Speaker 1: The public has had a long held fascination with detectives.
Speaker 1: Detective sy a side of life the average persons never
Speaker 1: exposed her. I spent thirty four years as a cop.
Speaker 1: For twenty five of those years, I was catching killers.
Speaker 1: That's what I did for a living. I was a
Speaker 1: homicide detective. I'm no longer just interviewing bad guys stead,
Speaker 1: I'm taking the public into the world in which I operated.
Speaker 1: The guests I talk to each week have amazing stories
Speaker 1: from all sides of the law. The interviews are raw
Speaker 1: and honest, just like the people I talk to. Some
Speaker 1: of the content and language might be confronting. That's because
Speaker 1: no one who comes into contact with crime is left unchanged.
Speaker 1: Join me now as I take you into this world. Hey, guys,
Speaker 1: I know you're about to listen to this Christmas bonus
Speaker 1: episode that I did with Sam Goodman. He was due
Speaker 1: to fight on Christmas Eve. Sadly, that fight's been postponed.
Speaker 1: Sam suffered a significant injury to his eye cut on
Speaker 1: his eye in the final sparring session before flying out
Speaker 1: to take out. But the good news is the fight's
Speaker 1: been only postponed, it's gone over to the twenty fourth
Speaker 1: of January. So Sam has just knuckled down and got
Speaker 1: back into his training and he's still going to try
Speaker 1: and take all the world titles from the person who
Speaker 1: known as a monster, who is renowned as the world's
Speaker 1: greatest fighter. I hope you enjoy the podcast I did
Speaker 1: with Sam. He's an interesting character, He's got a lot
Speaker 1: of courage and enjoy it. And just know it's not
Speaker 1: going to be on Christmas Eve. It'll be on the
Speaker 1: twenty fourth of January. I'm certainly looking forward to watching it.
Speaker 1: Welcome to another special episode of VI Catch Killers. Let's
Speaker 1: call this a bonus episode, the Christmas present for myself,
Speaker 1: because today I'm speaking to someone who's going to test
Speaker 1: himself in the boxing ring against arguably the best pound
Speaker 1: per pound fighter in the world. The person who's fighting
Speaker 1: is referred to as a monster and is a national
Speaker 1: hero in Japan. On Christmas Eve, our guest Sam Goodman
Speaker 1: is going to walk into a sold out arena in
Speaker 1: front of twenty five thousand screaming fans in the heart
Speaker 1: of take hour and take on the undefeated Naoia in
Speaker 1: a way in a grilling, twelve round battle for the
Speaker 1: world title. It's no place for the faint hearted, and
Speaker 1: the fight will be watched live by an estimated forty
Speaker 1: million fans. The stakes are high. Sam will be literally
Speaker 1: putting his life on the line. If he wins, he'll
Speaker 1: be crowned the undisputed unified superbandmweight champion of the world.
Speaker 1: And when will set Sam up financially for life and
Speaker 1: have him etched into the history as one of Australia's
Speaker 1: greatest boxers. Not bad for a battler from Wollongong who
Speaker 1: decided at the very early age who is going to
Speaker 1: fight his way to becoming a world champion. Today, we're
Speaker 1: going to find out about who Sam Goodman is, what
Speaker 1: makes him tick, and where he finds a courage and
Speaker 1: belief to step into a ring with one of the
Speaker 1: world's most feared fighters. Anyone who's listened to I Catch Killers, No,
Speaker 1: I'm a boxing tragic. I love the sport and the
Speaker 1: part that plays in helping people find direction in life.
Speaker 1: I say that knowing there are consequences that come with boxing,
Speaker 1: but I just can't help enjoy the enjoy the spectacle.
Speaker 1: I'm not an expert, but later in the pod cast
Speaker 1: will be joined by journalist Brendan Bradford, who knows all
Speaker 1: about combat sports. He's been following Sam's career for a
Speaker 1: long time. He's going to put into perspective just how
Speaker 1: significant Sam's fight is in the world of boxing. Sam Goodman,
Speaker 1: welcome to our catch Killers.
Speaker 2: Thanks for having me on stake to be.
Speaker 1: Well, I don't know how excited you are, but we're
Speaker 1: going to find out. But I'm certainly excited about Christmas Eve,
Speaker 1: not for the presents that are coming, but for the
Speaker 1: fight that's going to be on Christmas Eve. When you
Speaker 1: take on, arguably, pound for pound, one of the best
Speaker 1: fighters in the world. How are you feeling.
Speaker 3: I'm feeling really good, but believing there's going to be
Speaker 3: presents after the fight. So when I'm bringing all those
Speaker 3: belts back to Australia, you know, that's the That's the
Speaker 3: biggest person I could have ever asked for. So look,
Speaker 3: I'm working extremely hard to go and do it, and
Speaker 3: I'm putting in the work each and every day. But
Speaker 3: I'm in a good spot. I'm feeling really good in training,
Speaker 3: feeling great and yeah, I'm putting in the work.
Speaker 1: I know this that whenever you talk about and it's
Speaker 1: starting to get starting to get a lot of media
Speaker 1: exposure because of the significance of the Every time I
Speaker 1: hear you talk it's not if it's when I will achieve.
Speaker 1: Is that the way you approach a situation like this.
Speaker 3: It's how I've approached every fight, and nothing's going to
Speaker 3: change for me with this one. The only thing that
Speaker 3: sort of has changes. I've just pushed the envelope even
Speaker 3: more with the workload. So I've honestly, I've worked myself
Speaker 3: to exhaustion through this training camp ever since we found
Speaker 3: out that this fight could happen, and yeah, it's just
Speaker 3: been almost I've always worked hard, I've always stayed consistent,
Speaker 3: but it's been at different levels for this one. So
Speaker 3: just a bit of that extra push wherever I can
Speaker 3: and just trying to, yeah, do everything I can to
Speaker 3: win this fight because I know it's one of the
Speaker 3: biggest challenges in boxing. But I truly believe that I'm
Speaker 3: going to go ahead and do it and shock the world.
Speaker 3: So if I didn't think I could do it, I
Speaker 3: wouldn't ever go at it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's what you're saying there. I've speaking to people
Speaker 1: that you've surrounded yourself with a good team, and we'll
Speaker 1: talk about them later, but they're all saying you're at
Speaker 1: another level, And I think at first I've seen a
Speaker 1: couple of your fights, but I think I first saw
Speaker 1: you sparring probably two years ago, went there with your
Speaker 1: manager Peter Matreski, to a gym mum down near Cronola,
Speaker 1: and I came away exhausted on how hard you went.
Speaker 1: There was no letter. You were as sharp as you
Speaker 1: were at the first round as you were in the
Speaker 1: tenth round. Is that something the hallmark of your boxing,
Speaker 1: your fitness and your conditioning.
Speaker 3: Definitely. I think it's just from the work we put in.
Speaker 3: Like my coach Shoel, you know, he works us into
Speaker 3: the ground, so we put in a lot of work.
Speaker 3: And I think a lot of other people when they
Speaker 3: come and train with us or do a bit of
Speaker 3: a training camp, they're a bit shocked with the workload
Speaker 3: and how much we train for how long we train,
Speaker 3: And it shows in the fights. It shows in the sparring,
Speaker 3: you know, especially when I'm working with multiple different guys
Speaker 3: and you know they're starting to gas up a bit
Speaker 3: before me. So it's yeah, it just comes down to
Speaker 3: the workload and been so consistent with it all.
Speaker 1: Okay, you, what's two weeks out from the fight now?
Speaker 1: Just do a rough calculation rough roughly.
Speaker 2: Too, roughly about two and a half.
Speaker 1: What what are you feeling right now? Do you want
Speaker 1: do you wish you could make it happen now? Or
Speaker 1: you is excitement building? Is? Yeah? What's going through your
Speaker 1: mind at this point in time.
Speaker 3: I've still got another hard week and a half to
Speaker 3: get through a training so it's it's still a bit
Speaker 3: of work to go. So at the moment, my focus
Speaker 3: is on I'm not looking past each day. So each
Speaker 3: day I'm just doing what I'm meant to be doing
Speaker 3: that day and focusing on that. So I'm not looking
Speaker 3: too far ahead. Not let me head get in the
Speaker 3: clouds and start fighting the fight before I get there.
Speaker 3: It's just all about focusing on the job we're going
Speaker 3: to do each day, and it'll be the same on
Speaker 3: fight night. So I don't let the emotion or get
Speaker 3: over excited by the occasion or it's it's another fight.
Speaker 3: I know it's the biggest fight I'm ever going to have,
Speaker 3: and look, but that's always.
Speaker 2: The way I've approached every fight. Every fight that.
Speaker 3: You're about to have is always going to be the
Speaker 3: biggest one you take on. So it's it's like I said,
Speaker 3: nothing really changes for me here.
Speaker 1: I'm fascinated by the mindset that goes also with the
Speaker 1: physical training training in boxing. But let's wind it back
Speaker 1: a little bit. We got you at the world title fight,
Speaker 1: but you don't just wake up one day and say, hey,
Speaker 1: I'm going to be a world champ in or a
Speaker 1: fight for a world title. Tell us about yourself growing up.
Speaker 1: Where'd you grow up?
Speaker 3: So grew up in Abbim Park, so small town, like
Speaker 3: tight knit community and just really I got into boxing
Speaker 3: to get a little bit fitter for footy, and like
Speaker 3: originally I wanted to get into the wrestling and stuff
Speaker 3: like outline, I love.
Speaker 2: Me, wwe me the old boy.
Speaker 3: The old boy told me that the wrestling I was
Speaker 3: going to be doing is not like jumping off the
Speaker 3: ropes and what I'm seeing on TV. And I thought, no, mate,
Speaker 3: You've got no clue. So but then I ended up
Speaker 3: dislocating my elbow playing footy, and he just thought, give
Speaker 3: the boxing a go because you don't want to get
Speaker 3: thrown in arm bars and stuff that early on. So
Speaker 3: done that had my first spar and after that just never.
Speaker 2: Looked back, how old were you about ten nine or ten?
Speaker 3: So it was just something that I was always a
Speaker 3: little bit of a rap bag of a kid, you know,
Speaker 3: like always punching on my cousins or me friends. You know,
Speaker 3: who caused the ruckers. But so it was just something
Speaker 3: I was drawn to. That that combative like nature was
Speaker 3: always I think in me and just something I've grown
Speaker 3: to love. And even when we've got a bit older
Speaker 3: and all the mates were into surfing and they were,
Speaker 3: oh shit, scared a surfer and all that. So I
Speaker 3: just boxed every weekend and yeah, it just starts me passionate.
Speaker 3: It's what I love doing and it's the same today.
Speaker 1: It's interesting you said there that you were training and
Speaker 1: then you had your first sparring session. That's when you
Speaker 1: knew that's what you wanted to do. That separates people,
Speaker 1: doesn't It's just you either enjoy it or you don't
Speaker 1: enjoy it. It's all right to train, you see a
Speaker 1: lot of people train boxing, but then the next step
Speaker 1: is how do you how do you react when you
Speaker 1: get hit and do you enjoy it? And do you
Speaker 1: enjoy the combat of being in a ring with someone?
Speaker 3: Clearly you did yeah, and that's I think it might
Speaker 3: stem from a bit of footy and like I said,
Speaker 3: just knock about you know, it's a contact sport as well, and.
Speaker 2: I think that might have helped.
Speaker 3: You know, I was always a bit of an undersized
Speaker 3: kid as well when I was playing footy, so I
Speaker 3: was always you know, getting thrown into the mixer and
Speaker 3: just used to a bit of contact. And yeah, so
Speaker 3: when I was with the boxing, and it's you know
Speaker 3: it eventually when you're fighting, it's people your own size
Speaker 3: was sweet as so it was, yeah, just something I
Speaker 3: was drawn to. And you know, I'm not going to
Speaker 3: say you love getting hit in the face, but hitting
Speaker 3: someone else in the face and winning the fight it's
Speaker 3: a damn good feeling.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Did it give you just stepping away from the boxing,
Speaker 1: did it give you a sense of calmness away from
Speaker 1: or confidence away from the boxing ring, knowing that you
Speaker 1: could look after yourself.
Speaker 2: Yeah, a little bit.
Speaker 3: Like I was never not not heaps confident as a kid,
Speaker 3: like I said, always bounced around for all lot of
Speaker 3: me footy teammates and it's the same group I got
Speaker 3: around me today. So but it definitely did does give
Speaker 3: you a bit of confidence and a bit of a
Speaker 3: swagger when you walk. You know, you know you can
Speaker 3: handle yourself. But it's also comes with a bit of
Speaker 3: a responsibility. It's a different world out there, and you
Speaker 3: don't want to be walking around like you can't be
Speaker 3: touched or anything, because anything goes in the streets. I'm
Speaker 3: not naive enough to know that you know, anything can
Speaker 3: happen on the street as well.
Speaker 1: I think that I've had a lot of people on
Speaker 1: I catch killers and their life's gone in the wrong direction,
Speaker 1: and boxing sometimes bore them back in the right direction.
Speaker 1: But one thing that boxing teaches them that yeah, you
Speaker 1: know there's always someone better, there's always someone that's a
Speaker 1: different way that someone can get you, and that you
Speaker 1: don't walk around without arrogance, and you don't feel that
Speaker 1: need to need to fight.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, And it's just like I said, anything can happen
Speaker 3: if you if you're out there on the street. You
Speaker 3: know people have weapons, people have you know, they can
Speaker 3: outnumber It's never a fair fight. So it's not even
Speaker 3: that like I look at street flights down my hands
Speaker 3: start hurting just thinking about punching someone.
Speaker 1: So just way they just want to strap my hands.
Speaker 3: Obviously, I couldn't think about it now. Yeah, it's just
Speaker 3: you don't go out for that sort of stuff anyways.
Speaker 3: You know, if you're going out, you're going out to.
Speaker 1: Have a fe and you've got quite a conservative group
Speaker 1: of friends too, that, strangely get called the mad bunch.
Speaker 1: Quite a quiet group of people going about their business.
Speaker 1: We're going to talk about the mad bunch of mad
Speaker 1: bunchs later on. So when did you like an amateur
Speaker 1: career in boxing? Just talk people through, because I want
Speaker 1: people and people that don't understand boxing. It's not like
Speaker 1: you just get a shot of the world title. There
Speaker 1: is such a pathway that you've got to go through
Speaker 1: through the amateur days, and that would be traveling all
Speaker 1: around the state, them around the country, them around the world,
Speaker 1: getting your experience, and then you turn professional and you
Speaker 1: virtually have to start all over again. Tell us about
Speaker 1: your amateur career first up.
Speaker 3: So I started off boxing obviously at Lake Laura PC
Speaker 3: well I see and had a good few fights there,
Speaker 3: But it was really once I won my first Australian
Speaker 3: title that I really thought I'm going to give everything
Speaker 3: else away and everything I'm going to do is going
Speaker 3: to be drilled towards this, but that was about I
Speaker 3: was probably about twelve years old and that's when I
Speaker 3: met Joel, who knows still to this day he's my trainer,
Speaker 3: but he's been the biggest influence on my life and
Speaker 3: my boxing career by far.
Speaker 2: And yeah, so it stemmed from there.
Speaker 3: But we, like you said, you start at the local level,
Speaker 3: then you go to your state titles, your nationals, and
Speaker 3: once you start doing that, you're looking to sort of
Speaker 3: go overseas. And we've done plenty, plenty of training camps
Speaker 3: in the amateurs overseas England, China, stuff like art so
Speaker 3: and then started competing overseas so America, Russia, Germany, England again,
Speaker 3: all places like that. So it's as took me all
Speaker 3: over the world boxing. And yeah, my amates, your career
Speaker 3: was I had probably just over one hundred flights as
Speaker 3: an amata and then I turned pro pretty early. So
Speaker 3: it's you know, it seems like it goes pretty quick,
Speaker 3: but it's a long time to be working, and you know,
Speaker 3: just when you're working so consistently.
Speaker 1: Big big commitment there, But to you'd have to be
Speaker 1: totally focused. I'm just talking the amateur at this stage.
Speaker 1: We'll talk about the professional shortly. But with your schooling
Speaker 1: and that, did you have like Australian titles? Did you
Speaker 1: think this is my pathway or did you have a
Speaker 1: another option there was never get a trade something to
Speaker 1: fall back on.
Speaker 2: Or did you I got told that a lot.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that was a narrative that goes around the line.
Speaker 3: Everyone was telling you need a plan, B, you need
Speaker 3: to be doing this, and I was just like, and
Speaker 3: I think especially your teachers and even some people in
Speaker 3: my family look here like you're still a kid or whatever.
Speaker 2: I'm going to make this work. This is going to
Speaker 2: be my job.
Speaker 3: This is what I'm going to be doing for a living,
Speaker 3: and I'm not going to have to do anything else
Speaker 3: after I'm done doing this either. So there, everyone's always
Speaker 3: looked at me like I was a bit crazy and stuff,
Speaker 3: but here I am doing it. So it's yeah, it's
Speaker 3: like everyone told me, you've got to get a trader,
Speaker 3: You've got to get a real job, and stuff like that,
Speaker 3: and people who know me know how useless i'd be
Speaker 3: with all that sort of stuff. I couldn't be on
Speaker 3: a job site. That saved me life. So done a
Speaker 3: couple of weeks laboring from my pop as I've finished
Speaker 3: off school and that was just another side. I was like, man,
Speaker 3: I can't be here.
Speaker 2: For the rest of my days.
Speaker 1: It's a tough gig, isn't it.
Speaker 2: I'd take your hat off to people who.
Speaker 3: Do it, but yeah, it wasn't for me, and I
Speaker 3: always knew that my path was through boxing.
Speaker 1: Well what excites me here having someone like you on
Speaker 1: the podcast And we get all sorts of people who've
Speaker 1: had highs and lowers in life, but you're really chasing
Speaker 1: your dream as we're seeing it. Then you're not far
Speaker 1: off from your achieving your lifelong ambition. I just think
Speaker 1: it's so cool. What do your parents think about your
Speaker 1: boxing reservations? There?
Speaker 4: Now?
Speaker 2: There are?
Speaker 3: They've always been incredibly supportive of what I've done and
Speaker 3: what I'm doing. So it's like I couldn't have done
Speaker 3: this without my parents as well. So you know, my
Speaker 3: mom and dad musty stuff like they're always got hime
Speaker 3: me gave me a massive push and I think maybe
Speaker 3: after I finished school and stuff, there might have been
Speaker 3: And you know, you're fighting for you know, only a
Speaker 3: few bob, and you're not making any real money when
Speaker 3: you're starting off as a pro. You know, my mum
Speaker 3: might have had a few like can this work? Are
Speaker 3: you going to need a real job or whatever, But
Speaker 3: like I said, they always still got behind me, backed me,
Speaker 3: and yeah, now.
Speaker 2: We're we're sweet.
Speaker 3: So we're about to fight for the world title, and look,
Speaker 3: I believe I'm going to win it and you know,
Speaker 3: set my future up forever.
Speaker 1: Okay, how long have you been pro for?
Speaker 3: Since two thousand and nineteen, so six seven years.
Speaker 1: Just explain that. Explain to people difference between amateur boxing
Speaker 1: and professional boxing so people listening can understand.
Speaker 3: So amateur boxing's it's three three by three minute rounds
Speaker 3: when you're now they've taken the head gears off, but
Speaker 3: it's still bigger gloves, you're fighting in vests, and yeah, it's.
Speaker 2: It should be.
Speaker 3: I don't like the word amateur because some of them
Speaker 3: are great boxes and people work like they are professionals,
Speaker 3: so you have to if otherwise you don't reach a
Speaker 3: high level in the amateur game. But the difference is
Speaker 3: it's just unpaid ranks really and paid ranks, and in
Speaker 3: the paid ranks you're fighting from four four rounds to twelve,
Speaker 3: so it's yeah, once you get up towards the championships
Speaker 3: and you're fighting for belts or like high level regional titles,
Speaker 3: you're fighting ten twelve rounds, So that that's the biggest difference.
Speaker 3: And they're like polar opposite sports almost ones like a sprint,
Speaker 3: ones like a marathon.
Speaker 1: You they talk about different levels in boxing. You know,
Speaker 1: some people reach the level when there's the next step
Speaker 1: up and next step up? Did you know this a
Speaker 1: difference in professional boxing? Because in professional boxing you're going
Speaker 1: to come across some hard cases people you know, journeymen
Speaker 1: and people that know every trick in the book. And
Speaker 1: did you know the set when you were the crossover
Speaker 1: from amateurs to professional.
Speaker 2: Little subtle differences.
Speaker 3: I think maybe you always work with pros as amateur
Speaker 3: as well. When I was inspiring and in the gym,
Speaker 3: But to be honest, I didn't try and change everything
Speaker 3: I'd done well. I just needed to do that for
Speaker 3: longer and being you know, just really dial in on
Speaker 3: all my all my skills and and learn to progress
Speaker 3: it as a pro. But it's like I said, it's
Speaker 3: different sports because you're you're working it to like you
Speaker 3: see people there it's a sprint. It's it's so chaotic
Speaker 3: in the amateurs, whereas in the pros it's you know,
Speaker 3: you've got a lot more time to figure out breaking
Speaker 3: the exactly breaking so whereas you can't give away a
Speaker 3: second in the images. But yeah, so that's the main
Speaker 3: difference really that that you're find But it's in terms
Speaker 3: of the level that there's great, great fighters in the
Speaker 3: amateurs and there's great fighters in the pros. I think
Speaker 3: I've really found my style and and found my way
Speaker 3: to win in the pro game, and found a way
Speaker 3: to dominate.
Speaker 1: Suits your your game. Who did you look up to
Speaker 1: boxes that you looked up to as a young fella.
Speaker 3: Early on, Mike Tyson, Roy Jones, and then once I
Speaker 3: started learning that, you know, I'm not punching like those guys,
Speaker 3: and you know, yeah, exactly all right, So I started
Speaker 3: looking at a lot more of the Eastern European guys,
Speaker 3: so like guys like Lomachenko, massive fan of him, like
Speaker 3: Dimitri Bivol, will sick. I love watching that Eastern European,
Speaker 3: like that Soviet style. So I think there's similarities as
Speaker 3: well in the way my coach coaches as well. So
Speaker 3: little nuances that we do you can see in those
Speaker 3: sort of styles. But love is enough one. He's a
Speaker 3: freak that you know, there's no one else coming out
Speaker 3: of Russia like him, like he won I think it
Speaker 3: was three hundred and ninety six amateur fights for one loss,
Speaker 3: and then in the pros how he went through the
Speaker 3: weights like he had no right to be fighting at
Speaker 3: lightweight and what he done was incredible.
Speaker 1: And he's training. You would have seen the specials on
Speaker 1: the training and his footwork and the technique.
Speaker 3: And very unique and very very different to what you
Speaker 3: see a lot of other people doing.
Speaker 1: Just watching watching New SPA, and I was very fortunate
Speaker 1: just a last week coming up and watching you SPA.
Speaker 1: The Maloney brothers, both of which their last fights were
Speaker 1: in world title contests. You fought them for ten rounds,
Speaker 1: rotating one in for four and the other one in
Speaker 1: for six rounds with a thirty second break. I went
Speaker 1: up there with Johnny Lewis and watched that, and I
Speaker 1: got to say, I was sort of blown away. You're
Speaker 1: looking at these are people at at world championship level
Speaker 1: and you sparred two of them, and it was a
Speaker 1: willing spa and very technical spar and there wasn't much
Speaker 1: holding back. Is that the type of training. You've got
Speaker 1: to do the prep for the level you're aiming for
Speaker 1: when you take on the monster.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, I go in with every sparring session with a
Speaker 3: tactical approach. But it's like a fight, you know, So
Speaker 3: it's getting used to those same feelings that you feel
Speaker 3: before a fight. You also got to put yourself through
Speaker 3: the mixer a bit, so it's yeah, you've got to
Speaker 3: work extremely harder and get the body ready to be
Speaker 3: in a fight. So I think ultimately the way to
Speaker 3: do that is you've got to fight. So it's it's
Speaker 3: I think it's essential and you can't tivvy tap around
Speaker 3: the whole time. You've got to You've got to work hard,
Speaker 3: and yeah, you've got to go at it.
Speaker 1: But it was a willing sparring session. We've been worthy
Speaker 1: of a pay per view fight that there was no
Speaker 1: holding back from what I saw between you guys.
Speaker 3: Nah, it's always good work with those two boys, and yeah,
Speaker 3: long mate continue.
Speaker 1: You mentioned Joel Keegan and Luke of Phipps with training.
Speaker 1: Watching Joel speak to you in the corner just during
Speaker 1: that sparring session, I was impressed by the calmness that
Speaker 1: he created and the clear and concise messaging that he
Speaker 1: was giving to you about what he wanted you to do.
Speaker 1: Are you hearing that when you're in the ring, And
Speaker 1: how much is having someone like in your corner mean
Speaker 1: to you.
Speaker 3: He's usually the only person I really can hear in
Speaker 3: the fight. So everyone likes to go on about can
Speaker 3: you hear the mad bunch or whatever, and everyone chatting.
Speaker 3: Usually the only two voices I can hear when I'm
Speaker 3: fighting is Joel and Luke. And look, their messages are
Speaker 3: always always understanding what they want from me and what
Speaker 3: they want me to do. So it's look, my success
Speaker 3: comes from those two blokes, really, so I just try
Speaker 3: and listen. And you know, they say jump, I say
Speaker 3: how high? So I know if I do what Joel
Speaker 3: wants me to do, that I'll win fights.
Speaker 1: No, it was impressive, and I could see the relationship,
Speaker 1: and I thought the instructions would really just switched on
Speaker 1: and concise that. I'm thinking if I was in that position,
Speaker 1: I'd want someone calm like that, feeding me, the providing
Speaker 1: the feedback and giving me.
Speaker 3: When we get it wrong, he loses. He's cool a
Speaker 3: bit as well, so it's almost a bit of a
Speaker 3: few factors in there as well. If you're spar after
Speaker 3: someone else and you know they're they're bugging it up
Speaker 3: or whatever inspiring and you're next in, yeah, figuring out
Speaker 3: like you've put the heat on me now. So there's
Speaker 3: always a bit of pressure to not upset him. But look,
Speaker 3: he's the best at what he does as well. So
Speaker 3: like I said, without without Joel, I wouldn't be in
Speaker 3: this position.
Speaker 1: Okay, I want to for a gain for people that
Speaker 1: don't follow boxing or understanding the type of commitment that
Speaker 1: you've got to put in from the time that you
Speaker 1: signed for this fight or it might be twelve weeks
Speaker 1: out from the fight. What sort of training do you
Speaker 1: have to do? Your life has to be And I
Speaker 1: see you this morning, you look tired, but you're spar
Speaker 1: sparring yesterday. And we could only get you on today
Speaker 1: because I was begging to get you on and we
Speaker 1: could only get you on today because this is your
Speaker 1: one rest each week. It's intense talk us about the
Speaker 1: build up because I want to take it right to
Speaker 1: the time that you're going to be walking walking into
Speaker 1: that arena.
Speaker 3: So whenever we got the call that the fight was
Speaker 3: going to happen, which would have had fourteen to fifteen
Speaker 3: weeks out of us. It was probably just before September.
Speaker 3: I think that we knew that the fight was going
Speaker 3: to happen. It was just all about you know, putting
Speaker 3: in crazy amount of work and getting the body ready
Speaker 3: to you know, to be in the biggest fight of
Speaker 3: my life. And it's been you know, some some weeks
Speaker 3: at seven days a week, other days at six. But
Speaker 3: there's been days where undering you know, four sessions a
Speaker 3: day over six hours of training. So yesterday was another day,
Speaker 3: you know, three training sessions in the day with a
Speaker 3: ten around spa in the middle of it.
Speaker 2: So it's it's a.
Speaker 3: Lot of work, but it's stuff I still enjoy, you know,
Speaker 3: the training and working towards this. You know, Like I said,
Speaker 3: this has been my goal since I got into this sport,
Speaker 3: and I know that I could have put in an
Speaker 3: insane amount of work to achieve this, and that's what
Speaker 3: we've done. So ever, ever since we got that phone call,
Speaker 3: that's been you know, you know, two to four times
Speaker 3: a day since the seven days a week, and it's
Speaker 3: basically been my life. I've just ate, slept, drank boxing.
Speaker 3: It's it's nothing else.
Speaker 1: There's a fine line too, because I hear here, Yeah,
Speaker 1: the experienced trainers say that you can ever cook someone
Speaker 1: as well. So it's as in, train too hard that
Speaker 1: you've got nothing left by the time you walk walk
Speaker 1: in the ring. So you're conscious of that, so you're
Speaker 1: downtimes your rest time.
Speaker 3: Look, I'm looking to overcook him on December twenty fourth,
Speaker 3: So that's that's my plan, and that's what I'm going
Speaker 3: to do. So look, I'm going to be fresh by
Speaker 3: the time I get in there. You know, I've got
Speaker 3: time to freshen up while I'm in Japan. At the moment,
Speaker 3: I know, I've got to be working hard and doing
Speaker 3: everything possible to. I think some of the overcooking and
Speaker 3: that I think a lot of it can come mentally
Speaker 3: as well with people and they get tired and they
Speaker 3: don't want to do things as well. So I think
Speaker 3: it's important to you know, you've got to keep your
Speaker 3: mind positive and and just make sure that you're not
Speaker 3: feeding your own head with negative thoughts or you know,
Speaker 3: you've got to always enjoy a bit of the pain
Speaker 3: and keep learning to push and try and tell yourself
Speaker 3: that over and over. And I think if you're stay
Speaker 3: in that sort of headspace that you can you can
Speaker 3: push hard, you can you can keep pushing the envelope
Speaker 3: because you know you're doing the right things. But I
Speaker 3: think that the overcooking side, a lot of it can
Speaker 3: come mentally or unless you get injured.
Speaker 1: Hanging around watching professional fighters prep for their fights and
Speaker 1: all that. One thing that's I see fairly consistencies. There's
Speaker 1: a lot of laughter and carry on to take the
Speaker 1: pressure off, a lot of practical jokes, a lot of
Speaker 1: just some crazy shit that goes down just for a laugh.
Speaker 1: Is that all about taking the pressure off because it
Speaker 1: is so intense what you're trying to achieve and build.
Speaker 2: I think a little bit of it.
Speaker 3: But in our gym, a bit of a store organic,
Speaker 3: it just happens. It's got a bit of a tent,
Speaker 3: like we've got like a footy team environment at our gym.
Speaker 3: So it's just always it's a good place to be
Speaker 3: around if you're going there and everyone's super serious. Everyone's
Speaker 3: you know, and like we're serious when it's time, it
Speaker 3: is serious. But when you're just sitting around, you know,
Speaker 3: if no one's talking to each other, no one's having
Speaker 3: a laugh and a joke or poking a bit of fun.
Speaker 3: It's not a real place you want to be, so
Speaker 3: it's always somewhere like even after a fight, the first
Speaker 3: thing you want to do back on Monday is go
Speaker 3: to the gym and knock around with the boys. So
Speaker 3: it's always a good place to be. And yeah, that's
Speaker 3: the sort of vibes we want to keep in our gym.
Speaker 3: And even like you said, before a fight, you know
Speaker 3: it's not you know, we still have a laugh at
Speaker 3: and a choke and then when it's time to go
Speaker 3: to work, we go to work.
Speaker 1: Okay, can we talk about because I'm going to bring
Speaker 1: Brendan in shortly, but can we just talk about that
Speaker 1: the day of the fight? Just talk us through through
Speaker 1: that because you've been there. You've got twenty three fights undefeed,
Speaker 1: not nineteen and nineteen No, sorry, nineteen and a fights,
Speaker 1: so you've prepped for it. You've done that. Tell us
Speaker 1: about the day of a day of the fight's what's
Speaker 1: going to be happening.
Speaker 3: I'll cheat it like mostuff for days, like I'll get up,
Speaker 3: I'll go for a coffee, I'll hydrate in the morning
Speaker 3: and then go out for a coffee and get having
Speaker 3: me breaky, and I'll just treat it as another day
Speaker 3: half the time, you know, if it's a Saturday or
Speaker 3: whatever that you're fighting, I'll have a pump with the
Speaker 3: boys or whatever and just relax and not think about
Speaker 3: the fight until it really comes. And then once you
Speaker 3: start to leave for the venue, then that's when that
Speaker 3: that little switch happens and you it's like, all right,
Speaker 3: I'm going to walk here. You know, I've got to
Speaker 3: do everything in my power to win, and it's going
Speaker 3: to be the same feeling I feel on Fightnite. It's about,
Speaker 3: you know, achieving everything obviously out to achieve and taking
Speaker 3: all these belts back to Australia. So it's you know,
Speaker 3: once I leave for that venue in Tokyo, it's it's
Speaker 3: going to be all about bringing those belts back home
Speaker 3: with me.
Speaker 1: And that's the consequences of it, like the danger that's
Speaker 1: associated with anyone that steps steps in the rapes in boxing,
Speaker 1: the consequences of a victory. And I don't I don't
Speaker 1: want to tempt fate because I don't want your thinking
Speaker 1: past that. But it's going to be life changing.
Speaker 3: Yeah, one hundred percent, it's going to I know that.
Speaker 3: But it's it's something I've always I've always expected of myself,
Speaker 3: something I've always dreamt about was becoming a world champion
Speaker 3: and setting out to do this. But I know that
Speaker 3: there's definitely going to be you know, it's going to change,
Speaker 3: but always expected it too. And I'll just like like
Speaker 3: I have with everything else, I'll take it in my
Speaker 3: stride and I'll get on the things. I won't build
Speaker 3: it up to to be something that's not. It's just
Speaker 3: it's going to be my time in the sun and
Speaker 3: that's it. Have you been to Japan before, Yeah, only
Speaker 3: for a.
Speaker 2: Couple of days.
Speaker 3: So we went for about four or five days to
Speaker 3: go actually watch him.
Speaker 1: When you popped up and there, we got up in
Speaker 1: the ring.
Speaker 3: So we are we you know, played musical chairs, got
Speaker 3: closer to the ring, yelled out at him, and you know,
Speaker 3: we got called in the ring boy him. So it
Speaker 3: was it was funny how that one worked out, but
Speaker 3: it was. Yeah, it was a cool experience, and yeah,
Speaker 3: it's a it's a good place. The people over there
Speaker 3: are great, and yeah, I'm looking forward to getting back
Speaker 3: over there.
Speaker 1: You know, you're not going to be the the crowd
Speaker 1: favorite over there. He's a local hero. Does that work
Speaker 1: for you or against your or it doesn't matter, it
Speaker 1: doesn't matter.
Speaker 3: I don't listen to them when they're going for me
Speaker 3: or if they're doing me. So you know, if you
Speaker 3: listen to them, you'll be sitting with them. And that's
Speaker 3: the approach I've always had with We've listened to the crowd,
Speaker 3: or reading stuff online, whatever, you know, I've always just
Speaker 3: worried about what me and my team think and what
Speaker 3: we need to do. And that's how I've approached everything.
Speaker 3: I don't I don't read nothing, I don't watch nothing anymore.
Speaker 3: It's just all about, you know, our vision, our goals,
Speaker 3: and what we're going to do to win.
Speaker 1: How many people you got close people you've got coming
Speaker 1: over to support you.
Speaker 2: I think we've got about eighty odds.
Speaker 1: So it's just close personal friends.
Speaker 2: Yeah, lot more people I know and speak to.
Speaker 3: So it's it's it's pretty cool on Christmas Eve, you know,
Speaker 3: to take take that sort of many people over. You know,
Speaker 3: if it wasn't Christmas Eve, I reckon we be looking
Speaker 3: to even more. But you know, Christmas is you know,
Speaker 3: everyone's looking to spend up with families and stuff a
Speaker 3: little bit. But we're still gonna We're gonna make plenty
Speaker 3: of noise over there, and you know what we're like,
Speaker 3: you know what they're like. So it's the Japanese. They're
Speaker 3: pretty quiet and our bunch of mad as they come.
Speaker 3: So it's going to be they'll still cause the ruckus.
Speaker 1: They're quiet, but they love their boxing and they know
Speaker 1: their combat sports and they've got that Samurai spirit in them.
Speaker 3: So yeah, they don't want to take them on like
Speaker 3: our bunch.
Speaker 2: None of them know how to fight, and they all
Speaker 2: think they can. So it's yeah, that's color opposites.
Speaker 1: We might have another episode of I Catch Killers on
Speaker 1: how they how they survived in a Japanese prison. It
Speaker 1: could be the same with it with the people close
Speaker 1: to you and going over there. You said eighty people,
Speaker 1: and I would imagine it would be that. I know
Speaker 1: you're a popular person. Do you feel the pressure of
Speaker 1: because the whole thing's around how you perform, on how
Speaker 1: you perform on the night, do you feel does that
Speaker 1: pressure or is that something you've become.
Speaker 3: Conditioned to To be honest, it's it's no heavier. The
Speaker 3: heaviest pressure I feel is the pressure put on myself,
Speaker 3: and that's that comes with of my training from Like,
Speaker 3: I'd feel the same honestly, if I was fighting this
Speaker 3: bloke in front of you know, three judges and my coaches,
Speaker 3: I'd feel the exact same way as if I go
Speaker 3: and fight him in front of a hundred thousands. Wouldn't
Speaker 3: bother me one bit. So it's never something I've really
Speaker 3: looked into or worried about. I've always just cared about,
Speaker 3: you know, getting the result that I desire, and that's
Speaker 3: where my pressure comes from. So it all comes from
Speaker 3: me and what I expected myself. So it's always been
Speaker 3: the same for me. Really, how are they twenty six?
Speaker 1: You've got a pretty philosophical outlook on things. Is this
Speaker 1: world that you've inhabited made you grow up quicker? Or yeah?
Speaker 1: Take the responsibility.
Speaker 3: In some things. Other people will say, I'm still a kid.
Speaker 3: If you speak the speak the baby.
Speaker 1: Or when we refer the baby, he's not actually a baby.
Speaker 1: He just acts like a baby. We're talking about Peter Mactreski,
Speaker 1: who helps manage you and yeah, a good, very good. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but yeah he's a bit crazy. Yeah, don't listen to everything.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Now with some things I think i've you know,
Speaker 3: I'm definitely very mature with and then other stuff I'm.
Speaker 2: Completely useless with.
Speaker 3: So it's but yeah, just me outlook on my sport
Speaker 3: and how I approach things is something that you know, I've.
Speaker 2: Always looked at.
Speaker 3: People that have done great things in life or whatever,
Speaker 3: and I think I've chose good people to look at
Speaker 3: and how they approach things. People gone about mental coaching
Speaker 3: and stuff like that. For me, it's very hard to
Speaker 3: you know, speak to someone who and they're going to
Speaker 3: tell me how I should be feeling before something they've
Speaker 3: never ever done understand And so I.
Speaker 2: Find a lot of that stuff a bit.
Speaker 3: You know, they're teaching out of a textbook or whatever,
Speaker 3: whereas you know, you get to see someone who's been
Speaker 3: there and done it might not be boxing or fighting
Speaker 3: or whatever, but they've done something, achieve achieved something or
Speaker 3: you know, whether it's something from history that you can learn.
Speaker 3: Often you pick all things that you like out of
Speaker 3: that and you make your own sort of approach with it.
Speaker 3: And that's how I've always took things on and been
Speaker 3: inspired by things that I'm drawn to.
Speaker 1: I like that approach. It's a real old school philosophy.
Speaker 1: But in looking to people for examples and looking to mentors.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I just think you've switched on for what
Speaker 1: you've got happening there. Intensity will burn you out. I
Speaker 1: see the way you conduct yourself around the gym and
Speaker 1: just when you're coming in here you can have a laugh.
Speaker 1: And that's so important because you burn yourself out if
Speaker 1: you haven't got that. But you switch on when need be.
Speaker 1: We're back for our chat with Sam Goodman. It's the
Speaker 1: Eye Catch Killers bonus Christmas episode and it focuses around
Speaker 1: Sam's boxing career and the fact that he's fighting a
Speaker 1: blake that's called the Monster on Christmas Eve in Japan
Speaker 1: for a unified super bantam weight world title, which I
Speaker 1: think is pretty pretty incredible. But I've also got Brendan
Speaker 1: Bradford to put in perspective about the magnitude of what
Speaker 1: Sam's aiming for on Christmas Eve. So Brendan, welcome to
Speaker 1: Ye Catch Killers.
Speaker 5: Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 4: It's exciting to be just a part of us such
Speaker 4: a big Australian fight. It's really excited to just be
Speaker 4: part of the build up and to talk to you
Speaker 4: about it.
Speaker 1: Well, for people that you know, I'm trying to drag
Speaker 1: a lot of the eye catch killers listeners into the
Speaker 1: boxing world. But a unified world title like all the belts,
Speaker 1: You want to just break that down what we're talking about,
Speaker 1: because people would have heard discussions of unified world champion,
Speaker 1: what it actually means.
Speaker 5: Yeah, so unified understand.
Speaker 1: I'm sure Sam already is aware of this, but this
Speaker 1: is for our listeners. Sam, he's probably talking about it.
Speaker 4: So basically in boxing these days, there's four major sanctioning bodies.
Speaker 4: They each have about WBC, wb A, WBO, IBF, and
Speaker 4: it's very rare that you have one fighter have all
Speaker 4: the belts in any division in a way has that
Speaker 4: Sam's fighting for all the belts, which is is super rare.
Speaker 4: And yeah, so the magnitude of this fight you can't
Speaker 4: sort of overstate it. And that the fact that you know,
Speaker 4: we've had Australians fight for world titles and win world titles,
Speaker 4: win a belt or two belts, but to go for
Speaker 4: all the belts against the guy like Noah in a
Speaker 4: way who is pound for pound if not number one,
Speaker 4: number two, you know consensus across the world, that's very rare.
Speaker 4: I can't remember too many Australians that have gone and
Speaker 4: fought the pound for bound, best fighter in the world
Speaker 4: for all the titles, and that's what Sam's doing.
Speaker 1: And he's not it's not the best days are behind him.
Speaker 1: He's still at his peak and he's considered considered the
Speaker 1: pound for pound.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Absolutely, he's in his peak right now. He's living it.
Speaker 4: He's fighting world champions, he's fighting number one contenders. This
Speaker 4: is in a way, you know, not to take anything
Speaker 4: away from any of the other great performances in Australian boxing,
Speaker 4: but this is like, you cannot get a boxer and
Speaker 4: opponent more at the peak and with more on the
Speaker 4: line than what Sam's traveling to Japan to do in
Speaker 4: a couple of weeks.
Speaker 1: Sam, were there any opportunities to go and easier path
Speaker 1: and call yourself a world champion on just one of
Speaker 1: the belts? Was there options available to you?
Speaker 3: There would have been interim options and stuff along those routes,
Speaker 3: and to probably delay it and then wait for him
Speaker 3: to move up or vacate.
Speaker 2: But that's not what I'm about.
Speaker 3: You know, I don't want to be someone who's going
Speaker 3: to duck and I'm excited by the challenge. And like
Speaker 3: I said before, if I didn't think I could beat
Speaker 3: this guy, I wouldn't wouldn't do it. It's something I really
Speaker 3: believe that I'm going to go and go and shock
Speaker 3: the world. And I just hope everyone does remember when
Speaker 3: I go and do this that he was at the
Speaker 3: peak he did. You know what he's done, and you know,
Speaker 3: no one takes anything away from this win. So because
Speaker 3: I'm going there and I'm going to upset the world
Speaker 3: and I'm going to shock everyone, So I just hope
Speaker 3: everyone remembers, you know, when this has happened, that you know,
Speaker 3: I beat the guy who was the guy.
Speaker 1: Well, it's gutsy and that's what I've been saying right
Speaker 1: from the start, and I think you'd have to agree. Brendan, Yeah, I.
Speaker 4: Mean he's anyway said twenty eight wins, twenty five have
Speaker 4: been by knockout. He's in his whole career, he's lost
Speaker 4: only a handful of rounds. Like he's he's called the
Speaker 4: monster for a reason. He's a very scary man. And
Speaker 4: Sam sort of touched on there there are probably options
Speaker 4: he could have taken, waited for in a way to
Speaker 4: go up a division fight for a vacant title, but
Speaker 4: like he says, that's that's not what he's about. That's
Speaker 4: not where he got into the sport. He wants to
Speaker 4: do something great.
Speaker 1: Now he's called the monster, You're called the ghost or
Speaker 1: mister Mandatory.
Speaker 3: They mix it up each fight, so I've never really
Speaker 3: gave myself a title or whatever.
Speaker 2: But that's not where I'll put all my focus.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 3: I think the Ghost came from an American writer and
Speaker 3: they just ran with it for a while and stuff
Speaker 3: like that.
Speaker 1: Is this year idiot mates that Nah.
Speaker 2: That was American, right.
Speaker 3: I think it was after the Lean fight of the
Speaker 3: Doheny fight, wrote an article about me and said I
Speaker 3: moved like a ghost, and that's sort of sort of stuck.
Speaker 2: So I think it comes from there.
Speaker 1: Peter, is that that person in the corner that's pointing
Speaker 1: to himself going that was me?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I could be.
Speaker 1: So the Ghost takes on the on the monster. Mister Mandatory.
Speaker 1: Now there's a factor in the there's some substance to
Speaker 1: that in that you are the mandatory fight for in
Speaker 1: a way in two of the belts, is that you're
Speaker 1: understanding of Brendan.
Speaker 4: Yes, and that's sort of been the story of the past.
Speaker 4: I suppose six months you've Sam's had a couple of
Speaker 4: fights in Australia, but he's had this, He's been the
Speaker 4: mandatory challenger and always had other fights that he's taken,
Speaker 4: and it's it's it feels like this fight has been building.
Speaker 3: Up for about eighteen months since I've went mandatory. I
Speaker 3: went I won my mandatory fight eighteen months ago, so
Speaker 3: it was either set out then and waited for a
Speaker 3: shot as well. So but it was another thing I
Speaker 3: wanted to stay active on, to keep getting better, staying
Speaker 3: camps and keep taking on challenges to prepare me for this.
Speaker 2: So that's what I'm like.
Speaker 3: You wouldn't find another fighter, I think in the world
Speaker 3: that has had as many fights as me since getting
Speaker 3: that position.
Speaker 1: So because every time you're fighting and you're fighting some
Speaker 1: good pain, that's you're putting it all at risk again,
Speaker 1: aren't you.
Speaker 2: Exactly?
Speaker 3: You lose that fight and your shot goes, so someone
Speaker 3: else's ranking will overtake yours and everything you work for
Speaker 3: has gone. But like I said, you've got to get paid,
Speaker 3: you've got to keep working, you've got to keep getting
Speaker 3: better as well. So that's all things I've done in
Speaker 3: the process, and not just the fights, but the camps
Speaker 3: as well. Gone into that. That just the development and
Speaker 3: just preparing myself and going to new levels each and
Speaker 3: every time is something that's set me up to win
Speaker 3: this fight.
Speaker 1: Okay, fighting in Japan. I've been to Japan. I know
Speaker 1: how interested they are in all forms of mine, marcial
Speaker 1: arts and combat sports and they're fanatical fans. What sort
Speaker 1: of deal is it like Christmas Eve in Japan in Tokyo.
Speaker 4: I think it's going to be a really interesting atmosphere
Speaker 4: because you have a big crowd, knowledgeable crowd, but super respectful.
Speaker 4: They don't make a lot of noise right like you
Speaker 4: were there earlier this year, Sam, So the eighty odd
Speaker 4: mad bunch, they might be the loudest in the venue,
Speaker 4: they might be the loudest section, but yeah, they love
Speaker 4: the fight sports in Japan, boxing, MMA or various forms
Speaker 4: of combat sports, but very respectful, sort of polite clapping
Speaker 4: I think, rather than the raucous mad bunch crowd that
Speaker 4: they'll get.
Speaker 1: And the stadium I understand rough figures twenty thousand that
Speaker 1: was being sold out and people were so cen to
Speaker 1: get tickets that became on a lottery basis to get
Speaker 1: tickets there.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's how much of a superstar anyway is in Japan.
Speaker 4: People love them. And there's also been big historic oracle
Speaker 4: boxing moments in Japan as well. Mike Tyson's lost to
Speaker 4: Buster Douglas that was huge. So there's a deep history
Speaker 4: of boxing in Japan too, which obviously you know in
Speaker 4: a ways sort of the king at the moment.
Speaker 1: Well, when we talk about history in Australian boxing, one
Speaker 1: of the earliest memories I have as a child was
Speaker 1: watching this crappy black and white TV as a kid,
Speaker 1: hardly walking watching the father watch Lionel Rose fighting fighting Harada.
Speaker 1: That was fifty years ago.
Speaker 5: That was huge.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so again Sam, Sam sort of walking in those
Speaker 4: those footsteps steps big underdog story. There's a great, great
Speaker 4: yarn of Lionel Rose flying back to Australia and he
Speaker 4: saw the quarter of a million people at the airport
Speaker 4: to meet him, and he thought the Beatles were on
Speaker 4: his plane because he you know, he didn't know they
Speaker 4: were all coming out to see him. So I wonder
Speaker 4: if we get quarter of a million out to see
Speaker 4: the airport and Sam comes back to s after Christmas.
Speaker 4: But yeah, great memories for Australian boxes and Australian boxing
Speaker 4: in Japan as well.
Speaker 1: But Sam does that sort of put in perspective the
Speaker 1: type of the magnitude of what you're trying to do.
Speaker 1: Here Here, I am saying, I've got a memory from
Speaker 1: fifty years ago of something that you're going to step
Speaker 1: in in a couple of weeks and do.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it does.
Speaker 3: Really it's it would be a bit surreal once I
Speaker 3: go and do it, I guess. But it's like I said,
Speaker 3: it just feels normal almost for me. Like I always
Speaker 3: knew i'd be in this position, and I always knew that.
Speaker 3: I've got it written down in a book that you know,
Speaker 3: i'd fight and beat this guy before he came into
Speaker 3: my division.
Speaker 1: So it's you've been gunning him for a long time.
Speaker 3: I just knew it was inevitable. I knew that he'd
Speaker 3: be moving up, and I knew that when my chance
Speaker 3: come up, I just thought, how tim it would work.
Speaker 3: I'd fight this guy and I'd have to beat him.
Speaker 3: And so it's something I've almost manifested, and I just
Speaker 3: always thought i'd be here and you know, it would
Speaker 3: be normal, and it'll be the same once I win
Speaker 3: this fight.
Speaker 1: You don't pick on the little fellers, is little bit,
Speaker 1: because like what we're talking about, with someone like you,
Speaker 1: there's only i'd say every three or four years someone
Speaker 1: separates from the pack and he's thought of as a
Speaker 1: pound pound for pound or someone that no one wants
Speaker 1: to take on. You're looking at him, go, I wouldn't
Speaker 1: mind the piece of piece of that gutsy move.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, it's it's just stuff that he excites me.
Speaker 3: If you want to make your own greatness, you've got
Speaker 3: to go out and do great things. And that's what
Speaker 3: I'm setting out to do. You know, I'm not in
Speaker 3: this sport to to, you know, just knock about and
Speaker 3: win a few regional titles or whatever. I'm in this
Speaker 3: sport to be great and to be a world champion.
Speaker 3: He's got all the belts and he's got what I want.
Speaker 3: So and I've never built anyone up to be more
Speaker 3: than human. Like everyone's calling him a monster. And he's
Speaker 3: a great fighter, don't get me wrong, great fighter, but
Speaker 3: he's beatable.
Speaker 2: Everyone's beatable.
Speaker 3: It's high level sport, you know, so on any given day,
Speaker 3: anyone can be beaten. I know that, and you know,
Speaker 3: I know I've got to be very good, and I'm
Speaker 3: preparing myself to be that, so I'll work myself into
Speaker 3: the ground to go and do a job on him.
Speaker 1: Okay, you're word on the street. That's how we roll
Speaker 1: in eye catch killers. I've got a rumor that's been
Speaker 1: passing around about my and you mentioned Brendan. You mentioned
Speaker 1: Mike Tyson losing the Buster Douglas in takeout Sam. There
Speaker 1: was one fight that you looked up to, apparently that's
Speaker 1: at a very early age, Mike Tyson, and in fact
Speaker 1: you dress like him and acted like him. Black boots.
Speaker 1: If anyone's iconic photos of Mike Tyson, he's in his
Speaker 1: black shorts, He's got his black boxing boots on and
Speaker 1: doing the peekaboo style with his hands up near his face. Yeah,
Speaker 1: bob bobbing them weaving. Tell us about that these photos
Speaker 1: of it, and if there are, I promise you will
Speaker 1: put it on our social media.
Speaker 3: There's a little bit of footage of me coming out
Speaker 3: for me first flight, and yeah, it's just crazy, like
Speaker 3: I think we made maybe Mum sprayed my boots black
Speaker 3: and stuff like that. I've got black shorts I think
Speaker 3: third fight or whatever.
Speaker 2: But yeah, it was.
Speaker 3: It's funny to look back on now, and especially how
Speaker 3: I was trying to box man, how that kid thought
Speaker 3: he was ever going to do anything.
Speaker 2: He's just crazy.
Speaker 3: But it just goes to show you you put in
Speaker 3: the work, you know, and you stay consistent, you keep
Speaker 3: out things you know, you will get better. Because yeah,
Speaker 3: I didn't have much talent at all when I started out.
Speaker 1: You had attitude and how to go. If Tyson can
Speaker 1: do it, I can do it. There was something about him,
Speaker 1: the way he came out in the ring. But because
Speaker 1: it was a little bit different for.
Speaker 2: Your factor at the back, strayed black. Yeah it was.
Speaker 3: It was very unlike Tyson like but and especially the
Speaker 3: way I thought, as well, bring in some bombs. So
Speaker 3: I don't think that's a straight shot. So that's maybe
Speaker 3: the only comparison I could could rader Mic.
Speaker 5: To be fair, you probably looked more like Mike Tyson.
Speaker 2: I was probably closer to Mike the other week, and like.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that was a bit sad. It was a little bit,
Speaker 1: but we all got dragged into it. I got dragged
Speaker 1: into it. Sat there, got I was disappointed how the
Speaker 1: fight went. We're talking about the fight with Jake Paul
Speaker 1: and Mike Tyson, But when on reflection, I was excited
Speaker 1: in the build up to it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it got me going to get everyone every time.
Speaker 3: And yeah, if you're a tragic like I'll watch everything
Speaker 3: like from the UFC to the boxing, all the all
Speaker 3: the sideshow stuff, and the people who have a problem
Speaker 3: with it simple answers don't watch it, and they all
Speaker 3: do and they all tune in, they all buy it,
Speaker 3: and it's like, what did you think. He's nearly sixty
Speaker 3: years old, and you know, it's great to have a
Speaker 3: bit of nostalgia. And you know, people think he's going
Speaker 3: to come out. They see a three second clip of
Speaker 3: edited and you know, he almost I couldn't move like.
Speaker 1: It looked like they trained him from the waist up
Speaker 1: but not the waist out, like he had the movements
Speaker 1: in the arms, but the feet.
Speaker 3: You look at the pad videos and the padman's doing
Speaker 3: more work and it looks unreally like the people are gone.
Speaker 2: Man, he's good.
Speaker 3: He's going to knock JQ. I'm you're talking about a
Speaker 3: twenty eight year old guy who's I'll give him his dues.
Speaker 3: He's actually had a bit of a go, and you
Speaker 3: know he's tried to learn the sport. I'm not saying
Speaker 3: he's a good boxer by no means, but he's he's
Speaker 3: tried to learn the sport.
Speaker 2: He's kept at it for a little bit. He's going
Speaker 2: to be handy, and he's fighting a six year old man.
Speaker 1: He's putting himself out there, and you know, everyone it's
Speaker 1: Mike Tyson. Mike Tyson's that little bit a little bit
Speaker 1: different him to the rest of us. But yeah, it
Speaker 1: got me. But I'm fascinated, fascinated. You've watched Sam's career,
Speaker 1: You've been following his Sam's career and building up What
Speaker 1: type of fighter would you describe Sam as?
Speaker 4: I think the Ghost is an accurate, accurate sort of
Speaker 4: nickname because he's elusive. He moves really well, very skillful,
Speaker 4: but he'll get you too, like he'll nab you. So
Speaker 4: I think that's what it is. Like you say, yeah,
Speaker 4: you wanted to be Mike Tyson Sam, but you maybe
Speaker 4: didn't have that sort of power being a smaller guy.
Speaker 4: So you have to be more technical, more proficient, you know,
Speaker 4: very tight, very precise. So it's a different kind of
Speaker 4: I suppose style to your your heavier fighters. But there's
Speaker 4: a very there's a really there's a real beauty and
Speaker 4: the way that like Sam and the guys that he's
Speaker 4: taken after Lomachenko fight, and the way they prepare and
Speaker 4: the way they sort of break down opponents rather than
Speaker 4: this you know, one punch knockout stuff. It's a real
Speaker 4: art to it.
Speaker 1: You certainly your fitness and your movement. That's what I
Speaker 1: picked up on. But I was also not surprised, but
Speaker 1: I thought your defense, So I really saw your defense
Speaker 1: working as well. You weren't or you're rolling with the
Speaker 1: punches or yeah, not get not getting caught. So what's
Speaker 1: in a way it's dangerous, what's I'll ask you first,
Speaker 1: and then Sam, we won't we won't drag you into
Speaker 1: it because we don't want him to get an inside
Speaker 1: knowledge when he's listening to White catch kills as I'm
Speaker 1: sure he will cheat will give him nothing.
Speaker 4: For me, it's it's it's his power. It's his power
Speaker 4: and his strength. But he's always just had this aura,
Speaker 4: like for five six years. You go into an Na
Speaker 4: fight and it's it's appointment viewing because he's the best
Speaker 4: at what he does, but you just kind of know
Speaker 4: that he's he's gonna win eventually. But I feel like Sam,
Speaker 4: you were there for the neary fight earlier this year,
Speaker 4: and he got knocked down. And eventually time catches up
Speaker 4: to everyone and he's going up. He's coming up divisions.
Speaker 4: He's still the peak, he's still had the peak. He's
Speaker 4: still number one. But sooner or later, there'll be chinks,
Speaker 4: there'll be cracks. He got knocked down earlier this year,
Speaker 4: and you never know. You know, Sam's like you say,
Speaker 4: super fit, been training, well, you've been preparing for this
Speaker 4: fight for a year and a half.
Speaker 5: This could be could be the time.
Speaker 4: Like as much as we've been talking up in a
Speaker 4: way as this unbeatable monster. Yes it's Sam Sam. I
Speaker 4: think he's going to get him at the right time.
Speaker 1: Great, we're lulling in a way into a full sense
Speaker 1: of security. That's all. We'll wind it back. More rumors
Speaker 1: on the street round Erskineville. It was brought to my
Speaker 1: attention that your mum the probably your rest of the
Speaker 1: family son. You're going to have a trade to fall
Speaker 1: back on if this doesn't work out. And you've done
Speaker 1: your hard labor two weeks working on her building site.
Speaker 1: What happened after your side in the contract And we're
Speaker 1: not going into the money, but it's a significant amount
Speaker 1: of money that you're getting for this fight, and there's
Speaker 1: life changing. But what was the comment that you picked
Speaker 1: up the phone once the contracted been signed to your mother.
Speaker 3: I just had to let her know that I'd be
Speaker 3: digging a few holes to turn that sort of money. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I think her and my dad were on the on
Speaker 3: the drink for a good week after I signed that,
Speaker 3: so they had a few So I think it was
Speaker 3: a bit of a relief almost for your mum the
Speaker 3: last few years as well, like she's been you know,
Speaker 3: she hasn't worried about it, and my mum has always
Speaker 3: been super supportive. But I think just starting out, you know,
Speaker 3: it doesn't seem when you're fighting for fifteen hundred.
Speaker 2: On a show or whatever.
Speaker 3: You know, it doesn't seem like there's any sort of
Speaker 3: pathway to Everyone's always telling you as well, there's no
Speaker 3: money in box.
Speaker 2: And you're here repeatedly everyone, So.
Speaker 3: You're constantly getting told that by promoters, people that manage fighters,
Speaker 3: and you know, it's it's you make what you make
Speaker 3: of the sport for yourself and that's all it is.
Speaker 3: But yeah, you're constantly told that you're up against it, and.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well you're brought up. It's not only the battles
Speaker 1: in the ring, it's battles outside the ring to get
Speaker 1: this fight. Soquedos to the people that have got you
Speaker 1: to this fight? Do we have to do? We have
Speaker 1: to do? We have to He's done very well for me,
Speaker 1: So now we're only because he's sitting in the in
Speaker 1: the studio and we like just putting giving it to
Speaker 1: him a bit as he does to all of us
Speaker 1: sitting here in the room. But yeah, your management, Peter
Speaker 1: Matreski and others that you like to mention that, yeah,
Speaker 1: have managed to navigate their way through a real cut
Speaker 1: throat well.
Speaker 3: Under you know, I like to give him heaps as well.
Speaker 3: But when when I first signed with him as well,
Speaker 3: he you know, he saved me from you know, sign
Speaker 3: with another promoter where I was almost looking at a contract.
Speaker 3: And because you need people to invest in your career,
Speaker 3: and it gets to a point where like you can't
Speaker 3: do it on your own, li like unless you're you're
Speaker 3: already got a lot of money behind you. So it's
Speaker 3: it's not something you can invest in yourself and.
Speaker 2: And make it work.
Speaker 3: You've got to be paying sanctioning fees for rankings. You've
Speaker 3: got your opponents cost an absolute bomb, so you need
Speaker 3: promoters to back her. And look, working with Baby, you
Speaker 3: got me, got me the best deal at the time,
Speaker 3: and it was Yeah, that that almost like straightaway change
Speaker 3: the trajectory of where everything was going on for me.
Speaker 3: So went from you know, my coach is having to
Speaker 3: tip in money, money for opponents, and you know, like
Speaker 3: tens of thousands of dollars and to you know, I'm
Speaker 3: starting to be able to pay some money back to
Speaker 3: my coaches and.
Speaker 1: They know and start faith in you.
Speaker 2: And exactly right they are.
Speaker 3: They invested heavily, you know, especially starting out to get fights.
Speaker 3: And this is at fights, not even in my weight division,
Speaker 3: not for not for belts, just to just to keep
Speaker 3: me active. And they're paying opponents that you you know,
Speaker 3: you would think that's that's crazy money. How they're they're
Speaker 3: getting that, And then I'm fighting for fifteen hundred dollars,
Speaker 3: you know, I'm not making any money. But yeah, as
Speaker 3: soon as you know, Baby came on board, he got us,
Speaker 3: a got us a very good deal, and you know,
Speaker 3: all that went and I've finally been able to start,
Speaker 3: you know, paying paying back some money to my coaches
Speaker 3: to a point where you know it's pretty good now.
Speaker 1: Well, full full credit to your whole team. And also
Speaker 1: in regards to Peter as we refer to as Baby,
Speaker 1: he's actually fought for a title over in the over
Speaker 1: in Japan.
Speaker 3: Yes, we're already want to know, against his team, so
Speaker 3: he beat one of the cornermen.
Speaker 1: So he's never worried about those semi warriors, so never.
Speaker 3: So we're taking that we're already one up so when
Speaker 3: we go over there.
Speaker 1: But it's all it's all good experience. And I saw
Speaker 1: you when we came up watching your spa the other
Speaker 1: day and even Johnny Lewis having a quiet word in
Speaker 1: your ear and speaking to Joel and all that type
Speaker 1: of that's all these pieces that you need to come together,
Speaker 1: isn't it exactly all the experience?
Speaker 3: Well, touching on like speaking to guys like Johnny, the
Speaker 3: guy that's been there and done it. And that's when
Speaker 3: I'm talking about your drawing motivation from people listening to
Speaker 3: the right things. Guys like that who have they've been there,
Speaker 3: they've done it, they've they've seen it all. They're the
Speaker 3: sort of people that you know you've got those you
Speaker 3: always listen, listen to you, and you're clutching onto every
Speaker 3: word they say because you know they they've been around
Speaker 3: the sport. So and then like guys like my coach Stoll,
Speaker 3: and you know he's just I think the smartest man
Speaker 3: in boxing. So they're the sort of guys you lean
Speaker 3: on for advice and you get a lot of confidence
Speaker 3: from having those sort of people around as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would imagine you would Brendan just on the
Speaker 1: navigating the fight, like the fight world, just not just
Speaker 1: Sam's career, talking talking about that how brutal it is,
Speaker 1: trying to manage your way through. It's a cup freak world.
Speaker 1: And it's not by chance that we have a lot
Speaker 1: of people linked to boxing that come into this podcast.
Speaker 1: I catch killers, if you know what I mean. But
Speaker 1: the crossover, Yeah, that's a nice way of putting it.
Speaker 1: There's a crossover. But it is a ruthless business, isn't it.
Speaker 5: Yah?
Speaker 4: It is. And to even get to this point, to
Speaker 4: get Sam in a position to fight for all these titles,
Speaker 4: just to get here as a minor miracle, like you
Speaker 4: need so many things to go your way, not just
Speaker 4: in the ring results injuries, but having the right people
Speaker 4: the money, the sponsors, the right kinds of fights, you know,
Speaker 4: with the right sanctioning bodies to get rankings and stuff.
Speaker 4: It's it's really a crazy thing that so many people
Speaker 4: have pulled together just to be able to get to
Speaker 4: this point. Like you say, it wasn't that long ago
Speaker 4: you were you were paying for opponents to come down
Speaker 4: and things like that, and I think we might have
Speaker 4: spoken about it before, but well maybe on you amateur
Speaker 4: days you used to host fights at the footy club
Speaker 4: at Albion Park down there. Like to go from there
Speaker 4: to to this level of fight is quite amazing.
Speaker 3: That was all to raise money and pretty much go
Speaker 3: and use that money to compete overseas and and stuff
Speaker 3: like that. So it's yeah, it's a lot of the
Speaker 3: time that that sort of stuff. It's just investing in
Speaker 3: yourself and you spend all those years starting out. You've
Speaker 3: got to put that sort of investment in it. It
Speaker 3: is tough, you know, It's it's very tough, and sometimes
Speaker 3: you do just need some scenario as a look at,
Speaker 3: and not with any of my flights, but around just
Speaker 3: how things worked out. You need a little bit of
Speaker 3: luck as well, and I've had plenty of that like
Speaker 3: even with getting baby on board, like that was all
Speaker 3: from him watching one spa and making a couple of
Speaker 3: phone calls bang, And then you know, I look at
Speaker 3: how that's turned out for me and how things things
Speaker 3: have changed from that moment, and that's led me to
Speaker 3: the position on me so that some stuff is just
Speaker 3: right place, right time.
Speaker 4: And your last fight, you busted your hand, and then
Speaker 4: I know, a couple of days after it was like, jeez,
Speaker 4: the anyway fight might be gone.
Speaker 5: There's just so such fine margins that.
Speaker 3: Broke my hand in two spots, and it was I
Speaker 3: was lucky to under undersplaced fractures, didn't have to go
Speaker 3: under the knife.
Speaker 2: So little little stuff that just work out in your favor.
Speaker 2: And you can think.
Speaker 3: It's faded or whatever. I just I believe you're putting
Speaker 3: putting the right work. You put in hard work, and
Speaker 3: you have good people around, good things will happen, and
Speaker 3: that will happen for a reason. So I think that's
Speaker 3: what's all led me to this point. I've done the
Speaker 3: right stuff, I've done the right work, I've listened to
Speaker 3: the right people, and here we are ready to shock
Speaker 3: the world.
Speaker 1: Absolutely no shortcuts too. By the way, you've gone about it,
Speaker 1: you haven't, haven't taken the easy path. Well, we'll wrap
Speaker 1: it up, but before we do, I think it'd be
Speaker 1: remiss with me not to mention the mad Bunch. There's
Speaker 1: quite intellectual group of Sam's friends. Just a couple of
Speaker 1: quite some quiet guys, quietly spoken. Yeah, consider him respectful. Brennan,
Speaker 1: you've seen a lot of things in boxing. Could you
Speaker 1: describe the mad.
Speaker 4: Bunch and mad Well? The mad Bunch. So I've run
Speaker 4: this by Baby. I'm allowed to tell the story. I
Speaker 4: wasn't allowed to write it last year when it happened.
Speaker 4: So Sam was fighting Ray Salim on the Gold Coast
Speaker 4: I think it was June twenty twenty three, on a
Speaker 4: Tim Zoo undercard.
Speaker 5: Is it maybe to get a ranking or go number
Speaker 5: one man?
Speaker 4: Yeah, so to go to go to mandatory Raceelems come
Speaker 4: down from America the night before the fights. I don't
Speaker 4: know how many of the Mad Bunch, A couple of them,
Speaker 4: five to ten, maybe find Salim's hotel room or where
Speaker 4: he's staying. They ring them, they're ringing them, They're ringing
Speaker 4: them saying it's a sarta or you started drug testers.
Speaker 4: This is at midnight and then knock on his door.
Speaker 4: But this is this is all part of the.
Speaker 5: Game.
Speaker 4: This is all boxing. This could be a baby pete
Speaker 4: cheers you wind up. I'm not sure, but this the
Speaker 4: yard's too good.
Speaker 1: Well it must it must help you see him having
Speaker 1: mates like that. And full credit to you because a
Speaker 1: lot of people that come up in whatever field in life,
Speaker 1: not just boxing, but other that brush their mates aside.
Speaker 1: But it's clearly your you're rising, but you're bringing your
Speaker 1: friends with it, and I think it helps keep you grounded.
Speaker 1: But it's also shows respect to your mates.
Speaker 2: One hundred percent.
Speaker 3: If you looked in all our group chats and stuff,
Speaker 3: I'm probably the one that cops it the most. So yeah,
Speaker 3: you definitely can't get ahead of yourself or I think
Speaker 3: you're too big for your boot. It's like I can't
Speaker 3: get a photo with someone about with when one of
Speaker 3: my mates a bit about them taking a photo of
Speaker 3: the photo getting taken.
Speaker 1: Like it's the night there.
Speaker 3: So yeah, it definitely keeps you grounded. But it's good.
Speaker 3: You know, you always have the same people you started with.
Speaker 3: And you know, I've never never even it's been a
Speaker 3: thought or whatever. I think that comes from my family
Speaker 3: and how exactly right. And you know if you lose that,
Speaker 3: yeah you've got nothing in life. So you always got
Speaker 3: the ones you started with, and yeah, that's how it's
Speaker 3: going to be to day I'll go out.
Speaker 1: I think the crew that you've got round, they're going
Speaker 1: to be for you, there for the good times, bad times,
Speaker 1: or if you gathering people on your way up as
Speaker 1: soon as and you see it in boxing, you would
Speaker 1: have seen it, like a lot of people love hanging
Speaker 1: around the winter. If someone starts to lose a lot
Speaker 1: of people.
Speaker 3: And you can sense the people that are there for
Speaker 3: the right reasons and the people that aren't as well.
Speaker 3: So I think it's just a simple way to keep it.
Speaker 3: You know. Yeah you've got the same circle that you're
Speaker 3: arted with and you know you just crack on doing
Speaker 3: your own thing and worrying about that. So that's like
Speaker 3: I said, I've I've got the same mates, same same
Speaker 3: group of people I've always had, and you dragging with
Speaker 3: me all to the top.
Speaker 2: So that's that's a plan.
Speaker 1: What to watch the fight Christmas Eve? What time is
Speaker 1: it going to be on the you know time difference?
Speaker 3: I reckon probably over here I'd say eleven perven eleven pm, So.
Speaker 4: Okay, nine thirty baby pieces, nine thirty over here that start.
Speaker 5: Yeah, two hour time difference to Japan and seven thirty.
Speaker 1: Great, So we've just missed the fight up make sure
Speaker 1: you turn up on time. Well, look, Sam, I've really
Speaker 1: enjoyed having the chat today. I've enjoyed following your career
Speaker 1: and I've got that much admiration for what you're aspiring
Speaker 1: to a chuir and yeah, like full full credit to you,
Speaker 1: no shortcuts, and yeah you're a normal bloke chasing the
Speaker 1: dream that most of us just dream we don't actually
Speaker 1: actually chase it, so full full credit to you.
Speaker 3: Thanks mate, Thanks for having having me on, and yeah
Speaker 3: I can't wait to do it. And next time here
Speaker 3: i'll hear of all the.
Speaker 1: Belts, bring all the belts in. Then we'll be getting
Speaker 1: some baby can get a favor of me holding the
Speaker 1: belts and Brendan yourself, and yeah, thanks for giving an
Speaker 1: insight into that and you're looking forward to the fight.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I can't wait. Thanks for having me on and
Speaker 4: love love talking boxing, and thanks for Sam letting me
Speaker 4: be a small part of this journey. Getting to see
Speaker 4: it up close is the dream, same thing sort of
Speaker 4: you know, I was watching Mike Tyson in the nineties
Speaker 4: on the Lounger and Florida. So to be able to
Speaker 4: get this close to it and see what it's like
Speaker 4: and see what it's all about as a dream come true.
Speaker 5: So you can't wait for this one.
Speaker 1: It's exciting. Thanks guys, Thanks Sam, good luck with it.
Speaker 2: Jeers Manitches maybe and that
Speaker 1: To Die