Goated Podcast
The "𝐆 𝐎 𝐀 𝐓 𝐄 𝐃" podcast is a show dedicated to discussing and celebrating greatness in various aspects of life, such as sports, entertainment, business, technology, and more. Each episode features in-depth conversations, interviews with accomplished individuals, and explorations of what it means to achieve the tag 𝐆 𝐎 𝐀 𝐓 𝐄 𝐃!
Goated Podcast
Goated Podcast Episode 25 - John "Iron Man" Cantrell and Damon Reed
In this episode of the Goated Podcast, Kevin sits down with John "Iron Man" Cantrell, reigning ABO Heavyweight Champion, and his Coach, Damon Reed!
We open up about the long road from 315 pounds to a 15–0 pro record and a shot at an IBF regional title. Coach Damon Reed—veteran of nearly a hundred pro fights—shares why he first said no, why he changed his mind, and why “you don’t play boxing.” Together, we break down the engine behind the streak: relentless roadwork, ten‑round strategy, and a belief that humility and hunger beat hype. You’ll hear raw details of Cooper’s prognosis, the global wave of prayer, and the steady march from walker to road runs beside Dad. The story isn’t sanitized; it’s full of relapse, confession, forgiveness, and the daily decision to surrender weight you can’t carry.
We also get into the sport itself: rankings and belts, the IBF ladder, how politics shape opportunities, and why obsession must be paired with wisdom. From Ali’s audacity to Holyfield’s courage among giants, we pull lessons that apply far beyond the ropes—marriage that doesn’t coast, businesses that don’t accept “down quarters,” and a mindset that treats storms as training. Along the way, we talk giving back—youth boxing support, affordable pay‑per‑view—and what it means to steward a platform with God over all things.
If you need proof that purpose can be forged in fire, you’ll find it here. Tap play, share this with someone who needs hope, and if the story moved you, subscribe and leave a review so more people can find it. Then tell us: what are you surrendering today?
Follow John on Instagram: @iron_man_cantrell
Get in touch: Team@thegoatedpodcast.com
Stay 𝐆 𝐎 𝐀 𝐓 𝐄 𝐃!
Hey man, if there's anybody out there that's struggling right now, that's going through a hard time, that's in the middle of the storm, guys. Life starts with surrender. Life starts with surrender. Give it to God. We can't carry these things. We can't do it with our own strength. He's the only one who can do it. So true. Let him in. Just let him in and watch the miracles and the promises start happening in your life. I don't care if I'm this kid's dad for a day, a week, a month, a year, a hundred years. I'm gonna be the best darn dad to this kid that I can possibly be for however long he's here.
SPEAKER_03:Thank you guys for joining again. Today is a special treat, uh, as always, but today we have two goats in the building. I don't call myself a goat, but there's three of us on this episode, which is awesome. We've got dangerous Damon Reed, now the coach of the Iron Man John Cantrell. 15-0, stud between the three of us, thousands of beatdowns uh across the world. Okay. I haven't traveled other countries. Uh I handled Florida. These guys have handled the states, the uh rest of the world with beatdowns, and I'm so pumped to have both these guys here today. Uh definitely the most dangerous room, I will say, uh, that we've ever had for the goaded podcast. Um, welcome to the show. First time down here to visit the goaded HQ or goaded out. Blessed to be able to sponsor John and the upcoming fight. Um he's got a fight in December to go 16-0. He's got 14 knockouts, so there's a 93% chance you're gonna get knocked out if you step up to this guy. I don't know what my percentage is. I'm gonna look after this because when I heard that, I was like, I wonder what my percentage is, if you're you're gonna leave the building or not. It's it's higher, it's much higher. Um, but the goaded mentality, goaded podcast, no no better two guests to have today, so so blessed to have them. Um we've got a ton to talk about. God is so good, we've we talk about that uh daily, and we talk about goaded mentality, having God over all things. To be a goat, you gotta put God over all things, and these guys live by that too. And and to be tough, real men uh in today's culture is a is a blessing to hear from them today. So I hope you enjoy the episode and let's jump into it. So, John, you want to start? Tell us you got the big mic there. Um tell us how you guys met, your s your story, sorry, John, and uh and what the journey's been like.
SPEAKER_02:Man, so uh so just to fast forward, right? We're gonna do a quick catch-up. Graduated college, whole life I was an atheist. Uh I was gonna teach high school kids that Christianity was a fairy tale and that God was a fairy tale, and it was just a way to keep people in like in social control and social constraints, a way to keep people in slavery. That was the goal. That was it. That was it. Decided I didn't want to be a teacher. Uh a little over a year later, I'm sitting in federal prison for distribution of methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin. Right. So from graduating college to federal prison, like happened that fast. That's how fast drugs and addiction took me downhill. Um, right before I went to prison, man. I, you know, there's two ways to know Christ: special revelation and general revelation. General revelation is you know the you know, the world is just far enough away from the sun to where life exists, the state of Israel, all these things that everybody knows, like there is a creator, right? There's a there is a intelligent design. Yeah. And then there's special revelation, right? That is when God introduces himself to you.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And I uh I'd attempted suicide via car wreck, you know, when I was on pretrial release getting ready to go to the feds. You know, I thought my life was over, I couldn't stay sober.
SPEAKER_03:Um you got out? No, no, no.
SPEAKER_02:So this is before prison.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, before prison. This is new.
SPEAKER_02:I was I'm on pretrial release, and I'm like, dude, my life is over. I'm gonna be I'm going to prison and you know I can't stay sober, I'm just hurting the people that love me the most. Uh my life's over.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:So I attempted suicide and and literally like went through a car accident that nobody walks away from. And Jesus Christ like carried me through the entire thing. Amazing. Like walked away without a scratch. Without a scratch. Nobody survives what he did. Nobody survives. Yeah, dude, they're like, he's they wanted to, so the cops and the EMTs got into a fight. They're like, the cops were like, we're arresting him for a DUI. And the EMT's like, he has a broken neck or a broken back, and he's so effed up, like, like he just doesn't know it. We have to take him to a hospital. Wow. I got to the hospital and they checked me out. Nothing. Right. So I uh I, you know, I have my interaction with Christ, and um my whole life changes in that moment, you know, everything, everything changes about me in that moment, and all of a sudden I know like there's more, there's something coming, and I had hope. I had hope. So I turned myself into the U.S. Marshals right after that and started doing my time because like I know I'm gonna do time. I'm not doing any good on the street. You know, I might as well start doing my time. So I started doing my time. God starts putting people in my life to teach me the Bible, man, and and he just starts working on me there. And you know, you got two choices when you go to prison. You can look at it as man, this is a waste of time, this is the worst thing that's ever happened to me. Like, I'm just here, you know, while everything else is going on, or this is an uninterrupted time in my life that I can really focus on becoming the human being that I want to be. Right? So that's what I did, man. I focused on discipline. You know, I remember when I was a kid, my dad told me, John, look at your three best friends. You want to know what kind of person you are. Look at the people that you surround yourself with. There you go. He said, You're hanging out with with drunks and and dope addicts and drug dealers and gangsters. Yeah. And sure enough, man, that's exact that's what I was doing, that's exactly what I became. You know, so when I was in prison, I started surrounding myself with people that had the things that I wanted. You know, I want to have a really good relationship with God. Well, if I want what they have, I'm gonna start doing what they do to get that.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:So I started surrounding myself with godly men, you know, business owners that have made a bad choice, and and you know, I'm taking a shortcut that they shouldn't have taken. Um, and it changes my life. So I get home, meet the girl in my dreams, uh, and do we've got the world by the short and curlies. So we uh, dude, I got big. I got real big. Gained weight. Oh man, I got big. So my no, no, no, no. So I when I got out, I was gonna run an Iron Man competition. Okay. And that's where the nickname came from. So uh I was gonna run an Iron Man competition. I started training for an Iron Man. It ended up falling the same weekend as my wedding because we had rain and we had an outdoor wedding, so I didn't make a choice. And I I made the right choice instead of running a race. I married I married the girl, man. I married the girl. So I uh, you know, married the girl in my dreams, and then we had, you know, it wasn't all over then. I just celebrated five years of sobriety uh a year after I got out, and I told my you know, my wife at the time, and she wasn't a believer, I said, I either want to have kids or I want to have fun. And she said, Well, what does having fun look like? And I was like, Well, I'd like to have a drink every once in a while. And I had a drink, and that lasted for about a month where I could have a drink, and then it was more and more and more and more. And then there was that time that I drank so much, too much, and my judgment went out the window, and then I started using methamphetamine again. And it we, I mean, I kicked her out of the house, we split up, um, it was horrible. And but you know what's funny is that was her way to find Christ. You know, that was the worst thing that she'd gone through, and it drove her to open the book. It drove her to open the book. What brought me out of my relapse was she called me and invited me to go to church. And I'm thinking, you know, like how could this girl who I think is the devil, you know, why she wouldn't do that. Like, you can't sit at both tables, you can't serve both God and Satan. So she invited, well, it's God and and Amon, but uh she invited me to go to church and everything changed. So I didn't think I could have kids. We went out with a couple and and they prayed for us, and within three days, like we conceived. So we got baptized together, you know, we start living this really good life. We both have really good jobs, you know, COVID happens, we both get sent home. I'm managing, you know, 90 welders from home and and uh managing big big steel projects from home and Taylor's working from home.
SPEAKER_03:You weren't fighting at the time.
SPEAKER_02:No, no, no, no. So I've had a couple amateur MMA fights, but I'd never taken it seriously. I was just a brawler. Um that's why.
SPEAKER_03:And you were working in a business, like you were working on the business.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I was working, I was working in a I was a senior project manager, the senior director of project management estimation for a big steel company.
SPEAKER_03:Okay, nice.
SPEAKER_02:Right. So I uh do we have good jobs, you know, and and and we go and we pray, and then we find out Taylor's pregnant, dude, and like I knew that God put me on this earth to be a dad. Like, and I wanted to be a good dad just like my dad was to me, man. I had the best parents in the world. So Taylor gets pregnant, dude, and we have the coolest pregnancy ever. And like, dude, this woman was about some sonic. Like, supersonic double cheeseburger, large tater tot, root 44 cherry limeade, like three times a day. Like we were crushing sonic, bro. So I gained my big I same I I gained my sympathy weight and I gained my COVID weight, and I put those together and I put on about 70 extra pounds. I was already big, bro. I was like 240, 250. So you put another 65 pounds on top of 300. I was over 300.
SPEAKER_04:Um and you're like 6'2. 6'2. 6'2. That's big. I was big. I was a big boy. Nose tackle.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:And you were at that time, I mean, after the you found out you were pregnant, you guys were pregnant. Yes. Um, you had been clean for a little while, right? So I put it I put together a year. You put together a year. Okay. And I mean, it's just amazing. If you could touch on the story of of and you've probably seen it too, coaches, rock bottom, how uh the the flip, the switch flips for um a lot of people, right? Not not as much as it used to be, in my opinion. I think a lot more people get to that rock bottom and we're in a place where you can just kind of stay at rock bottom where you can get handed a lot.
SPEAKER_02:There's no such thing as rock bottom, bro. I grab a shovel and just keep on digging. Digging even deep. It's surrender. You were brought to you were brought to a point of surrender. Now, people find that at different levels. True. People find that at different areas. You know, for for coach, he didn't have to be homeless and and lose everything and lose his family and lose his wife. It didn't take him that far before he was like, you know what? I'm done. This isn't the right thing. I'm I'm I'm surrendering. Yeah. You know, for me, it was like I'm homeless with a needle sticking out of my arm, living under a bridge, eating pizza out of trash cans. You know.
SPEAKER_03:That was totally different level. No, and it's I want to think that that's amazing because people listening, I mean, there's we talk about uh and we've talked about maybe you being a part of it, is doing a recovery Wednesdays or recovery Thursdays, just uh accepting that and and I should say there's obviously other ways that you could be controlled by things that are not necessarily substance. It's sin in general.
SPEAKER_02:So my recovery meeting that I pastor, yes, like it's pornography, it's d you know, depression, anxiety, like letting letting medications control your life, it's you know, anything, anything that you put in front of God.
SPEAKER_03:So true. And that's why God overall things is a healthier when we came across it, it was not something I live by. Still, we all struggle with not not putting God first. Put my kids first, try to put my wife first, and it's like which one do I so it's a it's a struggle, it's not the easiest thing. But when you have things that you know are not good for you and your body's telling you are not good for you, and the results aren't good. Right, you want to stop.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, you get to a point where you want to quit and you can't. Yeah, then you're gonna be able to do that. I'm sitting there sobbing because I don't want to get high as I stick a needle into my arms.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
unknown:Brutal.
SPEAKER_03:My heart goes out to those, and I know your heart goes out to those people too. That's it. It's my life even more. It's my life now, man.
SPEAKER_02:And you speak to people through the prison ministry, through the dude, I gotta talk to 33,000 prisoners, the entire state of Missouri DOC. Like, I went to I gotta ride a Harley through the through the pin bars, right? And like it was my first time in nine years getting to go like behind the wall again.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And I went in and gave my story, and like, dude, grown men were crying. At least 30 guys came up and gave their lives to Christ afterwards. They're like, dude, like what you talked about about like refining your identity in Christ, and and you know, the two most important days of your life, the day you're born and the day you find out why, like, dude, all of a sudden everything just made sense. Like, God's been knocking on my door for years, and I just I've been too proud, and my ego's been too big, and I've been too stubborn to let him in. Like, I'm right, can I do it? Can we do it now? And I'm like, bro, repeat after me. You're about to you're about to join the family. Let's go.
SPEAKER_03:It's amazing. That I mean, if you're if you're listening and that like doesn't challenge you, I'm being challenged now to just use our story. Our story's uh across all of uh everyone listening. You've got a story, and God's put you through things to make you stronger, to make you better. And if you're not pursuing the greatest you can be, you probably not listen to this podcast because we're listening this podcast, we're trying to pursue the greatest we can be. Um, and you're gonna find that, and when you find that, pour into other people and share it. Even if you don't think it's gonna resonate, a lot of times it does. They'll go, oh, you're talking about you went through this and grew up this way, and we're controlled by this, and I have something else that's kind of like that. Sounds like the same story, same outcome. I love data. As a business owner, data, if if your results aren't good, you can look at the data and go, man, the choices I made this morning for breakfast probably didn't result. Probably make me more tired today. The choices we made last quarter didn't result into the results we wanted. So you got to make a change and constantly be looking at data with our bodies, with our performance and our businesses, our family. If your family and your kids, I got a six-year-old, a four-year-old, we've got young kids. Uh, if they're not per if they're not acting right and they're yelling at mom, they've probably heard you yell at mom, or they've learned it somewhere. They've learned it somewhere. They're watching the wrong stuff on TV. So look at the ri look at the data and and study that.
SPEAKER_02:And and just to just to cap on what you said, man, if you're wondering what your purpose is in life, and you're wondering what you're here for, and you say, Man, I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing, I feel like I'm floating around lost, I want you to stop and take a minute and look at the storms that you've walked through in your life. Those storms are your purpose. Because what you've been through and what God has carried you through, He has given you a testimony to share with other people that are going through those exact same storms.
SPEAKER_03:So true.
unknown:Wow.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, that that uh this past week, my dad in our Bible study said you're you're either in a storm, you're coming out of one, or you're walking towards one, cruising towards one. So evaluate those and see what and and praise the ones you've been through. And it becomes a lot more easy to identify when you're headed towards one uh and headed towards a speed bump or a challenge, and and things become much smaller. When you look at what God brought you through, it's like I've already been here, I've already been through something like this.
SPEAKER_02:I know where to lean, I know whose strength to lean on.
SPEAKER_03:Exactly. Um, coach, tell us about your your life fighting, if you can, and places you went. So John's 15 and oh, you've show you fought 90 fights, 100 fights?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I've had like around 93 professional fights. 93. Wow. 17, 18, and those were exhibitions and no contests, which were actual real fights though, you know. But you could do that 25 years ago. You fight a guy 10-0, I was nine and oh, and go fight each other to the death. And I didn't count, but I mean it counted. Yeah. Got paid and everything else to get with my actual record. But yeah, I fought for the heavyweight championship of the world, I fought for the cruiserweight championship of the world, I fought, I fought James Tony, I fought hot team Rockman, Deontay Wilder, I fought RBI for the heavyweight championship of the world. And I've been 12 rounds three times, 10 rounds 10 times, eight rounds. So yeah, pretty lucky I can still talk, right? So, you know, but uh been all over the world, been to Europe 30 times and promoted 135 shows, 140 shows now with the shows that we've I've been part of, I want to say at least, you know, in that way's uh managed hundreds of fighters, you know, and and uh but of all of them, you know, I believe John is my best project and my my biggest one, my best one, and he's actually brought me uh closer to God. Damon teaches me boxing, I teach Damon Jesus. I love it. Through all this, you know, I've you know currently doing the 75 hard right now, and my three books are you know uh martyrs and Jesus freaks and and strongholds right now that I've got God from hand for that's right. People say, What's the best thing you get out of that? I say, probably the books. Man, I I can do the workouts, I can do that. That's what I do, you know. I'm kind of cheating because that's easy. I can do 45 million on my workouts for them every day. Yeah, you know, so I get one of them, it's my job. Yeah. So but yeah, no, just I've had a I've had a great career. Boxing really saved my life. Man, I was uh I was dealing drugs and I was on the street, you know, I was on the streets, but I was doing not good. You know, I played a couple years of college football, hurt myself, got out after that. I didn't know, worked, worked at a drive-through for my parents on a restaurant, and then uh go to boxing and I I uh go to uh Chicago area, Hammond, Indiana, actually, and uh met my wife Sarah and then uh lived there, fulfilled a contract for five years, and brought her back to Topeka, Kansas, and started Team Topeka. And I got two unbelievable kids now. One's a lawyer, one's a model in New York. So uh their mother did a I got a good job. They got good jeans for their mom. Sarah did an amazing job, you know. I've put a little money in the drawer, but you know, and uh did a great job. And uh, you know, boxing literally, you know, people you know take it as a uh you know brutal and things like that, but it literally 100% saved my life, and I'm still getting dividends from it to this day. Yeah, you know, not just through John, but people that you meet and they remember you and just the the things about it, you know. But with John here and and where he's came from, you know, and I know when we started we said, well, how'd you meet John? You know, John was 315 pounds when I met him. Wow. And within about six months, he was 220 pounds.
SPEAKER_03:So when he walked in the gym, I think you told me of this. Was he 315 when he walked in and said, I want you to coach me?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, he was really big, man.
SPEAKER_02:Five and a half months, Damon cut 105 pounds off me. I went from 45% body fat to 10% body fat with a six pack in five and a half months.
SPEAKER_00:Five and a half months. Yeah, he uh you know he just kept showing up. Yeah, he told me no, bro. He told me no. I mean, it's because I've done it. I've done it with so many fighters, and it takes a long process, you know, to yeah. And he was done. He was like, Yeah, I'm ready to retire. I've got these couple fighters project. I'd sold my restaurant recently, and so I could have retired, you know, I'd own a sports bar for about 17 years. Yeah, and um but you know, he just kept showing up, and I I mean honestly, really, if you really and I think about it and you think some there's a reason for it, you know, with God or you know what people want to say it was. I mean, you know, because here we are, and it's I'm going through some amazing things, meeting you guys, doing things with John that's you know that's awesome. You know, really it's awesome, it's fun. And then watching this guy, you know, but the one thing I always told him is John, we gotta get better. Can't play boxing. You know, we're going from here straight to the gym. You know, because this is this is you don't play boxing, you know. You can play basketball and you can do that, but you don't play boxing, you know, or MMA or whatever. You don't play hurt, you know what I mean? And I got a lot of friends that don't talk like they used to talk when they started, you know. And but he's got a lot of family and friends that are telling him, hey man, starting to slur your words a little bit, buddy, it's time to quit, you know. So and and I did too, and and thank God that never happened, you know. Um I learned real fast to be able to go sideways instead of right real four. You know what I mean? That's what he's teaching me. We've learned that real quick in the last couple months. You know, we got 10 rounds here, man. You don't have to get it done in three. No, you know, um, you know, you you gotta keep a memory, you know, if something happens to you in the first round, it's a good shot. Well, we'll get him back. You know, just it's that's that'll be right there. That happy right then, you know. So but yeah, it's just been a uh an amazing ride, and this this last four years with him has been amazing. You know, and I got I got the best partner, Craig Cummings. Um, he was fought for the world title as well. He's my best friend and business partner. We before John, we probably did 125 boxing shows together. 14 one year was our most we ever had done, and we were doing about 10 shows a year, and literally managed 70 fighters at a time, taking them to Madison Square Garden and a couple other title fights, maybe not the title, world title fights like we had fought for or and I hope that John does, which John's getting there, man. He's really people talk about it, but he's really, really getting it. Climbing the la, you know, the ropes and to fight December 13th or fight for the IBF, you know, a regional title, which will get him ranked in the top 20 in the IBF, which uh you know will constitute you, will get you uh available to fight for a real world title. You know what I mean? So uh so just exciting stuff, man, and just uh just so glad that we uh we hooked up and our paths crossed and and that uh to bring it up, man. I've been uh I've been to church more times since I've met John now than than I had been in in 20 years previous. Amazing.
SPEAKER_03:And I bet his wish for you is to in the future be on a mic going, Jesus saved my life, not boxing, but boxing got you there. And I love what both of you are doing because number one, I have to say, I love a ton what you guys are doing. That's why goaded you're part of the goaded family, and we'd love to have I'm grateful that we have you because the sport needs it. Um the the history, I grew up in Miami, so the history of boxing there was if you uh had an anger problem, that was your path. That's where you should be, right? And I boxed against some kids that were smaller than me but angrier and had some more of uh was it uh on their shoulder, the nick on their shoulder or whatever they call it. Um and I realized quick, I'm like, okay, you gotta have some some dog in you, which I did, I thought I did. Yeah, but you come across the wrong guy and you're not trained and you don't play. So I I'm glad because I did make friends with a lot of those guys I trained with, and they had a lot of hurt and they had a lot of stuff going on at home, and they wanted to be in the gym, not because that's where they want to be, is some of them the only place they could be. Right. And they didn't have a good home life, or they saw mom hitting dad or hit or dad hitting mom, and and I had a lot of friends like that. So I love what you're doing, and I love that um your mission is important to both of you guys. Number one. Number two, if you could talk about in the boxing world, um we talk about being a goat. Um, and I always ask and I'll ask in a little bit who your goats are for both of you, but um in boxing you have to have um quick recognition of data. You have to remember what happened in the round before and in the moves and and the spots before and where their weaknesses are, and um and have a plan. And it's not a plan um that you can adjust at a timeout. Most of the time. You just gotta go. You gotta figure out why. And then um, so talk about that and what what boxing in the grand scheme of life kind of has taught both of you if you haven't man, uh so my goat is well, there's a couple of them, man.
SPEAKER_02:Rocky Marciano is the is the OG, the guy, you know, is 180 pounds fighting these monsters, and dude, he just trained harder than everybody else. And for me, coming up with, you know, I've only been professionally boxing for real for you know four and a half years. So I knew off the bat, like these guys are gonna be better boxers than I am. They're gonna have more ring time, they're gonna have more experience, they're gonna know more, they've been around it more. So I'm gonna have to just out train everybody and outwork everybody. And that's what Damon has shown me. He's you know, that's when he started believing in me and believing that we could really do something, was when he saw like, I have no quid in me and my engine, we'll just go forever.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, gas tank never quit, man. I was like, hey, this guy's got a gas tank. Run like a deer, man. He's chasing you, bro. You know, he's crazy. It was awesome to see, man. And that's I always tell him, I said, Yeah, you know, let's don't forget what brought us here is that gas tank. Let's go get that road work. You know, he put in seven miles this morning. So I'm his coach, I put in about 3.91, you know. Yeah, over 45 minutes, this guy did it, you know, and he's just fighting. And I'm like, man, he's uh he's in shape, you know. And we got a game plan for this fight coming up. You know, we're not gonna say what it is, but we got one. You know, and it's uh and it's it's it's gonna pay off.
SPEAKER_03:Love it. So this fight, um big one, hopefully we'll we'll be there. My staff will be there, and I'm hoping to be there. Um can't wait. And after this, so you you can get in the top 20, you're going to be in the top 20 of IBF, right?
SPEAKER_00:And hopefully it'll get him ranked in the top 10 in the USA in the world, you know, through box rec it'll be in stuck, you know, maybe nine in the in the United States. Okay, knows that, and then top 60 in the world through the box rack, but through the IBF, correct, it'll be in the top 20, which is one of the four major belts, right? IBF, WBO, WBC, and the WBA. Those are the four. You know, there's little there's a million belts nowadays. Yeah, they make them up every day. Yeah, you know. But those are the big four. But those are the ones where you know, yeah, you you they're recognizable, you know, they're really recognizable.
SPEAKER_03:And is it governed like have there been other fights in the IBF?
SPEAKER_02:Or is this the first one for me it'll be my first one in the world? Yeah, so I'm currently ranked number nine in the IBF in the USA.
SPEAKER_03:Nice.
SPEAKER_02:If I win this one, I shoot up considerably.
SPEAKER_04:Nice when you win this one.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Love it.
SPEAKER_00:Godwin, yeah, no, I love it. The uh I follow what you say more like when you do this, it is Godwin that we're gonna win this fight, man. 100% John's John's nice guy about the good little meter, man. Let's go. Yes, no, I love it.
SPEAKER_03:We all uh now in Naples. So it's in Topeka. It's gotta be in Topeka. Yes, sir. And Naples, you've had a tour this week, which has been awesome and a blessing to see. Everyone's wanted to meet you both and and have you in their town. I know you're um did you go to Tito's last night? Yep, hit Tito's Tito. Nice. Um, so we're you got the city of Naples behind you, you got the goaded family behind you. I'm gonna have a ton of messages um and questions on where to find you. It's the Iron Man, John Cantrell. You I'll I'll tag and and you'll be able to follow. Um, we'll probably be there streaming or so the pay-per-view, we'll have pay-per-view for$9.99.
SPEAKER_02:I wanted to make it super affordable so all my all my people could watch that art. You know, I can't make it to the fight.
SPEAKER_03:I love it. Um and then let's talk about family. So I love your story with you didn't tell us the rest of so you're expecting, and you've got um a blessing that that you got back with your wife.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we're back together, we get baptized together. It was one of the most incredible experiences of my life getting baptized with my wife. Dude was in a horse trough in March, and it was like 40 degree water. And like we went in, and when we came up from the water, it was like we just came out of a hot bath. We were on fire. It was one of the craziest experiences ever. Like just on fire with the spirit. Yeah. So we uh so we're both working from home, you know, we're both just living our best lives, having a good time, you know, eating what we want, doing what we want. And man, perfect pregnancy. We go 40 weeks plus three days. Every appointment, it's like perfect pregnancy, perfect pregnancy, perfect pregnancy. So we go in, we have a scheduled induction on s on Monday, but we're gonna check in Sunday night so we can get everything ready. Well, we ended up going in like 45 minutes, an hour early, just because I'm impatient. Oh, yeah. I want this kid out. You know, I've been dude. I read the New Testament to this kid while he's in the womb. I played music for him. I read the first three Harry Potter books, I read the entire Lord of the Rings series. Like, I can't wait for this kid. I want him to, you know, like the music I like and like the, you know, and just I'm so excited to have a built-in best friend. Yeah, right?
SPEAKER_05:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:So we go in, we get checked into the hospital man, and as soon as they put the feel heart monitor on my wife, like they're like, there's a problem. Um, you know, it may just be something like this, whatever, not a big deal. We're gonna have you lay on your side, but there's a chance we might have to do a c-section. And that was it was in that moment that things seemed yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, like you get that feeling like you know something's wrong, and all of a sudden your heart just is like Sinks, yeah. Yeah, into your stomach. So we uh dude, the next thing we know, a doctor comes in and he's like, I'm here for the C-section, and we're like, Oh okay. So they took my wife down and they, you know, gave her an epidural and got her ready to to to take Cooper out via C-section, and they put me in a little paper outfit, you know. Yeah, maybe your arms go out this far, and it only goes up to your shins, you know. And I sat down with my wife, um, and then they had a uh the curtain up, and then all the doctors and everybody were on the other side, and they cut her and they told her to push, and she pushed, and they pulled Cooper out, and they held up this huge, beautiful nine and a half pound baby. And I mean, he was just gorgeous, gorgeous. But he wasn't crying. So they took him, they took him with them, you know, they held him up, took him with him. Um, and I noticed like he was like purple. Uh and I stayed with my wife because like she was like her heart rate was over 200 beats a minute, like she was in a in a panic. So the nurse came around and she said, Mr. Cantrell, I need you to come with me. So I uh walked around the partition and the doctor had my son, he had his head in one hand and his chest in the other. He was shaking my nose. It was the worst moment of my life. And the nurse said, Mr. Cantrell, your son died during birth. He died, he died before he came out. He's not breathing and he doesn't have a heartbeat. So I uh did the only thing I knew how to do. And I got down on my hands and knees, and I pressed my face to the OR floor, and I smashed it as hard as I could to try to humble myself before God as much as I could, and I started begging. And I said, You know, God, if you bring my son back, I will dedicate the entire rest of my life to serving you and to telling everybody that I bump into who you are and what you did for me if you do this. And I begged and I pleaded and I begged and I pleaded for 12 minutes. 12 minutes. And then Jesus Christ rose my son from the dead like Lazarus. Uh uh. And then they rushed him into a little room, a little Nikki room, and they took my wife because like they had to like she was in bad shape, like she's losing blood, like they had to give her volume to like slow her heart rate down, and it was bad. And I'm thinking to myself, this woman who I just literally put through hell with my relapse. I mean, like, adultery, cheated on her, like I was just a huge, huge piece of crap, man. I was the absolute worst. And like, here's something I left out. When when my wife, when my wife invited me to go to church that night, you know, I went and talked to her, and I like our our secrets are what keep us sick. And like, man, I went through and told my wife like all the things, like, dude, everybody's got them. Those things that you like, I'm never gonna tell anybody this. I'm gonna take this to my grave. I will never say it. The things that we think we're gonna go to hell for. Like, dude, I had that conversation with my wife, and I told her all my deepest, darkest, filthiest, most rotten secrets, dude. All the things that it like I was so ashamed of doing.
SPEAKER_03:Uh the night of church. Or the night of church.
SPEAKER_02:That night at church that night we that night we we we started talking again, and uh, and somehow by the grace of God, you know, instead of hating me, she loved me more for it. So we like that was that had been a huge storm for us though.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:So we go from that storm, and now we're in this, and I'm thinking to myself, how am I supposed to tell this woman who just forgave me for all of these things and was so excited for this and could not wait to be a mom, and this is the biggest thing that's ever happened to her. That we're gonna go home with an empty car, see. So I uh so they got him, dude, and there's machines everywhere, and they're all packed in this little jail cell of a room, and all the machines are going, dude, and they're they're all rushing around and trying to do stuff and they're working on him. And this little nurse who had been with me the whole time was just praying with me and praying with me and praying with me, and we're just I'm just broken. Like, dude, it's the worst. Like, bro, like the game, the dope game, was brutal. Like that broke my heart, it broke my soul, it took me to my knees, like it worst, it took me to suicide. None of that held a candle to the tragedy and horror and nightmare that I was facing. It was the worst experience of my life. So I'm you know, I'm standing here in this little nurse, and and she's like, you know, we're just standing there together, and the charge nurse comes out and she's like, Mr. Cantrell, like we need a name. I ordered a junior. There was no chance in hell my wife was gonna let me have a John Jr. So the plan was she's gonna have the baby, they're gonna hand me the baby, God's gonna give me the name, I'm gonna name the kid John Jr., everything's gonna be good. Well, that never happened, so we hadn't named him yet. So the charge nurses, like, I need his, I need a name so that I can order meds and I can start putting orders in and get his medications and all this stuff because we have to go now. And man, I I lived, that was the dude, this is the most shameful moment, most shameful moment of my life. Man, for a second. It's like I lived an eternity in that those few moments. Dude, I did not want to give him a name. I didn't want to name him because it would have made it all real. So my first thought was I don't want to name this kid. My second thought was I could walk to a bar from here and drink until none of this ever happened. Well, that wasn't an option. That wasn't an option. Um so she said, What's his name? And I said, John. And she said, No, sir, not your name. What's your son's name? And I said, I don't know if I name him John and he doesn't make it, or if he makes it, my wife's literally gonna kill me. So uh so I just blurted out Cooper. And she's like, Alright, Cooper, it is Cooper Lee. His name's Cooper Lee. So they uh, you know, the the the nurse took me over to another room and she's like, if you want to go in here and pray and just have a moment alone, you can. So I went in there, man, and I saw these little notes clipped on the wall, and I started reading them, and they were notes from parents to their kids in the NICU. And brother, in that in that room right there, dude, I got handed the most dangerous, dangerous thing on the planet. I was given hope. So they told us, man, like, so they five times in the first seven days we were there, they asked us how we wanted to say goodbye to our son. You know, the the morphine had his heart heart rate drop below 19 beats a minute. He was gonna die, they had to take him off a morphine. They thought if they took him off the morphine, dude, because he was in such an incredible amount of pain from all the lactic acid buildup from suffocating for days in the womb. Um I mean, they were like, dude, you if if we give him chest compressions, there's a chance we could break his chest. But man, I made a decision. You know, I don't care what this kid's life looks like, I don't care what disabilities he has, I don't care what he can do, what he can't do. I don't care if I'm this kid's dad for a day, a week, a month, a year, a hundred years. I'm gonna be the best darn dad to this kid that I can possibly be for however long he's here. But yeah, man, so he lost he lost 50% of his brain at birth. Uh the doctors told us he was never gonna walk, he was never gonna talk. I mean, universal brain damage. The majority in the in the prefrontal cortex, like where you do like reasoning, right? And are able to put thoughts together and do things, and then in the back where vision and hearing are affected. So they said he'll never walk, he'll never talk, he's gonna have severe cerebral palsy, severe epilepsy, he'll be completely blind and completely deaf. And uh God had other plans. God had other plans. Should we bring him in? Yeah, please. Should we bring him in? Can we bring him in for a second? Yeah, cool!
SPEAKER_01:Cooper Super Coop! The Cooper monsters in the house. Come in, little dude! Come see Daddy! Come see dad, come see dad!
SPEAKER_00:Buddy, buddy, who is that?
SPEAKER_02:Is that Uncle Damon? Uncle Damon? Is that Uncle Kevin? Knuckles? Hey Cooper. What's your favorite thing to do?
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Motorcycle ride or jet ski ride?
SPEAKER_05:I guess the.
SPEAKER_02:Big waves with daddy?
SPEAKER_05:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Buddy. Are you a good boy? Put your dukes up.
SPEAKER_05:I'll go for a mod.
SPEAKER_02:Daddy's gonna put a knot on your head. You want a knuckle sandwich?
SPEAKER_05:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:You want a knuckle sandwich? So this dude, the the city of Topeka has nicknamed this guy the little pastor. So, dude, he stands at the front of church during worship with his little hands up, just praising Jesus at the top of his lungs. He really doesn't, man. Like, dude, this kid has brought more people to Christ through his story. I've heard people that were on the verge of suicide that have messaged me and be like, your son's videos are what kept me alive. The hope that I saw in him and the miracles that I saw God doing in his life gave me hope.
SPEAKER_03:And he brightens the room. I met him for the first time today and came to me and let me hold him, gave me a hug, and the whole office. The goal office, the light. The go potty. You want to go see your mom? Mom, go potty.
SPEAKER_04:Thanks for doing it.
SPEAKER_02:This is the road belt right here.
SPEAKER_03:You're the man.
SPEAKER_02:You are the man.
SPEAKER_00:Go potty. Let's go potty.
SPEAKER_02:He is. He's a good boy. Hey, listen, they said he was like, we never thought he'd be potty trained. It took him three years to learn how to walk. Like, dude, he started with a walker. He started with a walker, dude. Now he goes out and does road work with me in the morning. He runs with me.
SPEAKER_00:I've watched it all, man, from the beginning, and it's amazing. And I tell him every time, and it's probably, you know, he's around him every single day. And I'm around him once a week. You know, I see him that much, you know, and it's from I mean, in that last year, it's just incredible the leaps and bounds that he's made. God remembers that God makes a way where there is no way.
SPEAKER_03:Yep. And that faith is he feels it had to have grown. And the house he's growing up in, the faith is gonna make that body do whatever whatever God has for it. Amen. And hearing that it's not possible, and hearing that it's not, you aren't hearing.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, you tell me what you tell me what my God can't do, I'll show you what my God can do.
SPEAKER_03:I love it. Yeah, because I bet the doctors at that time.
SPEAKER_02:Dude, like the doctors, his doctors in his life were literally like, this is an actual miracle. And we're talking about atheist doctors from Nepal, right? From India, saying, We've never, this has never happened. This has never happened before. Like, bro, this is so this is what happened. They would tell us what they needed for him to survive. Like, we couldn't have our parents there. It's the middle of COVID. We were all by ourselves, new parents.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:I didn't know what to do. Dude, I would make lists. The doctor would tell us what they needed for him to survive. I would put it out in a post on Facebook. It went internationally viral. People in cut in churches all over the world were praying for our son. And within hours the doctors would come back and tell us that our our our prayers had been answered. I watched literal biblical miracles happen in this kid's life every day for over a month.
SPEAKER_03:Amazing. What a what a blessing to witness. And then building your faith. I mean, as strong as you were, and knowing that in those times, I know that when we go through and and Satan tries to remind us of things we've done, oh for sure. Every day, man. Every day. Something happens to our kids and we go, I'm being punished for for my thoughts. I'm being punished for the actions that I did. Right.
SPEAKER_02:And battling that. I could have done I could have stopped it, right? I had every excuse in the world to let that be the to let the worst thing that ever happened to me be the reason I never did anything else in life.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Right. When we have those things happen, right? You're going through that right now. That's right, man. So coach's wife is finishing her second round of chemo.
SPEAKER_00:Oh man. She's uh she's 53 weeks into chemo this time. This is her second round. The first round was 20 weeks of it, and then this last one was 45. She's got 13 and 14 weeks left of this round. Oh my goodness. Double mastectomy.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, best woman in the world, elementary school. Teacher loved by the entire like every kid that's ever had her shoe.
SPEAKER_00:I say boxing saved my life. She probably really did. Yeah. Yeah. No, for sure. Right. 30 minute nodes taken out, 16 rounds of radiation, man. She got the short straw bet. But she's doing it, man. Fighting. She's doing it. Fighting. She had to take off today because this last round was pretty rough on her. But uh she's worked every day through it, man. She's tough, bro.
SPEAKER_02:But we can we can let the worst things that happen to us be some be the reason we never do anything.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Ever do anything again in our lives. Or we could let that be the launching pad to skyrocket us into doing what God has put in front of our gym.
SPEAKER_03:So good. All of it, we talk about all of it's going to the gym. Like you go through a car accident, you go through cancer, it's going to the gym. God's building. And you pray and ask God, hey, make be careful what you pray for. We talk about that. Give me patience, he's going to give you opportunities to be patient. Ask for humility. Make me better. Yeah. Ask for humility, he's going to humble me. It's not going to be the gift of patience, I said, uh, we've said before, it's it's going to be an opportunity to be the most patient you're going to have to be.
SPEAKER_02:Right, but isn't the test such a beautiful gift? Because we don't we don't respect anything that we get easily. Nothing worth having is easily gotten. Yep, and you don't remember it. No, no, no.
SPEAKER_04:It's like, it's okay if I lose it. Yeah, but we're we are hard heads. Exactly. We need we need that we need that thumb.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, man, we're knuckleheads, bro. We need it. We need it in the fast. Yeah, yeah. Like I tattoo my notes on me, man. Right? Matthew 633. I get to chase in that world, man. I gotta remember, seek first the kingdom.
SPEAKER_03:Seek first.
SPEAKER_02:Seek first the kingdom, and all else will be granted. I love it. You know? It's wild. So yeah, no. I'm huge, brother. I'm huge. I'm 315 pounds. I got a sick kid, and I'm thinking to myself, how am I gonna tell this kid, you know, that he can achieve anything in life with hard work and consistency and discipline and of faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. How am I gonna tell him that he can accomplish his dreams when I never even tried mine? So at 315 pounds, bro, I walked into a gym and I asked the number six greatest fighter in Kansas history if he'd be my coach. And he told me. And no. He told me no, bro. He told me no. This dude trained me. Yeah, but I mean, he said, listen, this is what he said. He's like, John, listen, man, I've seen you fight, I've seen how you train, like, dude, I'm I've I'm done with boxing. I'm and I I only train champions, and like, bro, that's not who you are.
SPEAKER_00:I love it. And this was like, man, I've I've you know, yeah, you're not walking it, you know. I mean, it's you know, and you're yeah, but this dude showed so I real fast.
SPEAKER_02:So I kept showing up and I kept working hard and I kept putting in the time, and finally one day he pulls me aside. He's like, John, why do you want this so bad? Yeah, and I told him I told him Cooper's story. I told him Cooper's story. I told him you don't know John that well.
SPEAKER_00:Still gets me, man. Every time I heard it out 20 times now, man, and it still you know gets me. And then yeah, it's but yeah, he he did. He told me the story, and and I mean, by the second fight that he had, we were fighting the Topeka's toughest guys and knocking him in the middle of the yeah. Kansas is heavyweight champion, yeah. Never been stopped. I stopped him for the first time, my third pro fight. And you literally wouldn't believe how many of my good friends, close friends, family members, like there's no way John's gonna beat that guy in this fight, you know. And I'm like, you guys don't know what I'm doing. This guy's motor. He might be 260 at that point, whatever he was at that point. I don't remember. I can't remember. We were 218 for more years now, man. And I can't I don't even remember you like that, you know. And I see him, it's like he really was. You know, just fell off of him, you know, just melting butter, man, you know, and just getting her done. And yeah, John's the one thing about John is, you know, and you know, and he's drawing crowds now, five, six thousand people, which is you know, not unheard of in Topeka. You know, I'd I'd get 37,000, 3,800 people in there, and that was huge for Topeka. You know, this guy's doing five, six thousand, we're expecting maybe seven, eight thousand in Topeka on this next one. And and uh but the the bottom line of as a coach and all everything else was put aside. What really makes me excited is somebody I know. I fought for the heavyweight championship of the world, and I got I've been humbled in boxing. I I was 100 as a street fighter. I got into boxing, I got my ass kicked down. And then I used to have to come back to the gym, go back. My wife would say, What are you doing? You look like I was sorting bobcats. I'm thinking about how I'm gonna get this guy tomorrow. I'm making money, I'm not gonna be drugs no more, you know what I mean? And and coming back and this guy right here, what I say is he's doing the work. You know, you have to do the work. There's at the point that he's at right now, this guy's coming to beat Johnson. Take what he's got. Yeah, this is this guy's Super Bowl. Everyone's the first one. This is this guy's Super Bowl. Yeah, you know what I mean. It's just John Kitrell, who's this guy? Didn't have no amateur fight, no amateur boxing matches. I mean, yeah, really no golden glove amateur boxing. They maybe didn't some kind of exhibition or something at some certain, but no real boxing at all, at all. You know, some MMA fights and and uh, but you know, getting up doing the seven rounds, you know, we're gonna go do 20 rounds on the pads, you know, things like that. I mean, the the real brutal stuff that you know to to you know, and they say when you you know you get to it's hard to get to the top, but when you get to the top, it's harder. It's harder to stand at the top. Everybody wants you that, and you know that, man. It's the way it is, and it's it's like I'm I just tell them we can't play this. I mean, you know, and and John, everybody wants John to do this and do this. I'm just like, come on, John. Yeah, go to the gym and he comes, man, and he does it, you know, and he and he puts the work in, and that's what impressed me the most, I would say, of all, because he just kept showing up. Yeah. Well, I guess if I don't train you, you're just gonna keep showing up, you know, and I have no choice to do it, you know. And yeah, and you know, I'm gonna beat this guy, I'm gonna beat this guy, and all right, let's go do it. You know, and I'll give you all I got, and and look where we are, man. Goat it. It's amazing. Go to it, bro. We're going in. I love it.
SPEAKER_03:I think honestly, I love uh God's blessed us with a great brand, but I honestly love that you're here too, because we're gonna shower you in prayer, like we have been. But also I talk about today, I wanted to talk about today, I call it a sicko. Like goats, most of them are sicko mentality. I played golf with Michael Jordan, and the next day I think was Thanksgiving or it was a holiday, and I had to come back because we beat him. I had to come back the next day because he's he couldn't sleep. Couldn't sleep if we if we took five bucks off him or took ten grand off. Yeah. And I played and played uh golf with Larry Bird in a group with 12 guys. He walked off on the third hole and surrendered because he's like, I'm not where I haven't hit the range, I'm not where I need to be, and I'm not gonna do this for three hours. Yeah, you beat me, you'll never beat me again, and walked off a golf course. I've watched him play horse with friends of mine, he lives in Naples, he's a goat, and these guys that I've been blessed to be around have played golf President Trump, goat. He has a chip on his shoulder, he goes through it all, which say what you want to say, he get he gets attacked, anyone in politics getting attacked. Oh, for sure. To wake up and go, eight million people are saying this, four million people are saying this, and not concerned with it and going, I'm gonna do what I what I do, I'm gonna do what I think's best or what's right today and ignore all the noise. But what I'm so pumped for at this time that this trip happened is because I know that if you're not a goat and you're not having that mentality and you're not a sicko, you start to go, man, I'm 25-0 in the golf industry. It's gonna come soon. And if you're not a sicko, you're going the sicko's are going, it's never going to be. You're gonna have to kill me.
SPEAKER_00:You're gonna have to kill me to beat me.
SPEAKER_03:And I've I'm around business people that go, Yeah, we had a couple good years, so a bad year was due. No, I don't want to have a bad quarter, I don't have a bad month. Yeah, man. And people are like, What's wrong with you? I'm like, sorry, I'm a killer. I'm not I love you, but I'm trying. So I love that because I want the people to hear it to go, it's the same thing. You go undefeated for a couple years, your marriage is real good for 14 months, you don't go, hey, I can do this now. No, I can have to work hard.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah, you gotta work harder, you gotta put more in, you gotta train harder, you gotta be crazier, completely obsessed.
SPEAKER_03:Yep, you can't get complacent. Complacency is that real. And this is the deal, man.
SPEAKER_02:It's it's so much bigger than me. This has nothing to do with me. Yeah, I I know I'm not that great of a fighter, I'm not that great of a boxer. This has all been God, and this has all been him using him using my platform to spread his gospel. So, dude, win, lose, or draw, it doesn't matter. For me, dude, God has got a plan and he's gonna do what he wants to do, and I'm gonna walk because he walked for me.
SPEAKER_03:I love it. So huge. We gotta have that mentality, and and if it's it's so good. It's the best like transition from like ashes to friggin' angels, right? Is walking and flying and being above it all and and being we I've talked about being an eagle, soaring above it all, and being an intimidating, an intimidating factor, but also I mean the dominant. You gotta be a killer and you gotta soar above stuff that's the junk below you, and you gotta just keep showing up, keep doing what you're doing, keep doing what God wants you to do. And I'm talking to everybody, I don't realize that in life and marriage and talking about it. That's crazy. Me too. I'm getting fired up. We had um so I gotta hear your coach, who's your goat? Boxing.
SPEAKER_00:So I got a few that are Muhammad Ali, man. I really, really, really like Muhammad Ali. I mean, I know a lot of people always say Muhammad Ali, you know, but if you really look back on it, you know, yeah, he got beat, but he was out of shape. Whenever he got back in shape, you know, he beat those guys. Yeah, you know, look at the rumble, look at George Foreman who was knocking out Joe Fraser, knocking him down six times, and Joe Fraser doing this. Look what Ali did with him. So I like him as that. Um one of my uh warrior fighters was a true Gotti. I really liked Artrogotti just from the warrior mentality. Maybe he wasn't the goat, but I just loved his no. Dude the battle with Irish Mickey Ward. That was good grid. I've watched that fight a hundred times, round nine of the first fight.
SPEAKER_02:I mean, I've one of the best rounds of boxing in history. Like this is like round nine.
SPEAKER_00:Another one of my greatest ones was Johnny Tapia. Okay. I really like Tapia. You know, he would say, and he's just he was really good. But I would say Muhammad Ali was the my greatest one of that I really watched a lot. Basically, I wouldn't say I watched all his fights because you know when when he was Cassius Clay and stuff, there was just good ones, man. You know, and then you got the local guys. We were just talking about this today. Evander Holyfield, people don't realize what and Gorge can do with giants.
SPEAKER_02:He's light heavyweight, yeah, cruiserweight, heavyweight champion.
SPEAKER_00:Like, dude, just incredible. Three wars with Riddick Bow, draw with Linux Lewis. I mean, these guys are monsters, man. And these guys are bigger, and this is this size. He's really legitimately his max was 215, I think, is the most favorite weight or something, you know, ever. And just chiseled and just wow, and what do you do to Mike Tyson? You know, made Mike Tyson bite his ear off.
SPEAKER_03:I feel like the best. I mean, uh I I was born in 88, so I saw Tyson Holyfield. Yeah, and I'm like, and now I watch boxing today, and I'm like, man, the ones that are on Netflix and Jake Paul and these guys. Yeah. I'm like, and I loved watching.
SPEAKER_02:Alexander Usyk is the truth, man. Yeah, he's my favorite fighter. Like my dream fight is to fight Alexander Usyk. Okay. That's my dream fight, man. I want to fight Alexander Usyk for the heavyweight world title.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it would be a lot of mountains to be moved for that, you know. Because I know he's probably got five fights already figured out, you know, what he wants to do right now. You know what I mean? We're we're seven, eight fights away from that. Yeah. I truly believe Jake Paul would be a real real good fight for this guy right here, man. Yeah. Especially when in this belt, it will give him something. But with him fighting Joshua, I don't know what's gonna happen. I think he's gonna get knocked out. It's a real fight. Yeah. I think he'll go three or four rounds with Anthony Joshua, maybe. But I honestly, I don't know what to believe with him fighting anymore, man. Oh, I know. I don't know. You're going from Javante Davis, 135 pounds, to you know, which 160 walking around.
SPEAKER_03:Didn't he fight a basketball player? He fought.
SPEAKER_00:Dude, he's he's fought.
SPEAKER_02:Dude, and then try to fight Tank Davis, bro, 135 pounder.
SPEAKER_00:Like, dude, you're come on, man. So all of a sudden a real fight with a world champion. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. That's beat Klitschko and that's, you know. Yeah, a legitimate world champion. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Silver medals in the Olympics. How many people are gonna be able to tell if that fight is rigged?
SPEAKER_00:I mean, it's going down on we just googled it today and look it all up. Travis Hartman and it's not rigged, but I don't think this one will be. Joshua's already rich.
SPEAKER_02:What does he need the money for?
SPEAKER_00:I think I think they're gonna make a hundred million each, man. Yeah, he's gonna say he's gonna get his money. I mean, so like what we know what what would Jake Paul say he goes and gets beat three or four rests. We say, I gave it a fight, him, okay. Now I'll go back down and fight a cruise.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, he'll fight another way.
SPEAKER_00:I'll go fight a cruise way and go, and my followers are still gonna follow me. That's right. I might only make 15 million my next fight or whatever, but we'll go back up to the drawing. Because you know, he got beat by Tommy Fury. Nobody seems to smoke Tommy. Nobody talks about it. I would smoke Tommy. Nobody talks about it. Nobody talks about it anymore. You know, they forgot about that. Yes, you know, you got beat by a real boxer when you fought one, yeah, and he's not even in the top. No, and no, I ranked higher than top. I'm boxing. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, so it's not even close.
SPEAKER_00:You know, promotion. But I do not throw dirt on you. Jake Paul is he's bringing YouTubers, he's bringing people to the sport, you know, and and you can fight a little bit.
SPEAKER_02:You've got unlimited resources, you train with the best in the world, your diet's perfect, your gym is perfect, your trainers are perfect, you've got the money. Dude, I got a I work I work two, three jobs, bro. I got a family to feed, like, and I and I still box six hours a day. Like, dude, I have 16, 18 hour days to try to do what these guys are doing. Jake has all day, every day to just do that. Dude, you know, that's why sponsorships are such a big deal. Like the help that you guys are giving me, yes, you know, all the stuff that Goaded is doing for me, when you guys came in and joined, and you were like, man, you know, you represent God above all things every day. Yep. You know, when when I can when we can do stuff like that, like that that helps me get to the next level.
SPEAKER_03:Good. Well, we want to do more. We'll have more people watching and going, hey, how can we support the thing?
SPEAKER_02:If you're looking for if you're looking for a guy that puts God first in everything and that's trying to try to do the best he can to show his son that no matter how old you are or how beat up you are or how dark your past is, like, I'm your Huckleberry. I'll be your Huckleberry.
SPEAKER_00:Johnny Ringo!
SPEAKER_03:I said the first call we got on, I told my brother that connected it, I'm like, man, we gotta be. I mean, this is what we pray for as like-minded people. I'm like, man, and I said that day. I'm like, I hope we can get them to Naples someday. And it's happened sooner than I wanted, which is a blessing. But um, uh I'm all in and and I'm pumped, and then God's got a great plan. And it the biggest thing for me, and you you know, we talked about it, is like when God gives you a platform, you see a lot of it wasted. And you've seen it, coach. You've seen and you probably have regrets from your past going, man, I use this, I partied in Europe after a win instead of doing what I should have done, right? And it's so hard to do. That's a whole other podcast.
SPEAKER_02:Hey, we're Damon Damon's in the gym with like we fight on Saturday. Yeah, we're in the gym on Monday. Yeah, it's it's definitely it's we don't have time. I don't have time to waste. Oh, I know. I don't have time to waste. I started late. Seven days.
SPEAKER_00:I turned pro at 23, and I mean you turned pro at 31. Yeah. You know, so crazy, you know, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:So it's you look ready to go right now, though. Could you fight right now if the money? If Jake passed it, I want you, it's a dumb fight.
SPEAKER_00:I could just beat him to death. I just, you know, like when we first started, I got into a job. I just I don't like getting hit anymore, man. Yeah, you've been hit so many times. Yeah, and you know, I got I got five good rap minutes in me, man, for sure. I got, you know, I gotta smoke. I'm probably in as good a shape as I'm gonna do it. He's got an apex, bro.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, he'd be 54 years old next month. He's got an eight pack. He's in the best shape of his life. He's a killer.
SPEAKER_00:So, but you know, training this guy, and and it's giving me a giving me a reason to, you know, and then you know, and then with a then with my wife, you know, something I can control, man, is what I'm doing, you know, and and being good and and just, you know, it's just been honestly just been all a huge blessing, man. It's gone by so fast, you know, and it just but it's we're having a good time, though, are we? He always says that we're having a good time, it's having a great time, man. Yeah, man. I love it. I mean, I love coming and meeting people like you, and and just, you know, I've always you know believed in God, but I've never really walked a walk and the things like that, and just to see other people, you know, like this.
SPEAKER_03:It's just yeah, man, it's it's it helps me too.
SPEAKER_00:You know, and it's not easy in yeah, and and winters, man.
SPEAKER_02:So at some point in time, this guy's got a he's got a heart on. He's gotta meet Donald Trump. Okay. He's gotta meet Gary Brecker. We do Gary Breca's breath work every morning. I saw the video. Ice bats. We can finish the batteries. I do the row, I take all the row stuff. Yeah. Um, but yeah, he's so I'm I'm working on a presidential pardon. I'm working on a presidential pardon myself.
SPEAKER_01:So give your boy a shot here. Give your boy a shot. I swear, I swear, I do a I'm a good boy now. I just want Jesus.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, he's uh crazy. You know, the last thing we did, John, man, everybody's like, is John really? Is he really how he says he is? He really does. I go, hey man, he's gonna pray for you, he'll mean it, and then he'll kick the crap right out of you. You know what I mean? He'll come and beat you up, you know, and John left some dice and stuff. I'm like, man, no way no, John's just going over there to pray with his opponent. I prayed, you know.
SPEAKER_02:I've prayed with all 15 all every one of my opponents, all 15 of my opponents before the fight and after the fight.
SPEAKER_00:Every time I prayed with every time, every single one of them.
unknown:Wow.
SPEAKER_00:And they're all, you know, and it's awesome. And it's it, you know, as you know though, even on the Matt or even May, whatever, it's it's business, man. Yeah, I mean, it's business. They're trying to hurt you. It's the hurt business, yeah. You know, yeah. Sorry, yeah. Football, you know, I play college football, honest. I was hurt a lot in those games too. Yeah, you know, stepped on and hands and things like that. Boxing just trying to knock somebody out, trying to kill somebody out, trying to, you know, really get you. You're in a ring with somebody trying to kill you. Yeah, but uh, but it's it's been just an unbelievable ride, man. It's so fun, and I'm I'm just looking forward to the I don't want time to go any faster than it's already going in my life, but but I'm sure looking uh looking forward to what uh what else God has as far. I told my best friend today and sent numerous messages. Man, I think something big's gonna happen for this guy. I mean, well think big things are happening. Yeah, don't let me you know don't let me say that at all, but I think something big's gonna happen.
SPEAKER_02:Dana and Turkey are putting together the TKO league. And like I think that's perfect for guys like me. You know, you get over there, you know, guys like me who normally, you know, with all the politics and boxing, like you don't ever really get the shot unless you're this or you're that. You know, Dana and Turkey are doing away with that, and they've got the bread to put together the best fights. You know, I I I think what I have for me, you know, eventually is gonna be a three, four, five, fight contract over in Saudi Arabia.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:You know, if I you know I get that and sign with the TKO League, like that, brother, that changes my life. That changes my family's life. Yeah, that changes that changes life.
SPEAKER_00:What I always say, man, we gotta keep getting better, man. You know what? We gotta keep getting better. We can't be satisfied, you know what I mean? Because that's the whole thing. We're not good enough yet. No, we gotta keep getting better. We gotta keep proving ourselves. I mean, every time we're just climbing the ladder right now, right? We're not we're not there yet. We're not that places. We'll be there. We'll be there though, you know. What's amazing? This next fight's gonna be a big step. Big step. You know, it'll be a ladder. It'll jump him up a lot.
SPEAKER_03:And what's amazing is I I I've been on this kick a little bit of God speaking to me about just we're gonna get to heaven and God just we're gonna have more knowledge, right? A lot more knowledge, and we're gonna go, man, that stoplight I was really pissed about saved me from this. Um and it saved me from this ten times, right? But I say that as an example. So we were just in Pinehurst and met, and we'll talk after this, uh, Dana White's agent who runs all of Dana White's stuff. Have his phone number, have everything, and loves Goaded. Like in love with Goaded. He's he's an investor in a couple companies that are tied with us too. Not only that, but my lead videographer, I'm sitting here getting goosebumps as you guys are talking, left. He's in Cape Coral. He left to go work for Jake Paul, videoing Jake Paul's stuff. So and I have his contacts. And talk to them all the time. So God God's working. And and we knew when we met, and I kind of mentioned I mean, it was just perfect timing, because I pray for good men around me. I pray for good dads around me. I pray for masculine men that aren't afraid to yeah, aren't afraid to talk about being a man, aren't afraid to be a man. And uh and when I met you guys makes me emotional because I'm like, this is what I pray for. And now I have an opportunity to have my company and and you represent it and and do great things that I can't do and that our guys we don't have anything that can do in another world, another state, I mean it's just a blessing. So it humbles me and it's something that God I have to focus on the brand and keeping the brand first things first, God over all things, and and making sure we represent you well too, and and uh so I'm pumped. I'm grateful for it. But I can tell you, and you both both know, you're gonna look back and you're gonna say, This was a blessing, it was fun, but there's no mistake that you met John the time that you did because your wife was about to go through another round of it, or us, or me, and not a time for me to meet you, because I don't know what's in our future in the storm we're going through. I got family going through chemo, and they said a couple months ago, my uncle said that he's been going through chemo. He's like, I wouldn't wish chemo on a single person. He's he's Jewish heritage, and he said if I could give Adolf Hitler chemo and press the button and make him go through chemo, I wouldn't do it. Wow, it's a bad deal.
SPEAKER_00:That's how bad it is. It's a bad deal, man.
SPEAKER_03:So I'll be praying for thank you.
SPEAKER_00:It's been a rough, you know, it's you said I can do so much, which I could take some of it off of her, but you you can't, I know, you know, and just be the best I can do for her and show up. And show up and just and you know, and and think about think about being under that palm tree here, and you know, in six months when it's all done and said and done and over, man, and then it's in the past, you know, and just uh got you strong enough to fight the way she is, and they can put her through the through the chemo and and um you know.
SPEAKER_03:No, and you're a piece of that battle too to make her strong enough. The hug today, I'm telling you, just changed changed my life too.
SPEAKER_02:You can when you when you experience that little boy, you feel God's grace. Like he has the spirit on him like nobody I've ever met. I am so envious of my son's relationship with Christ. Like I I want my relationship with Christ to be like that. Talk about seeing the world with the eyes of a child.
SPEAKER_03:Yep, so true that, Bruce. Amazing. Yeah, God is good. This podcast, this episode's amazing. So grateful for you guys being here. Um, so grateful for again the platform you're using. We'll all be praying for you. I gotta release, we gotta release this early. Well, we'll do it before the before the fight and be able to do the pay-per-view link and do all those things so people can watch and listen. And uh where else can so what are the et symbols? So I like to end with where they can follow you.
SPEAKER_02:It's at uh Yeah, so it's uh at John the Ironman Cantrell on Facebook, um iron underscore man underscore cantrell on Instagram. Strongle, what's our TikTok?
SPEAKER_03:The real Iron Man, The Real Iron Man on TikTok.
SPEAKER_02:Um ironmancantrell.com for the website. Okay.
SPEAKER_03:And they can get the pay-per-view on any of those. They'll see us.
SPEAKER_02:So I will put the yeah, I'll put the link out on my web on everything. And then the gym.ironcantrell.tv or ironmancantrell.media.
SPEAKER_03:Okay, awesome. And the gym or anything we could follow you.
SPEAKER_02:You said we're doing a big fundraiser. So we get to actually train at Three Shields, which is a youth boxing program.
SPEAKER_03:Amazing.
SPEAKER_02:But we're donating a dollar for every ticket sold to Three Shields. And we better sell at least 5,500 tickets because we made a 5,500. They made new gloves and headgear, so we went ahead and made our donation. I love it.
SPEAKER_03:We'll cover the glasses.
SPEAKER_00:What this guy does every single show, he takes 10% of the true, real deal profits and picks a charity. And he does it, you know, and in the beginning, I amazing. Man, it's my let's go, man. Let's get another one. Let's do more, you know. So it's just cool, man. It's so huge. It's really cool to be part of, man. It really, really did it.
SPEAKER_03:So huge. I love it. Well, I love it. Grateful for you. We got uh everyone listening. I hope you enjoyed that like I did. I'm I'm in a daze. I'm ready to run through a wall, too, at the same time.
SPEAKER_02:Hey man, if there's anybody out there that's struggling right now, that's going through a hard time, that's in the middle of the storm, guys. Life starts with surrender. Life starts with surrender. Give it to God. We can't carry these things, we can't do it with our own strength. He's the only one who can do it.
SPEAKER_04:So true.
SPEAKER_02:Let him in. Just let him in and watch the miracles and the promises start happening in your life.
SPEAKER_03:So good. I love it.
SPEAKER_02:Kevin, dude, your brand, your your what your life, your business, everything you're doing, dude, it's so incredible. I cannot tell you how no idea I am as a fighter, my team is to have you guys supporting us. Like we're in.
SPEAKER_03:It's grateful for you. Game changer, man. Thank you. God is good. Love it. Love y'all. Like, share, subscribe, go follow John and the team and be praying for him. God bless. God bless. Stay go to stay go to Barry. Stay go to Barry.
SPEAKER_05:Love that. That's awesome, man.
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