Chris Eubank Jr: I Was Paid $**** For The Fight! The Night Before, My Dad Finally Opened Up!

He silenced the critics, defied the odds, and walked through fire - Chris Eubank Jr. tells the full story of one of 2025’s most unforgettable fights. Chris Eubank Jr. is a world-class professional boxer, middleweight contender, and son of the legendary former professional boxer, Chris Eubank Sr. In April 2025, he won against Connor Benn in one of the most highly anticipated fights in British boxing history. He discusses: Why he refused to shake Conor Benn’s hand. Why the fight almost collapsed the night before. The real reason his father publicly disowned him. The pain of losing his brother, and raising his nephew as his own. 00:00 Intro 01:56 How Are You Feeling After the Fight? 06:09 Something Didn't Look Quite Right With You That Night 09:39 The Things That Were Against Me on the Night 11:47 The Night Before the Fight, My Father Finally Opened Up 20:23 How Me and My Dad Finally Made Up 28:50 What Caused the Rift Between You and Your Father? 36:57 Did Him Calling You a Disgrace Impact Your Mental Health? 41:59 Were You Thinking About Your Younger Brother During the Fight? 48:56 Rehydration Restriction 53:46 How Much Did You Get for the Fight? 1:00:23 What Was Going Through Your Head in the Final Moments 1:03:10 The Time I Spent in Hospital 1:05:55 Ads 1:06:53 Have You Got a Newfound Respect for Conor? 1:09:18 The Failed Drug Tests 1:13:50 The Egg Slap 1:15:19 The Rematch With Conor 1:21:39 Did Conor Surprise You? 1:24:16 The Walkout 1:29:18 Billy Joe Saunders 1:31:29 Who Would Your Next 3 Fights Be? 1:34:17 You Before Starting Boxing 1:40:29 Your Relationship With Frank Smith 1:43:48 If You Had One Album for the Rest of Your Life, What Would It Be? Follow Chris: Instagram - https://rebrand.ly/iabtt7v TikTok - https://rebrand.ly/jligckn The 1% Diary is back - limited time only: https://bit.ly/1-Diary-Megaphone-ad-r… The Diary Of A CEO Conversation Cards (Second Edition): https://g2ul0.app.link/f31dsUttKKb Get email updates: https://bit.ly/diary-of-a-ceo-yt Think like a CEO - join the 100 CEOs newsletter: https://bit.ly/100-ceos-newsletter Follow Steven: https://g2ul0.app.link/gnGqL4IsKKb Sponsor: Vanta - https://vanta.com/steven Vivobarefoot - https://vivobarefoot.com/DOAC with code DIARY20 for 20% off 100 CEOs: Ready to think like a CEO? Gain access to the 100 CEOs newsletter here: https://bit.ly/100-ceos-megaphone Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  You're the first person I've really spoken to about this type of stuff. I was in hospital after the fight. I'm lying there, I've got my mask on, thinking this is so bad. Get me the morphine, get me the morphine. I've got my family around me, some of them are crying. I can hear everything that's going on. And then I hear the doctor say, from the other room, we have to operate on him now, otherwise he's going to die.

• 0:24Steven Bartlett?

  Chris, you haven't really spoken since that 12th round with Connor. How do you rate your own performance?

• 0:29Speaker 00

  I was technically sound for the first seven rounds, but once the cut came, I was experiencing all the things that had been restricting me leading up to the fight. And I can hear my trainer, use the jab, Chris, use your feet. I looked at him, I said, I'm sorry, it's too late. Because I always knew there would be fights like this where you don't have anything left, or you want to give up, or you're hurt. But you have to fight through the demons, the issues, the restrictions. Because I wasn't willing to go the rest of my life knowing that I didn't give it my all. That lives with you forever. So the technicality of the sport was out the window. We are going to war.

• 1:06Steven Bartlett?

  Was Connor faster than you were expecting?

• 1:08Speaker 00

  Yep.

• 1:08Steven Bartlett?

  Was he stronger than you were expecting?

• 1:10Speaker 00

  Yep. And it was about who wants it more. My old man's there, I've got to show him. I'm capable of great things. You know, we have been estranged for years.

• 1:18Steven Bartlett?

  But what caused that relationship to strain?

• 1:21Speaker 00

  I sent him a letter and that broke him. You know, I get emotional thinking about this.

• 1:27Steven Bartlett?

  What did that letter say?

• 1:31Steven Bartlett?

  Quick one, before we get back to this episode, just give me 30 seconds of your time. Two things I wanted to say. The first thing is a huge thank you for listening and tuning into the show week after week. It means the world to all of us. And this really is a dream that we absolutely never had and couldn't have imagined getting to this place. But secondly, it's a dream where we feel like we're only just getting started. And if you enjoy what we do here, please join the 24% of people that listen to this podcast regularly and follow us on this app. Here's a promise I'm going to make to you. I'm going to do everything in my power to make this show as good as I can now and into the future. We're going to deliver the guests that you want me to speak to. And we're going to continue to keep doing all of the things you love about this show. Thank you. Thank you so much. Back to the episode.

• 2:18Steven Bartlett?

  Chris, you haven't really spoken since the fight, especially not in in long form. So I guess the best place to start is just by asking you how you're feeling. That was pretty fucking crazy.

• 2:31Speaker 00

  Fucking crazy is is is pretty accurate. Yeah, it was.

• 2:38Speaker 00

  It was a fight that I'm not gonna lie, I wasn't expecting to be involved in.

• 2:46Speaker 00

  I genuinely thought that I was gonna go in there. I was going to have my way with this kid.

• 2:56Speaker 00

  Blow him out of the water, you know, watch him quit. Watch him crumble under the pressure. That's really what I thought was gonna happen.

• 3:09Speaker 00

  And thank God that I was wrong. Because if that had happened, it would not be a fight that is now gonna be remembered for ever.

• 3:25Speaker 00

  This is what I'm being told. This is what I'm hearing. This is what I'm seeing. This is the best fight I ever saw. This is the best event I ever saw. This was amazing. For a fight to reach that level of love and and respect, both fighters have to go through the fire.

• 3:45Speaker 00

  Both fighters have to do things that

• 3:51Speaker 00

  may seem superhuman, may seem like impossible. They have to go through that. They have to be true. And they cannot give up. And that's what we both showed on that night. Two men who were willing to die in that ring. That's what boxing is really about. And it's so rare to see these days, you know. We just saw over the weekend some of the best fighters on the planet right now. Devin Haney, Canelo, Ryan Garcia.

• 4:31Speaker 00

  You know, their fights were underwhelming, to say the least.

• 4:37Steven Bartlett?

  Boring.

• 4:38Speaker 00

  In those three fights, the total amount of punches landed

• 4:44Speaker 00

  was less than justified with me and Connor. So the fight with me and Connor, I think we landed maybe fifteen hundred punches. In their three fights in total, only fourteen hundred landed, which is a pretty incredible statistic. And it just shows you

• 5:01Speaker 00

  how much that fight meant to both of us. You know, it showed the pressure and the grit and the determination and the stakes. So I'm blessed to be a part of such a historic fight, a historic event. And I'm very

• 5:21Speaker 00

  grateful that the fans loved it so much. You know, everything I've heard about it so far has been amazing. And I, you know, I went out into the streets for the first time yesterday in Brixton. And to see the people's reactions for the first time, really, to really see it.

• 5:40Speaker 00

  You know,

• 5:42Speaker 00

  it really, it really, it really means a lot. You know, a woman, a woman came up and she was crying. You know, she was, she had tears in her eyes, like, you know, it's amazing what you did. You know, that fight superseded what boxing is, you know, because it was, you know, even, even outside of what we did in that ring, the father and son dynamic, that was real. And that's something that, you know, the entire world can relate to and has to deal with their own problems with their families. So to see me and my father going through what we were going through and then to come together to unite at a time when it meant the most,

• 6:26Speaker 00

  that's an amazing thing. And nobody thought it was gonna happen. I didn't think it was gonna happen. So seeing that,

• 6:34Speaker 00

  you know, that, that's not boxing. You know, that is.

• 6:38Speaker 00

  That's love, you know.

• 6:40Steven Bartlett?

  Going back to the top of that, you said that you were expecting to walk in there and blow Connor away.

• 6:47Steven Bartlett?

  So does that mean that you, in hindsight, underestimated his ability? Or was there something not quite right with you that night? Because I was watching, I was ringside, and you didn't look normal, especially in those opening rounds. You had the same dog in you that you've always had, but you didn't look normal.

• 7:12Speaker 00

  You're very, you're very observant.

• 7:17Speaker 00

  There are a lot of things going on in my life that no one knows about and no one will ever know about. You know, as a fighter, you have to, you have to do things that nobody else could imagine doing and no one else is willing to do. I did that to be able to get into the ring that night. You also have the navigation of weight loss, rehydration restrictions. These are all things that I was having to deal with on top of all the outside stuff. What you saw was maybe, yes, there was maybe certain aspects of me as an athlete that,

• 8:02Speaker 00

  you know, weren't a hundred percent. But the truth of it is, so many fighters go into fights with issues, whether it's injuries, whether it's illness, whether it's, uh, mental problems.

• 8:23Speaker 00

  We all have to fight through these things. That's a part of the sport, which is why I'm not going to sit here and tell you about all the things that I was dealing with, because it's my job. We are, we are fighters. You have to fight through the demons, you have to fight through the issues, you have to fight through the restrictions. And that's what I did. I didn't give up.

• 8:49Steven Bartlett?

  Hmm.

• 8:51Steven Bartlett?

  Illness, injury and mental problems.

• 8:55Speaker 00

  A just a few of the things that fighters.

• 8:59Steven Bartlett?

  Did you have any of these?

• 9:01Speaker 00

  Again, again, I I'm not going to go into what I was dealing with.

• 9:06Steven Bartlett?

  Was it a personal issue you're dealing with?

• 9:09Speaker 00

  Um.

• 9:10Steven Bartlett?

  Do you know why I'm asking this question? I'm asking this question because as a fight fan, as a fan of yours, I was watching you as you, as the fight began, and I didn't think you were quite yourself. I've been to your fights, I've been to many other of your fights, you know, I've watched you in Manchester as well, ringside, and you didn't look the same. So now I have this big question mark in my head as to why you didn't look the same. And I'm like really determined to try and understand. I know that you weren't in great physical health, but you say there was other things going on in your life.

• 9:42Steven Bartlett?

  What category were those things in? If you don't, you don't have to tell me what they are, you're not going to say anything, but.

• 9:47Speaker 00

  No, you know, it's it's something that.

• 9:51Speaker 00

  You know, a lot of fighters do, you know, they they will come out of a fight and they will say the things that.

• 9:59Speaker 00

  Were wrong with the camps and were wrong with their health or wrong with. You know, their personal lives or, you know. I've never been that guy to make excuses. I I'm not looking for sympathy, I'm not looking for a reason for people to say, oh, well, you know.

• 10:19Steven Bartlett?

  Well, you won, so it doesn't matter.

• 10:21Speaker 00

  But but even if I had lost.

• 10:24Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah.

• 10:24Speaker 00

  It's not in me to, oh, well, this is why I, you know, I had to do through this and that. And people saw so much of what I had to deal with.

• 10:33Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah.

• 10:35Speaker 00

  My father, the weight cut, the rehydration clause, getting fined a million for being 0.5 overweight, using the gloves that weren't in the contract, some guy trying to get into my changing room to check my hands and and and and and ruffling the feathers of of my team. They threw everything at me.

• 10:59Speaker 00

  They did everything they could to try and get me off of track, to distract me, to take my mind off of the task at hand. And I never let that happen. And I'm very, um,

• 11:14Speaker 00

  I'm proud of that. I'm proud that I didn't fall into the traps that were set. Every time they set a trap, I saw the trap, go around it, go forward. Oh, there's another trap. Round it, forward. Another trap, round it forward.

• 11:30Speaker 00

  That is a part of being a warrior. It's not just getting in the ring and fighting. You have to be smart. You have to be cunning. You have to know your enemy. You have to understand the things that people are trying to do to take you out of your comfort zone, out of your,

• 11:48Speaker 00

  you know, out of your preparation. To avoid and you have to make sure that nothing gets into your head.

• 11:57Speaker 00

  Nothing affects what you're gonna do on the night.

• 12:00Speaker 00

  You know? And the crazy thing was, not only was I dealing with all these bullets flying at me from my enemies

• 12:10Speaker 00

  in Connor Benn, in Matrim, in Eddie Hearn, uh, in Nigel Benn. These are all enemies leading up to the fight. I had bullets and coming from my family. My father. A couple of days before the biggest fight of my life, he's, you know, he's going into the media and saying I'm a disgrace.

• 12:37Speaker 00

  I'm already

• 12:40Speaker 00

  in, you know, under a lot of stress, under a lot of pressure. And then I've got to hear this? It's like, Jesus, I mean, what, what, what, you know, how, how much worse is it gonna get?

• 12:55Speaker 00

  It was tough. It was really tough. But on the subject of my father,

• 13:04Speaker 00

  regardless of what he said about me and about the fight,

• 13:09Speaker 00

  he was there when it mattered the most.

• 13:13Speaker 00

  And that means everything. I didn't know he was gonna come.

• 13:19Speaker 00

  He called me, he texted me the day before the fight, the night before the fight.

• 13:26Speaker 00

  He said, um, call me when you see this.

• 13:32Speaker 00

  So I saw the text. And I thought, you know what? You know, we are, we're less than a day away from, well, this is the night before the biggest fight of my life. The last thing I can be doing is being on the phone, listening to negativity.

• 13:54Speaker 00

  Because that's all he had come with for the last six, eight weeks. The fight's not gonna happen. This fight shouldn't be happening. Waits are not right. He egged him. He's a disgrace. It's a circus. It's a sham. I will never be in this my son's corner. This is all I'm hearing from him for two months.

• 14:15Speaker 00

  Don't do this fight, Chris, son.

• 14:20Speaker 00

  This is all I'm hearing. I, I, so I'm sitting there, I'm reading this message. And he hasn't, you know, I haven't spoken to him. And I'm thinking, I can't, I can't deal with this right now. Call him. Call him for what? So he can say not to take the fight? You know, I gotta rest. I gotta, I gotta focus. A couple of hours go by. Maybe nine, 10 o'clock, I guess, and I'm like, you know what?

• 14:46Speaker 00

  I've been through so much shit in the last two months.

• 14:50Speaker 00

  What more could possibly, what more could possibly be thrown at me? At the end of the day, he's my old man. He's texted me.

• 15:00Speaker 00

  I'm gonna hear him out. So I call him. I was about to go to sleep and I thought, you know what? I'll call him. As soon as he picked the phone up, there was a, a tone in his voice that I hadn't heard for years.

• 15:18Speaker 00

  It was a tone of happiness, lightness, joy. Hey, how you doing, son?

• 15:32Speaker 00

  What's going on? How you feeling?

• 15:35Speaker 00

  How am I feeling? When have you worried about how I've been feeling? You know? I'm good, Dad. Everything's cool. You know, just getting ready to go to sleep. Got a big day tomorrow.

• 15:52Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah, I know, I know, son. I know you've got a big day tomorrow and um.

• 16:01Speaker 00

  I wanna be there for you.

• 16:07Speaker 00

  So I heard that and I'm like. Is this, is this a dream? Is this uh?

• 16:15Speaker 00

  This is, this is Chrissy Banks Senior I'm speaking to? Who is this? Yeah, it's me, son. Let's uh, let's do this. Let's do this together. Where are you? I said, I'm at my hotel.

• 16:31Speaker 00

  He said, alright, well, I'll come to your hotel. We'll speak. And yeah, let's, let's, let's do it.

• 16:38Speaker 00

  Okay. Okay, Dad.

• 16:42Speaker 00

  I ordered him an Uber. Twenty minutes later.

• 16:46Speaker 00

  He was at my hotel. I got him a room. We went up to the room, we sat down. You know, he said.

• 16:56Speaker 00

  I was always gonna come. I was always gonna be there for you.

• 17:03Speaker 00

  And in my mind, I'm thinking, if I'd just gone to sleep, what happens? What, would you still be here? Like? You know, we haven't had any communication and I know, and I knew how hard it was for him to send me that text of. You know, call me when you see this, because he doesn't do that. You know, it's been years since he tried to have that. Contact with me. So I think if I just ignored it, then we wouldn't be sitting here today talking about this amazing event that had unfolded. Because, make no mistake, him being there made it. It made it different. It made it something that will now go down in history. You know, movies are made about this type of stuff. If I go in there alone, it's just a fight.

• 17:49Speaker 00

  It would have been a great fight still, but to have that fantasy of a father and son coming together after going through so much, so much, you know, my brother passing away, um, all the stuff in the media, all the friction to see, to see that be able to be kind of put to one side and to unite, to come together, to walk into that ring.

• 18:17Speaker 00

  It's a, it's an incredible thing, you know, I, I get, I get emotional thinking about it because it's, it was so unexpected. You know, I, I had, I had envisioned in my mind for the last two years, me walking to that ring alone.

• 18:37Speaker 00

  I just, you know, it never crossed my mind that my old man would be behind me.

• 18:45Speaker 00

  Um, I envisioned walking to the ring alone, being booed.

• 18:53Speaker 00

  Um, and getting into that ring and fighting with anger in my heart. That's, that's what I thought that fight was gonna be.

• 19:05Speaker 00

  What it turned out to be was I'm walking to the ring. My old man is behind me, he's with me.

• 19:14Speaker 00

  And, you know, for the first time in

• 19:21Speaker 00

  my whole career, I'm walking through a crowd.

• 19:26Speaker 00

  And there's no boos.

• 19:30Speaker 00

  I'm used to walking up into these rings and I'm looking out and people are going.

• 19:38Speaker 00

  You're gonna get knocked out. Boo. And I feed off of that dark energy. And I use it against my opponents. That's what I've been, that's, that's my, been my life for, for my whole career, really.

• 19:56Speaker 00

  In this fight, I'm walking past people and I'm seeing tears in their eyes.

• 20:03Speaker 00

  I'm seeing grown men with tears in their eyes. And smiles and.

• 20:12Speaker 00

  You know, God rest. And it's like.

• 20:17Speaker 00

  You know, I'm walking to the ring and my, my, my face is always cold. Because I'm about to get in the ring and hurt somebody and get hurt.

• 20:26Speaker 00

  But in my mind and my heart, I'm like, what's happening? What is this? This is. I've never, I've never seen this before.

• 20:37Speaker 00

  I've never seen cheers, let alone people crying with joy.

• 20:43Speaker 00

  This is, you know, this is, this is gonna be different. This fight is about to be something different. I don't know, I don't know what it's gonna be, but. I'm excited. What did you discuss in that hotel room when he arrived in that Uber? He said to me in that hotel room. What do you think I want from you?

• 21:09Speaker 00

  I thought about it for a long time.

• 21:14Speaker 00

  And I genuinely couldn't answer the question. You know, we have been estranged for a long, long time. Years. Yeah, years. So how can I answer that? What, what do I want from you? Is what he said. I know that this man is not a man that can be bought. He's got too much pride, he's got too much morals, he's a man of God.

• 21:41Speaker 00

  Um, that's all that's important to him. You can't buy him. So me knowing that, when he's saying, what do you think I want from you? I'm thinking, oh no.

• 21:54Speaker 00

  Has that changed? Has he changed?

• 21:59Speaker 00

  Is he about to, you know, ask me for some crazy amount of money?

• 22:04Speaker 00

  I hope, I hope not. Because then that changes my view of who this man in front of me is.

• 22:14Speaker 00

  You know?

• 22:16Speaker 00

  So I didn't, I didn't, I didn't even think about that. It's in my head, but I didn't want to say it. I didn't want to say it in the fear that he would be like, yeah. You're gonna give me a million. That would have killed me.

• 22:29Steven Bartlett?

  Really?

• 22:30Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, that would have been bad.

• 22:32Steven Bartlett?

  Why?

• 22:34Speaker 00

  Because then I know that he's only, he's not there because he loves me and because he wants to see me win. He wants to support me. Uh, he wants to be my dad.

• 22:50Speaker 00

  If it's about money, then all of that is irrelevant.

• 22:53Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah.

• 22:55Speaker 00

  So I was too scared to even talk about, to even mention money, because then that would mean that there's, there's no coming back.

• 23:04Speaker 00

  You know, if you're, if you're in, if you're, if we were in a room together the night before the biggest fight in my life and you're just saying, you're gonna pay me? That means for the rest of our lives now, our, our relationship will never, ever be the same.

• 23:18Speaker 00

  So I was scared to say that. And I was scared at the question. I had to joke. I had to, I had to make a joke out of it because I was so confused and worried about what was about to happen. I said, you want a hug? I'll give you a hug. He said, no. I want nothing.

• 23:38Speaker 00

  Absolutely nothing.

• 23:42Speaker 00

  And when he said that,

• 23:51Speaker 00

  you know, my heart.

• 23:55Speaker 00

  It was just an overwhelming, an overwhelming feeling of joy. Okay, my dad is here because

• 24:04Speaker 00

  he wants to be my dad. That's huge.

• 24:10Speaker 00

  That's everything. That's, that's what I haven't had for years and years and years.

• 24:18Speaker 00

  So if there was ever a time that I was gonna kind of get some of that feeling and love back, this was the time I needed it. And he was there to do it. I'll never forget that. Him being there that night, for sure.

• 24:38Speaker 00

  You know, it gave me those few extra percentages to put into that performance. People say, you were finished by, for the eighth round, you had not, your legs were gone. How did you throw 300 punches in the last two rounds?

• 24:58Speaker 00

  Well, I had to come outside of myself.

• 25:02Speaker 00

  It became spiritual. It wasn't about the physical.

• 25:08Speaker 00

  I was dehydrated.

• 25:12Speaker 00

  I was experiencing all the things that had been restricting me

• 25:19Speaker 00

  leading up to the fight.

• 25:23Speaker 00

  So it, it became not about the physical, it came about the spiritual. It became about just being true. Just being the man I know I can be. I told you a story once about being on that treadmill. And

• 25:45Speaker 00

  you've got that cramp in your, in your foot.

• 25:49Speaker 00

  But you said you was gonna do the 10 miles. So you've got a limp on that treadmill for as long as you have to, to complete the task. No one's around, no one's watching. But you, you keep your ass on that treadmill and you get through it, you get through the pain.

• 26:09Speaker 00

  That mentality is what was able to

• 26:16Speaker 00

  Get me through those last two, three rounds.

• 26:21Speaker 00

  I never gave up in the gyms. When I was getting beaten up in sparring, I never quit. I would come back the next day. When I got the cramps, I kept going. Because I always knew there would be fights like this where you don't have anything left, or you want to give up, or you're hurt, or you're dehydrated, or you're injured, or you're cut. You know, you can't see anything out of your eye, a big cut across your eye.

• 26:47Speaker 00

  And you're going to ask yourself that question getting up off the stool in the ninth, in the tenth round.

• 26:56Speaker 00

  Should I give up?

• 26:59Speaker 00

  Should I take a knee? Should I run? No. We are going to war. We are going to leave everything we have in this ring. Because this fight

• 27:16Speaker 00

  is going to be remembered forever. So what you choose to do in these last few rounds,

• 27:22Speaker 00

  that is what the people are going to remember you by for the rest of your life. Did you come forward?

• 27:32Speaker 00

  Did you put all on the line, or did you retreat? I wasn't willing to go the rest of my life, knowing that I didn't give it my all. Regardless of the cut, regardless of everything I was going through, I knew I just, I had to do what I had to do to win. And my old man's there. He's watching.

• 27:53Speaker 00

  And, you know, he didn't believe I'll be able to do what I'm doing.

• 27:59Speaker 00

  That's what he's been saying for years.

• 28:03Speaker 00

  I've got to show him, I've got to show the world.

• 28:07Speaker 00

  And I've got to show myself that.

• 28:12Speaker 00

  I'm capable of great things. I'm capable of going through things that ninety nine point nine nine nine percent of human beings on this earth were not willing to go through. And that will live forever. And that's a beautiful feeling. A week after the fight, sitting here talking about it. There's no amount of money that can buy the feelings that I have now. And that is the genuine truth.

• 28:42Speaker 00

  The how proud I am of what we achieved in that in that fight.

• 28:48Speaker 00

  It's priceless. It's something that, you know, on your deathbed in sixty years' time, you're thinking about it, yeah, I did that. You can't get that from money.

• 29:01Speaker 00

  You can't get that from fame.

• 29:04Speaker 00

  You get that from years and years and years of graft, hard work.

• 29:11Speaker 00

  And just being true. Not cutting corners, not cheating.

• 29:18Speaker 00

  Not being a bully.

• 29:21Steven Bartlett?

  Chris, everybody has a different relationship with their family. You've always been a seemingly quite emotionless individual, very cold exterior, as you've described it yourself. So it's really moving and interesting to hear how much your dad meant to you. And as you were speaking, I was thinking about to all these interviews I've seen of you over the years, where you cite him as your biggest role model in life.

• 29:49Steven Bartlett?

  I've kind of got two points. The first, I guess, is a point which is just, I had no idea he meant that much to you. I had no idea. And secondly, the question is, what caused that relationship to strain?

• 30:06Speaker 00

  My father is an extremely proud and an extremely intense human being. He has his ways of thinking, he has his ways of living, teaching, parenting.

• 30:24Speaker 00

  And it's his way or the highway. Nothing else works in his opinion. It got to a stage in my life where I decided to walk my own path, separate myself from this massive character in my father.

• 30:47Speaker 00

  You know, I had grown up with this pressure and this responsibility. And it became too much. I was known for being the son of for so many years. Chris Eubank's son, Chris Eubank's son. And I, I kind of, whenever I would hear that, you know, well, at least they know who I am. But it got to a stage where I was like, how do I get away from that? How do I become just me?

• 31:25Speaker 00

  You know, how do I become Chris Eubank, not the son of a legend? And it dawned on me eventually, the only way to do that is to be separate from it. In boxing, I'm not talking about as a father,

• 31:44Speaker 00

  talking about in terms of my career, in terms of the decision making, in terms of the training, in terms of the fighting, in terms of the media, the press conferences. These were all things that he was right by my side for my entire career. I knew that to get away from the shadow, I had to start doing it on my own. Did you write him a letter? Yeah.

• 32:07Speaker 00

  Explaining exactly that. I told him, I'm gonna write my own book one day.

• 32:15Speaker 00

  The book can't be. Oh, well, my dad told me to do this, so I did it.

• 32:22Speaker 00

  My dad said, don't take that fight, so I didn't take that fight. He told me to train that way and go here and wear that. It's not a book, it's not a life. I need to be able to write my own story into history.

• 32:37Steven Bartlett?

  What did that letter say that you wrote him? And why didn't you tell him to his face?

• 32:41Speaker 00

  I needed him to understand.

• 32:46Speaker 00

  And. Read it.

• 32:51Speaker 00

  And reread it and re reread it. Without interruption.

• 32:57Speaker 00

  You know, if I'm talking to him like I'm talking to you, as soon as something is said that is maybe a little bit. Oh, I don't like that, or I don't agree with that. He will be ready to jump in and. And and say his point. I had to, I had to get the whole thing out.

• 33:17Speaker 00

  Couldn't be in conversation.

• 33:20Speaker 00

  I said to him, I am the boss.

• 33:25Speaker 00

  And. That broke him.

• 33:31Speaker 00

  He couldn't handle that.

• 33:34Speaker 00

  He had been the boss my entire life. He had been in charge of who I fought. He had been in charge of my financials. He had been in charge of my contracts. He was the boss. So to, for a boss to hear that he's not the boss anymore.

• 33:51Speaker 00

  That strained the relationship. Oh, you don't want me to, you don't want me to be a part of your career anymore? All right, well, then bye. That was his reaction. It shouldn't have been that way, but that's how he dealt with the disappointment and the frustration of what I was doing, which was going my own way. Then you have the. Tragedy of my brother Sebastian passing away. And this would have happened maybe.

• 34:21Speaker 00

  A year or two after I sent that letter.

• 34:26Speaker 00

  That. Affected him deeply. It affected all of us deeply. But.

• 34:37Speaker 00

  Yeah, it affected him so much that.

• 34:46Speaker 00

  You know, you add those two things together. He's already upset with how I've spoken to him and what I'm doing in my career. My brother passes away and that caused him to do certain things in his life, which.

• 34:59Speaker 00

  You know, I don't like talking about it, but I'm gonna talk about it because it was actually documented. If it wasn't documented, I wouldn't speak about this. And I've never spoken about it. He started smoking marijuana.

• 35:17Speaker 00

  I guess to um deal with the hardship of losing a son. Everybody deals with these things in their own ways. I can't fault him for that.

• 35:32Speaker 00

  But I I think that that. You know, that changed him as as a man in terms of his mindset.

• 35:43Speaker 00

  And it caused it caused an even bigger gap between us, which. You know, we never recovered from up until last weekend.

• 35:58Speaker 00

  Since that night, before the night, the fight. And every day since then, it's been all love between me and my old man, which is incredible to think. You know, I was in hospital for two days after the fight. He didn't leave the hospital.

• 36:18Speaker 00

  And when I say didn't leave the hospital, I mean like, he's sleeping on. You know, one of these stretches outside my room.

• 36:31Speaker 00

  Just in the hallway.

• 36:36Speaker 00

  That means everything to me.

• 36:41Speaker 00

  Regardless of the differences in the, in the things that have been said and done.

• 36:46Speaker 00

  You know, a man who is gonna stay by his son like that.

• 36:50Speaker 00

  That's love.

• 36:53Speaker 00

  You know, it's been so long since I've had that type of feeling with him. And you only get one father.

• 37:03Speaker 00

  So now we are gonna build, we're gonna build, we're gonna build. And I think our relationship is only gonna get stronger and stronger and stronger. I said it before the fight, this fight is either gonna help us build or it's gonna break us even more. I don't know. It was up to him really, and he chose for this fight to be the thing that the catalyst for us to be able to build. And I thank God for that.

• 37:28Steven Bartlett?

  Did his absence and hearing him call you a disgrace and all of the stuff he was doing in the media ahead of a fight, in many respects to stop the fight, it seemed at times. I, I actually watched an interview, I think the day, the day before the fight where he was in tears. Tad saying to a boxing journalist that the fight shouldn't go ahead and expressing, you know, his concerns about the fight, et cetera. Did it impact your mental health?

• 37:54Speaker 00

  It was upsetting. It was distracting. It was horrible knowing that.

• 38:04Speaker 00

  You know.

• 38:07Speaker 00

  This deeply personal situation we have is now fully public. It's all over TikTok, it's all over Instagram. You know, the headlines. Chris Eubank, Duke Senior calls his son a disgrace. You know, millions of people are watching these interviews. So for sure, it affects your mental health, your mental wellbeing. It's negative and it's deeply personal and you don't want that in the public. It's, it's, it's, it's one thing dealing with family issues. You know, between your family, but when everyone else knows what's going on. It's tough, you know, and, and, and it came out of me in that last press conference. Connor Ben talking about, ah, well, yeah, you just worry about making weight.

• 38:53Speaker 00

  And at that time I was making weight and I was in pain.

• 38:57Speaker 00

  And I said, I'm in pain right now. And I'm gonna be even more pain tonight, and I'm gonna be even more pain tomorrow morning, when I've got to lose those last few pounds.

• 39:08Steven Bartlett?

  I have the actual quote here, you said, "The weight is painful. I'll be in even more pain tonight and tomorrow. The question I ask myself is, what is pain? I have a thirty-one-year-old brother that is buried in the desert in Dubai. That's pain. I have his son Rahim, who is three, asking why he can't see his dad. Why doesn't he take me to school? That's pain. My own father, a man I've idolized my entire life, and we haven't spoken for years, and he thinks I'm a disgrace. These things are pain to me."

• 39:39Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 39:41Speaker 00

  And, you know, I am not an emotional guy, especially not in boxing.

• 39:48Speaker 00

  But in that moment, that's what I'm thinking. You know, yeah, this, this weight cut and this rehydration clause, fucking hurts. But guess what? It isn't anything compared to

• 40:03Speaker 00

  those three things that are listed and the other things that are going on in my personal life that I'm having to deal with and struggle with,

• 40:12Speaker 00

  all while getting ready for this huge fight. So if I can, if I can deal with those things,

• 40:22Speaker 00

  then what is cutting weight? What is dehydrating and starving myself to make a weight? It's nothing. You know, it's, it's a, it's a moment of, it's a moment of discomfort.

• 40:39Speaker 00

  You know, my brother passing away, Rahim not understanding that his father is not with us, questioning, "Why doesn't he take me to school? I see all these other kids that are coming into school with the dads. Why doesn't my dad take me to school? Why can't I see my daddy? You say he's at the office. Where's the office? Let's go to the office and see my daddy." My own father.

• 41:02Speaker 00

  Yes, he's a disgrace. These are moments, these are not moments of pain. This is, this is pain that lives with you forever. So they're incomparable. You know, so when Conor Ben's talking about, you know, you just worry about making weight. Don't worry about the weight, mate. The weight's fine. I got, I got a lot worse issues than the weight. The weight's gonna come off. That, I think that was the first time that I kind of got caught up a little bit in what was going on in my life. And the people saw that and they, I guess they, they loved seeing that vulnerable side to me.

• 41:47Speaker 00

  Uh, because it's real and it's what, it's what billions and billions of people are dealing with in their own lives. So to see somebody who's a fighter, who's big and strong and tough, having to go through the same things, it's, uh, you know, it's a, it's a very, it's a humbling thing to see. And it's one of the reasons why, you know, when I'm walking to the ring, there, there are people crying. His dad came. His dad was there for him after all that. Together. You know, I'm gonna call my dad after this fight. That's what people tell me. After the fight, I called my dad straight away. I haven't spoke to him for months, years, called him.

• 42:30Steven Bartlett?

  Were you thinking about your younger brother? In the build up to the fight and as you walked out and during the fight, does that come into your mind?

• 42:41Speaker 00

  There is a picture. There was a picture of him on my shorts, right on the side. And he's screaming. And his name's on the bottom of my shorts, Sebastian.

• 43:03Speaker 00

  That fire, you know, I'm looking at that picture before I'm putting the shorts on. Like, yeah, I'm using that energy. This is for you. This is for Rahim. This is for the family. This is for the U banks.

• 43:18Speaker 00

  I can't look at that picture and lose. It's impossible.

• 43:25Speaker 00

  It's impossible.

• 43:28Steven Bartlett?

  Rahim has had a big impact on you.

• 43:31Speaker 00

  Massive.

• 43:35Speaker 00

  Never thought, never thought that I could experience the love and the warmth

• 43:43Speaker 00

  that I have when I'm around him. I was never the type of guy like, oh, I want, you know, I want, I want a kid. I want, I want kids. I want that.

• 43:52Speaker 00

  I'd never got it. I just, I guess I was just too busy with my own life, my own career, my own issues. Rahim comes into my life.

• 44:05Speaker 00

  And it just, the love I have around him, it makes me want to have my own son. And Rahim is my son, but biologically, I want to have my own son now because I love who I am and how I feel when I'm around him, when I'm teaching him things, when I'm taking him to places and watching him grow and watching him learn new words and new expressions. It makes me really happy, you know, and before Rahim, I thought happiness was a, you know, a big win at a poker table or winning a fight or going on some amazing trip. And those do make me happy, but it's, it's a whole different level when you're with

• 44:47Speaker 00

  another human being who you love and you're getting to show him the world and teach him things and watch him grow. It's incredible. So, um, yeah, I thank God for him every day.

• 45:02Steven Bartlett?

  Is it out in the, the public domain, the circumstances around your brother's death?

• 45:07Speaker 00

  Uh, I'm, I'm not a hundred percent sure, but, um, he drowned, he drowned.

• 45:15Steven Bartlett?

  He drowned?

• 45:15Speaker 00

  He drowned in Dubai, yeah. He, um.

• 45:21Speaker 00

  He had a

• 45:25Speaker 00

  I don't know if it was a heart attack, it was like a

• 45:29Speaker 00

  something happened with his heart. And of all places, he's having a, he's swimming in the sea. And he, you know, it, it switched him off for a second and in that second, he's obviously in the water and he went under. And um

• 45:47Speaker 00

  you know, how insane is that? The, the guy you saw him. Yeah. Jack, muscles. He, he makes his own green juices every day. Uh. Alkaline. Alkaline. Yeah, that was his nickname for anybody that's. Alkaline, yes. You know, health fanatic.

• 46:07Speaker 00

  And in a split second, he's gone. Uh, it's just, and you know, it

• 46:15Speaker 00

  it just put things into perspective and it just makes you appreciate and respect life so much more. Because you understand that it can be taken away at any, any time.

• 46:28Speaker 00

  You know, and it doesn't have to be some crazy car crash or

• 46:33Speaker 00

  you know, it can just be you're swimming, you know, you're swimming and then you're not there anymore. Um.

• 46:41Speaker 00

  And it makes you live your life with so much more respect and responsibility and appreciation.

• 46:49Speaker 00

  You know, before that I'd have days or weeks where I would just, you know, I'd fuck around. Waste time, video games, TV, you know, around people I shouldn't be hanging around with. Things that were not productive in any way, shape or form. And yes, you still, you know, you still have to have those moments in your life where you can just kind of do whatever. Nobody's, you know, nobody's gonna be righteous every day of their lives. But what it, what, what experiencing some of this does is it makes you.

• 47:33Speaker 00

  Aware of life and how precious it is. And it just makes you strive to be a better person so much more. Because you know that, you know, we have a finite amount of time on this earth. You know, so are you gonna make it count?

• 47:51Speaker 00

  Are you gonna make it count or are you gonna waste it? There are people out there who would kill for the lives that we have.

• 48:01Speaker 00

  So how can you not be grateful? How can you not be respectful and responsible with your time?

• 48:07Speaker 00

  You know, we are free.

• 48:10Speaker 00

  We're free. We did it, we made it. Billions and billions and billions of people on this planet will never know what it is to be free. And by terms of in terms of free, I mean, you know, you're not waking up and working, you know, 12 hour shifts just so that you can eat and live.

• 48:32Speaker 00

  You know, we have free time, we have leisure, we have, uh, you know, disposable income.

• 48:44Speaker 00

  People don't have these things. So you've got to be respectful, you've got to be grateful, you've got to be responsible with what you're doing.

• 48:54Steven Bartlett?

  With all of this on your mind heading into that fight, I remember the last, before the last fight was cancelled, you were saying that you'd be at 60% for the fight and you'd go in there and beat him.

• 49:04Steven Bartlett?

  What percentage were you at? And I'm kind of coming back to this question again.

• 49:08Speaker 00

  You're really trying to get that out, Mia?

• 49:10Steven Bartlett?

  It's it's really, I I'm trying to understand if what I saw was true. Like when I, when I saw you in those first couple of rounds, I'm stood there kind of confused and concerned at ringside. Cause I'm like, this ain't how he used to look. This ain't what you look like in the other fights in those early rounds. I was like, he doesn't look like he has the same strength and speed.

• 49:27Speaker 00

  Well, I had a, you know, regardless of what happened outside of.

• 49:33Speaker 00

  My training camp and all the things I was going through, I had a rehydration restriction.

• 49:39Steven Bartlett?

  Explain this for people who don't know. Explain what weight you're at right now, you were at before the fight. How much weight you cut and then what the restrictions say you have to do.

• 49:47Speaker 00

  So, you know, and I'm, I'm not saying this for sympathy or as an excuse. It was my own doing. I take full responsibility. And I say that because they said, we want to have a weight or a rehydration restriction on you. So you, you can weigh in at the middle weight limit of a hundred and sixty pounds. But the next, but you can only put on ten pounds before the fight. Usually there's no restriction on what you eat and drink. You just refuel and replenish your body to as much as you can. So that you have full energy for the fight.

• 50:28Steven Bartlett?

  What weight do you walk around at? Just for context.

• 50:31Speaker 00

  So in context, I usually put on maybe fourteen or fifteen pounds after, after a weigh in. So I, you know, I'll, but I could only put on ten pounds for the fight. If I go over the ten pounds, I've got to pay million dollar fine.

• 50:49Steven Bartlett?

  But if I saw you in the street in like two months' time, what weight would you be at?

• 50:53Speaker 00

  Well, now, if I'm not in a camp and I'm not trading, then I'll probably be, I don't know, a hundred and eighty, a hundred and eighty-five pounds.

• 51:02Steven Bartlett?

  Okay, so a hundred and eighty-five pounds. You've got to lose roughly twenty-five pounds to get in shape for the fight to make weight.

• 51:07Speaker 00

  Which is, you know, it's doable. It gets harder as you get older, that's for sure. Your metabolism slows down. It becomes harder to shed those last few pounds and it was hard. I documented my weight cut for this fight. You know, I was, I was in, I was in sweat suits and I had to be wrapped in a, in these heated sheets. And I lay there for half an hour and I'm just sweating everything out. And then I'm in, you know, I'm, I'm doing all these things to just drain my body of, of all the, of all the fluids. And it's, it's torture. You're torturing yourself. You're literally torturing yourself doing this.

• 51:52Speaker 00

  But you've got to make the weight. If you don't make the weight.

• 51:56Speaker 00

  They're coming for that cash, baby, you know, and that's what they've done. Unfortunately, they got me on the on the middleweight limit. I was zero five, zero point zero five pounds over the middleweight limit. I didn't mess up on the rehydration clause. So the next day I didn't go over the 10 pounds. But that, the fact that I had to restrict what I was eating, drinking after my weigh in, that that takes percentages off of your performance naturally.

• 52:28Steven Bartlett?

  You check in at 160 pounds the day before and the rehydration clause says, is it 8am the next day, you have to weigh again?

• 52:36Speaker 00

  Yes, so I, it was between eight and 12.

• 52:39Steven Bartlett?

  Okay, also eight and 12.

• 52:40Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 52:40Steven Bartlett?

  You have to weigh again.

• 52:41Speaker 00

  So I think at 12 o'clock, I weighed in at 169.4.

• 52:46Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah, so you can't gain more than 10 pounds overnight, which means you can't be drinking too much or eating too much of what you want to eat.

• 52:53Speaker 00

  There should have been no rehydration restriction in the first place.

• 52:57Steven Bartlett?

  If you'd said no to it, would the fight have still gone ahead?

• 53:00Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 53:01Steven Bartlett?

  So why didn't you say no to it?

• 53:02Speaker 00

  Why do you think?

• 53:05Steven Bartlett?

  They paid you more?

• 53:06Speaker 00

  Absolutely.

• 53:08Steven Bartlett?

  How, did you, did you get paid an eight-figure number for this fight?

• 53:14Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 53:14Steven Bartlett?

  Okay.

• 53:16Speaker 00

  I was so confident in my ability to beat Connor Benn that I thought, you know what? If you guys want a rate restriction so badly,

• 53:28Speaker 00

  I'll let you have it.

• 53:30Steven Bartlett?

  Did you get paid the same?

• 53:31Speaker 00

  But you've got to show me the money. I'm not doing it for free.

• 53:35Steven Bartlett?

  You named your price, didn't you, I heard?

• 53:36Speaker 00

  Yes, I did.

• 53:37Steven Bartlett?

  And Cirque said yes?

• 53:39Speaker 00

  Yes, he did.

• 53:40Steven Bartlett?

  The first number you named, you fucked up.

• 53:45Speaker 00

  I should have got, oh man, I could have got a couple of cars or, you know.

• 53:49Steven Bartlett?

  You should have doubled it and then come down and met him halfway.

• 53:52Speaker 00

  But that's the thing, you know, when you're negotiating with promoters or broadcasters,

• 54:00Speaker 00

  you know, you come in high, expecting them to come in lower and then you, you know, I know this and then that, that's usually what happens.

• 54:12Speaker 00

  The Saudis are not, they're not normal people. They don't have normal money. So a number that you think is fucking great to them is, uh, yeah.

• 54:26Speaker 00

  Yalla, you know?

• 54:29Speaker 00

  Um, but again, I said, I'm not greedy. It, it, you know, they paid me, you know, life changing amounts of money. That's another reason why I did what I did in that ring. I have a duty to boxing, to the people, to the fans. We can't be making the types of money we're making and, and give half ass performances. That's disrespectful to people, to the sport, to the fans. You know, we are blessed, we are privileged to be in these positions.

• 55:08Speaker 00

  Earn, earn your keep.

• 55:13Steven Bartlett?

  Do you get paid on the performance of the fight as well? Or do you just get paid a lump sum? How, how does it work? Cause you, you called Turkey, Turkey, His Excellency. You said a big number. He says, yes. Do you get incentivized on how the fight does in terms of pay per view?

• 55:27Speaker 00

  That is, well, that, that's all, that all comes in the contract. So, you know, you have your purse.

• 55:33Steven Bartlett?

  Yep.

• 55:33Speaker 00

  And then you will agree on, if we get to 500,000 buys, then I get a percentage.

• 55:40Steven Bartlett?

  Okay.

• 55:41Speaker 00

  And then if it hits 600, I get a percentage, you know? So you, you work it, you work it like that. Or just say, all right, well, we'll just pay you this lump sum and then we get all of the pay per view.

• 55:51Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah.

• 55:51Speaker 00

  You know, it just depends on how you negotiate.

• 55:55Steven Bartlett?

  And so you, you got part of the performance element as well?

• 55:58Speaker 00

  I'm not going to go into details on that specific part of the contract.

• 56:02Steven Bartlett?

  In my head, I'm trying to figure out how much that one fight made you because. Can you tell me how many multiples it was more than your previous fights?

• 56:14Steven Bartlett?

  I'm just trying to give me sort of an idea of the scale of this in terms of a financial.

• 56:21Speaker 00

  I mean, you said eight figures, right? How much more of a scale do you need?

• 56:25Steven Bartlett?

  No, but I mean, I mean, what do you normally get paid? Is normally getting paid seven figures?

• 56:29Speaker 00

  Couple, couple million.

• 56:31Steven Bartlett?

  Okay, fine. So this is like five times more potentially.

• 56:36Speaker 00

  Yeah, it was, you know, I don't have to box again. Let's put it that way. But the beautiful thing is at thirty five years old, I'm still hungry. I'm still hungry for success in the sport. I'm still hungry for accolades. I'm still hungry to please the fans. You know, a lot of times it's happened throughout history. Fighters will get paid big for a fight and then they lose that hunger. They lose that dedication, that respect for the industry. Oh, well, I've done it now. Now I'm, you know, let's go to the club, pop the bottles and celebrate.

• 57:19Speaker 00

  Let's travel, let's buy this car and this watch, this house. Oh, it's Jim today. I was tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow. It's okay, it's okay. That's the trap that so many fighters fall into. And that's why I have so much respect for Floyd Mayweather.

• 57:39Speaker 00

  He has made a disgusting amount of money and his performances and his dedication never, ever, ever changed. That is, you know, it's incredible because guys, they make their first million and their head's gone. Oh, I made it. All right, cool. No, it's not cool, you know? Boxing is a lifestyle. It isn't a one training camp. It isn't one fight. It is a lifetime of dedication and sacrifice, which is why.

• 58:17Speaker 00

  I never gave up going through all the things I was going through. Leading up to this fight because I know I've put the work in since I was 14 years old. So it doesn't matter what's going on in these two months. I've served my time. I've been through the trenches time and time and time and time again, and I've always found a way to survive. So I'm gonna do it now.

• 58:47Speaker 00

  Not, oh, well, there's weight clauses and my dad is giving me issues and this and that and that. So I, you know, this is gonna be tough. Maybe I shouldn't do this. No. You're gonna get through it, just like you got through that treadmill run, just like you got through that cut in that fight, just like you got through in that cramp in your leg in that fight. You, you build up a tolerance for pain and suffering.

• 59:12Steven Bartlett?

  You did look like a man possessed. At moments in the fight, to me, you looked like a man that had nothing left in the tank, but one that was still possessed, as you've kind of said, by something else. Because even when it looked to me like there was no energy left, your arms were still swinging and you were still marching forward. So it was, it was confusing. It's always confusing to me because I, like, when I feel like that, like, I don't have that reserve tank, which was something else. Like, I actually can't swing my arms.

• 59:41Speaker 00

  There was no reserve tank. There was nothing left.

• 59:45Steven Bartlett?

  What's, what's going through your head in those moments when you, you've got no energy, but Connor Bennett is in front of you and there's still minutes left in the round? Are you thinking? Is it? Is it like a conscious?

• 59:58Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 59:59Steven Bartlett?

  What are you thinking?

• 1:00:00Speaker 00

  You know, I remember going back to the corner in the,

• 1:00:06Speaker 00

  maybe the eighth round, seventh, eighth round. And I can hear my trainer and my, and my cornerman. "Use the jab, Chris. Just stay on your jab. You're good. Control the jab. Use your feet."

• 1:00:25Speaker 00

  I looked at him, I said, "It's too late."

• 1:00:29Speaker 00

  It's too late. I'm sorry. What's gonna happen is gonna happen. You'll see. There was a look of confusion on their faces. You know, when you have an instruction from a trainer and a team, you're supposed to abide by it. So when I'm telling them it's too late.

• 1:00:50Speaker 00

  It's too late. I had already gone into war mode.

• 1:00:57Speaker 00

  Once you, once you commit. As a fighter, once you commit to a certain path you're gonna walk down.

• 1:01:07Speaker 00

  It's, it's pretty much impossible to then switch back.

• 1:01:12Speaker 00

  I had a cut.

• 1:01:15Speaker 00

  From a headbutt, you know, the blood was going down into my eye. I couldn't see.

• 1:01:23Speaker 00

  Fights can get stopped from cuts.

• 1:01:29Speaker 00

  Soon as that cut happened, I knew that there was no more boxing. There was no more jabbing. There was no more technicality. There was no more being pretty with it, defense. Nope. It's go time now, baby. We're gonna see how much this kid really wants it. Cause I want it. I don't know how much he wants it. We're gonna find out. Let's find out.

• 1:01:57Speaker 00

  Come forward, you attack, you walk through the punches. It doesn't look good, doesn't look pretty. It's not boxing. It is trench warfare. You know, when you're dehydrated as well after the fight.

• 1:02:13Speaker 00

  My face is swollen up. And that's not from the punches. That's from severe dehydration.

• 1:02:22Speaker 00

  It's this, it's this weird thing where like when your body doesn't have any moisture in it and you're dehydrated. Your face puffs up. I think it's just the, the, the skin is weak and it just puffs up. And that's what what I was suffering with most in hospital was just

• 1:02:39Speaker 00

  complete dehydration. It got to a point where I was in the hospital and I was lying in the bed.

• 1:02:47Speaker 00

  And they they had um drips, IV drips, to get all the the liquid into your into your system. And my bladder was full, like I really needed to pee. For about two hours, I'd get up, go to the toilet, I stand over the toilet. Come on, man, come on. Would not go. And I'm dying to go. That's how dehydrated it was, that my body would not let any liquids, any moisture go. It was holding on to everything. There were moments in that hospital where I'm feeling, you know, I saw myself, I caught myself in the morning, I see my face is all puffed up, this massive cut

• 1:03:32Speaker 00

  across my eye, got my headache is crazy, you know, and I'm feeling sorry for myself. This is fucked up. You know, I've got my family around me, there, you know, some of them are crying, and I'm like, this is really, this is so bad. I'm lying there, I've got my mask on, oxygen mask.

• 1:03:52Speaker 00

  I can hear everything that's going on.

• 1:03:57Speaker 00

  Somebody, we're in a ward, somebody gets wheeled into the room next to me, and it's only, you know, it's, there's no walls, it's like sheets just separating. I'm looking up, oh, man, this is so bad. Get me the morphine, get me the morphine. They can't get the, they can't get you the morphine until they sign off on some stuff, so I'm waiting there. This is so bad. And then I hear the doctor say,

• 1:04:24Speaker 00

  "We have to operate on him now, otherwise he's gonna die."

• 1:04:29Speaker 00

  I heard that from the other room.

• 1:04:33Speaker 00

  And I thought, oh my god.

• 1:04:37Speaker 00

  I'm, I'm great. I'm blessed. I, I should not be feeling sorry for myself, for myself at all. Because I, I, you know, I knew I was in pain, but

• 1:04:50Speaker 00

  there's a guy next to me, he's about to die.

• 1:04:54Speaker 00

  What am I doing feeling bad for myself and complaining about a headache and a cut eye? He's about to die. And I don't know, you know, they willed him off and I don't know what happened to him. I, you know, I pray that he's okay. But that put everything into perspective for me. You know, I'm okay. I'm blessed. I'm going to be okay.

• 1:05:17Steven Bartlett?

  Quick one. I want to talk about something we all need to take seriously, which is cybersecurity. Whether you're a first time founder facing your very first audit or a seasoned professional who's been through it all, staying compliant is getting more critical than ever and more complicated, I have to say. And that is where Vanta comes in, who is a sponsor of this podcast. Vanta takes the pain out of security compliance, automating the tedious but essential process of proving your business is secure across over 35 frameworks like SOC 2, ISO 27001. Centralize your workflows, answer security questions up to five times faster and protect your business without losing focus on growth. And this is really a critical part of this.

• 1:05:56Steven Bartlett?

  A new IDC white paper found that companies using Vanta save over $535,000 a year and it pays for itself in just three months. For a limited time, my community gets $1,000 off Vanta at vanta.com/steven. That's V A N T A dot com slash Steven for $1,000 off. When you talk about the fight, you say what we did. You're referring to you and Connor did. Have you got a newfound respect and appreciation for him? Because before the fight, that was certainly not the case.

• 1:06:30Speaker 00

  I said it after the fight. I wasn't expecting him to be able to do what he did in terms of show the heart. And the determination and the will to win. He never gave up. I didn't know he had that in him. I hadn't prepared for a 12 round fight like that. I thought that I would get to five or six rounds. He'd start feeling the pace and he'd look for a way out. He did not do that. So in that respect, I have respect for him.

• 1:07:10Speaker 00

  The fight finished.

• 1:07:15Speaker 00

  I did not shake his hand. I didn't congratulate him. I didn't speak to him. I didn't hug him.

• 1:07:21Speaker 00

  Which is what most fighters, pretty much all fighters do after they fight. And especially a fight like that, you would expect that.

• 1:07:31Speaker 00

  I couldn't do it. I didn't have it in me. Because in my mind,

• 1:07:38Speaker 00

  you know, this kid is still a drugs cheat. He still tried to cheat in our first fight. Failed two drugs tests.

• 1:07:51Speaker 00

  Never owned up to it. Denied it, denied it, denied it. No apologies, no admittance, no matting up.

• 1:08:00Speaker 00

  I can't forgive that. I can't respect that. I can't shake that hand

• 1:08:09Speaker 00

  until there is some accountability. He's not gonna give it.

• 1:08:15Speaker 00

  You know, I have to set an example to the kids that are watching this fight. They're watching these scenes.

• 1:08:23Speaker 00

  You know, if you cheat, if you take performance enhancing drugs, you don't get respect from me. I can't give you that respect because there are kids who are saying, oh, well, hold on, he was doing drugs a couple, a couple of years ago. He got caught. But now it's okay, you know.

• 1:08:40Steven Bartlett?

  So this really did bother you. I wasn't sure if that was just part of an act to sort of promote the fight. You, you know, the egg slap, the constantly berating him about this, um, the voluntary anti, the, the doping ban that he had. So July, I think it was July 2022 or September 2022, Connor Benn failed two voluntary anti-doping tests for clomiphene, testosterone boosting substance. And therefore the original fight was cancelled. Um, the UK Anti-Doping Association formally suspended Connor for a doping violation. They reinstated Connor citing, after citing egg contamination. And then reinstated Connor's suspension following an appeal.

• 1:09:24Steven Bartlett?

  Ultimately, in November 2024, Connor was cleared to fight after the panel ruled that they had failed to prove intentional use. I wasn't sure if you were actually really bothered by this or whether it was part of the promotion of the fight.

• 1:09:37Speaker 00

  Bothered is an understatement.

• 1:09:39Steven Bartlett?

  Really?

• 1:09:39Speaker 00

  Yeah. I don't hold grudges.

• 1:09:45Speaker 00

  I am, I'm a man that can forgive. Never forget, but I can forgive.

• 1:09:53Speaker 00

  Um, but when it comes to something as serious as drug cheating in this sport, you saw what we had to go through.

• 1:10:02Speaker 00

  So if somebody's got something in their system which is going to make them fight harder, take more punishment, react quicker.

• 1:10:10Speaker 00

  You know, that is a form of attempted murder, in my opinion. You're going into a fight

• 1:10:20Speaker 00

  with extra weaponry.

• 1:10:22Steven Bartlett?

  Is it possible that he didn't intentionally take something, in your view? Have you considered that? Do you know, for me, as just an onlooker, I saw him, the emotional impact it had on him. I saw him in tears. I saw him talking about suicidal ideation after that came out. And there was part of me that did wonder for a second, maybe something did happen because that is the reaction of someone who is truly deeply devastated in a way that an innocent person would be. And imagine if he is innocent. Imagine if he didn't intentionally take something.

• 1:10:58Speaker 00

  You can be suicidal and devastated

• 1:11:04Speaker 00

  after getting caught doing something you shouldn't have done. You can still have that reaction.

• 1:11:12Speaker 00

  Let's say that he did unintentionally

• 1:11:20Speaker 00

  take these drugs. Somebody slipped something into his drink. Somebody contaminated his eggs. Somebody injected something into him when he was at a doctor's appointment. I don't know however you want to, however you want to fantasize this beautiful story. Let's say that this impossible thing has happened.

• 1:11:47Speaker 00

  As a fighter, as an athlete, you only have a few jobs that you have to do.

• 1:11:56Speaker 00

  You have to train hard, you have to go to sleep on time.

• 1:12:02Speaker 00

  You have to prepare, you have to,

• 1:12:06Speaker 00

  you know, you have to um make sure that your diet, your fluid intake is on point, so that you have the energy to go into these to these fights, into these sporting events and be able to compete at the highest abilities you can. Aside from that, there's not much else we have to do as an athlete.

• 1:12:29Speaker 00

  It's your job to know exactly what you are putting into your body, whether it's food, whether it's fluid, whether it's drugs, you have to know, that's your job.

• 1:12:43Speaker 00

  So if you're irresponsible enough to let somebody slip something by to where you fail, not one but two drugs tests, if you're irresponsible enough for that to happen, then you're still a cheat.

• 1:12:58Steven Bartlett?

  Could you shake his hand now?

• 1:13:01Speaker 00

  I told you, I didn't shake his hand after the fight. One, because he's never owned up to it.

• 1:13:07Speaker 00

  And two,

• 1:13:09Speaker 00

  you know, it's very likely that we are gonna be fighting again.

• 1:13:13Steven Bartlett?

  You slapped him with an egg in the press conference beforehand and you were fined a hundred thousand pounds for that slap with the egg? Do you regret the egg slap?

• 1:13:23Speaker 00

  Worth every penny, my friend.

• 1:13:24Steven Bartlett?

  Really?

• 1:13:25Speaker 00

  Yeah. It was a symbol. It was, it wasn't an act of violence. It was an act of justice. It was an act to make sure that for the rest of his life, he will never be able

• 1:13:43Speaker 00

  to forget what he did.

• 1:13:46Speaker 00

  People will always know. Benny, remember that time you human kitten with an egg? That will go, that will be with him for the rest of his life. And that's what he deserves for failing those drugs tests. So many times fighters, they fail drug tests, they serve a little ban, they pay a fine, they're back in the ring and people kind of just forget.

• 1:14:08Speaker 00

  Kind of just get swept under, oh, don't talk about that. Come on, you know, he's doing so well now. He served his time. No, no, no, no, no. This kid is not, he's not getting that. I'm gonna put this egg across his chin. There's gonna be pictures that are gonna circle around the world.

• 1:14:27Speaker 00

  That memory will stay with him for the rest of his life. He will, he will always be known for that. Why was it an egg? Why do you hit him with an egg? Oh, because he was treating with drugs and it was, it was a contaminated egg, something like that. I want that story to live with him.

• 1:14:41Steven Bartlett?

  There's a rematch clause. I'm assuming the rematch clause, I don't know how these things work, but I'm assuming you get paid the same again. You get paid more. You get paid more to do the rematch.

• 1:14:51Speaker 00

  Absolutely.

• 1:14:52Steven Bartlett?

  Really?

• 1:14:53Speaker 00

  Yeah. You know, this, that's, this is business. You, you know, the fight will be bigger.

• 1:14:59Steven Bartlett?

  Okay.

• 1:14:59Speaker 00

  The fight will sell more pay-per-views. It will sell more tickets. It will, there will be a, you can't, you know, you can't get paid the same. If you lose, you get paid less. That's how boxing works.

• 1:15:14Steven Bartlett?

  So if you'd lost this fight, you would have got paid less?

• 1:15:16Speaker 00

  Absolutely.

• 1:15:17Steven Bartlett?

  Significantly less?

• 1:15:19Speaker 00

  I mean, it would still be incredible numbers, but yes.

• 1:15:21Steven Bartlett?

  You'd lose millions.

• 1:15:22Speaker 00

  Millions.

• 1:15:23Steven Bartlett?

  If you lose the fight.

• 1:15:24Speaker 00

  For sure.

• 1:15:25Steven Bartlett?

  Interesting.

• 1:15:26Speaker 00

  But that's, you know, that's not just because we're working with the Saudis. That's boxing in general.

• 1:15:30Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah.

• 1:15:30Speaker 00

  You're, they say in boxing, you're only as good as your last fight. If you win, you can demand more the next time. If you lose, well, you lost, so we're going to give you this.

• 1:15:41Steven Bartlett?

  So this rematch clause, if you decided to walk away now, or Connor decided to walk away now, is there any penalty?

• 1:15:47Speaker 00

  That's a good question. I don't know if there's a penalty. May, well, yeah, I'm, I maybe I could be sued.

• 1:15:53Steven Bartlett?

  Okay.

• 1:15:53Speaker 00

  Yeah, there's, there's probably, you know, all that stuff I have, you know, lawyers that deal out all the, all the small print, but, you know, in all honesty,

• 1:16:05Speaker 00

  you know,

• 1:16:07Speaker 00

  I was like, you guys want, you guys want to sign a rematch clause for this?

• 1:16:15Speaker 00

  No one's going to want to see a rematch after I do this, what I'm going to do to you. That's what was in my head. I was like, They're contracting me, they have to deliver a rematch, they have to pay me this this amount of money minimum. This is amazing because I'm gonna go out there, I'm gonna blast this guy out and then, you know, and people are probably aren't gonna wanna see a rematch. So this is amazing that I'm gonna actually get it contracted in now.

• 1:16:40Steven Bartlett?

  Did you even think that in the day before the fight when you were struggling?

• 1:16:47Steven Bartlett?

  Did you even think you were gonna blow him out? Even when you were struggling?

• 1:16:51Speaker 00

  That's how much I didn't respect the, um, not even the ability, because I knew he had ability, but the mindset.

• 1:17:00Steven Bartlett?

  Were there people around you encouraging you or floating the idea of you pulling out of the fight? Because of your health condition?

• 1:17:10Speaker 00

  I never said I had a health condition. You are, you know, kind of listening to what I've said and that's what you've taken away from it. I'm not confirming or denying that, just to make that clear. Um.

• 1:17:27Speaker 00

  I'm not gonna answer that question either.

• 1:17:30Steven Bartlett?

  Okay. So does that mean that there is going to be? The rematch this year?

• 1:17:38Speaker 00

  I mean, contractually, that is what is on paper. Um.

• 1:17:44Steven Bartlett?

  Taki's already booked the arena, I hear. He's already booked it in September?

• 1:17:48Speaker 00

  I doubt that it's already been booked, but you know, they have their plans, they have their direction and you know, with, with the Saudis, when they want something, they get it, you know? Nobody stops them from doing what they wanna do. So, um, it's, it's very likely that that fight will happen again at some point this year.

• 1:18:11Steven Bartlett?

  And do you want that fight next?

• 1:18:13Speaker 00

  I want what the fans want.

• 1:18:16Speaker 00

  You know, if the fans wanna see it next,

• 1:18:21Speaker 00

  who am I to to say no? You know, it's um, it's a fight that's inspired people.

• 1:18:29Speaker 00

  I got I got friends calling me up, messaging me, oh, my son, I took my son down to the boxing gym for the first time today. Like, it's giving kids into gyms. You know, he never wanted to box before, he plays football every day. Now he's in the boxing gym. Sending me pictures of hitting the bags and stuff. It's amazing.

• 1:18:45Steven Bartlett?

  Crazy. How much better do you think you could be as a percentage?

• 1:18:53Speaker 00

  Um.

• 1:18:55Steven Bartlett?

  If every, you know, you're back in your corner now.

• 1:18:59Steven Bartlett?

  You you're gonna be a bit more versed in, I guess, preparation and the weight cut or whatever. You said there's pointed out a few things you said you would have done differently.

• 1:19:07Speaker 00

  Well, I fought him. I've lived with him for 12 rounds.

• 1:19:14Speaker 00

  I know what he is, what he's capable of.

• 1:19:18Speaker 00

  So in that aspect, the next fight for me should be a hell of a lot easier. Because, you know, I'm one of them fighters, you know, all I need is, all I need is to experience it one time.

• 1:19:34Speaker 00

  And then I know what to do with you. That's how I've always been, especially in like sparring. I remember the first time, the first time I ever went into a gym, I don't remember if I told you the story, but I got my ass battered for three rounds, the first time I ever went to a boxing gym. But I knew what he was. I knew how strong he was. I knew how fast he was. I knew the type of punches he threw.

• 1:19:59Speaker 00

  So after two months of training and preparation, I got back into the ring with that same guy. And I battered him. That's all I thought about, you know. So I believe the same thing will happen with Connor. I won the first fight and I got to experience what he is. There's so many things I know now about him that I can practice, perfect, tweak, tailor my performance to to take advantage of his weaknesses. And he will probably do the same with me.

• 1:20:33Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah.

• 1:20:34Speaker 00

  But my experience is so more superior to what he is in terms of what I've done and what I've, the guys I've faced. I know how to capitalize on being with a, in a ring with somebody before that he doesn't. I've been in rematches before. I've rematched Liam Smith, who beat me in the first fight. Uh, and the second fight blew him out of the war. So I know what it is to do that. He doesn't.

• 1:21:02Steven Bartlett?

  Was Connor faster than you were expecting?

• 1:21:04Speaker 00

  Yep.

• 1:21:05Steven Bartlett?

  Was he stronger than you were expecting?

• 1:21:06Speaker 00

  Yep. Stronger, faster, tougher. And more, most importantly is more mentally prepared. And more mentally willing to put it all on the line. That was the most shocking thing to me. I didn't think he had that in him to stay in there and show that dog. We both had to be dogs at the end of that fight. And throughout the entire fight, I didn't know he had any dog in him. I thought he was the type of guy, if it's not going my way, I'm going to look for a way out.

• 1:21:50Speaker 00

  He's not that guy.

• 1:21:55Steven Bartlett?

  So how does that feel, knowing now that you're getting into the ring again, potentially in September this year, with someone who is absolutely unwilling to quit? That is an absolute dog that has also learned from you.

• 1:22:07Steven Bartlett?

  Is there not an element of you that goes, I know, you know, I'd rather avoid that. I've got eight figures in the bank and, you know, I could, I could buy a boat. I could chill or I could go back in that ring with that, that dog and might bust my eye and be back in hospital. I'm gonna have to go through the cut, weight cut again and dehydration again and.

• 1:22:26Speaker 00

  It's um, exciting, you know, I'm sick in that way in that I love being in these positions where.

• 1:22:39Speaker 00

  What's gonna happen? Am I gonna be able to do it? I live for that. I live for those moments. These are the moments that when I'm sixty, seventy, eighty years old, I'm gonna look and I'll be like, wow, I did that.

• 1:22:52Steven Bartlett?

  You're sick in the head.

• 1:22:54Speaker 00

  Well, you have to be sick to, to be in a fight like that. Come out of the ring a week later and think, you know what? I can't wait to do that again. That is kind of sick. You know, I'm dehydrated, I'm cut, I'm tired, I'm in pain. There's something sick about it, but you have to be, you have to be wired differently to be a fighter of any type of grade. You can't be a normal human being. Most, most human beings, when they're in painful situations, what can I do to avoid that?

• 1:23:27Speaker 00

  I want to get into it more, see how far I can go.

• 1:23:33Speaker 00

  Can he break me? No, but let's find out if he can.

• 1:23:38Steven Bartlett?

  So talk to me about the walkout. The fight was legendary, the build up was legendary, but the walkout was also legendary.

• 1:23:46Speaker 00

  I've, I've seen, I walked, I watched the walkout fifty times.

• 1:23:49Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah, I watched it like fifteen times. It was iconic. It made me fall in love with the, the Dre song.

• 1:23:55Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah, that's, that's, that's, that's my anthem. That's the song I've been walking up to for my entire career. So to have an orchestra playing that behind me was special.

• 1:24:06Steven Bartlett?

  It's simply the best as well.

• 1:24:07Speaker 00

  Yeah, simply the best.

• 1:24:08Steven Bartlett?

  Which I'm guessing was a last minute addition.

• 1:24:11Speaker 00

  Absolutely. We were supposed to have an artist. We, we would, we had, um, we were in talks with, uh, Central C. He was gonna bring me out.

• 1:24:20Steven Bartlett?

  Really?

• 1:24:21Speaker 00

  And then, you know, obviously last minute, I'm, oh man.

• 1:24:26Speaker 00

  Came into the picture and, you know, we had to cut out all these other things we were gonna do.

• 1:24:33Steven Bartlett?

  You, your dad requested a song, didn't he?

• 1:24:35Speaker 00

  So that's the, so he said, so he said, what do you want from me? What, what do you think I want? He said, I said, I don't know, you wanna hug? He said, I don't want anything. And then later on, he said, you know what? There's one thing. There's a song that I want you to play at some point in the walkout.

• 1:24:57Speaker 00

  And I'm like, oh, here we go.

• 1:25:00Speaker 00

  We've already got Simply the Best. We've got a whole orchestra. For my song, Dr. Dre.

• 1:25:07Speaker 00

  How, how are we gonna squeeze in some random song I've never heard of? But my old man's my old man. And I was actually kind of annoyed.

• 1:25:18Speaker 00

  Um, because I'm like, you know. The truth is, you haven't been around. You haven't been a part of the fight. You haven't been a part of the, the whole setup. We've had all these. You know, all these things, you know, preparing for the show. And now all of a sudden, you know, you're coming in your, and you're, and you're saying you want this song. I'm like, you know what? You being there is what's important. And if you're saying that's what you want. We will find a way to put it in. And I listened to the song and I was like. I didn't get it. I thought, oh, it's just, it's one of my old man's kooky requests that, you know.

• 1:25:57Speaker 00

  Even on the night.

• 1:26:01Speaker 00

  I'm up on the stage. We walk up onto the stage and look out into the crowd. The Simply the Best song stops. And in my head, I'm thinking, oh, man, that would have been so much better to just keep that going, you know? And then this.

• 1:26:16Speaker 00

  Kind of ethereal tune.

• 1:26:20Speaker 00

  Pops out over the, over the stadium.

• 1:26:25Speaker 00

  And.

• 1:26:28Speaker 00

  I'm looking out into the crowd and I'm, I'm starting to see people well up.

• 1:26:35Speaker 00

  This guy, this guy, he always, he always, you know, even when you think he's crazy or wrong, he's right. And this song was like, it just, it worked perfectly with the whole scene. Me and my old man finally standing together and there's this like peaceful song that comes in and we're together. And it's like a beautiful moment that I never thought would happen. That wouldn't have happened if it was just simply the best, because it's a different, it's a different vibe, you know?

• 1:27:06Steven Bartlett?

  It took the energy.

• 1:27:08Speaker 00

  It took it down.

• 1:27:09Steven Bartlett?

  And it went boom.

• 1:27:09Speaker 00

  And then for everyone to just focus on what was actually happening. So we're there and we're listening to this song and it's like, it's an amazing, it's an amazing moment. And then it drops into the orchestra.

• 1:27:21Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah.

• 1:27:22Speaker 00

  And it was just perfect. I was like, wow.

• 1:27:24Steven Bartlett?

  And then it drops into the beat as you started walking.

• 1:27:26Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:27:26Steven Bartlett?

  It was iconic.

• 1:27:27Speaker 00

  You know, and it's like, you can't script this type of stuff. You know, it's like, people say, I keep hearing people say, oh, it's like WWE, like, you know, but in real life. And I've never watched WWE, so I don't really know what that means. But someone was telling me, you know, oh, well, you know, obviously everything's scripted, but they act like it isn't.

• 1:27:49Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah.

• 1:27:49Speaker 00

  So like the commentators and, you know, but it's all, so it was like that, but it was real. And it was happening in front of everyone for the first time. Everyone was like, and these were real reactions. It wasn't, it wasn't fake, you know, it's crazy.

• 1:28:01Steven Bartlett?

  The way your dad like stepped out the car and put one leg out and then you hear the commentators like scream. It was, yeah.

• 1:28:06Speaker 00

  Even that moment. So it's like, you know, if I was on that side of the car, because we're in the Rolls Royce, but what if I was on that side? So we park up and then it's me that gets out. Obviously, it's, it's still a very cool moment, but it's, it's different when it's, that was a good moment for him to, to, to be shown, you know? And then I come in from the side and we hug and we walk in.

• 1:28:32Steven Bartlett?

  And you couldn't hear that the arena had erupted.

• 1:28:34Speaker 00

  No, I didn't know. I didn't know until, uh, until people were talking about it.

• 1:28:40Steven Bartlett?

  Billy Joe, he tried to get into your dressing room to do your hand wraps, caused a scene outside with our friend Napa,

• 1:28:48Steven Bartlett?

  who I've known a long, long time. Billy Joe, you had a fight with him in the past.

• 1:28:56Steven Bartlett?

  Contentious fight. He got the decision in that fight, but it was a contentious fight. How'd you feel about Billy Joe?

• 1:29:07Speaker 00

  There's very few people in the sport, in the planet, really, that I genuinely dislike.

• 1:29:15Speaker 00

  He is one of those people.

• 1:29:17Steven Bartlett?

  Who do you dislike more, Connor Ben or Billy Joe?

• 1:29:20Speaker 00

  Well, Billy Joe is a drug cheat too.

• 1:29:24Speaker 00

  So.

• 1:29:28Speaker 00

  Billy Joe, yeah, because not only is he a drug cheat, but he is actually a real

• 1:29:35Speaker 00

  scummy human being, you know? And I don't talk about anybody like this. So if I'm saying it about him, there's a reason. He is a bad, bad person.

• 1:29:48Speaker 00

  A terrible advocate for the sport. Just a, just a real low-life human being.

• 1:29:57Speaker 00

  And I don't say that about any of the guys I've fought. I'm not even saying that about Connor, even though he cheated. He's still somebody that,

• 1:30:09Speaker 00

  you know, I can, I can see some of the things he does and I can see why people will like him. There's nothing to like about Billy Joe Saunders. And for that reason, I would love to get my hands on him because he does have a win over me that I don't believe he deserves, that many people say that he doesn't deserve. A lot of people say I won the fight. And it's kind of just something that's been hanging over me for so long. And I just know that I can beat him. And I just know how much of an enjoyment it would be for me to set that record straight. So that's another fight that's a possibility in the future.

• 1:30:51Steven Bartlett?

  So if you could draw your future, if you could plot your next three fights

• 1:30:58Steven Bartlett?

  and you, you had to decide right now, what would those next three fights be?

• 1:31:03Steven Bartlett?

  In a perfect world?

• 1:31:06Speaker 00

  I feel like

• 1:31:08Speaker 00

  the demand for this Connor Ben fight

• 1:31:12Speaker 00

  is at an all-time high right now.

• 1:31:17Speaker 00

  So I feel like that would be the fight to make next.

• 1:31:24Speaker 00

  Then you have Canelo, that is a fight that I've been wanting for,

• 1:31:30Speaker 00

  you know, for years.

• 1:31:33Speaker 00

  And I would love to share the ring with that man.

• 1:31:39Speaker 00

  And then we could throw saunas in at the end of it, you know?

• 1:31:43Steven Bartlett?

  This one change has transformed how my team and I move, train and think about our bodies. When Dr. Daniel Lieberman came on the Diary of a CEO, he explained how modern shoes, with their cushioning and support, are making our feet weaker and less capable of doing what nature intended them to do. We've lost the natural strength and mobility in our feet, and this is leading to issues like back pain and knee pain. I'd already purchased a pair of Vivo Barefoot shoes, so I showed them to Daniel Lieberman, and he told me that they were exactly the type of shoe that would help me restore natural foot movement and rebuild my strength. But I think it was plantar fasciitis that I had, where suddenly my feet started hurting all the time. And after that, I decided to start strengthening my own foot by using the Vivo Barefoots. And research from Liverpool University has backed this up.

• 1:32:25Steven Bartlett?

  They've shown that wearing Vivo Barefoot shoes for six months can increase foot strength by up to 60%. Visit vivobarefoot.com/DOAC and use code DAILY20 from my sponsor for 20% off. A strong body starts with strong feet. This has never been done before. A newsletter that is ran by 100 of the world's top CEOs. All the time, people say to me, they say, can you mentor me? Can you get this person to mentor me? How do I find a mentor? So here is what we're gonna do. You're gonna send me a question, and the most popular question you send me, I'm gonna text it to 100 CEOs, some of which are the top CEOs in the world running $100 billion companies.

• 1:33:09Steven Bartlett?

  And then I'm gonna reply to you via email with how they answered that question. You might say, how do you hold on to a relationship when you're building a startup? What is the most important thing if I've got an idea and don't know where to start? We email it to the CEOs, they email back, we take the five, six top best answers, we email it to you. I was nervous because I thought the marketing might not match the reality, but then I saw what the founders were replying with and their willingness to reply, and I thought, actually, this is really good. And all you've got to do is sign up, completely free. I have to play you this video, which... Has gone viral, you know this video.

• 1:33:45Speaker 02

  Let me ask you, I mean, I often tell Christopher that um boxing is a business that um you never see middle class or upper class youngsters become champion because you need hunger, you need to be hungry. Um and the fact that you've kind of been brought up within these four walls here and you've been protected, I don't think you're gonna be hard enough.

• 1:34:06Speaker 03

  I just wanna try it, I just wanna see what it's about. If he can, if my egg can, why can't I do it?

• 1:34:14Speaker 02

  That's the argument. Have so many people come to understand, you take a beating, is this what it's about? Not for me. And I hope, I hope you're not stubborn and kind of uh. That's what you are, you're stubborn and bullheaded, that's why you made it. Yeah, but I don't want him to. So you're saying, now you don't want to be stubborn and bullheaded. Listen, you know, for the guys who don't make. You might have to be. For the guys who don't make it in boxing, you know, it's tragic, it's a tragic business to be in. You're convinced he's not gonna make it, just let him go until he wears himself out of it and he's not bothered anymore. Yeah, and by then, all those good looking features would have gone, you know what they say, let me tell you what, trust me, don't, Christopher, just leave it alone.

• 1:34:58Speaker 02

  Remember what they said, right? Okay, am I, am I bad looking? Right. Okay, why are you putting that into the kid's head? I think I don't want him to fight, I don't want him to fight, everyone gets hurt, everyone gets deflaged, everybody get used. What you're saying is irrelevant at this time. Irrelevant? Yeah, why?

• 1:35:17Speaker 03

  Because it may not happen, it's like worrying about what might not happen.

• 1:35:20Speaker 02

  You, uh, let me, let me just bring this point to you.

• 1:35:24Speaker 02

  I would never want, when I have kids, for my child, daughter, to be in a car crash. So, what do I do?

• 1:35:33Speaker 03

  Fuck.

• 1:35:33Speaker 02

  I say, I'm not buying your car and you can't drive, is that the right thing to do?

• 1:35:37Speaker 03

  I just wanna try it.

• 1:35:43Speaker 00

  Okay, okay, I will, I will, um. I'll let you try. All you're put to do is tell me the word. If you tell me, I'll help you.

• 1:35:54Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 1:35:55Speaker 03

  Dad, I've always said yes, I'm saying yes and no, I want to do it.

• 1:35:58Speaker 00

  You want to do it?

• 1:35:58Speaker 03

  Yeah. Okay.

• 1:36:02Speaker 00

  I've ever wanted to watch. I'll be one to watch.

• 1:36:08Speaker 00

  And I so hope this one in boxing.

• 1:36:12Steven Bartlett?

  What's going on there in that video that I just played?

• 1:36:16Speaker 00

  Fear. That's a father who is, is thinking about all the things he's gone through. And fearing that his son will walk into that.

• 1:36:29Speaker 00

  You know, into that industry, walk down that path and have to go through all those things that he went through. That he worked so hard to kind of keep his family away from.

• 1:36:38Steven Bartlett?

  So you've got Lennox Lewis siding with you and that's your mother?

• 1:36:42Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:36:43Steven Bartlett?

  And she's also trying to persuade him to let you have a shot at boxing. When you watch that video now, after everything that happened with the fight we just all watched, where there was almost 70,000 people in an arena. People watching all over the world. It's been this global phenomenon, not just in the UK, but I was in America and New York this weekend and it's, the people are talking about it there. How does it feel to look back at that video?

• 1:37:06Speaker 00

  Uh, it's scary, man. It's scary.

• 1:37:10Speaker 00

  I mean, everything he's saying is right.

• 1:37:14Speaker 00

  He's completely right, you know? Boxing is a tragic sport for the people that are making you get disfigured and used. Um, you know, disfigured, I've been used plenty of times. It's scary to.

• 1:37:32Speaker 00

  To think about how far we've come from that moment in time. Um, all the things I've gone through, the things I've done.

• 1:37:41Speaker 00

  And. You know, he has, he had every right to feel the way he did. Because.

• 1:37:51Speaker 00

  Champions, hard men, don't come from.

• 1:37:56Speaker 00

  Those backgrounds that you saw. That, that was filmed in a multimillion pound house.

• 1:38:03Speaker 00

  You know, I, I went to private school the next day after that injury.

• 1:38:10Speaker 00

  Kids that live that life don't accomplish anything in such a barbaric sport because there's just too much pain and suffering you have to go through. And there's too many times where naturally you'll look for ways out.

• 1:38:30Speaker 00

  Now, the kids that come from broken homes, poverty, and, you know, nothing.

• 1:38:38Speaker 00

  They don't have any other doors to open and walk through. So when they go to the gym and when they go into these fights.

• 1:38:48Speaker 00

  If I don't get through this door.

• 1:38:51Speaker 00

  I don't eat.

• 1:38:54Speaker 00

  I can't pay the rent. Can't feed my family.

• 1:38:59Speaker 00

  For me.

• 1:39:01Speaker 00

  When I'm looking at that door that I have to go through, whether it's in a gym or in a fight.

• 1:39:08Speaker 00

  I know that if I don't make it through that door.

• 1:39:13Speaker 00

  There's a door there and a door there and a door there and a door there.

• 1:39:19Speaker 00

  And if I'm experiencing too much pain to get to that doorknob to open it, I can just step back. You know what? All right, let's go over here. Football, business.

• 1:39:33Speaker 00

  Acting. I could do whatever I wanted with the position I was in as a kid.

• 1:39:41Speaker 00

  I still wanted to walk through that horrible, painful, nasty boxing door. Open that door. And you walk through the door and you get punched in the stomach. And you go through that and then you go walk through the other door and you get cut above your eye. And just keep walking, keep walking, keep walking, keep walking. And there's all these other doors. Hey, come, come, come, come, come, come. We just, just, just take the easy route, take the easy route. No, I'm staying here.

• 1:40:09Speaker 00

  So it was so much harder for me to do what I was doing because there was so many other choices. And my father thought that.

• 1:40:17Speaker 00

  As soon as I reached that first door, I'd be like, you know what? Nah. He said it. I'm not going to be hard enough.

• 1:40:26Speaker 00

  And nine times out of 10, kids are not hard enough in that in that position. But I was, I was hell bent on proving him wrong and proving

• 1:40:38Speaker 00

  and proving myself right. I knew what I had in me. I felt what I had in me anyway. I didn't know. You never know until you're you're in those positions, but I just, the strength and the, you know, that that feeling inside of me was so, it was so visceral. I was like, there's no way I can't do this. Like, if I just, if I put everything into this, how can I fail?

• 1:41:01Steven Bartlett?

  Maybe he was calling your bluff.

• 1:41:03Speaker 00

  That's another crazy thing that I used to think about. Did he? Was he? Was he saying this to make me?

• 1:41:12Speaker 00

  To make me push harder because he's thinking, all right, well, if I, if I say, ah, he'll be great. When he gets to those painful positions,

• 1:41:22Speaker 00

  he's already kind of got my,

• 1:41:25Speaker 00

  well, I've already got his, his, his blessings. So it's like, oh, well, you know, he's, he's behind me anyway, regardless. So, you know, I tried my best. Or does he want me to be at that front door thinking, my old man, he's, he said I couldn't do it. Am I going to let him be right?

• 1:41:43Steven Bartlett?

  Well, he did put a chip on your shoulder in that regard.

• 1:41:45Speaker 00

  For sure. Massive. Massive.

• 1:41:49Steven Bartlett?

  I saw the press conference with you and Eddie Hearn, and I also saw the one with where Eddie Hearn walks off and then Frank Smith comes in. Frank Smith is like your brother in law.

• 1:41:58Speaker 00

  Unfortunately, yes, he is. He and my sister have been together for a long, long time, which is

• 1:42:08Speaker 00

  an extremely wild thing to think that.

• 1:42:11Steven Bartlett?

  The CEO of Matchroom Boxing is basically your brother in law.

• 1:42:15Speaker 00

  Yeah. You know.

• 1:42:17Steven Bartlett?

  Do you get along?

• 1:42:18Speaker 00

  No, absolutely not.

• 1:42:20Steven Bartlett?

  You don't get along?

• 1:42:21Speaker 00

  No. We were okay. We were fine for a couple of years, for for a number of years. You know, I even spent Christmases with him. Um, but it got to a stage where.

• 1:42:34Speaker 00

  I started to see Matchroom, Eddie Hearn and himself trying to block me in terms of the business side of the sport. You know, I am with a promotional company called Boxer. Boxer and Matchroom, which is Eddie Hearn and Frank Smith, are,

• 1:42:58Speaker 00

  you know, deathly enemies. They are arch rivals.

• 1:43:06Speaker 00

  So they do anything they can to screw over Boxer.

• 1:43:12Speaker 00

  I'm with Boxer. So Frank Smith is trying to sabotage or was trying to sabotage certain things going on in my career.

• 1:43:24Speaker 00

  Being a part of Matchroom. As soon as I learnt that,

• 1:43:28Speaker 00

  it doesn't matter that you're in a relationship with my sister. We are not, you know, we are never going to talk again. We are never going to be cordial again.

• 1:43:39Speaker 00

  You are working against me. He was sitting in that arena on Saturday night praying that I lose.

• 1:43:47Steven Bartlett?

  Why didn't you sign to Matchroom? Did you try?

• 1:43:51Speaker 00

  They, they, they offered.

• 1:43:52Steven Bartlett?

  Why did you say no?

• 1:43:54Speaker 00

  I don't trust Eddie Hearn. I don't trust Frank Smith. I don't trust Matchroom. These people are,

• 1:44:04Speaker 00

  they're dangerous.

• 1:44:08Speaker 00

  And, you know, it's, it's crazy to think that, yeah, he is with my sister. I don't know how that relationship came about, but love is a peculiar thing.

• 1:44:22Steven Bartlett?

  And you're good with your sister, obviously.

• 1:44:23Speaker 00

  Of course, of course.

• 1:44:24Steven Bartlett?

  She was there in your corner for the fight.

• 1:44:27Speaker 00

  Yeah, and I was actually thinking, I'm going to ask her,

• 1:44:32Speaker 00

  you know, how does it go? Like, you know, you guys go back home together. You guys are lying in bed.

• 1:44:39Speaker 00

  I've just won, Connor Ben's just lost.

• 1:44:44Speaker 00

  What do you guys like say to each other, you know, like, because Frank is distraught that Connor Ben lost, you know, that's their golden boy, that's their ticket. You know, I'm my sister's, I'm my sister's brother. So it's like, you've got two completely opposite sides in the same bed. What do you guys say to each other, you know, it's just, I want to ask you that question.

• 1:45:07Steven Bartlett?

  We have a closing tradition on this podcast where the last guest leaves a question for the next guest, not knowing who they're leaving it for. And the question left for you is if you could listen to one album for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?

• 1:45:19Speaker 00

  One album for the rest of my life, it would have to be something timeless, something that can be,

• 1:45:27Speaker 00

  something that lasts, you know, so it would have to be something like Michael Jackson, Thriller, you know, a classic, something that in 200 years' time, you're going to still have kids listening to it, that yeah, this is, this is my jam right here.

• 1:45:42Speaker 00

  Yeah, I guess that would be the album.

• 1:45:44Steven Bartlett?

  Chris, thank you so much for giving all of us as boxing fans, a moment that we will never forget. I do have to say, I've been to a lot of boxing fights all over the world and one of my favorite fights was this Lomachenko fight that I saw in New York, but without a shadow of a doubt, that is the best boxing fight I've ever seen in person and not just because of the fight itself, but because of all of the subplots and all of the inspiration it gives everybody. Watching you go into that 12th round with Connor and give everything when it was so abundantly clear that you had nothing in the tank, sends a message to all of us that there's so much more within us that we probably don't always realize. And sometimes it takes, you know, the family legacy or something deep and profound and meaningful for us to find that in ourselves.

• 1:46:28Steven Bartlett?

  But even as you talked about the, you know, I've had certain challenges with my family's, family over the years and with my parents, with my mother and these kinds of things. And there's been fractures and years where I was disowned and all these kinds of things. And I saw myself in all of that. You know, my, my, my mother had some struggles that she went through, which was somewhat similar in elements to the struggles that your father went through. And I know what it feels like, I know what it feels like. So it just gave, it gave everybody so much and I'm so glad you've been able to get out onto the streets for the first time since the fight and feel that because you brought so much joy, both of you, both you and Connor, both so much joy, so much inspiration and memories that I will tell my kids about and I'll say, I was there for that fight. And I'm so happy for you as well because I know the career journey you've been on and

• 1:47:11Steven Bartlett?

  the twists and turns and everything. So I'm so glad that the public got to know

• 1:47:18Steven Bartlett?

  all of you, not just the cold faced guy that, you know, throws a good uppercut, but the human as well. And it's in part, I think, because of some of the difficult moments you've been through, that you've stepped out a little bit more and become more comfortable with showing the world all that you are. And that's the most valuable, Chris, that I think the world can see. So thank you. Really, really appreciative. And I can't wait to see these next couple of fights you have as you close out what has been a remarkable career. Thank you.

• 1:47:51Steven Bartlett?

  This has always blown my mind a little bit. Fifty-three percent of you that listen to this show regularly haven't yet subscribed to the show. So could I ask you for a favor? If you like the show and you like what we do here and you want to support us, the free, simple way that you can do just that is by hitting the subscribe button. And my commitment to you is if you do that, then I'll do everything in my power, me and my team, to make sure that this show is better for you every single week. We'll listen to your feedback, we'll find the guests that you want me to speak to, and we'll continue to do what we do. Thank you so much.