Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Boxer who became the first British heavyweight to win both Olympic gold and a world title, and a two-time World Heavyweight Unified Champion.
On the island
Eight records
I love Bob Marley, water legend, revolutionary singer. And you know, I just love reggae music. Growing up, my dad was a raster... So I've always wondered, right, my heritage is actually Nigerian. But I've always had this attachment to reggae, which is Caribbean. And I think it's because of growing up my dad was a rasta. Okay, imagine looking out at the sea, sitting on the beach, the sun's beating, I'm not in a rush to go anywhere, and I've just got Bob Marley waiting in vain playing.
So I'm on this island... I'm stuck as a desert island. And I'm just thinking about my hometown man, everything that I represent, everything that I stand for. And there's no better place than hometown, than my hometown. And I want all the glory. I love the glory of being a hometown boy. North, northwest London to Watford. For me, that's my hometown glory. Shout out to everyone in North West. Shout out to everyone in Watford. This one's for you.
This one because for me this is like connecting to that reggae feeling, it's just the beat is phenomenal. This is like waking up in the morning after you've had a good eight-hour sleep, you're feeling good, the sun's shining, you're ready for the day. You put this on because water, no matter if your brother drowned in it, no matter if you can't drink it for a month, everyone needs water. So it's like be like water, don't have enemies, be good to everyone, let everyone be good to you, and enjoy your day.
I'm telling you, rising up back on the street, like took my time, took my chances, I went the distance, now I'm back on my feet, just a man and his will to survive.
This is someone called Scraps. He is a UK hip-hop slash rap artist from Crooklewoods and this song here I would say is the in our community right we call it one of the national anthems so when you're at a party and this song goes off everyone just knows what's going on.
This one for me was just like uh I was fighting a guy called Dylan White and um... And I was thinking, what song can I choose? Because I feel like Ring Walks are quite iconic in a way.
Love Theme from The Godfather (Speak Softly, Love)
The dawn. You know, I felt growing up is that I wanted to take that responsibility of um leading the family to the promised land in a way. And I always say the family because I mentioned earlier I grew up around family, dad had a big family, mum had a big family, I'm connected with all my family still. And this song... it's all about family. Theme from the soundtrack The Godfather.
AgapeFavourite
It takes you to a place of um purpose, I would say, reason with myself: like, who am I? Where am I? Where am I going? And that's why for me this song is more about... I could sit there alone in a garden. For four or five hours, no phone and just look out into the sun, look out into nature and just contemplate my life with this on plain in the background. It just gives me a chance to meditate, I would say.
In conversation
Presenter asks
3:11People talk about you having a good boxing IQ. What does that mean? And is it something that you're born with or do you have to learn it?
I think you're born with the instinct, the competitive nature, and in the IQ you definitely have to be taught it. So that means positioning in the ring. What we call it is a silent conversation between boxers where I'll look at you and say, I'm not going to attack you here. I need a bit of a breather. The other boxer looks at me and says, Thank God because I need a bit of a breather as well.
Presenter asks
7:45Your mum is a social worker and I know that she's a huge influence on your life, so tell me a bit more about her.
Mum, amazing woman. The cycle of life, right? Will mean one day my mum won't be here with me. And it hurts already to think that because she's done so well to raise someone like me. Tough, hard-headed. Hardworking son, and I know how tough it must have been for her. You know, she was a single mum at a certain stage in her life. And now as a dad, I really applaud her for the effort she put in raising me and my sister. It's not easy being a social worker as well, a lot of pressure. She's worked hard. Taking me to school in the morning, I never used to like school as well, so getting me to school was also a chore as well. It wasn't easy like, yeah, school, I'm up, let's go. I was like, school?
The keepsakes
The book
Bear Grylls
I stayed out in the wilderness, I ate a maggot, I jumped in the sea and I questioned my life at some stages, but he's a really fun, fun guy and I think that'll be a book I'll take with me.
Presenter asks
How did [the fight in the town centre] start? Where did the fighting come from?
Oh, the problem, that that was just really like the fight and stuff. That was just being outside. If you're outside past twelve AM on a Saturday night, you're more than likely going to get into trouble. You know, more than like if you're in the wrong place for too long, if you're amongst the wrong type of people, you know, someone will look at you wrong and hey, what are you looking at? You know what I mean? And that type of stuff, yeah. So just [a] use a fight now and again. Not always. As I said, I wasn't always troublesome. But I'm really glad that I found boxing, cause it changed me a lot.
Presenter asks
36:26How do you deal with [losses in the ring]?
I've actually broken down when I've lost before. It's tough. But you know what I searched. I searched for for more. I know I can get better. I know I can move on from here. So I searched, I continued to search and I rebuilt, restructured. I kind of say like there's options. Keep it the same. Completely change or add to what you have. ... I add to what I have. I had a great time, I went to a dark room. Which was like ... I kind of changed my approach where I was like, you know, I want to heal from the inside mentally. I want to kind of let my body recover. I'm under a lot of pressure. And I went in on Monday and I came up Friday. A room probably this big with a bathroom.
Presenter asks
40:14How does [taking part in fights in Saudi Arabia] sit with you? How do you kind of reconcile the taking part in events in countries like that [with their human rights record]?
Ah, I'm there for boxing. I don't get involved in the politics. You know, but if I see someone getting treated wrongly, if I see it with my own eyes, I you know, I always stand up for people. ... I live under a rock, so what what is happening in Saudi Arabia? ... It's a good conversation to have is how can I help? You know, that's the question I need to ask is how can I help? And then I go about doing what I can do. 'Cause it's not something that's been on the forefront of my mind. But now we're speaking about it, the question is how can I help and is there a way I can help? ... That's like telling a teacher from the UK don't go out there and teach because there's human rights, and it's like I it's a it's that's a conversation to have. ... How can I help away from so it doesn't affect my career and my passion? It's a great opportunity. And I understand that we're discussing human rights, but I don't want to let it get in the way of my career as well. So that's it's yeah, that's a question. How can I help without it affecting my career? You know. But I I'm open to discussions, always.
Presenter asks
43:33How much do you worry about the risks [of boxing]? How much do you let yourself think about that?
Yeah, you do, naturally. I was thinking about it the other day, someone asked me when am I retiring and I was like, in about two years. But I was thinking to myself, as a fighter you should say I don't even think about retiring. I don't think about my health. All I want to do is conquer. That's the true warrior spirit. But naturally in your quiet moments, in your dark room, you have time to think and I do wonder and I say to myself, after all of this is said and done, the one thing I would hope for the most is to keep my health intact. Because it's your health day is the most important thing that you're putting on the line.
“Football is good. I think a lot of young men and women play football, but for me it was just like playing in school. And the thing I used to hate about football is that when it used to rain, when it was snowing, it would be freezing outside. So when I found boxing, I used to get into a few fights 'cause I used to go clubbing and stuff like that. So we used to have fun in the clubs and maybe get into a fight. Just get in a lot of trouble. So two things I loved about boxing is that I was fighting and everyone was patting me on the back.”
“When you look at a lion on social media and they're showing affection, you think oh they're so amazing I'd love to give one of those a cuddle. Then you put a gazelle in front of a line. And you see his pupils widen and its focus and attention because I feel we all have that nature, right? I'm a social person, I love company, I love to talk to people, but when it's time to eat, I love to hunt. That's just in my nature.”
“I won't ... cause it's a natural thing to do as you get to a certain age, you want to move out. Probably you want your freedom. I think that's what it is, you want your freedom. When you step up as a man in the house, freedom is making sure your parents are taken care of as well. I think that gave me a mental freedom knowing that I didn't leave the nest that wasn't ... the foundations weren't strong yet because I didn't want to leave my mum alone. Do you know what I mean? So I wanted to make sure that my mum's foundations were strong, the nest was strong, so when I leave, mum's good. And for me that's freedom knowing that no matter where I am in the world, my mum's happy she's taken care of and I'm free.”
“So I was famous but I was still broke. I was like, sitting ain't adding up here. My thing was always be low-key and make money. So I always felt like being understated was important, but making a hell of a lot of money was better. But now I was broke because I had stopped getting in trouble and I was well known. So I was like, alright, I gotta be smart here. Alright, now it's about business.”
“[The 90,000 people screaming at Wembley], that's so much energy directed at me and directed at the ring that it's impossible to shut it out. So the best thing I can do is embrace it. Just welcome it and ride the wave. Smile. Put your fist up to people. Own the moment.”
“What I will do in the future when I finish is probably open I don't know if it's needed but maybe a care home for retired boxers if they have bad health. So John Oliver, one of my amateur coaches, he's a lot older now, but he speaks to a lot of the old boxers and he's come from a generation where a lot of boxers that retired had bad health issues and were left just left alone and they suffer by themselves. So we've been speaking about opening up a care home. That will be part of my boxing legacy is that I gave something back to the sport that made me.”