigger things than Tasmania. Like I love my um I fly the flag, Tasmanian, born and bred. But I just seemed that um I just knew that you know there was limited opportunities there. So that's when I moved to Sydney at 18 to train with the best trainers in the history of of Australia, like Johnny Lewis and Jeff Fenneck and and Billy Hussein, that you know, Arkleby, the three of the greatest, and and to be there, you know, alongside the great Costa Zoo at 18 years of age with a dream come true, and um, yeah, and then obviously all the the great sparring that's in Sydney, where because you know, like it's like that iron sharpens iron, you know. So I'm up there with a lot of hungry boys, mate, a lot of tough, tough Lebo boys and tough, you know, Italian boys, and and they all want to take turns and bashing the Aussie. But um, but I I held my own and and I've got I've got family now, I say family and not friends, up there now in Sydney, which I I go up there regularly still now. Um, and I'm probably one of the only skips that could walk around the the areas of Lakemba, Punch Bowl, shout out to Yaguna 2199, all the boys up there. So look, yeah, as I said, I've I've got a good uh I've got a good relationship up there with the boys, but I had to earn it, I had to earn the respect the hard way. They had to see this guy take it and they think fuck this guy's he's for real. You know, he's here to he's here to he's playing for keeps, you know what I mean? So look, it's boys being boys, men being men, and I feel like I'm from another, another lifestyle, another lover era, because the era now is a little bit softer, I think.

Robby 28:00

Why do you think that is?

SPEAKER_00 28:02

It's it's like this so my father wasn't as strong as my grandfather, I'm not as strong as my dad, and if I had a son, he wouldn't be as strong as me. We all get watered down each uh generation.

Robby 28:15

But you'd say at some point it's gonna get to zero.

SPEAKER_00 28:18

Yeah, yeah, that's right, that's right. Uh um 100% that's right. I mean, you know, I don't know what I don't want to go into polygamous side of things. Um, but I think just saying, like, we can see what society accepts now, but wouldn't accept back in the olden days, you know what I mean?

George 28:35

And men were life is easier to live, yes, yeah.

Family Loss And Life Perspective

SPEAKER_00 28:39

Men were expected to be more of a man back then, yeah. You know, me and whether it's right or wrong, you people say we evolved. Look, I don't know. I looked up to my dad and I looked up to my grandfather to me. They were the bigger than Ben Hur, they were legends. I'd never talk back to them. Um, there was no fear of being hit by my dad, but he just didn't want him to raise that voice. That was enough, you know. And he was a my dad was another level, mate. They called him the Red Terror, that was his nickname. But I mean, I respected him as everyone else respected him, and and he, as I said, he was a great, great man. And he's the reason you know that I'm the man I am today, one milli percent, you know. Um, there's something that a lot of fathers don't have for kids, which the best thing a father can do for a a child is give them time to always have time for your son, and he had time for me. If it was nice outside, we play cricket, football, badminton, table tennis, boxing. If it was raining, we'd be playing card games, board games, and watching movies. Like he always had time for me. When mum was at work when I was little, because my dad had an accident um before I was born on the wharfs working on the docks, and um, and he couldn't work again after that. Um, this big, like a in this day and age, if we were to with lawyers today, he would have got a massive payout. But no one even advised him. It was in the like 60s or whatever. Um, a crane fell down and hit him in the head. Yeah, almost killed him. And then they said he put a bandage on and go home. Mate, imagine the payout now. Yeah, he's working for the on the docks. So, like back then, Tassie was just like very much like Melbourne on the with the wolves, not so much now, but I was back then the painters and dockers, and they used to mix between Tasmania and um and Melbourne. Um, but so yeah, so I I knew a dad, so it was being more of a at home, you know, but he always had torn for his son, so I yeah, I miss him. So he passed away um September 2019, and then I moved my mum to Melbourne to live with me. And um from Tassie? Yeah, yeah. I moved mum to be with me. Um she was she was the always the rock, you know. Um one of them people just you're always better for meeting, meeting her. Like everyone would just walk away feeling ten foot tall. She was that person, she was just so selfless and beautiful. And anyway, she passed um yeah, August 30th, um, 2024 at the Peter Mac Hospital. And um, I appreciate her, mate, to to cancer, but um, but yeah, as I said, you know, before she passed, she she told me to to you know to conquer the world and make her prayer. So that's what I'm doing right now, guys. I'm just that obsessed with just um you know, being a you know, always been a good person, but just when sometimes you feel a bit down or you feel like snapping at something, or I feel like losing it at road rage because I'm a fiery, I'm not gonna sell you that on this and that, I'm a fiery, I'm a firecracker. But I think of her, I think, no, no, no, no, don't fuck up. I can swear on it a little bit.

George 31:34

Yeah, go for it. Robbie's never sworn before, so you might teach it.

SPEAKER_00 31:39

No, no, not nothing, real, but just don't fuck up. Yeah, keep keep on the path, and and and I'm doing that. So I'm and you're with the support of you know, supportive one.

George 31:48

It's another form of discipline, isn't it? Yeah, no, it's it's the biggest discipline.

SPEAKER_00 31:50

Yeah, boxing's easy. Boxing's and every fight or two, boxing's easy. Life is hard. Yeah, life is the hard part. Going down up and down for motions, having adversity come at you, you know, and my partner, my beautiful fiancee, she's a massive part of my success too. To um to sub, you know, just to I don't know, not fill in a mother role because you're not my mother, she's my partner, but just to have that strong woman with me.

George 32:14

Oh, without a doubt. Yeah, she was really partnering one of the determining factors of your success or your downfall.

SPEAKER_00 32:20

No, you know, so my mum told me she said don't lose her. So since then, man, I've just been doing my thing, the boxing promotions and yeah.

Promoting Coaching And Global Media Work

George 32:32

Well, just about to ask, so you know, that's that's pretty extensive with your boxing career in the past, being the actual guy in the ring. Yeah, what's the future now? Like, where are you at with with the you're still in the sport, obviously? So, what what are you doing now in the boxing space?

SPEAKER_00 32:47

Yeah, so I'm in the sport as much as I can be. I don't think there's any more hats that I can wear. So I've been a fighter, I'm a I'm a coach, so I've um trained boxers at amateur level to Commonwealth Games, Olympic Games. Luke Jackson uh is my main fighter I've had. I've trained boxers to Australian championship fights and world championship fights. Yeah. Um, Bo Belvin, Luke Jackson, you know, I've got Nazadara now. So so and I've got amateur kids, so I train amateur and professional boxers, so I I I coach them, get them ready to fight, and I'm in the corner on the night of the fight. I manage fighters as well, so I do the business stuff as well. So I you know, I try and um you know get them on this certain show or get them on this TV show or uh or get sponsorship for them. I also promote my own shows as well, but I do my shows still back in my hometown of Tassie. So I've done back to the community. Yeah, so I do two shows a year and I've been doing it for 25 years. Yeah. So I've still been doing them. Um and then lately I've been doing the media. I've been um I think three years now, I've been going over to America and Saudi Arabia um doing the um interview on the fighters. So the Saudis have put a lot of money into boxing and I think Snooker and MMA and WrestleMania to build up the tourism um in Riyadh to try and be a bit like Dubai. Um and it's been good, you know. There's it's you know, country never thought I'd go to. I've been there seven times in the last year and a half. So it's in they've had some big fights, too. Yeah, big fights, yeah. So so I was lucky. Um, so I was over there working for Fight Hype, which is an American-based YouTube boxing channel. So I've I've I've done the Fury and Usik one and two. Um, my seats for the Usyk and Fury first fight was three three rows behind Ronaldo and that's it. And I met him and that was uh was that the fight where Ronaldo and McGregor were sitting side by side? Nah, it's another one. Yeah, McGregor wasn't at that one, yeah, yeah. Um I think that one was in England, the one you're talking about, not not Saudi. Was it? I think it was in England, yeah. I think it was probably I think it was Anthony Joshua versus Yeah Wise versus Dubois. Um anyway, then um I'd done uh Better B Evan Bivil one and two, David Benavidez, David Haney, and then in Vegas, I'd done Lomoshenko, Devin Haney, Canelo versus Triple G. Um, and obviously, you know, and then recently Crawford and yeah, so yeah.

George 35:09

Alright, so how does a bloke from Tazzy, Mornington, now get to rub shoulders with Ronaldo? Rub shoulders with uh McGregor and Tyson and all the guys, all these people like where how have you put yourself in a position to get and meet some of these people?

SPEAKER_00 35:25

Yeah, yeah, I'll tell you the secret. It's just having a full belief in myself and and not being afraid to ask. I've never afraid to ask something or or you know, just having that sort of confidence to to make things happen. Like if you sit back, you watch the world go by. I've always been that guy, I'll never die wondering. You know, I'll never ever die wondering. So yeah, man, that little kid in Tassie, you know, and um, you know, with all the posters on his wall, boxes will I think I've met like seven out of eight of them champions now. I've got four on my phone. Yeah. Oscar DillAJoya, Rui Jones Jr., like guys that I just idolise growing up, you know what I mean? So yeah, I mean, but yeah, just just that self-belief. Like, like I said, you know, it doesn't matter if no one believes in you, as long as you do. As long as you go to sleep at night and you know that you're you'll do anything to get where you're gonna go, and it could be wherever it's been. Look, I tell you now, if I applied the school work, what I tied the box in, I'd be a an engineer or a rocket scientist or or working for NASA.

George 36:29

And totally fine that you didn't, because it just obviously wasn't your passion, and that wasn't your discipline, yeah, that wasn't your motivation to get into that space. And I'm sure had you put that mindset into that, you probably would have been.

Robby 36:41

Yeah.

George 36:41

All right, but you've gone down a different route and taken because to get to be a rocket scientist, you have to have a level of discipline. You the your discipline isn't getting up in the morning at 5 a.m. to train. Your discipline is I need to learn this, I need to hit the books, I need to get better, I need to study, I need to connect with the brilliant minds. That's the discipline there, and that's difficult in its own right. Yeah, so it still takes uh that to be to have that level of greatness.

SPEAKER_00 37:06

Yeah, yeah, no, I believe that. And um, but yeah, look, I I still pinch myself. Look, the thing is I'm a fan of the sport, so the fact that I'm there, you know, and sort of you know, Canelo and and becoming very good friends, we'll talk about it a bit in depth soon, but being becoming very good friends with Terrence Bug Crawford or a core brother, um, is this surreal, you know what I mean? It's crazy, and yeah, and like even though I'm not massive into soccer, but yeah, Ronaldo and Connor and you know, they're they're all they're all the who's who, aren't they? And yeah, when you're sitting close to them and you're on their level, you know what I mean? Like, not their level as in of of finances or all with their achievements, but they know who you are. They shake your hand and Naymar, he's a cool dude, he actually he definitely knows who I am. But I mean, um, I'm that sort of guy though, I'll make my presence felt. I mean, I'm yeah, and that's what I am, man. That is what it is. Like I always say, you know, um, you know, take me as I am, or not at all. Like I'll never change for anyone. Um, you know what I mean? When I was a kid, talk about peer pressure. When we when we'd played dress up and done cowboys indians, you know, back in my era, I always wanted to be the Indian because no one wanted to be the Indian. I've always been that guy to go against the grain. Yeah. So that's the thing, and and um, I don't think I'll bother changing at the age of 48. I think I'll just keep doing what I'm doing and why not?

Robby 38:22

Yeah, true. If it's worked so far, yeah.

Fight Pullouts Weight Cuts And Contracts

SPEAKER_00 38:24

Yeah, if it's not break, don't fix it, true. If it's not break, don't fix it. That's it.

Robby 38:28

Um okay, so the boxing world. Yeah, where do you think the biggest so you came through, yep, grew up around it, went pro, became a champion. Undefeated? Yep. 8 0. Yep, four and it should have been 2, but just should have been 20. Uh just so many. All those pricks that pulled out, huh? 100%, man. What do you do you reckon does that happen often in the sport? Too much.

SPEAKER_00 38:53

Yeah, and and we're not saying not gonna be an injury thing, not gonna, yeah, not gonna sit here and go, people are scared. None of that. None of that shit. Look, things happen.

SPEAKER_01 39:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:01

Someone, yeah, someone injures themselves, training camp, yeah, someone doesn't make weight. Life happens, um, their sister died the day before. Like, things happen in life. So I'm not gonna sit here, no fighter would say anyone's scared of anyone, but things happen, and all of a sudden, you're looking at all these years, you're thinking, well, I've had eight fights and I've been scheduled for 20. And that's just a fact. And that's the way it goes, and you know, and and so beat. And then you think that geez, day in, day out, I'm at the gym, I'm taking the punches, I'm losing, I'm staying around my weight because I never used to want to get too heavy, so I made a mistake once.

Robby 39:34

What so what what uh weight were you fighting at?

SPEAKER_00 39:36

So I as an amateur, I was mainly a feather weight, 57 kilo.

George 39:42

57.

SPEAKER_00 39:43

Yep, and I debuted as a pro super, super feather, which was 59 kilo.

George 39:48

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 39:48

So I was always light. So how tall are you? I'm only five foot four, five five, maybe.

George 39:53

See, that that's still uh that's light.

SPEAKER_00 39:55

Yeah, it is light. That is light.

Robby 39:57

But that's not your walk around rate.

SPEAKER_00 39:58

No, it's not my walk-around rate, but I never used to walk around too much. I I did make look, I used to never say when I was fine at 57, I'd probably only be around, I don't think I'd ever go any heavier than 62. Not too much.

Robby 40:09

Okay, because it's still pretty light.

SPEAKER_00 40:10

But I did make mess once I did make a mistake. I did, I did, there was these championships in Queensland, and my skulls, I didn't, you meant to get them checked and get them braid um calibrated, yeah. Tanky calibrated. I was about to say braided, but you get them calibrated. And um, and I hadn't anyway, I was off mate, and I was on 10 kilos over.

SPEAKER_01 40:29

Oh, right.

SPEAKER_00 40:29

Yeah, like yeah, so I had like like look yeah, like what 40 uh 48 hours to get rid of it. So I was just like, I was just in the sauna, in the in the garbage bag with a tracksuit, on a tracksuit, um, in the sauna, and then going for a run in the 30-degree humidity in Queensland, back in the sauna, um, and just all that shit. Yeah, so and I said I'll never do that again. So I've always been I've always been pretty switched on with the weight. Okay, so you didn't have to do heavy weight cuts? No, only that time. Yeah. Because I fucked up.

unknown 41:01

Yeah, yeah.

Robby 41:02

Yeah, because you see so many guys now. Yeah, too much.

SPEAKER_00 41:05

MMA guys are MMA guys, yeah.

Robby 41:07

They're not walking around, yeah, walking around at 30 pounds higher than what they're fighting at.

SPEAKER_00 41:12

Yeah, I hope they're getting paid a lot for that because they're um They're not. No, they're because they're they're doing some crazy stuff.

George 41:18

You're saying, sorry, walking around heavier.

Robby 41:20

Well, yeah, so so so they'll fight at that in the MMA well that's in pounds. Like so they fight at say 170, but their walk around weight is 200 pounds.

George 41:30

Yeah, right.

Robby 41:31

Yeah, so they'll drop 30 pounds to make weight.

George 41:34

Patty the batty is like he's big with that. Like, but he openly goes, I'm gonna become the fattest fucking.

SPEAKER_00 41:38

But don't they do the don't they do the IVs as well and that sort of stuff with the postway in? The uh IVs and that, yeah, yeah.

Robby 41:45

I think postway in as well.

SPEAKER_00 41:46

But so there's some So I'm not very edicated, like I think all this stuff's a bit more new, sort of the science. And I know a lot of the ways I see a lot of them, which I never done, they lay in the they lay what lay with like towels around them and that's I've never done that too. And I never my fighters have, but I never done the baths either.

Robby 42:03

Oh like that.

SPEAKER_00 42:04

Sometimes in the hot no no no I've done the ice bath, no but the hot baths to lose weight where you're just in the bath and it's just sort of in a hot bath. And you know, I just basically used to just do the look, I used to make sure I was okay, but look, at the end of the day, I'd skip with 50 jumpers on and jump on the sauna. So probably not the right way to do it, but that was the way But it worked. Yeah, it worked, always made weight, never, never not made weight, which is a big thing in boxing. You should always make weight. It's just being professional.

Robby 42:31

It's yeah, it shows your level of professional.

SPEAKER_00 42:33

100%, yeah.

Robby 42:34

Yeah, like you can't make weight, like this is you got one job.

SPEAKER_00 42:37

That's what you do again. Yeah, do you know what I mean? Hey, you see it, mate. Don't worry, a lot of I've seen a lot of people not make weight, and it's even the some of my shows that are promoted. No, no, no, no, mate. No, that's not not on.

George 42:48

Is that like a if you don't make weight, is it like uh an embarrassing way to get out of the fight? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:55

Do they proceed with the fights? No, well, look, if it's a if it's for a title, you've got to be spot on the weight. Yeah. Well, the fight doesn't go ahead.

George 43:02

Spot on is in not up, not down. You can be down.

SPEAKER_00 43:05

Yeah, you can be down. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sorry. Can't be over. Yeah, yeah. If it's not a title fight and there's not much difference, the two trainers can have a chat and agree. Okay, so you're only one kilo over. All right then, well, I'll I'll we'll still take the fight, especially if you think you can beat the guy. Well, I'll accept the fight for one kilo over. Yeah. You know what I mean? So they trade purses. They can do that, yeah. So that's happened before. I I've gave a fighter, I've took money off a fighter, which is because he broke the contract, yeah, and gave it to the other fighter that made the weight and done the right thing. Yeah. So that's all part of it. We have contracts anyway.

George 43:40

If you're a if you're um three kilos over, yeah, or four kilos, let's say five kilos. Okay. Is it an advantage to the heavier weighter? Uh the fighter, sorry. Like is there is it does it really make a difference to the fight?

SPEAKER_00 43:55

Yeah, it just means that you haven't really wasted to get down too much and the other guy has. Okay.

George 44:01

He's drained a bit more of the new energy to get to that level.

SPEAKER_00 44:04

And you're heavier.

Robby 44:05

Yeah, but is there is that an advantage? Maybe it's a disadvantage. I think that's always a bigger guy is not always, but almost always gonna have an up a bit of an advantage.

SPEAKER_00 44:16

Well the Ryan guy said Devin Haney fight. I mean, Ryan just come in at heavyweight, heavy, he came in overweight by you know a few pounds and the and the Haney's um instead of making him get down any weight, they copped the$1.5 million instead. Yeah, because that was a big, a big uh breach in contract. But then I reckon he should have made him get down and because then it didn't work out. Ryan was on him, and you know, and um, yeah, so I mean, look, usually the weight does make a there's weight divisions for a reason, let's put it that way. Yeah, yeah. That's why there's weight divisions, but yeah, but as I said, um, and look, while we're on the subject about weight divisions, um, my dear friend Terrence Crawford went up three divisions. Well, they say two divisions, I really think three divisions, and beat Canelo Alvarez. So how how how amazing was that on Netflix in front of 41 million people. So that was just yeah, and not many people gave me a chance, but I did. I just knew when I brought him down last May, being around him, knowing how competitive he is. He's like Michael Jordan and Kobe. He's got that mumba mentality, and I just knew that he was gonna get the job done, and then he did, so it was it was pretty cool.

Robby 45:26

He's uh who would you say in the boxing world? Yeah, and I think you kind of alluded to it before, but I just want to get a clear answer. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Who's the goat?

SPEAKER_00 45:35

The goat? The goat. Well, look, everyone says Sugar Robertson, and I've I've always said Sugar Robertson. Um Muhammad Ali is the goat of heavyweights, and he's in the goat conversation. When you get technically, people always say usually Sugar Robertson or Muhammad Ali. But I and people say some people in this modern era say Flo Mayweather, but I think Terence Crawford's definitely up there because he's 42-0. 42-0. He's 42-0, five divisions, world champion, and three times undisputed. That's he's the only man to do it. That means when you've got all the belts. So he done it at waterweight. No, he done it at super lightweight, waterweight, and super middle against Canelo. So Terrence Crawford is definitely in the argument for the goat conversation. I think fighters that are current will be looked at more later on. Like Mar Motelee didn't get his his true flowers until later on. Um, and Sugar Robertson, and if you didn't know, he probably, I don't expect you guys to know him, but he's back in the more the olden days. Yeah, yeah, but he was like, at one, at once, he was like, I think it was like 177 or one at one stage. That was his record at one stage, you know what I mean? He's just a freak. But yeah, and and that's touching on that, right?

Robby 46:47

So you look at is Mike Tyson in the conversation?

SPEAKER_00 46:50

No, no, no, Mike Tyson is the youngest heavyweight world champion of all time. At his time, he was the baddest man on the planet. Yeah, I think things could have gone a different way if he hadn't lost Carter Customato with his old coach. Yeah, and if he didn't go on such a downhill spiral, he could have been, but the fact is when history remembers him, he didn't. Great fighter legend, yeah, but he's not in the GOAT conversation with Lee Ray Robinson or Bud or Floyd Matters.

Robby 47:17

They were professionals, yeah. He was a bad man, yeah, yeah. He was like, well, he wanted to hurt people, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 47:23

Oh, 100%.

Robby 47:24

Yeah, he was going in, and yeah, I've heard I don't know, can't vouch for this, but people saying stories like he would go in with so much anger built up into the fight, and then he would knock the person out in the first round, and that wasn't enough, and then he'd leave, go to a bar and get into a bar fight. It's like, yeah, and then just go and bash people at a bar because he had to get all this anger out. And he'd say like he used to cry, he says it's I used to sit down and cry before the fight because I didn't like who I was about to become.

SPEAKER_00 47:50

Yeah, yeah. Mike, I mean, Mike's got an interesting story, and and I mean, he's um they come from the streets of Brownsville, Brooklyn, you know, and um, you know, can't imagine what he's seen growing up and to do what he'd done, you know what I mean? Like to become, you know, the the youngest heavyweight champion of all time, which still still stands to the day, to make millions and millions of dollars to be rolling with Ron DMC and Naomi Campbell, Eddie Murphy when he was like 19 and limousines and gold, you know, jewelry and Lamborghinis and you had it all, but they don't teach you how to look after the money or handle the fame at that age. When they're coming from the streets, not many, not many fighters can handle it.

George 48:33

I think not many people could handle it. Not many people could handle it, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:36

So but he's doing well now. He's doing good, man.

George 48:38

He's um he's completely different.

SPEAKER_00 48:40

He he's on podcasts, he seems like he's talking good. Um, you know, I've only met him the once, but um Oh, you've met him? Yeah, yeah, met Mike. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, met Mike in 2012, and and um, yeah, no, I mean he's he's cool, man. Mike's a cool guy. Mike can go anywhere in the world and he eats for free. He doesn't he's still Mike Tyson, he's still any line at any bar just moving out of the way for Mike Tyson. Iconic. It is, man, and and it's cool because he just he's still relevant, it doesn't matter, and not many fighters are like you know. I mean, um, some fighters you think, oh hey, remember him? Like, oh, I haven't eaten him for a while, but Mike Tyson is just Mike Tyson. But say is Muhammad Ali. I mean, Muhammad Ali to me and to most people, and and I'm sure you guys know this, it's not just about boxing for Muhammad Ali. Yes, he won three heavyweight war titles, yes, he was Olympic gold medalist, yes, he was one of the most beautiful, fastest boxers of all time and fought Fraser, Norton, Foreman, Liston. But he's more respected for the stands he took in life. Where everyone usually, when you're faced with a decision to give up your world title, your status C V way champion, to give up your mansions, your cars, your money. You can't earn a dollar from Box In because there's a court case, because he wouldn't refuse to go to the Vietnam War. And that was his belief. He said, Why should I go fight against the Viet Cong when they never call me a nigger? They never they never refused me to eat at a restaurant because I was black.

SPEAKER_01 50:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 50:17

And and he's and no one would ever people not even now. Not even now. People people people listen, people, people, um, people don't want to give up the final things in life. He gave it all because he stuck to his decision. It was his belief, and he couldn't earn a living from boxing for years, and he was facing jail, only the court, you know, and it wasn't until whatever four years later when he got his license back. Um they even tried to talk about fighting on a plane. So it you know, because it had to be deliberately, he couldn't fight in America, but they took his passport, so he couldn't literally fight in America, but he thought maybe there was all these crazy things I was trying to do. But uh a great, great man. A great great man. Um, and he he's a reason why there's so much money in sport, he's a so much, and he's a reason why so many African American athletes have been, you know, have been lucky, you know, have have made so much money. Yeah, they're gonna be able to do that. Because before him, no, no African no African American had a voice in sport. It was him, you know, and then Jackie Robertson and that, but I mean, um, yeah, LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, they all, you know, there'd be no m none of them without Muhammad Ali, you know, and yeah, he's unbelievable. Unbelievable man.

Robby 51:38

Very unbelievable. Um, going back to the to the Mike Tyson thing, something I wanted to touch on. So if you look at his record, and you would be you would be more um you'd have a better idea of this than I would, but you look back at it and he was fighting twice a month, like so regularly. Early days, early days, yeah. You'd look at his thing and exactly.

SPEAKER_00 51:58

I think he had 16 fights in one year, it's ridiculous.

Robby 52:00

Yeah, stupid. Yeah, do you know what I mean? And then you watch now, and it's like pro fighters will fight once every second year, yeah, or once a year. And if they're fighting twice a year, they're they're really active.

SPEAKER_00 52:10

You know, you know the reason behind that. That's because when he was coming up as a young fighter. When you get to the world championship level, definitely not even he was fighting that often. It's when you're up and coming and he was taking fights on small shows, and Customer wanted to keep him active. He wanted him, he wanted to fight regularly for a couple of reasons. A, to keep him in the gym, because when he was in the gym in between fights, he'd go back to Brooklyn from Catskill and get into trouble and put on weight. So so he was taken in by Castamoto and his wife in Catskills, which is you know more like country New York. So Casamoto was worried about him going home, getting in trouble, putting on weight and all that stuff, yeah, hanging around with in the hood. So he kept him busy fighting, fighting and improving. But once you got to the world championship level, you don't fight that often. So that's just a fact. So that can only happen when you're on the way up. That can't happen when you're at a at that world title level. Because when you're fighting, you you might want to fight all the time, but it's actual an event. A big fight like a Floyd Mayweather, Mike Tyson fight, is like a Super Bowl. You know what I mean? So you got TV networks, TV dates, you everything's got to be aligned. So look, the best you're gonna get is someone fighting four times a year, but the real big ones is twice a year. Canelo, Mayweather, Terrence Crawford now, uh Tyson is twice a year.

Australia’s Best Pros And Rising Talent

Robby 53:38

Yeah. Do you uh who who do you see up and coming in the Australian boxing uh world?

SPEAKER_00 53:45

Yeah, look, I mean, you know, I'm blessed to have many close friends. I mean, I'm very close to Tim Zoo. Um, you know, I've known Tim since he was three because I was he close to Costa. I'm a big, big, big fan of his and a and a friend of his. And he was um, yeah, you know, he had the world with his feet um as world champion, and he had a couple of setbacks and now he's on the road back. He's had two fights back. He's got a big fight against Errol Spence, which I've got a bloody wager with Terrence Crawford on in that one. So I'm hoping Tim wins it, but um, but I want Tim to win for more than the money reasons. I believe in him that he'll he'll get back to to what he was, you know what I mean. So he's still him and his brother Nikita, probably still the two of the main ones. Joe Patea, he's he's he's you know arguably our greatest, you know, that we've got at the moment. Um he just signed with Dana White and the Zufa, the new the new league. Um George Gambosis, obviously, he's still got a couple of big fights left in, but he's been great over the years. Um Liam Purrow, you know, he's he's a he's our he's going for his second time uh as a world champion. And there's a lot of young, hungry guys, you know what I mean? But everyone deserves to everyone's gotta pay their dues and get there one day, you know what I mean? Sammy Goodman and and all them guys, I mean, but we've got a lot of talent, but the ones that are sort of just that are talented, but the ones that go to that next level, that's a whole different ballgame, you know what I mean?

Robby 55:11

So what would you say to someone who you know, maybe because like grew up in a rough area, you've dodged the bullets, yeah. Well done to that. Most people don't.

SPEAKER_00 55:23

Uh what would you say to someone who's kind of in that space now and wants to wants an out and wants to go and achieve big things or yeah Yeah, look, uh like I always say, and and like when I speak, like I don't I don't say things you know to I don't mean to repeat and I don't mean to like say it just as a you know as an empty comment, but you know, to be a line you know to be uh to be a leader, not a follower. So it look, you know, the thing in lately these days in Melbourne's going on and I'm just horrified what's happened, it's getting worse and worse each day. I don't know, like, you know, they're obviously getting round in groups and they're obviously up to no good. It just takes you to be big enough and have the balls, because it might be intimidating for them, or it might be a bit like that to say, no, you can do that, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna go to footy training, I'm gonna go to boxing training, I'm gonna go to whatever, to go to work, you know, and I'm gonna I'm gonna stop doing this shit, you know. So it's all up to the individual. So we're assuming these guys, most of these guys are teenagers, so it's up to you as a teenager to do what I'd done and just say, mate, I'm a I'm a leader, not a follower. I'm a I'm a lion, not a sheep. Simple as that. It's up to you, you know what I mean? And and you might be pressured by your friends and these guys you might look up to, or there might be a couple of guys you're a bit scared of in the group and they're like, do this. It takes it's just up to you say no.

George 56:54

A bit of courage, yeah, mate.

Knife Crime Fear And Broken Consequences

SPEAKER_00 56:56

A lot of courage. Say fuck off, mate. Um see you later. You just can go and do your bullshit. But while we're on this subject, um, yeah, I've been massive on the knife crime stuff in Melbourne and Australia, but it's gotta stop. Like, I mean, look, I don't contain violence, but I'm I'm from a violent life, you know, where you know I've seen fights all the time. I've seen uncles fight uncles, I've seen dad fight my grandfather, you know, uh, you know, both in drinking. I've seen aunties fight, I've seen friends fight. Um, you know, and but as I said, it's it's always with your fists, you know. So I can say if A, you don't fight at all, but if you have to fight, fight with your fists and and put and stop carrying weapons because if you arm yourself with a machete before you leave home, you are a weak coward, and that's all it is. And I'm sure your grandfather never done that. So be like your grandfather, you know. Look, we all should look up. I'm sure you know these kids, it doesn't matter what race or or religion they're from, I'm sure that their grandfathers never act like this. So be like your grandfather, you know, don't go around and be so weak. A you shouldn't be running around terrorising people anyway, because that's just not the way Australia is or anyone should be. But definitely don't go carrying noise. Because what are you gonna do? You say, okay, you're gonna stab someone. Oh no, so you're gonna probably kill someone. What's gonna happen then, mate? You're gonna go to jail. Then we're gonna see how tough you really are, son. We're gonna see how tough you really are in the prison system. I know a lot of people, a lot of friends, a lot of dear friends have been from that system. I I I I treat how people they treat me. I'll sit down with a billionaire, and I have done, and I'll sit down with a guy that's done 10 years jail. And I probably prefer the the the 10 year jail guy, his company over the billionaire. But I miss with I'll mix with anyone, all right? If you're decent to me. You know, I'll never mix with a pedophile or a rapist. But if you're a bloke who's a knock-around bloke and done a bit of this, done a bit of that, hey, you know, good on you. You know what I mean? But the thing is, these kids with the knives, you're gonna end up not only killing someone, not only taking someone's son or daughter from them, you're gonna end up in jail. So for what? To run around as some little their own life as a result. Yeah, they run around as some suburb because they got a different postcode or so.

George 59:16

Do you think the system's broken as a result of it?

SPEAKER_00 59:18

Australia, I'm gonna say this. Australia is turned into a shithole. Melbourne is turned into a shithole. We're gone. And it won't change. We're gone, we're gone, we're gone. We're gone. Labour liberal doesn't matter. Melbourne has turned into an absolute shithole where I'm contemplating moving my family because I'm over it.

George 59:37

I think a lot of going it's crap. I I understand, I understand the the sentiment behind that. And look, I think it will take something extraordinary to change the people's mindset and also the the culture around it because it's a shame, you know. It's a beautiful state, and you've moved here for a reason many. It was awesome, mate.

SPEAKER_00 59:55

I was I it was awesome, but um since COVID, it's gone downhill.

George 59:58

Yeah, you you see it way too often. Like, even the other day in Port Melbourne, there was a special that's five minutes away.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:05

I wish I was there, mate. Yeah, but that's you you see you're seeing this more often.

George 1:00:11

Uh just some kids jumped some other kids.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:13

Yeah, with weapons, and there were they were it was pretty bad. And then we saw uh there was a guy as well, somewhere all in white, with a fake machine gun that looked real, and he got baled straight away. The thing is, the the punishment is not harsh enough. Yeah, they get bailed straight away and they don't get enough jail time, they're not scared of of the repercussions. So if you're not scared of something, you you know, you look, I I know that it it's only gonna get worse. I really don't see it getting better. If it's not, and you can say, oh, give the kids this, you know, they've got nothing to do there, but fuck off, mate. If you're if you're if you're the sort of person to arm yourself with a weapon before you leave home, what sort of person are you? You're looking for trouble.

George 1:00:59

No, they're looking for it, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:01

I don't I don't arm myself with a weapon, mate. If something happens one day and I'm still ready now, my missus goes, Oh, you're always on edge. Mate, I'm always ready because I don't trust anyone. So anyone comes to me and my family, they're gonna get the version of me that yeah, that's ready to rock, you know what I mean? And it is what it is, it's just bad. All I can say is it's not gonna get better, guys, it's gonna get worse. So I don't know, and I go to England a lot, and all over there, you can't wear a watch, you can't do nothing. Right, and you know, and they're all the gangs over there, and and and people are leaving London because of it. So I think they're five years ahead of us. Australia is London in five years, Australia or Melbourne?

George 1:01:40

Yeah, I was gonna say, is this a Melbourne thing you're seeing, or do you see it in other states as well?

SPEAKER_00 1:01:43

Melbourne is Sydney. I mean, Sydney is shooting. Sydney's different. Sydney and I know a lot of people that are up there with this stuff, but um, because in boxing you meet everyone, you know what I mean? And I said I judge I don't I don't judge anyone, you know. Um, but Sydney's a bit different. Sydney's there's a lot of shoot-ins at the moment and kidnappings, but they're all kidnapping. Yeah, a lot of kidnappings, but they're all crime related.

George 1:02:04

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:05

They're also a lot of targeted, yeah. If you're a family that's still something like other people's family in Melbourne, it's random crime.

George 1:02:11

It's random, same, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:12

And and I'm no there I'm talking home invasions. So you're there with your family.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:20

Right mate, and so you're there with your family, people, you're there with your family that have coped that.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:24

You're there with your family, doesn't matter what suburb, you can be in good old beautiful Brighton, or you can be at one of the Western suburbs, you know, where I'm whatever. You will have six youths break into your house and you'll have a knife at your fucking throat with your wife and your daughter or son in the next room. And this happens all the time. They want your car keys, they want this. Sometimes you might get a bastion from it, or sometimes the person can chase them away. Are you seriously when you go to bed at night? You gotta worry about young, like little putrid dogs coming to your house. No, yeah, fucking pulling up.

George 1:03:03

And then let's just say you get a hold of one of them. Do you know what I mean? You get a hold of one of them and you give them a belting of a lifetime. No, and then you get fucked up.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:11

I'm killing them. But that's a thing, right?

George 1:03:13

But that that's a thing, right? But I'll say it on, I'll say it now. I'll say it on this.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:17

Anyone comes to my house, I'm killing them. My dad always said, your house is your kingdom, they won't leave.

George 1:03:22

That's the thing, though, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:03:23

I'll defend myself in court.

George 1:03:24

Yeah, I know, but uh this is how broken the system. How bad is it, though? This is what I'm saying. They're gonna persecute you as a result of your actions, even though you've been invaded and held at night point at gunpoint. I'll happily, I'll happily defend myself or whatever it is.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:38

Yeah, I think it's it's a joke. It's getting like America, it's getting bad, man. And then you've got kids. Um, well, my stepdaughter, I bought her a pair of Jordan Falls in Vegas at one of the big fights, and and she's I said, What are you wearing? She goes, Oh, they're kids around um around the schools, around the show. Around the shop, uh shop in the center um out west uh water gardens. She said they the the get jumped for that. They get jumped, you know, by a certain group of nationality who won't you know start doing race stuff, but it's not Aussie's.

George 1:04:10

Do you think it's an immigration thing?

SPEAKER_00 1:04:12

Of course it is. Yeah, wake up and smell the coffee, Australia. Absolutely. Of course it is. It is because you're my nice space. Like it's you might solve someone, mate. It's not white Ozzy's doing these crimes. Yeah. No, not being racist, but take it how you want. It's fucking not, mate.

Robby 1:04:28

You're not wrong.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:29

It's not. So you know what I mean? It is what it is. We're not going to their countries and doing shit because we'd be chopped up, chopped up with an axe and tied up in a in a by a tree.

George 1:04:39

Yeah, look, if it's if it is driven by by a certain ethnicity, I I think that if they've been granted access to this country, this is where I this is where my stance on it is if you're from another country and you commit a heinous crime here, or violence, or just something that's in it, like you're saying, even just carrying a knife, using a knife, using the gun. Well, the guy the guy that had the gun out of doubt, you you're on the next boat out. 100%. That's it. There's no there's no trial, there's no chances, there's no nothing. No, you get to go to jail for three weeks or ju to vie or whatever it is. No, no, no. Pack your shit and go back to the country you came from, sit there and do whatever you've got to do.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:15

Yesterday.

George 1:05:17

Where was this? Somewhere in Albit. Oh, so for those And he got a bail.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:24

He got bailed straight away.

George 1:05:25

Was that the pretend one?

SPEAKER_00 1:05:26

Was that a pretend, but how rural does it look? And he's aiming at people, and he's in this white jumpsuit.

George 1:05:30

Yeah, so in a white jumpsuit for those for those of you watching at home, and it's just someone pretending to have a gun and pretend to aim at people. Yep. But how do you know as a person like seeing that? You know, what do you do?

SPEAKER_00 1:05:41

And you'd freak. Yeah, exactly. What he mentioned just before. Especially with what happened in Sydney. Now that's what he was talking about. That was in Port Melbourne. I'll get where I'm based in.

George 1:05:51

That was um, yeah, I saw that the other day. And then what happened in Oakley? Yeah. Oh, yeah. That's what I that's one of my good friends' uh cafe. Yep. You know, they had the machete tack literally at the fucking. Front door. How many times like I've been there before? Well, that's what my post was the other night about that.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:04

How bad is that? And they would you know, like it's yeah. I think what's gonna happen is when us what are you the citizens, yeah, we start retaliating.

George 1:06:17

Yeah, but this is what I mean. You're gonna be able to do that. So I'll tell you now, mate.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:19

I'll tell you now. I've got a baseball in my car.

George 1:06:22

Yeah, but you're gonna be able to get it.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:23

And I'll I'll be happy you're gonna be happy now. I'll be happy to knock if I get say surrounded by a car, I'm always ready. And I pulled it out the other day. Yeah, I'll just quickly tell you um something happened with my stepdaughter, she's only 16, and there was a group of young boys, and I went and minimum McDonald's. Now, I'm not gonna go up and fight six people, probably with a knife. But put it this way, when I rocked up, they they fled. So but I shouldn't have to be doing this crap though. That's right. That's right.

George 1:06:51

But what I'm saying is from the perspective of if you did go there and defend yourself, the system is so that you get in trouble as well.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:57

The copper spoke to me, he said, mate, next time don't do it, don't bring do it in your own hands. I said, Well, mate, sorry, but I'm not gonna rely on you guys. Yeah, exactly. So but I mean it is what it is, yeah, yeah.

George 1:07:06

Look, I'm not I'm not putting down the police force in any way. No, neither am I. I think they make the arrests, I think their hands are tied to the city.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:12

They are the court system doesn't give them honour, you know. Um, but the thing is, um, but are we gonna have to start taking our country back or start reacting to these crimes?

George 1:07:22

Do you think so?

SPEAKER_00 1:07:23

You can't just be a sitting duck and let this shit happen.

George 1:07:26

Yeah, do you think Australia's got that in them? I think we're a sitting duck. I think what what COVID showed to me about to say is is how weak we really are. A country of followers laid out sheep, thank you and it's like, oh, we can't go out after 5 p.m. It's a happy villains podcast. Thank you. Um, I'm serious. Oh, mate, I like we've publicly said if Andrew, if I walk past Andrew's in the street, he's got a statue. He's got a statue. Uh mate, they should run that. He's over there in China with um we've spoken, I'm running for premier soon. Let's go. You got my vote. I've got your vote, good. Here we go. Um we'll I'm taking down that I'm taking down that statue.

unknown 1:08:04

Yeah.

George 1:08:04

All right. I'm not gonna destroy it. No, no, no, you're not. I'm gonna put it in Weraby. You know that sort of person. I'm gonna put it in Weraby in the shit farm. Yes. So that everyone's shit goes past that statue past his face every single day. That's what I'm gonna do with it.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:16

What about what about the the the wicked we choose there now, though? This one. Um what's her name?

George 1:08:21

Tell him um yeah, Jacinta. Jacinta. Just as bad. She's a clem. Arguably, arguably, if she was in power when Daniel was in power, you probably she'd probably be worse. The stuff that she's doing, it's just so detrimental. I don't understand in this country how you can blatantly do something so bad as a politician and just be like, oh, well, our budget is in surplus this month. I don't understand what you're saying. Like, shut the fuck up. You lost a con games billion dollars for machete bins. You're an advocate for getting rid of for getting rid of the bins, uh, knives. How bad. Do you know what I mean? You're telling me you're telling me I mean as a youth crime advocate, I've got my machete and go, you know what? I'm gonna go put this in the bin now. Yeah, you know, I'm not gonna put this. Yeah, I'm gonna go put it in the bin. And and not only that, it's the fact that you spent 13 mil on 30 of them.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:07

It's actually hideous. It was actually actually I mean, I'm a builder.

Robby 1:09:10

I know how much these things would cost to build, logically. We're in the wrong we're in the wrong business.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:13

Someone got someone's pockets got light. You know the question you asked before, um, like wider generations get sort of softer and softer. How do you think our grandparents or my dad or grandparents' era would have handled COVID? Do you think they would have complied?

George 1:09:29

No, they wouldn't have made it. They wouldn't have been able to. The technology wasn't available for them back then to sit down and work from home.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:36

Them as people, they wouldn't do it anyway. Yeah, you're not stopped my dad from going to the pub, he'd just go in there and pour his own beer. Yeah, it's you know, but we this is what I reckon, right? So the rich elite sat back and they go, It's a it's a little test. That's oh wow, they are really complying. Geez, Australia, they're easy than what we thought they were laughing at us. Yeah, I don't remember sneezing once at Coles in Port Melbourne, and this lady ran thinking, fucking we can take it easy. But how stupid is that? Or the mask when you're driving your own.

George 1:10:02

How dumb. I can't believe the stupidity of people to go, we're we're about to die from a disease, better stock up on toilet paper. Like fucking hell. A lot of people made a lot of money from COVID. That's fine. I've got no issues with people making a lot of money during disaster periods. Like, fucking.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:17

But before we wrap this up, what what's your conclusion? How do we fix, because we can keep talking about how do we fix the crime with the teenagers in Melbourne with these knives? How do we fix it?

George 1:10:28

Look, uh, from what I've seen, there this I feel like there are some good politicians out there, and I think it has to be it has to start from there. There has to be a policy change as far as the consequence fitting the crime. Because at the moment you said it's too weak, there's not enough going on, and decisions are being made for the better of an individual, you know, because they'll get their pockets lined or they get a promotion or whatever it might be, and not for the good of the people. So I think someone needs to come in with um some brass balls, man or woman, whatever it's going to be, you know. And this is why you look at Pauline Hansen and how much she's swung her voters, like voters her way. Yeah. This is a lady who's been quite extreme in some of her views, and now people are looking at her and going, fuck, she makes a lot of sense. Well, people are over it. Australians are over it. They're over it. And don't be surprised the next election if she polls very well. And it's like you need someone to come into play and go, all right, this is what's going to happen now. You you want to fuck around, you're going to find out. But are they going to get met with roadblocks along the way? Oh, you've got to fill out this form. Oh, you can't do that. Oh, the lefties don't want you this, the rights don't want this, and then all of a sudden you're back in the same spot. I don't know. This is why I say, like, if I was ever to become premier, I'd I'd almost be a dictator. I'd be like, no, no, shut your mouth. Your your opinion is irrelevant. This is what's best for the country, or this is what's best for the state. Yeah. And we're never going to get to that place because there's it's a democracy, but also there's too many people blocking the way. Part of it. So I think the rules need to change. I think, excuse me, if you're gonna do that, go out and do the wrong thing, there's gotta be a consequence for it. There has to be a lot I totally agree.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:04

And like before we go, I two countries I love. So I was always Russia. I love Russia. Um, been there three times, and I'm going back again. Um I'm celebrating their Christmas, I think the Orthodox Christmas. I think it's January 9th or whatever, next year. So um, and mate, always feel at home in Russia. I've never once felt any not being no any fear of safety, which I have felt that in LA in New York. Um it's probably not everyone's thing, like in the political, but I like the way Putin runs Russia. I like the way he's a strong leader, um, you know, and that's just my opinion. Um, the men there are strong, they've got that men of men, and they've got that old school, you know what I mean. And I think, you know, just the way they are, I I feel like, you know, Australia should sort of be a bit based on that. The kids are very, it's all about schoolwork and they're very um, you know, very um polite and just yeah, none of this crap's going on over there. You know, you he he rules of an iron fist. Chechnya, a country that many people have been to from Australia, I obviously need to meet um Ramzank Kadirov, um, who is the president of Chechnya, which is Russia's right-hand sort of um, you know, uh right hand sort of, you know, their coeze, you know what I mean? And Chechnya is a a former um republic now, but it was part of the Soviet Union, and uh it's a Russian Islamic country, but I um went there for a boxing match and and um we sponsored me and my friend Wayne Howellett, we sponsored uh one of the fighters and got to meet the famous president who's always surrounded by 50 armed Chechen soldiers. And the fact that I got to go up and give him a hug and say hello, my friend, and he said, Welcome to Chestinyar, and yeah, yeah, um deal, you know. And he's he was a great man, you know what I mean? And uh, you know, country like that, none of these little rats are fucking up in their countries.

George 1:13:54

Yeah, that's a thing.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:54

There's this huge they're not scared, yeah. That's right, you know, and and and I mean, I just don't know. Yeah, I don't know what's gonna happen, man.

George 1:14:02

Well, I think they I think you're right to a degree. I think there there may come a breaking point with people.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:06

People just start doing it, yeah. And as I said, I don't I don't I'm not condoning vigilantes, but mate, maybe it has to be some vigilantes. I mean, look, I tell you now, like I said, if if it's if it's to do with me and my partner and my my and my children, then I will kill them. One million percent. I won't even blink an eye. So I'm not saying everyone go out and do that, but but if it's if you're gonna protect your own house, you know, you're not gonna let you protect your own house. You gotta, you gotta, you know, and I'll think about it later, the repercussions. Yeah, but all these little wankers, and I said on my Instagram the other day, um, running around with knives in Melbourne, put them down, guys, go and get an education, go and get a job, get into a sport. Some of you kids look like you could be good athletes. Come and I'll train you.

George 1:14:49

Yeah, but do something with your life. What an invitation.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:52

Yeah, I'll come and train you guys for free.

George 1:14:54

That's it, get your tona.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:56

Stop these knife shit and being wannabe gangsters, okay, guys, because you're not impressing anyone, okay? The real men, the real gangsters, OGs in Melbourne, are laughing at you, little wankers.

Robby 1:15:06

Yeah, I I was gonna, you know, you talked about what's gonna be the fix. I was gonna say that whole thing around community, man, giving places people can go to get off the street. Come and try. Yeah, give them a place. I can imagine it was a government subsidy, and they said, hey man, we'll pay you if you take these kids off the street and train them in your gym.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:19

Someone contacts me now, first two weeks are free on me. I'll train how many? I don't care.

Robby 1:15:24

I'm gonna call you before this is live.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:25

Okay, let's get it, let's get it going, guys.

Robby 1:15:29

Tazzy, for people who want to follow the journey, see what you're about, or maybe inquire about the offer you just put out, man. Where do they find you?

SPEAKER_00 1:15:35

Yep. Uh Instagram at Grant Tassie Brown and uh Facebook just Grant Brown. But um, yeah, man, I've got a website too, uh Tassie Brown Boxing. Um, as I said lately, I've you know done some great things with Roberto Duran, Terrence Crawford, two two tours. There's a few rumors coming up soon that maybe Conor McGregor or Ryan Garcia might be coming. We'll talk about that later.

George 1:15:57

But um just get him on the podcast. Yeah, we'll have it ready for the chat.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:00

Just having a crack, man. Just honouring my mum and dad. Um I wish well on everyone. I'm you know, a big believer in God, and you know, as I said, and um I'm just trying to I'm just trying to do my my thing. I'm just staying in my lane, not hurting anyone, um, and and just doing the best I can be, you know what I mean?

George 1:16:16

Not hurting anyone outside of the ring.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:17

Yeah, yeah, that's right. Yeah, but yeah, just just trying to I mean, if I can lead by example and I can get some of these kids and someone to follow my footpath, you know, then then I've done my job, you know what I mean? But hey, life's good, man. Life's what you make it. Hey, you know, I'm just can't wait till the world eases up a bit, yeah, so I can travel a bit more and um get back to the bikes and love to buy and um and you know and and and God's great and and God bless everybody.

George 1:16:42

Love it. I'll I've got one final question for you. What's one life lesson that boxing has taught you?

SPEAKER_00 1:16:52

Just to always um prepare for the worst, you know, and and never never think you know be all prepare for the worst and you know and some be ready to face adversity. Because like nothing can ever be that good, something will go wrong, and you know whether it's a bad injury, you miss out on a team selection or a loss or or or a bad injury or you know, or um or anything like that, you know, just the fact that you can't take enough for granted.

George 1:17:21

Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:22

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, just yeah, that's it, and just just uh allow for that and work for a way, but also too, you can get over anything, you know. I mean, um there's nothing that you can't get over in life if you're willing to to fight for it. So yeah, definitely.

George 1:17:36

Fantastic. All right, Tazzy, mate. Been a pleasure to have you on the show. It's been a great chat, and yeah, we'll definitely be following your story and seeing how you're going with everything. And um, mate, wish you all the success. Hope to see you bringing some more people down into the country and and promoting the sport and and promoting uh the healthy message that you're sending across. And and hopefully we can influence some kids and get them off the street, get them into the gym, get them into something that's more positive and impactful.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:02

Stay away from drugs, guys. Nothing ever good comes from drugs. Uh, you know, it's the biggest root of all evil. Um you know, I've had family members die of overdoses, older cousins, and and I've seen it ruin people's lives. So, you know, if a friend offers you a drug, they're not really your friend. So it's a big thing. Stay away from the drugs, stay away from the street life, guys, because it's not that it's not that it's not that great. So just you know, yeah, just you know, try and be good humans. That's it. Be good to each other.

Robby 1:18:33

That's it.

George 1:18:35

Thanks, guys. Thanks, guys, appreciate it.

Robby 1:18:37

Thanks, everyone.