The Chase Immortal Podcast

"The Hard Road" with Seanadh-Leigh McEleney

• Season 1 • Episode 3

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The Chase Immortal Podcast - Episode 0003 - "The Hard Road"

Success isn’t built overnight… it’s earned through sacrifice, discipline, and the willingness to keep showing up when nobody’s watching.

In Episode 0003, we sit down with Seanadh-Leigh McEleney, one of Australia's most exciting up-and-coming amateur boxing talents. We dive into the relentless work behind chasing greatness, the setbacks that test you, and the unwavering belief it takes to pursue a dream as big as representing Australia on the Olympic stage.

From local gyms to national ambitions, Seanadh opens up about the dedication, pressure, and mindset required to compete at the highest level. If you’ve ever chased a goal that seemed out of reach, this conversation is for you.

🎧 Tune in, get inspired, and see what it really takes to chase a dream.

🥊 Nationals in the sights.
🇦🇺 Olympics on the horizon.
💥 The journey is only just beginning.

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SPEAKER_07

What's going on, legends? Welcome back to the Chase Immortal podcast. Today we are joined by the latest member of the Chase Immortals media group, Shanelee McAlaney. We're gonna be doing some work with Sharna. Welcome Shauna.

SPEAKER_00

Thank you. Thank you guys for having me. Very keen to get started.

SPEAKER_07

Good gym, this. Oh bad A. Yeah, we're good. Alright, Sharona. We've already done a bit of a podcast with Shanna. We're just introduced that there. Let us know what you um think of the stuff we talk about, good topic.

SPEAKER_00

Um, look, I think it was great. It was start off of everything with you guys, and I'm keen to keep it flowing, keep it going. Um I what did we touch on? We touched on my flights that were coming up and what I've got ahead of me.

SPEAKER_07

Massive few months coming up for Shauna. She's got the Nationals in July and Brisbane. She's got the worlds in October. We're gonna be following the journey all the way along through both them events and then her road to the Olympics, where we she will be guaranteed. I'll be there. Better be there. I will be there. Yeah, let's go. But yeah, Shauna, thanks for getting on board. Nah. Do all the work we're gonna be doing with you.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, honestly, guys, coming on board with this is gonna be amazing, and I can't wait. Beautiful. Can't wait for it.

SPEAKER_07

Well, let's get over to the episode and check it out. Stay tuned, you know what to do. Like, share, subscribe, send it to everyone you know. Listen to that shit. You're gonna love this episode. Just such a good chat.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it is.

SPEAKER_07

Right, uh, we're gonna kick it off with a bit of the journey she's on at the minute. We discussed her um coming from Bunbury, she fights out of Denning, Boxing Gym, John Hindsey, and her old man Christian are coaches, and they're leading her on the path to her road to the nationals. Um we just want to touch on the journey, the journey it's taken you to get to where you are growing up in Bunbury. Obviously, a young lady fighting, it's got lots of stuff against you. You've got to sacrifice a lot of things to get there. How's the journey been for you?

SPEAKER_00

Um, look, basically from the start, it's always been kind of go, go, go. Like, my when I first started boxing, my older brother was doing it in like the fitness kind of way for soccer, because our family's all big soccer players.

SPEAKER_02

Massive.

SPEAKER_00

And um I basically said to my dad, I was like, look, I wanna go. I wanna, I wanna go and I wanna box. And dad's like, you're not gonna like it, like you have to punch people in the face. You do realize that, like, you're a little funny. You're a little girl. Yes, yeah, I know, I know. Um, and I was like, just let me try it, see if I like it. And literally from day dot, I was like, Dad, this is my thing, this is who I am, and this is what I want to do.

SPEAKER_07

Well, it's no better, no better person to guide you, because the old man was pretty sharp himself back in the day.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, he was.

SPEAKER_07

He was.

SPEAKER_06

Did you find having any difficulties sort of growing up as a kid in your teenage years, having probably most of your friend group doing netball or hockey or dance, you know what I mean? And then having you yourself as a boxer, being the I wouldn't say an odd one out, just doing something different to the to the normal group.

SPEAKER_00

I definitely was the odd one out 100%. Exactly right.

SPEAKER_06

So, how do you navigate that in a way of keeping it keeping a friend group, a stable friend group that you're friends with because you're doing something so different to what they're doing, you know what I mean? I know as a kid growing up, you're everyone sort of sheeps around each other and does what the group's doing, you know what I mean? Did your friends still support you in a way that was helpful for you on your own journey?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, look, my my friends love it. The friends that I've got now, they love that I'm boxing and they love that I'm traveling the world and they're they're a great like group. I've got little friends like from all over, but um definitely in school, I was the odd one out because I was a girl and I was boxing, like the lads couldn't take that I'd be able to beat the shit out of them.

SPEAKER_07

Probably scared you.

SPEAKER_00

Um they did like I'm out of school now, 17 years old, I dropped out in year 10. But um during school it was a bit hard, but I'm I've got a head like my mum. I d I'll do what I want whenever I want, and if I want to get somewhere, I'll do it. I'll do whatever it takes to do.

SPEAKER_06

So either with me or against me sort of thing, right?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah, 100%. And that's the mindset that I had going into it, and that's the mindset that I've I'm gonna keep having.

SPEAKER_07

That's a very good mindset to be on there.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07

And Shauna's fighting tomorrow, actually, up in Perth. So we got her in today. We're gonna go down to Perth tomorrow and do a bit of behind the scenes stuff, have a look at a fight. I'm guaranteed she'll run away with a win.

SPEAKER_06

So, what are you currently? Two-time national champion.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

So, how many years now you've been boxing for or training and boxing?

SPEAKER_00

I started boxing when I was 12, just after my 12th birthday. Yeah. And I turned 18 in September this year, so almost five years.

SPEAKER_06

What's your toughest fight been so far? Um And did you win that fight?

SPEAKER_00

No, I didn't. Probably my first international trip, I went with Team Australia to Germany.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Um, it was a junior open tournament, and I came up against this Czech girl, and she was very strong and very difficult to kind of adjust to. And because it I was quite early on, like I think it was my first year of like fights all up, I didn't know how to really adjust, and I was also um like recovering from a back injury and all that, so just everything around it was pretty crazy, and uh but I think if I came up against her now knowing what I know, it'd be a different story.

SPEAKER_06

So, what year were you when you had your first fight? How old were you?

SPEAKER_00

It was oh shit. Uh February 2022. So I was thir thirteen, fourteen, fourteen.

SPEAKER_04

How'd that go? Did it go to plan or was it a disaster?

SPEAKER_00

No, I came away with the win. Um, and funnily enough, actually, I went on a camp with this girl. So I fought this girl for my first fight and I won. I think I won fair and square. Like, you know, it was I thought it was a pretty dominant win, but she was on this futures camp with me, or this female development camp, and she said to me, She's like, Look, you robbed me. And I was like, Right, this is last year. I was like, right, well, if you think that we can fight again. And whoever wins wins that. So we fought again. She came down to 60 kilos.

SPEAKER_06

That's good. Being down in Bunbury for everyone that doesn't know that's Southwest WA, it's sort of isolated from Perth.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

As isolated as Perth is from Australia, you mean like you're any sparring or training or anything you need to do, you have to travel obviously two hours north to Perth to fight and train with people up here. Yeah. Do you find that difficult trying to obviously with your mum and dad working full time, getting time to get up to Perth and get the training and sessions in, or have you got a bit of a uh sort of a training group in Bunbury that can facilitate that as much as possible with the limited time that you have, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah. So myself and the lads from the gym, like if there's sparring organized, we'll make sure that there's a few set girls at that gym that we're going to, and John Hindsey, the president of the club, he grabs a van for us all to get in and then we all go up together. But lately, because it's been so hectic with everywhere I've been going and everything, dad has really been my number one man. He's been getting me to where I need to go wherever I need to. He's like, if you want to go up to sparring, I'll get you there. So normally it's 5 a.m. on a Saturday morning and we're on the road to Perth, like we were this morning. Yeah. Um, just to get some quality rounds in for me and for my improvement.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah. I think what's good that now we've got Chase and Wortle on as a promoter for yourself, that now you've got more than just your dad to help you out. If you need to get up to Perth and get training sessions in, like myself and Benny, if we're obviously we work away, but we're more than happy to help out where we can and definitely, you know, do the drive, pick you up, facilitate any training and help that you need.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, no, that'll be awesome. I'm I'm so keen to get on board with you as like I was saying to Dan, I can't, I can't I can't wait. Um and I can't wait to see where this takes me as well.

SPEAKER_07

Let's take it back a bit, let's go back to where you're training, down in Boxing Gym in Bunbury. I obviously spent a bit of time down in Bunbury, I lived down there for 10 years. It's a very good gym. There's a lot of good fighters in there. Yeah. Let's just talk about your coaching, the fighters in there, how they pump you up, who who brought you up through there. Touch on that gym a little bit for us.

SPEAKER_00

Um started obviously, it was on Burke Street, right behind um BCF, down there. Uh and we I walk in, there's two head coaches there. Unfortunately, one of them's not with us anymore. Um, not he's not dead, he just left. Like he started his own gym. You made that sound bad. Um but John Hindsey, he pretty much knew from the start. Like, I I first rocked up and I was terrible. Like, I couldn't tell my feet apart from my hands, didn't know what was going on. Um, but he knew that I had the will to want to learn and want to get better. So he's he's stuck with me through thick and thin. He's been day one. He's the reason I've got the sponsors that I've got now. Um he gets me on the news every month or so, so good. Like keeping everyone updated, and they really the support that I have from down there is absolutely fantastic. Like I wouldn't wouldn't want it any other way.

SPEAKER_07

Yep, it's a very good gym.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, it's huge. We've got two full-size rings and everything in there, like the training, the boxing training side of things is proper and it's very um strict onto what we do.

SPEAKER_07

Beautiful. So at the minute you've got seven wins, seven six wins out of your last seven fights.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07

You're on a bit of a roll?

SPEAKER_00

Yes.

SPEAKER_07

So you're feeling confident down into into tomorrow's fight.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I um I feel like something has clicked um over the past six months or so. Um going away and coming back, I just keep improving. Like there's been no kind of real big setbacks. Obviously, there has been a bit it was very up and down throughout the whole course of things, but now I really feel like I'm as I'm getting older and I'm improving in that way, no one's gonna be able to stop me.

SPEAKER_06

I guess that's the whole point of amateurs, right? It's just a learning curve. That's that's your starting base. Yeah. Building yourself up as a as a child into a woman, into your boxing career. You're gonna you're gonna have some losses here and there. Like life, you know what I mean. Like anything is just what you do with the losses and what where you go from there.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, like like I said to you before this, I think I lost about six or seven fights in a row, and I was at a point where I was like, I'm done. Like, I don't want to do this anymore. I like obviously something's something's not working, I'm not doing something right. Um, and dad pretty much was like, mate, you're in it for the long game, whether you like it or not. And I've stuck it out and it's done me so so much.

SPEAKER_07

But see, that's where your mental fortitude comes in because when you start having losses, not just in boxing and anything in life, when you start failing something, something you've got a passion for, something you're training for every day, and then when you start having losses, then thoughts slip into your head. Oh, maybe this isn't for me, maybe it isn't, maybe I should try something else. But then if you push through that, you're reaping the rewards now. Yeah, definitely, 100%. Yeah, you're gonna be massive, you've got a massive career, Heady, it's gonna be awesome, it's gonna be good to watch your journey. Can't wait.

SPEAKER_06

Tell us about your fight tomorrow night. So, who you're fighting tomorrow night?

SPEAKER_00

I am against an elite fighter. Uh, her name's Becca Cawley, she's an Irish girl, she's a lovely, lovely girl. Um, we've trained through so many different camps. Like, she's helped me prepare for my Thailand comps, she's helped me prepare, like any international comp she's helped me prepare for. But um earlier this year we were at a futures camp, and oh no, sorry, at my last set of fights, we pretty much sat down all together. There's because I think there's four girls around the same weight division in WA, and we pretty much said to each other, like, if we want to be active, we're gonna have to fight each other. You know? So I we teed it up and it was supposed to be today, obviously it got changed, but I'm keen. She's South Paur as well. Not every day you get two South Paules in the ring, not every day you get one, even. Um, but yeah, it's gonna be a great fight.

SPEAKER_06

Like, even clashes coming in, I see.

SPEAKER_07

Do you train different for a South Paul?

SPEAKER_00

Um In what sense?

SPEAKER_07

Like if you're now you're fighting a South Paul, does anything change and you're training?

SPEAKER_00

Or honestly, everybody everybody says you're doing this, this has to be changed, this has to be changed, but it's it's what you feel in the ring when you're there. Like you you're not gonna be working on a pinpoint punch because it's never gonna work. You know, if you're sitting there for 40 minutes on the pads and you're like, yep, you're setting a punch up, you can never set anything up in the ring. You've got three minutes, you've got three three-minute rounds to prove that you're better than that boxer in there. So it's just for me, it's what I feel in the moment and how I how I am in there, and you figure it out as you go.

SPEAKER_06

That's it. So having having four four girls around your age in WA?

SPEAKER_00

No, not my age, my weights.

SPEAKER_06

Oh, wait, sorry, yeah. Yeah. How difficult is that? Yeah, you want to fight the best of the best to better yourself, but you're going in a circle fighting the same four people, you know what I mean? Like, um, can you get fights over East? Can you get fights? How does that work in amateurs?

SPEAKER_00

The plan is we it all comes down to how much money you want to spend in amateurs as well. Like, if I want to fight the best in my division at the moment, like the girls that are in my weight division, I will have to go to Canberra and I have to go to Queensland for a fight. And right now that's just not it's not in the books for us. Like we don't want to be sending us over there for one fight and then to come home and you know.

SPEAKER_06

Let's get it done. Why not? Tell me why not, let's get it done.

SPEAKER_00

There actually, there is no why not.

SPEAKER_06

Um a good friend of mine runs a gym in Burley in Queensland, um, Fidel Turkell. Yeah, he runs fight club and he runs heaps of girls. Heaps of girls. So if we if we want to get some training and some fights under the belt, I can definitely reach out and we can we can definitely get something sorted.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, that'd be sick. That would actually be awesome.

SPEAKER_06

You know, it just depends how much and how fast and how far you want to go. Like if that's what we need to do, I think that's what we need to do.

SPEAKER_07

Well the sky's the limit, isn't it?

SPEAKER_06

100%.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, 100%. Sky's the limit.

SPEAKER_07

Alright, let's talk about the two titles, the big stuff. When was your first one?

SPEAKER_00

2024.

SPEAKER_07

Where? Where was it?

SPEAKER_00

In the Perth Town Hole here. Oh yeah? Yeah. Who'd you fight? My home ground, I fought Sunny Beaumont from South Australia. Yeah. Uh I fought her probably a month before that, before nationals, and in my own opinion, I got robbed. Yeah. It was like the decision was just atrocious. And after that fight, so they had the little clickers for the red and blue, like who won this, who won that. And after that fight, they stopped using the clickers. So I was like, oh, something's a bit dodgy there.

SPEAKER_07

So nevertheless, I at least you got it look at least you got a second chance at it.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I I removed that from my brain and I went in, did what I know I could do, and I came away with a convincing win on my home ground, which was good.

SPEAKER_07

So even the title fights are they still three by three when it ran? Everything's three by three, yeah?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. So it depends what age you are and what experience you have. So when you're in from youth all the way up, so you've got schoolgirl, schoolboy, junior, and then you've got youth. So the juniors and schoolboys are two minutes and then youth onwards. If you're an open fighter, so for WA you've had if you've had over ten fights, you then go into the three three by three minute range.

SPEAKER_07

Do you reckon you could do three by three without gas and out or what?

SPEAKER_03

I just got beaten up by a seven-year-old in Thailand in about two minutes, mate. I can't even do that.

SPEAKER_07

Sammy's fresh off the plane from Thailand doing an AKA Muta camp. Busted.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah. I got clipped by a 17-year-old 58 kilo kid in about three seconds, so I've got no advice for you.

SPEAKER_00

I know who not. Don't be like me.

SPEAKER_07

So what was uh where was the second title?

SPEAKER_00

Uh second title was in Darwin last year. Oh last year. I different opponent, she was from Queensland. Uh we searched her up, obviously, and kind of found some info on her. I thought I actually no, I'd never fought her before, but I fought her sister, and her sister, Southport 60 kilo Australian champion, um Brandenburg Cup champion, like international fighter, and going into that fight, I was like, the only thing I don't want to do is get stopped. Like I want to make the three rounds with if I can make the three rounds with this girl, I can make three rounds with anyone. So that's what um that's the kind of mentality I went into. And I going in against her sister, I obviously was a little bit hesitant because I was like, oh, like this, she's got a big last name behind her, like there's gonna be yeah, there's gonna be it's gonna be a great fight. And even the head Australian coach said, look, you gotta you gotta watch out for Storchy. And I I said to him, I was like, there's nothing to watch out for, I'll beat her. That's good. And that's what it did. Yeah, yeah, 100%. Well, if I say it, I have to do it, don't I?

SPEAKER_07

Yeah, 100%.

SPEAKER_00

Like that's that's the way I look at it, anyways.

SPEAKER_07

But see, you look, you look now, all that sacrifice and all that stuff you've done when you were younger to get to where you are now. There's not many girls there that are 17 years old because so they've won two Australian amateur titles. No. And they've had twenty, how many fights you had? Twenty nine, thirty-five? Thirty fights before you turn eighteen.

SPEAKER_05

So also at thirty fights in five years.

SPEAKER_00

Thirty fights in three years. So four, sorry. Four years.

SPEAKER_05

I'm no good math, but that's that's a few fights a year. That's a lot of fights, yeah. That's good.

SPEAKER_06

So what's the plan? What's your you got so let's say what's your plan for the next year? Five years, ten years, where do you want to be? What do you want to do?

SPEAKER_00

Um next year, end of this year into next year, I am going from youth to elite. So I'm going into the big girl game.

SPEAKER_06

So tell us what's the difference between youth and elite?

SPEAKER_00

Youth is under nineteen. So the year I turn nineteen is the year that I go into the elites. Um next year are the qualifiers for the 2028 Olympics. So we'll providing that there's a selection event when I turn after I turn 18, I'll be in that, hopefully do what I can, be on that um qualifiers team and go to the Olympic qualifiers and see if I can win that and that's the same thing.

SPEAKER_06

Is it exact same rules, same headgear, same time? It's just it's just an age gap sort of thing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

100%. So for the women, you keep your headguards on, you keep the 10-ounce gloves, like everything's pretty much the exact same. The only difference would be for the men, because they go from headgear to no headgear.

SPEAKER_06

Why is the difference between women and men headgear?

SPEAKER_00

I couldn't tell you. No. I honestly could not tell you, I got no clue. Don't know why. But I it doesn't bother me anyway. It's like I've fought in headgear my whole life, don't know anything different.

SPEAKER_07

Yeah. Probably feel weird for you to take it off, actually.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

So then give us five years. Where do you want to be in five? Do you want to go down the stay in the amateurs, do the Olympics, or do you want to branch out and go down the pro path and try and get on the big stages? Um it's a difficult time, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00

So it is a very difficult time. It's hard.

SPEAKER_06

I think for boxing, a lot of people want to chase the Olympics, but a lot of people want to get paid.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. You know what I mean? And I don't think the Olympics get you that money because the pro card does, but it it also depends on that pro card, it also depends who signs you and where you go with it. Like you could turn into a pro and then they could have someone off the street come in and fight you and you reckon you're a world champion and whatnot. But if I was to go down, so for me, I would go 2028 and 2032 Olympics, and then go from there, see where I'm at, see what I want to do. If I want to get a job and be happy with what I've done, or if I want to branch out even more and go down the pro route, which look is kind of most likely going to be the plan, because I don't want to settle down and have a family yet. I'll be too young.

SPEAKER_07

So you've got way too much to do yet, mate.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I've got I don't know, we'll see what happens when the time comes. Like if the option is there after the Olympics two term pro and I've got a decent person wanting to sign me, then why not?

SPEAKER_06

Well, how old would you be when you hit Olympics?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, the 2032 ones, I will be what's that, six years? 24.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, so that's still a good age. Two turn pro. You've got the maturity, you've got the experience, you've got the Olympics under the belt.

SPEAKER_00

The peak age for women to perform like to bring home a medal in the Olympics is between 23 and 27. Yeah. So I'm right in that cusp.

SPEAKER_06

So I think for boxing in Australia, it's so I would say it's hard because I just don't feel like Australia backs boxing as much as any other sport. Like, for example, you've got tennis players like that Ash Bardy who won the Open or Wimbledon or whatever it was, and the whole country was going wild, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_07

And they're making a fortune.

SPEAKER_06

Making millions. But then you've got fighters like Jaya Bataya, you've got the the Zoo Brothers, like they're doing mad things for boxing, but they're just there's just no backing from Australia, you know what I mean? And they're not making massive money, so it's like what do you chase greatness in Australia or do you try and go overseas where the potential's so much more than that?

SPEAKER_07

But is the money is the money is the money much better over there? Well, you never really I don't know.

SPEAKER_06

That's the thing.

SPEAKER_00

That's the question everybody asks as well. Like, you don't actually know what's going on in a different country. Yeah, you know, like you don't know like for us, we with like the politics in all the sports and stuff, we thought it was terrible over here, but all sports are the exact same. Yeah like we um you get politics everywhere, you get who likes whom more, you get this person's on this team because the coach liked their family better. Like you don't um there's no real escape from it, and you just have to kind of live with it.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, but even nowadays you can be a ex-footie player or ex NRL player and just fight an ex NRL player player and pick up a 70 grand and fight payday, you know what I mean. But you've got someone that's trained 30 years all their life putting in the hard yards day into the city. But that's because Georgie Rose is a master. Georgie Rose knows what he's doing.

SPEAKER_00

I just think I think it's the way you I'm talking about you, Jared. Um promote yourself as well. Like for now in 2026, the biggest thing is your profile and who you are online, who you are as a person. Yeah, don't worry, we won't give a sort of what everybody can see as like uh on the big screens, you know. And if you don't have that, it's a very hard thing to become successful because it's hard for people like you're not gonna get someone l searching your name up if they don't know who you are.

SPEAKER_02

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00

You know, if they don't if you they don't come across you on a reel or something like that, they're never gonna know who you are.

SPEAKER_06

That's right. I think boxing is a a sport where when you're on the up, everyone's behind you. As soon as you take that L, people just drop off. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_07

It's it's it's a hard it's a hard line between because team sports is team sports. This is you versus you. This is you versus everyone else. So there's no team, there's not like the camaraderie in the team, and you've got all your team behind you. You've only got you, your coaches, just your little unit that's travelling around trying to get fights, trying to do this, trying to win.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07

And that's all on you. Like it's team sports a bit different, but yeah.

SPEAKER_00

You can in a team sport, you can get tired and you can pass the ball off, or you can like have a sub and then come back home. But in that ring, you've got three minutes to punch the head off that person, and you've got a minute to rest and you have to do it two more times, you know. Like there's no in in boxing, you have to be so selfish. You need to do what's best for you, and that's my biggest thing. Like, I've been called selfish in my own gym, and I'm I I told them it's it's not a team sport, these lads aren't getting in the ring with me, so I'm gonna do what benefits me to get in that ring, you know. And I've had to but the boys love it at the gym, they love that I just do whatever I want. Like, not necessarily whatever I want, but like if I need to do something, it'll get done.

SPEAKER_07

Yeah, that's good. It's a good mindset. And keep that up, never lose that.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06

So I guess now you want to go to the Olympics, right? Where do you go from here? How do you get there? I will So you've got national uh you've got worlds, nationals in July.

SPEAKER_00

So I've got nationals in July.

SPEAKER_06

And that's in Montenegro, right?

SPEAKER_00

No, that's in Queensland.

SPEAKER_06

That's in Queensland, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So nationals in Queensland in July. I've got I'm hoping for two opponents there.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Um when I come away with the two wins, then if the head of Australia, like the boxing head of Australia for the youth program, thinks I'm good enough, I'll be selected to go to the world champs, which is in Montenegro, in October.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, unreal.

SPEAKER_00

Um and then from there we kind of see how we go. Like I've got two months after that before I turn into an elite. So it's just kind of preparing for what elite selection events there are. If the elite nationals are straight after, like pretty much as soon as I turn elite, if there's elite nationals, then I have to be prepared to jump straight in with the women, you know. Um step it up a notch.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, so you have to fight two people in Queensland?

SPEAKER_00

As far as I know, yes. Yeah, so there will be a draw. So one person, one person will get a bye into the final, and then one person will fight twice. Oh yeah. So um it's just based on the draw, like it's not it, they kind of they pretty much pick names out of a hat and it's like, alright, these two are fighting, these this girl has the bye. Yeah, they all have to weigh in, blah blah blah. Um crazy. But I would like to fight twice, I'd like to be on the back end, the bad end of that draw, just because I feel like I deserve it a bit more. You know, I always fights in. Yeah, like and to have yeah. That's like and for me with like weight cutting and everything, I feel like once I do the weight cut and I fight those those times, I feel like I deserve it because I'd put the work in.

SPEAKER_07

What do you know what do you walk what weight do you normally walk around at before you cut weight?

SPEAKER_00

Uh 61, 61 and a half. And what do you gotta get down to? 57. So it's four and a half kegs.

SPEAKER_06

It's only fifteen less than me.

SPEAKER_07

55% body fat number.

SPEAKER_06

So what's it like training with your dad? Obviously, growing up as a teenager, I knew what it was like when my dad would tell me to do something. I'll shut the fuck up, dad. You didn't want to hear it, you know what I mean? You're gonna get that at home and you're gonna get it at the gym. Like, yeah. How's your relationship with your dad? Like, as a he's pretty much on your case 24-7, home life. Pretend he's not sitting here too.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I know. I was just gonna say, don't boost your ego over there, but like, um I'm the double of them, pretty much. Like, everybody that we've come across, whenever we go somewhere together, they're like, geez, your daughter is you. And like we're mad. We're crazy. And I as much as I hate to say it, I know that I'm just like him. Um, but I know that what he like when he's yelling at me for eating that lolly or smashing back that energy drink when it's bad for me, I know that he's got his best interest at heart because he wants me to my best interest. Like I said, he's got my best interest at heart. He knows what's good for me and he knows what's what I shouldn't be doing, what I should be doing, but um and like the domestics we would have as well, like at the gym and at home because of boxing, like there was a point in time where it was very hard for us to differentiate coach and dad, like it was all kind of just one big thing, and like mum would hate it because it's like we're killing each other 24-7, and she's here on both ends of it, and she's like, right, shut up, I'm not talking to any of you. Like, sort it out and get over it, or stop coaching her. You're punching out. Oh, there's been times there's been lots of times, like he would put the gloves on, be like, mate, what are you doing? You're not nowhere near my weight division. Why are you putting gloves on, you know?

SPEAKER_06

Um life's an easy fight.

SPEAKER_07

Get him when he's drunk.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, oh honestly, I'd have I'd have the better of them then. Uh, but yeah.

SPEAKER_06

But like obviously, I don't I've only met you guys recently, but we're in a bit of a group chat just to get to know each other, and it's actually pretty funny that it's a daughter and a father, but everyone's just chatting to each other like mates, you know what I mean? Like the banter between the dad and the daughter is fucking insane, you know what I mean? Like it doesn't that doesn't feel like a father-daughter sort of set of scenario.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, he definitely is my best friend, even though I won't admit it most of the time. But he uh yeah, we do have like that mates, like we're we're best mates, he's my coach and he's my dad. Yeah, like it's one of the best things.

SPEAKER_06

So you've got two coaches, right? Your dad, and you've got another coach, John Hinsey, yeah. What's he like?

SPEAKER_00

He's oh he's awesome. I'm his I'm his little princess. I've been like honestly, no word of a lie. Anything that I need, he will get done. He is the reason that I've got the sponsors that I've had, he's the reason that I'm getting everywhere. Like, if it was relied on my parents for travel costs and accommodation costs and everything like that, I wouldn't be anywhere near where I am. Just because like there's seven of seven of us in the family. And like it's not like we're just breeders. Yeah, it's not like we're just um we've got money flowing out of our pockets. Like dad, mum and dad, I should say, because I don't. Uh but he and it's so good for him to be there as well because when myself and dad have those domestics, like he knows how to calm us down and be like, look, this is what's happening, like a bit of a wedge in the relationship and he keeps us honest and he keeps us together, kind of. He's he's the glue of the whole thing, I would say.

SPEAKER_07

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_06

So throughout your whole boxing career in Australia, have you met any memorable people, any any famous boxing people throughout your career that you've met?

SPEAKER_00

Well, obviously Katie Parker, she's an Olympian, she's um a very big idol for many of the girls that box in Australia, and she's a a great person. She's awesome. She uh she's a real humble, like she's genuine as well. Like it's not like she knows all poppy syndrome. She wants the best for us because obviously she she would love to see more girl boxes. Like we're all we're all in the same boat, being the only girls in the gym and uh having to spar with the lads, fight the lads to improve and all that all that jazz. Um she she was very awesome to communicate with and just kind of have a chat too about everything.

SPEAKER_06

Well, yeah, Caitlin Parker back in the day, she used to fight around the same time as my mate Jacob did. Yeah, they used to go on camps, I think they did nationals together and a lot of that stuff. So that was about the time we were probably like 18. But yeah, she was always a nice, humble cheek, like she was sweet, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And the and that's one of the most important things as well, like remember where you come from and where you started.

SPEAKER_07

Keep your keep your um keep your natural like personality. You don't want to be changed, don't want to be changing just because you get big and famous.

SPEAKER_00

And that's why so many people don't like me, because I won't change who I am.

SPEAKER_06

That's good. I'm pretty sure from memory when she came back from the Olympics, she went down the beach or went to the public, and everyone was taking photos with their medals and doing everything for the community, you know what I mean? Like that's what it's about.

SPEAKER_07

But the big thing with uh women in boxing, so when we the hype around this episode that we're recording today, talking to a few people, and we got a few people work for us now, and everyone's like, Who are you interviewing today? And we're like, Oh, young female boxing, and like female boxer, yeah, cool. It's gonna be a big testosterone, chest beaten sort of thing that the boy's. Yeah, we'll look at both of you as I'm everyone thought we're just gonna be in here talking about um you know m male toxic toxic masculinity and what we're doing on the weekends and shit, but no, it's there's a lot of hype around this, and it's gonna be good to get you out there and get get a bit of a YouTube thing going with you. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, no.

SPEAKER_06

So if there's any fighter currently in the world, who would you want to fight? Pro, unpro, just just for something. Right now? Right now, anyone in the world. Far from Benny.

SPEAKER_00

Just like just for fun or just for the first one. Yeah, just for just just just for the experience. I would love to do rounds with um Sky Nicholson. Yeah. See see how I go with her. Like I I've always been told that I'm a mini version of her, so to be able like even get in the ring just for sparring. Like, obviously there is age between us and experience between us. Like she's been all over the shop with boxing, and she's a great fighter now. Like, she's got lots of fights racked up and she's got a fight on the way as well. Um it'd be good to just see her and see what she's doing now and where I'd have to be to be better than her, basically.

SPEAKER_06

Mine would probably be Clarissa Shield, but she'd punch my head off.

SPEAKER_07

So let's talk about the Australian Institute of Sport. So you've been you travel over there, how'd that come about? What do you what's what's the deal over there?

SPEAKER_00

So with the I've been on four trips with Boxing Australia now. So with that Austral under 19's Australian team, they do camps. So just recently I was over there and we did a four-day fitness camp. So the first day was like a normal boxing session introduction.

SPEAKER_07

How big's the group? How big's the group of there was ten of us. Boxes. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So there was Oh no, sorry, there was 15 of us. There was five girls there and from all over or yeah, so from all over Australia. Yeah. So my best friend Belle from Victoria, she was there, Tiana Roo from Queensland, Sienna Murray, and Ivy Dawson from Victoria as well.

SPEAKER_07

And they just get you all in there and do a big training camp? Yeah. With all the things.

SPEAKER_00

Who runs who runs the uh Jamie Pittman, the head he so he's the youth, like the head coach of all the youth under 19s.

SPEAKER_07

And are they doing it as like a scouting thing? Are they scouting talent or are they just getting us over there to Yeah?

SPEAKER_00

So they've they've brought us over there because they think that we're the best in the country. So obviously with the two national titles under my belt, you would think that I was the best in the 57 kilo division. So he's got me over there um just kind of keeping an eye on us and making sure that we're doing the right things. So a couple months ago we were there and we did all the testing, and then we did the testing again this weekend to see if we were working on what we needed to work on, if we've improved and all that shambles, like all that stuff.

SPEAKER_07

All the stuff on the street.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, all the statistics and all the tactical kind of.

SPEAKER_06

Well, can you give us a breakdown on that for like a bit more clarity? Like testing, what are they testing?

SPEAKER_00

So we did on the Friday we did um strength testing, so we did power jumps, um deadlifts, squats, push-ups, chin-ups, um, and then a 10, 20, 30 metre sprint and a Cooper's test on the Sunday.

SPEAKER_07

So they're up yes, they're up yes hard.

SPEAKER_00

They are they are very hard on us, but they know that they need to be otherwise they're just sporting institute in Australia, isn't it?

SPEAKER_06

So what is it? Do you stay there or is it so? So give us a rundown of what when you wake up in the morning, how does the day run?

SPEAKER_00

Wake up, go down, weigh in. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

Every day.

SPEAKER_00

Every day, yeah. They check our weights. We will go do a boxing session in the morning, probably 45 minutes of shadow, based on a technical thing that um Jamie Pittman and the three coaches that he brings along saw in the first, very first session, which was just like kind of free ball shadow shadow boxing. Um and then we'd go have breakfast, come back in for a strength and conditioning session, which was all that testing, on the Friday. And then in the afternoon we'll do like pads or technical bags, blowout bag sprints, anything like that. And then on the Saturday we weighed in, did a little bit of shadow, had an old day because we had comp sparring. So then we kit up full red or blue kit, red or blue head guard um do three rounds, and they weren't scored this time. Normally they get scored, but they were there weren't they weren't scored for this for some reason, not sure why. And then on this Sunday we did a 3,000 meter time trial run.

SPEAKER_07

Ooh.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07

Brutal.

SPEAKER_00

That was terrible.

SPEAKER_06

I'd smoke that.

SPEAKER_07

You smoked the first round first 300 meters, maybe.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, yeah, so I actually did really good in that as well. Like the I was first out of the girls, which is what I wanted. You want to be up there with your own gender, obviously.

SPEAKER_02

Definitely.

SPEAKER_00

Um, but I beat my normal like 3k time trial by two and a half minutes. Like I don't know what was in the air, but I was like, yeah, smash it, get get it done.

SPEAKER_06

So obviously that's over in Canberra, yeah?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

So it's obviously flying from Perth, a lot of the activity is on the east coast where everyone is. So the flying to and from is going to get expensive.

SPEAKER_07

Do you do they pay for that?

SPEAKER_00

Or do you know they so they Boxing Australia have been quite good with the people that have been picked on the Australian team. So they cover between 50 and 75% of flights when it's for Team Australia.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, that's a good thing.

SPEAKER_00

Um and then that extra 50-25% is covered by my sponsors. So I've got right now, I think I've got five sponsors all together. I've got um Brian Fisher Fabrications. So Fisher Fabrications, he seen me on the news, he's an amazing man. He is the reason that I can walk properly again and train properly again. Like he pays for all of my chiropractor sessions. He any anytime I need something, he's just uh paid for half of my first car that I'm getting as well.

SPEAKER_02

Legend.

SPEAKER_00

Um he's an absolute legend, but uh yeah, he's uh my right hand man whenever I need something. He's there. I've got H T E C Bunbury, Mick Hammond, he's jumped on as a sponsor, so he gives me a yearly um like amount of money for like gloves, training, gear, all that jazz jazz. Robert's Tilt Trays, again, same yearly amount of money to get what I need. Um Enhanced Physiotherapy, Nikki Carter, he jumps on as well, gives me like all these lads, like they've seen me or I've reached out to them and they're more than happy to jump on on board. Like they they can see the potential that I've got and they know that I want to and that's massive for an amateur boxer because you've obviously got no income through the boxing sense yet.

SPEAKER_06

Um amateurs is just you know, there's no actual income. So to do and progress as much as you want to without putting so much financial stress on your f on your parents, oh yeah, you need to have a a a supporting group of promoters or not promoters, what do you call them? Yeah, sponsors, sponsorships, you know what I mean. So it's good that there is a community down in Bunbury that are helping you out.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, and they're awesome. Like if they didn't already sponsor the club, they would jump on board as well. Like they some of them were already sponsoring the club, and they were like, look, we'll sponsor you individually, so they'd give me my own money set essentially. But it is really hard, like having to train to your full potential. And I sat down with dad and talked about this as well, because there was a point in time where I had no money, and I was like, Dad, I feel silly. Like my 16-year-old brother's got a full-time job, my older brother's got a full-time job. Yeah, but you can beat brothers up, aren't you? Very true, very small work, but um, he's just like you have to stick at it, it's a long game, like you're gonna be filthy rich by the end of it, and then you'll be laughing at all your siblings because because they'll still be working.

SPEAKER_07

And they can just they can just support you till then we've done it.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, exactly, and then I can support them.

SPEAKER_07

Definitely. But yeah, the road to the nationals, we're gonna cover that. We're gonna try and put something together so we can um get some behind the scenes footage. I think it'd be good.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, no, that'll be awesome.

SPEAKER_07

And then we'll come down tomorrow. We're gonna come down and have a look at this fight. I'm keen, I'm excited.

SPEAKER_00

Pressure's on.

SPEAKER_07

What's your preparation now once you leave here today? It's obviously fights tomorrow. What do you what do you run through to get ready for the fight tomorrow?

SPEAKER_00

Er obviously go get some food because I'm starving. Yeah, I'm sorry. Um we'll go to the hotel, thank you guys for that. I appreciate it. Um we will probably do a little bit of pads in the afternoon, keep it nice and light, bit of recovery. We're gonna go to a recovery centre afterwards. Um ice baths to so I I wanna try at the AIS camp we had this study and it was like an ice bath before any comp help really helps your muscles to like re regenerate pretty much and it gives you that extra little bit of pa pa pow. Yeah, step in your step. Ice bars are good. Yeah, pretty much. So I'm gonna try that out and see how I go.

SPEAKER_07

I don't know why you looked at your dad then. He's coming with us on the laugh tonight.

SPEAKER_06

So we're gonna do pads in the hotel or are you gonna go to the gym?

SPEAKER_00

We'll go down to the either like the basement in the hotel or whatever, or see if we can find somewhere with a bit of grass and just do our park straight across the road. Oh, yeah, awesome. Then we'll do it there.

SPEAKER_07

That's a good spot. Sweet. So yeah.

SPEAKER_06

So what how many hours out are you now?

SPEAKER_00

Twenty-four is twenty-four hours.

SPEAKER_06

Have you got like a set thing for tw for you for your 24 hours? I remember when my mate used to fight, he used to certain amount of hours he would drink water, he'd feed at the time, feed at the wrong time, yeah. Like a schedule, like real tight schedule, or when I But he was a bit like chunkier, you know what I mean? He had a bit, you know.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, that's what I was just about to bring in. When I cut to 57, I do have my set schedule. So but because I'm fighting at 60, it's piece of piss. Like I just need to kind of weigh in tomorrow morning, have have some food, and then get in the ring and fight because it's not like I need to regenerate, like rejuvenate myself.

SPEAKER_06

So what happens if you come in over and what is the gap?

SPEAKER_07

What is how far either side of 60 can you be? Is there any buffer? You've got to be like within.

SPEAKER_00

You can't have anything over, you have to be in between 57 and 60 kilos. So you need to be like between 57 and 60. If you're 60.1, say you won't fight. So they just can it?

SPEAKER_07

If you go over weight, they just can you fight altogether?

SPEAKER_00

No, so I mean, let's be honest, they'll probably let it go ahead anyways. Like it doesn't really matter.

SPEAKER_06

So they give you like a grace period of like an hour where you can go go for a run, go to the toilet, rip all your kids off, and come out of the towel.

SPEAKER_00

The weigh-ins is um 7am to 8 a.m. So we'll go there. You can say I want a test scale if you're on weight, sweet.

SPEAKER_06

So you want to get there straight up first just to be sure to give yourself an hour?

SPEAKER_00

Like I've I've brought my scales with me, so I'll see what I am this afternoon and what I have to do then just so I can walk in. Throw semi on the um but yeah, no, I'm keen. I'm very keen for this fight to where I am. Yeah, I'm keen to get down there and I've looked at it.

SPEAKER_06

Do you find it um sort of hard? I don't know what your dating life's like, but you know You know what I mean? Like if I was gonna start dating a girl that could beat me up, I'd be pretty like turned away from it. You know what I mean? Like, is it what's it like with a with a boy life? Um not that your dad wants to hear about you know what I mean.

SPEAKER_00

Trust me, dad doesn't stop hearing about it, I'll tell you that much. And neither do the lads at the gym. All they hear is me and talking about boys. But honestly, I um I I don't know, like I would love to have a boyfriend. I don't have time for a boyfriend now, I'll tell you that straight up. I've got no time, and I say that to anyone who tries to flick me a message or whatever. I'm like, mate, I'm busy. I'm yeah, I'm too busy for this like stupid muck around, you know.

SPEAKER_06

Uh but maybe someone from a fighting background that knows what you're doing and how hard it is and what sacrifices you have to make, so it's a bit more understandable for a person because someone coming from you know, Coles or something that has no idea what the fighting scene is, you know what I mean? To them, it'd probably be like, well, normally that's it's gonna be weirdo, she doesn't want to talk to me. She's like, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00

Like that's the way I do look at it. But honestly, lads, when I watch a boy fight, if they aren't stylish and if they're not actually like half decent, I get the ick and I'm like, yuck, like don't talk to me again. Like I'm I could beat the shit out of you, you know what I mean? Don't watch the camera and be from toilet and then if you can't fight, so like if you can't fight but you support me, great. Like if you don't box, but if you do box, you have to be half decent, otherwise I don't want to bar review. Honestly, that is that's just the way that I'm gonna go, and it just yeah, it just gives me the you know what you want, you know what I mean? Yeah, exactly. But who knows what will happen. Hopefully, I don't end up with anyone from Coles, but someone with lots of money.

SPEAKER_07

Yeah. So when you come back from this fight tomorrow, you go back down home when you go back into the gym training straight away? Monday. Straight into it. Yeah. You train every day?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, twice a day every day.

SPEAKER_06

There you go. That's good. What's your breakup period? So what first thing and the AVO or Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, so I normally run in the mornings.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, give us a breakdown of your Your general day to day things.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_06

Your Monday to Friday, what do you do? You wake up, dad cooks your brecky.

SPEAKER_00

Monday to Thursday I train twice a day.

SPEAKER_07

Yep. But dad's at work, yeah?

SPEAKER_00

So you're you're all trained on in the gym with in the morning, in the mornings it's my own sessions. Run your own time. Which is either strength and conditioning or running. Like I don't really do any boxing without dad being there. Yeah. Um just because we'll go through things like pads, bag work. He keeps me honest on the bags because I tend to hate it.

SPEAKER_06

So is that a planned session, or you just go and keep yourself active, just go for a run, lift a couple weights, or have you got a set of things?

SPEAKER_00

I've got a set I've got a set S and C plan that I follow. And like so Monday I will go for a 5-6k steady run in the morning, um, and then in the afternoon it's like pads and footwork drills and the bag work. And then Tuesday I'll do like sprints or my strength and conditioning and I'll have sparring in the afternoon. Wednesday another kind of long-ish run and then strength and conditioning in the afternoon, no boxing. And then Thursday would be sprints and partner work drills and pads in the evening, and then Friday is kind of pad session, Saturday sparring up here or pads again.

SPEAKER_07

See, I see what you mean about no time. It's a full-time gig. That's right. Even at the amateur level, it's a full-time gig, and you can see why it's so hard for the amateurs now when you explain it like that.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. And it's something that you can't half ask either. Like if you're not all in, there is no point in you stepping foot in that ring, or there is no point in you nominating for that fight. Because if you're not doing something your opponent's doing or more, if not more, yeah, you've lost. And whether you think you've won, in your subconscious mind, you will always be like, shit, I should have gone for that run four weeks ago when I said I couldn't be bothered. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_04

I know.

SPEAKER_00

Like if you don't have that discipline you don't have that discipline and you don't have that like it's not motivation, but if you don't have that drive to want to be the best, there is no point you s even stepping foot in the boxing gym.

SPEAKER_07

Exactly, but that's the hard part for the amateurs, isn't it? Because you're not making any bank, so you've got to sacrifice that time, whereas time when some people, if they haven't got the support behind them and the sponsors and the people helping them out and they're trying to do it, they're stuff, they've got no money coming in.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, that's definitely my luckiest part about it. Like I've got the sponsors, I've got the support behind me, I've got I've got people in my pocket that I could fall on. Like I I've got them next to me that I can lean on if I if I'm having trouble, or if dad's pissing me off in the ring, I know I know who to go to, you know what I mean? Exactly. Like it's not it is definitely very difficult to keep on track. And getting started, like when I went from just boxing for fun to boxing for life, like my lifetime want and my lifetime career, I there was definitely a switch that flipped in me, but I it was a hard turnover because it's like I can't go out with my friends. Not that it r like it didn't really bother me, but it was hard to adjust, be like, oh nah, sorry, I've got to train, but and that's where like I'd started losing contact with a lot of people because they're like, oh, she doesn't hang out with us, she's doing this, she's doing that, you know. And it's just like mate, I've got bigger fish to fry than to go get on the piss with you. It's like sorry, I don't want to, but and that's probably a big thing now.

SPEAKER_06

Like looking back at myself when I was 17, I was already going to clubs, running them out, going wild, you know what I mean, hanging hanging out with the boys, having the maddest time. What's changed? Well, yeah, not mine. But for you now, you're at 17, like you you're 18 next year, you can legally go to nightclubs, you can you can do what you want. Like, it's part of you that's got to be dragging her out of there.

SPEAKER_00

Have some party, like you you what you don't want to miss all that period, but you you know I haven't really like people say it is like boxing, boxing, boxing, but you can also find that balance. Like if I'm not in competition at or if I don't have anything big coming up, like I will get on the piss with my friends and I will go out and I'll have a good time and I'll enjoy myself because I'm not it's not like I'm doing it in comp or I'm not doing it before a training thing that's gonna that it's Well jeopardize it.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah. I feel like that that's massive for you because if you're just strict, train, train, train, train, train. You burn out so easy. You burn out and you lose your mates or the your so-called mates if they if they don't support you, but you'll lose interest because you're missing out on so much stuff and you're just doing that one thing. You've got to have that moderation of still have fun, bit of balance, still have your have your lock in your arm ring.

SPEAKER_00

When you have that balance, it is a lot easier to keep it going and keep it like Christmas. Pretty much every Christmas, I I'll get on the piss with the family.

SPEAKER_07

Like that's that's I've been to a few of them.

SPEAKER_00

Oh yeah, we know you have.

SPEAKER_06

Um that's Christmas is always a blowout for every IO.

SPEAKER_00

But as soon as I have that drink or whatever, like I'll have that, let's say Christmas Eve to New Year's. Yeah. I have that week, and then it's like I want to train, like I I'm sick of this, I don't want to do this anymore.

SPEAKER_07

You know, I don't want to see Christian for another 12 months.

SPEAKER_00

It's my normal how I come out of it normally. That's how everybody comes out of it when they're partying with my dad.

SPEAKER_07

Um but yeah, with the with the promotion side of it, you touched on there how you got the people behind you helping you out. And just so for everyone at home listening, we're gonna launch a bit of a YouTube bio on Sharona and get something going. We're gonna do a few episodes on YouTube. We're gonna get out and film some stuff in the gym. We're gonna film some stuff hopefully tomorrow, behind the scenes stuff, and put some stuff together so we can get your name out there.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07

Get you out there in lights, get you up on billboards, and hopefully help promote you as well.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, no, that would be a good idea.

SPEAKER_07

It's gonna be it's gonna be a real good journey, and we want to be a part of it. And we'll be talking to everyone at everyone that works for us, everyone's working with us at the minute. Obviously, we had a few people scheduled to come here today, but with the changing ear fight, that sort of threw things up in the air, but that's alright, we got it done. But we will get you back in for another interview with um a couple of other people, and uh, everyone's keen to get you out there, so it's gonna be a real good journey. We can't wait.

SPEAKER_06

We should have those custom made boxing shorts I got done. So I went over to Thailand the other day and went to a Boxer World factory, got some custom made shorts made for you. Did you get me anything?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, you can see um stick string. You can see behind me, like I've got my shorts up behind me, and they're the ones my boxing name is sugar.

SPEAKER_07

Sugar Shan Ali, like Muhammad Ali and do you do you pick what, red or blue, or they just give you a They give you the corner.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

So you've got obviously both sets ready to go. So you don't know until the day?

SPEAKER_00

No, so I I'm in the blue corner tomorrow, but I always pack both sets just in case they're like, oh no, you're in red now.

SPEAKER_06

I know it probably doesn't mean much, but is there a preferred or do you have a lucky colour when you go into your fights, or is it just let's crack whatever colour I'm wearing, let's bang.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, well like for me the red corner is red and green, the blue corner is blue and pink.

SPEAKER_06

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Like I've got when I'm in the blue corner, I've got pink wraps, pink socks. When I'm in the red corner, I've got green wraps, and then my red socks.

SPEAKER_06

But uh you feel like you've had more winds in a red or more winds in a blue or I've definitely had more winds in the blue.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Um but it's I don't know, it's if it's subconscious, it'd probably be blue. I used to hate the blue corner, like proper hate it. Um, but then I lost a few in a row in the red, and I was like, nah, fuck the red, I want the blue now. So I've just every time I've won like a d a very good fight, it's been in the blue corner. So I don't know. Yeah, like I won my second national title in the blue corner, and that was for Bermo, God bless him. Um and yeah, it was awesome, loved it.

SPEAKER_06

So what do you do after a fight? Do you treat yourself to something like after a win? Like, say you go into the win and go, when I win this fight, I'm gonna go get fucking KFC or like I'm gonna go get myself fucking ice cream. You've got something that you treat yourself with your bad work, or you just fight.

SPEAKER_00

It depends where I'm at with the fight. Like if right now I'm doing this fight, but I'm still in a camp to get to 57 for nationals, so I'm not gonna be blowing up. Yeah, I'm not I might have like a wheat chocolate or something afterwards just for that very much.

SPEAKER_06

Or get you a crispy cream. But um I'll have the other three.

SPEAKER_00

When I'm not in comp when I'm not in comp and I like after nationals, for instance, I'll probably get myself like a massive McDonald's meal with like the red rooster chicken, cheesy nuggets, like turnip flurries, like it's huge. That's a hangover meal. People always they always wonder how I like blow back up to 61 and a half kilos, but it's done like that. It's so easy. Like when I go back to my maintenance and being a wee fatty and eating kind of whatever I want, uh sit at 61 and a half, no problem. Like if I cleaned up I do eat quite clean, but if I get rid of all like the sweet treats that I give myself, I'll probably sit at like 59, but I'm just like, nah. I I I want a bit of lollies here and there.

SPEAKER_06

So what do you do? Do you have a nutritionist? Do you have a meal plan? Like w what is your what is your day work look like? Do you have we've got uh because I know for myself if I look at a burger I'll put on four kilos straight away, like so I have to stay strict day in, day out, yeah. No otherwise I'll have four chins. Like, how does it work for you? You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00

Definitely with with the weight cut and that you have to I pretty much eat the same thing until after until the fight. Yeah you know, like I'll interpret you those everyday meals or is that just your border like my dad will pretty much organise everything. We've got a book on the Kindle app called The Fighter's Kitchen, and as long as I stay under 1800 calories a day, like with lots of voluminous foods, um uh hitting my protein goals and everything like that, I will be I'll have enough energy um to perform correctly, and I'll be getting the food that I need to cut down and wait.

SPEAKER_07

It's massive the food when you come talking to that sort of thing when you're training that much. Yes, yeah. When you're training every day of the week.

SPEAKER_00

And it's so easy for like people in general to under-eat and over-train.

SPEAKER_07

So you have to you have to really Or overeat and under train like uh what we do.

SPEAKER_06

And it's crazy to think that if I eat less, you know what I mean, I'm I'm gonna lose less. Yeah. So I just started with a personal trainer and a coach four months ago. Can't you tell, brother? But he made me eat 800 more calories a day, and as soon as I started eating more, the weight started dropping off. Yeah, it's so it's it's it's pretty crazy what the b the body wants energy to eat more.

SPEAKER_00

You need more energy to fuel your workouts and that and burn the correct amount that you need to burn. Otherwise, like your body goes into starvation mode and it's like, oh my god, I need to hold on to all of this because I don't know when I'm gonna get fed next. Like with when I do the water cuts and that, my body's like that because it's like I'm obviously sweating out all the water that I've got in my body, and I can't afford to have a sip of it because it won't come off me. You know? But it's all it's all about like learning, like it's been a very long learn learning journey. Um and it just we're getting more information as we go along, picking pieces off different people and seeing what we can get, where we can get it, and there's so much info on the net now between Instagram, everything.

SPEAKER_06

There's so many people putting up training, meal plans, like there's so much knowledge and information around weight loss and everything. Like, if you're not losing weight nowadays, like there's something wrong.

SPEAKER_07

Yeah. And we got our resident um fitness guru, Dan Roos. Oh, yeah. He was hoping to be here today, but he got tired up at work. But yeah.

SPEAKER_06

So, like, obviously, we can use Dan if you ever need help with your nutrition side of things, that he can sit down and write you a detailed plan to you know get you to exactly where you want to be, or you know, up this in that or down that and that and get you a bit more out of your body, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah, yeah. 100%. That would that would actually be sick.

SPEAKER_07

He's in some serious shape at the moment, he's preparing for a comp. He's got a bodybuilder, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER_07

Been doing it for twenty something years. Oh my god. Strictest man I've ever seen in my life do it.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, really.

SPEAKER_07

Yeah, he's wild. He's doled in, loves it.

SPEAKER_00

No, that'd be good. That'd be awesome to sit down and have a chat with them. That'd be good.

SPEAKER_06

I'll do that up for sure. So if you had any message to any of the younger kids, to yourself when you were twelve, what would you tell them?

SPEAKER_00

Just stick at it. Stick at your mate. Do what you want to do because like you know yourself the best out of everyone, unless you're my dad and he knows me better than I know myself. Um, but if you have your mind set on something, do not skip anything that could get you to that goal.

SPEAKER_06

I think that's the difference with you, is you've got a clear vision of what you want, and if you know you're going there.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

I'm not gonna go to the party with you 'cause uh everyone else is doing it. Like it's not that sheep mentality with you.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

You know what you want and you're gonna get a bit.

SPEAKER_00

And I've been I've been like that since I was younger as well. Like I've hardheaded. I yeah, yeah, I have been a stubborn bitch, most would say. But um, like I always I've always known if I want something, I'll be able to get it. If I if I have to do it myself, I'll do it myself. If I need help, I'll I'll ask for help, you know. Um but yeah, I just think to all the kids, upcoming like sporting athletes or whatever, whatever they're doing in their life, if they if you want to achieve something, you have to do everything you can to do it. And if you can't do it, you need to ask for help.

SPEAKER_06

Exactly. And give it 100. If you're not giving it 100, don't even worry.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, don't even bother.

SPEAKER_07

Anything you do, you've got to give 100%. You're never gonna get it. But no, that's good.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07

I think we'll wrap it up there, oh. Yeah, it's pretty good. We've got to save something for episode two.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_07

But thanks for coming on.

SPEAKER_00

Cheers, lads, for having us.

SPEAKER_07

We got a we've got a really big, big future ahead of us with your stuff, with what we're doing at Chase of Mortals. So we're gonna do some really good things. So glad to have you on board.

SPEAKER_05

Let's go, cheers. Cheers.