0:00

Contrary he that my friend Gillian

0:02

really mad at you Julian. A

0:04

little germ theory. Okay okay Joey

0:06

and now his personal Joe. Why

0:08

would you want to fight John

0:10

Fury Joe Furious made a statement.

0:12

He would fight any fifty eight

0:14

year old on the planet. Now

0:17

I'm fifty eight. A complete joke.

0:19

I'll take up the challenge you

0:21

want it. It's getting off the

0:23

boxing is blossoming with the success

0:25

of the You tube is it's

0:27

bringing more fighters into the sport.

0:29

I. Think it's incredible. Mike Tyson said

0:31

Joey comes to talk is like manalapan.

0:34

Just had a nice but cost much

0:36

for combines Smash nice. My stools my

0:38

shoulder and as the point me in

0:40

my career is over over my life

0:42

went downhill very very fast After a

0:44

place that an obvious point you make

0:47

a New York was comic book. Thirty

0:49

seven men armed with a shotgun and

0:51

good how to do shit technical. My

0:53

life has been hard to achieve about

0:55

battles all my life but let me

0:57

take something you can look at the

0:59

camera. And I say to your

1:02

date tomorrow. Welcome.

1:05

To the eventful last podcast on the host

1:08

Dodge and on the found with former seven

1:10

the world's largest sport and music festival. On

1:12

this book Casa speaks a proper characters of

1:14

all Live defend for lives doesn't favor hear

1:17

that followed by an be sure to check

1:19

us out on you Tube, Instagram, Facebook and

1:21

Twitter at Go To Order Twelve Now had

1:23

over one hundred million views. Joey

1:26

Going is famously known by Mike Tyson is

1:28

the toughest white man on the planet. He

1:30

talks about his upbringing an island and how

1:32

it led into box the likes of Lennox

1:34

Lewis and become. Mike Tyson express my

1:36

the seven time Irish heavyweight boxing champ

1:39

talks about been accused of murder his

1:41

life in prison and coming out of

1:43

a coma. Joe gets heated because our

1:45

John Fury for a big money for

1:48

in Saudi Arabia. This

1:50

is the eventual life of Mr. Joey Good.

1:55

Job. welcome to show my torch take you very

1:57

much yeah this for long time coming this one Yeah,

2:00

very much looking forward to it. Let's roll all the way

2:02

back Joe, where did you grow up? What's

2:04

that feeling like knowing that Mike Tyson called you

2:06

the toughest white man on the planet? I just

2:08

want to clarify something there. I sparred with Mike

2:10

this particular day. There was four white sparring partners.

2:13

Some days there'd be some black guys, but this

2:15

day there was four white sparring partners and he

2:17

knocked three of them out. I was number four.

2:19

I got battered from pill at the post, but

2:21

I never got put down. And at the end

2:23

of the spar Mike Tyson said, Joe Egan is

2:26

the toughest white man on the planet. Far, far

2:28

from it. I was the toughest white man in

2:30

the gym that day. But what a compliment

2:32

for a man like Mike Tyson. Like if

2:34

you're going to get battered, you might

2:37

as well get battered by the best. I

2:39

got battered by the best heavyweight of my

2:41

era. I got battered by Mike Tyson and

2:43

I got battered by Lennox Lewis. But it

2:45

was a honor to share the ring with

2:48

both of them because they achieved what every

2:50

fighter dreams of achieving, winning world titles. When

2:53

I climbed into the ring, I dreamed

2:55

the dream. I wasn't anywhere near good enough

2:57

to win a world title. I

2:59

won Irish titles, which was a major achievement

3:01

for me. And it was a great honor

3:03

to be Irish champion, but to share

3:05

the ring with two of

3:07

the greatest heavyweights of all time, the two

3:09

great heavyweights of my era. And

3:13

just to be able to say that

3:15

to my friends after all these years,

3:17

it was a wonderful feeling. But that's

3:19

the greatest thing about the sport of

3:21

boxing. First and foremost, it gives you

3:23

self-respect, then it gives you respect for

3:25

your opponent. And that's such an important

3:27

thing in life to have self-respect and

3:29

respect for others. And discipline. Well,

3:31

the discipline, yeah, for the sport, you

3:33

know, you have to because you play

3:35

football, you play golf, you play tennis,

3:37

you play basketball, you don't play boxing.

3:40

You know, it's a hurtful sport.

3:42

You know, anybody that tells you the punches

3:44

don't hurt, it's telling lies.

3:47

You know, all the punches hurt. And

3:50

when you're getting hit by heavyweights

3:52

like Mike Tyson, they really

3:54

hurt. You know, it made me

3:56

cry many, many times, Dutch. It made me

3:58

cry many times. You did your mom.

4:02

My mom used to speak to him on

4:04

the phone oh my thank you so much

4:06

for looking after my son. He was bothering

4:08

me for supporting the house was she didn't

4:10

know that? yes I would have no family

4:12

visited a many times in Dublin and to

4:15

walk to the streets of Dublin with with

4:17

when a man like mitosis walk on the

4:19

street with my talia you know I'm very

4:21

proud to say is my very good frame

4:23

expect very hard as he attained away. I

4:25

don't bet on last week that Michael francies

4:28

in other on as a Muslim wealthy man

4:30

daddy of the exit credible like incredible. Lost

4:32

weight on. Is unbelievable in

4:34

in in New York and was done in

4:36

his last that he interviewed. Mike Tyson says

4:38

been moink was must be pigging out send

4:41

the nicest kindest man is of a man

4:43

is nice to actually set it on the

4:45

part kayakers but like a fancy city called

4:47

Yoda by disappointment he said no know that

4:50

office As for hunt you know and I

4:52

don't claim to be a tough call. Every

4:54

person declines in the ring to fights of

4:56

the can into the cage to fight a

4:58

dick wanted a much to fight is a

5:01

person born with courage. You can teach people

5:03

skills. To fight. But even if

5:05

the haven't got the courage to fight,

5:07

it's no good start. Something you're born

5:10

with Fighters whether it be indicates on

5:12

the mats. Bare. Knuckle

5:14

Boxing. Is

5:17

is is is is is a courageous

5:19

thing to do. A modern day gladiators

5:21

you know years ago that would go

5:23

into the arena would swords and spears

5:25

and fight to entertain the crowds and

5:28

flight to detect. You know when you

5:30

get into these fights today than are

5:32

fighting to detect. put it's a it's

5:34

a contact sport fighting. Extent

5:36

attain. The. Crowds and.

5:39

Voices. A modern Day Gladiators. And

5:42

I admire and respect all forms of

5:44

fighting. And I just happen to love

5:46

the sport of boxing because I'm an

5:49

X Box or you know, puts her

5:51

it is to me. The.

5:53

Greatest sport and world's can. ugly. Ugly.

5:56

So where did you go on the system?

5:59

Then sublimate and Dublin? Okay mom, My mom,

6:01

My mom, My mom. Is

6:03

a rings and woman somewhat. that was

6:05

little dogma and that seven children on

6:07

the on. the eldest of seven and

6:09

my dad came to the Uk to

6:12

work like a lot of the Irish

6:14

Islands greatest export is always been his

6:16

people. You know they say it's Guinness

6:18

and Waterford Crystal. it's not, it's people

6:20

you know wherever you go in the

6:22

world. For such a small nations we've

6:24

made some impact of around the world.

6:26

The Irish are are everywhere you know

6:28

are in a credible. Race and I do

6:31

tell people to let me to Concha people

6:33

in this world Irish people those people to

6:35

wish to where I. Will

6:38

say where snacks our a good

6:41

nation agape was you know and

6:43

than. My.

6:45

Dad came to the Uk to was what

6:47

what receive any of my friends are. We

6:50

came here when he was seventeen and and

6:52

he came back to Ireland. And

6:54

he met my mom when he was

6:56

twenty. she was fifteen and it was

6:58

before swine to act like you do.

7:00

You can always do want to go

7:02

home and soup to switch your feet

7:04

underground and island like you know and

7:06

they allowed switch. He was sixteen, he

7:08

was. he was twenty one and. To.

7:11

Seven children but she didn't like to

7:13

leave Dublin. She didn't like England that

7:16

you didn't like America. My dad worked

7:18

in England that he worked in America.

7:20

She visited both countries. pretty couldn't wait

7:22

to get back to Dublin and town.

7:26

We. Used to come and visit him here when

7:28

he was working in London and Manchester and Birmingham

7:30

and as kids on a school holidays. And

7:33

I got bullied as a child's in old

7:36

because at the Irish accent when I came

7:38

to the Uk a got or two front

7:40

teeth knocked out in Manchester the day may

7:42

modi communion o seven or eight years of

7:44

age and to death to bully boys or

7:47

fifteen or sixteen. I tried

7:49

to take motor to being a Medals are held

7:51

onto a metal and the know what to from

7:53

take down all my years box in on. Ever

7:55

want to know? Still had a hard time with

7:58

the police you know or my life. Damn.

8:02

When. I was in England as a child

8:04

or picked up the English accent so could

8:06

make in. and then when I went home

8:08

to Dublin ago, put it in Dublin because

8:10

I didn't be Saxons So when the body

8:12

boys would finish beating on me rather than

8:14

a beat some beta my brothers or sisters.

8:17

I used to jump back in a telephone

8:19

hit. I'm hit me most. Gentle.

8:24

And us. As

8:26

a child a could absorb a

8:28

beating because of battered by the

8:31

police said and what that. He

8:34

said gonna learn of the box on enough

8:36

to stand up to the body Boyce. And

8:39

I said okay that. So.

8:41

Mammal two brothers we went down to

8:43

the boxing gym and and I was

8:45

a much cooler have never been much

8:47

could always just tough but. At

8:49

the Grow Up Tough because get

8:52

busted by police and dumb. And

8:55

a boxer. He was actually quite safe. Amazed

8:57

was only one man hitting me even if

8:59

it was my choice, and it was still

9:01

just. One month. In.

9:03

Own you the referee into fights before then

9:06

of Noah's Ark of but the by them

9:08

as part of the referee it a break

9:10

in between rounds you corner many medical care.

9:13

You don't have that luxury when they get

9:15

infected by police. You know if you're fortunate

9:17

enough to be able to get home to

9:19

a safe haven, close your front door. You.

9:22

Are looking to didn't catch you. Put.

9:25

Now. Took a police bullying

9:27

with the internet and mobile phones and.

9:30

It's. Horrible because see what a physical

9:32

preaching towards right you've got an

9:34

hour broker a nose broke ritual

9:36

broke that will keep you at

9:38

a time but this was he'll

9:41

see. emotional. Torture.

9:43

Emotional pain. Is

9:45

no time scale of when it's not a heel. You

9:48

know and these police these

9:50

days. Internet, bullies, undies, Sam

9:52

Mobile phone police. i

9:55

don't know policeman thoughts no one likes of

9:57

hormones and of you speak to most boxers

9:59

up all over the world, I fought all

10:01

over the world. You speak to most boxers. It's

10:03

a similar story. It is very, very similar. And

10:06

the same with the gangsters and same with the

10:08

bank robbers. There's always been trauma as a kid,

10:10

whether it's bullying or something going on. The most

10:12

violent people I know got bullied as a kid.

10:16

It's horrible. So when I started

10:18

the boxing, we started

10:20

in a gym

10:23

in London as a kid. My dad was working in London.

10:25

We went to the Old Sphere Boxing Club as a child

10:28

and made friends with Keith

10:30

Druid and Mick with the trainers there, Mr.

10:33

Parmenter. Frank Bruno Boxford the club was a

10:35

child as well. Did you

10:37

say Ellsfield? Ellsfield, yeah. Did you?

10:40

Okay. Yeah. Beer wands. We

10:42

were the only kids. We were like 10,

10:44

9, 10 years of age. And

10:46

then when I

10:48

came home to Dublin, I

10:51

thought, well, right, okay. Because my

10:53

dad encouraged us to go. So he was in

10:55

London at the time. So when I came home

10:57

to Dublin, spoke to friends

10:59

in Ring Zend where I'm from, a guy called Jerry

11:01

Byrne. And he brought us up here at the Fruit

11:03

and Vegetable Shop in Ring Zend. And he brought us

11:05

up to the Nord Boxing Club. I was 11, I

11:09

think. Were you a big 11? Yeah,

11:11

I was a fat kid. I've been

11:14

a fat kid most of my life

11:16

to tell you the truth because I

11:18

love my food. You know,

11:20

I do love my food. People

11:22

ask me, you know, what's my

11:24

favorite meal? I always say seconds.

11:26

I just love clubs. Some people

11:28

eat to live, to eat.

11:30

I just enjoy my food. And that's

11:34

the way I... I do love food.

11:38

Anyway, yeah. Was your old man a

11:41

mentor for you? Were you a tough man, was he?

11:43

Oh, my dad was a tough man. He was, okay.

11:45

Oh, yeah. In every boy's eyes, his dad's the toughest

11:48

man on the planet. That's right. You

11:50

know, my dad, in my eyes, was the toughest man

11:52

on the planet. He was a powerful man. He was

11:54

6'4", 3' and he's prime. He was a concrete worker.

11:57

And I Remember as a kid when we come over

11:59

the Visitor. I need

12:01

you to shut off. Wings

12:04

showed his arms. And

12:06

are falling for him. As disciplined manlier

12:09

you know he was. he was. He

12:11

wasn't so cold hard on us. You

12:13

know we never hit as soon as

12:15

you don't have to hold you know.

12:17

And the. He. He

12:19

he was a good that you know I

12:21

will shit the ground he stood on now.

12:23

Nice to hear months a last minute. Twenty.

12:28

Twenty Two. Dish. Mom

12:31

or Dad? What to say? View? He.

12:34

Went on the here. Twenty.

12:36

Fourth vapor physically fit birthday my

12:38

mom went on the twenty two

12:40

December. Probably

12:44

use. Or.

12:46

They wanted to do is to do. I'm

12:48

proud to notes so when when he believes

12:50

with a the same age when I pass

12:52

or as not as I was deserted I'm

12:54

in ah numbers for my mom went on

12:56

to was a to my dad was eighty

12:58

five when it's on how did the pass

13:00

but that got alzheimer's and damn. It

13:03

was. it was. It was sad to say

13:05

because. He. Said

13:07

to me. He is before.

13:10

Leave because it a concrete work. He

13:12

got his hands and he got to

13:14

to cope as in his hands. A

13:17

member taken down to London to get

13:19

the treatment on his hands. and

13:21

said to me said some. as

13:24

the day of a combs. Sober

13:27

up a complete my backside.

13:30

He said the couple. Couple

13:37

of weeks. Before. He

13:39

went to eat. it hurt himself. And

13:42

I remember about the couldn't have been a

13:44

few to I'm. Cleaning

13:47

him, When

13:49

I knew that. he's

13:52

gonna want to go even three at

13:54

the else on this a know it

13:56

with certain times we'd have him back

13:58

it was only eight months we'd lost

14:01

him put certain times in the

14:03

May 18 months he chat to you some

14:06

days he didn't recognize us you

14:09

know which was hard not

14:12

to be recognized by your own dad you know

14:15

the horrible illness and then

14:18

some days he talked about

14:20

things from the past and

14:22

I say how does he remember that you

14:24

know some days it happened back but

14:27

I know I remember watching him on

14:29

the floor and

14:31

my brother's cleaning him my brother and my nephew cleaning him

14:34

and I knew him but he made

14:37

it to his 85th birthday I believe he went when he

14:39

wanted to go you know and

14:42

ripped the heart you know to me but

14:45

then ma'am it

14:47

broke her heart even though they

14:50

weren't living together she was back in Dublin and

14:52

he was in the UK you've been backwards and forwards

14:54

to America but he'd worked his working knife in the

14:57

UK and England and he

14:59

loved this country same as I love this country

15:01

this country has been good to me and good

15:03

to my dad and my brother's

15:05

sister because he made a good living here

15:07

to be able to provide for us you

15:10

know and she

15:13

went down here my mom and my dad passed and

15:16

I just think she gave up the world to live because

15:19

like I said they didn't live together but they adored each

15:21

other you know she

15:24

wore a wedding ring with pride there's

15:26

no one else in either of their lives

15:28

they just they just loved

15:31

each other and I think she believed that

15:33

when he retired at 65 or 70

15:36

whatever age he was going to give up work that

15:39

he'd come home to Dublin and

15:41

just spend these last years

15:43

with mum and Dublin but he

15:46

had other ideas he didn't want to

15:48

go back to Ireland to live his

15:50

pension was here and America and he

15:54

just spent these last few years here but we're not to

15:56

mention him and we saw him going down you

15:59

know he had to remind them to eat because

16:01

we don't remind people with us on this to eat.

16:03

They won't eat. Was he in a home or was

16:05

he still at home? No, my brother and my nephew

16:08

were looking after him. He lived

16:10

with my brother and my

16:12

nephew would call every day and

16:15

my brother, they minded him very well. But

16:17

he minded us. Even

16:20

though he was away a lot of years working,

16:22

he always sent the money home. We

16:26

might not have had chocolate biscuits, but

16:28

we'd have a biscuit. We might not have

16:30

had the best of

16:32

food, but we were all fed. We

16:34

always sent the money home to my mom. And

16:37

my mom could make a feast out of

16:39

nothing. She

16:42

used to do curry beans long before Heinz was

16:44

doing curry beans because beans was part of everyday

16:47

potatoes, was part of everyday. And

16:50

mom used to make beans exciting and

16:53

curry beans and beans on toast and

16:55

beans beside toast and beans in your

16:58

potato and beans for seconds. Yeah, yeah,

17:00

yeah. So much fun in our

17:02

house. You know, she didn't like a match.

17:05

You know, seven of us eating beans. You

17:09

know, I'm a mom, so eight

17:11

of us eating beans. You

17:14

know, show my mom a little rib a few times.

17:17

She was 65 when she fired. Come

17:19

on, I'm sorry. So they

17:21

were together like 65 odd years. Yeah,

17:27

yeah. That's unheard of these days, isn't

17:29

it? No, but it was in them

17:31

times, it was, you

17:33

know, it was you make

17:36

a commitment to your partner and you're in stood by

17:38

that commitment. So what were your movements? What were your

17:40

movements to get to America? How old were you when

17:42

you went to America? Oh, see, see,

17:44

when I was a kid, when I was a kid, I

17:46

used to be a kid. I used to see family

17:50

and friends going off to America. That

17:53

was like the

17:55

big place to go to, you know, even the Irish going

17:57

to New York and stuff, you know. The

18:00

one who was 17. I

18:03

got back to when I went with the

18:05

no boxing club, when

18:07

Jerry Byrne brought us up to the no boxing club, there

18:10

was loads of Irish champions in this

18:12

incredible club. And there was a heavyweight

18:14

called Paddy Finn. And he was

18:16

he was the Irish champion. And he'd been over

18:18

to America. Mama Dali actually wanted him to stay

18:20

on in America. Paddy Finn was an incredible heavyweight.

18:22

And I used to want to emulate him. I

18:25

wanted to become the Irish champion like Paddy Finn,

18:27

and go to America at the box. That

18:30

was like the big thing, you know. So

18:33

when I was like 11, it was the ambition

18:35

to follow in the footsteps of Paddy Finn.

18:38

So when I was 17, I won

18:41

the Irish title, I won three in the same

18:43

year, the under 19s, the

18:45

junior and then the following year, but

18:47

it was the same season. I won the seniors.

18:50

But after winning the under 19s, I got to go out to America and do a

18:52

little bit of a team.

18:54

And I boxed in Atlantic City.

18:57

And I boxed a big marine sergeant called William Dawson.

18:59

He was 28 big powerhouse of

19:02

a man. And he bartered me,

19:04

punched to live in daylight, telling me, but

19:07

I could take the beating like I said, I

19:10

can take a beating, I've had beatings,

19:12

savage beatings, you know, not

19:14

just in the boxing ring on the street by gangs, you know,

19:16

being hit with every club's 2 by 4s, baseball

19:19

bats, or whatever. Baseball

19:22

bats, got a bat of cricket bat one

19:24

day, a few of them

19:26

had cricket, or sort of yolks hitting

19:28

me. But I

19:30

could take a beating and I could still take a

19:33

beating to this day. It's in me

19:35

just you're born with that toughness. You

19:37

can also give a beating, John. Let's not put yourself down.

19:40

I've dished out some punishment in the

19:42

boxing ring, you know, I've had some

19:44

great fights with some great champions. But

19:48

when I got hammered by Bruce

19:51

Selden, whatever I'd done during the

19:53

fight, impressed for Floyd Patterson, who was a former

19:55

heavyweight champion in the world, he was married to

19:57

an Irish lady, he took a great interest. in

20:00

the Irish boxing team. Paul Fitzgerald,

20:02

the featherweight, brilliant boxer.

20:04

He won and won impressively. And

20:07

Floyd gave him the opportunity to stay in America.

20:09

He lives in a place called Abu Dhabi in

20:11

Philadelphia. I went to visit porn on a few

20:13

occasions, where they'd done the Live Aid concert and

20:16

I saw the Rocket statue. Incredible. You know, Paul's

20:18

my friend. And like a

20:20

lot of boxers, the friendship that you have, the

20:22

friendship, even guys you fight and you embrace after

20:24

the fight. You know, I mean,

20:26

best friends with guys of four, Kyle Ryan

20:29

in the senior final. We want

20:31

to wait to the senior final, battle each other in the

20:33

final. Then went to work together on the door. He was

20:36

head doorman in the night club where I worked. I was

20:38

the best man at his wedding, but

20:40

it's no hatred. It's no animosity.

20:42

It's just a sport. And yet

20:44

the best person, male or female,

20:48

you want to win. And the best

20:50

person wins on the night. And

20:54

anyway, Floyd

20:56

gave me the opportunity. He

20:58

said, you haven't got much skill. He said, but

21:00

you got a good chin and you

21:02

got an abundance of courage. He said, would you

21:04

like to stay on in America? I'd love to.

21:06

It's like, this is like a

21:08

dream. Yeah, absolutely. You know, I wouldn't have had the

21:11

money to go back, you know, 17 year

21:13

old boy. I was working the doors at 15.

21:15

I left school when I was 14. Where abouts

21:17

in the country working the doors? Dublin, I worked

21:19

at the door on Leeson Street. Yeah, Leeson Street.

21:22

Yeah. I started working in a

21:24

nightclub called Jules Nightclub. Was on,

21:26

it was the old Chevargos for Pat Gibbons. And

21:29

I was 15. They told I was 21 on the door.

21:31

There was Declan Foley, Johnny McIntyre and Johnny Nugent

21:33

were the other three doorman. And they told

21:35

I was 21. I was only 15. And

21:39

I remember two of my old school teachers, Jim Doherty

21:41

and Mr. Cook, came to the club one

21:43

night and I was bringing the barriers out

21:45

and I saw them and they were dressed in

21:47

ripped enums and clogs and clogs,

21:49

clogs, like wooden things. They

21:51

were very trendy. I would go

21:53

back, go back. It's like the crocs these

21:56

days, isn't it? Yeah, there's a punch a

21:58

one and ripped enums. Jim Daugherty

22:00

was my physics teacher, Mr. Cook was my English teacher,

22:02

but you go, call Jim, Jim, he was cool. And

22:06

so Declan Foley said, excuse me guys, the

22:08

dress code isn't ripped enums and ponchos and

22:10

clogs, wherever so sorry. And I sort of

22:12

looked down, I stood back and

22:15

Mr. Cook, very posh English teacher, he

22:17

said, don't you just buy our clothing attire?

22:20

Boy, scooty. And next of all, he saw me and

22:22

he went, oh, it was just

22:24

about the same, a teenage disco. I've stepped

22:26

out and I've pushed Declan aside. And I'm

22:28

sort of winking at the two teachers. I

22:30

said, hello, Jim. I said, it's all right,

22:32

Declan. These were my school teachers when I

22:35

left school years ago. I only left here

22:37

before 14. So I've ushered them in. So

22:39

Mr. Cook said, what

22:42

do you do, nature? I said, they think I'm 21.

22:44

I'm on the door here. I'm security, say nothing, go

22:46

up and enjoy yourself. I

22:48

would tell that

22:50

story to friends when I work the

22:52

doors. But Declan Foley

22:55

was a head doorman,

22:57

Johnny McIntyre and Johnny Newton. So

23:00

when you're in America, then he said, he said you stay

23:02

on. I want you to stay on. Yeah, stay on. Because

23:04

like I said, I wouldn't have had the money to come

23:06

back. So I phoned my mom. I

23:08

said, ma'am, I said, I'm going to stay in

23:10

America. I had no phone number for my dad. I didn't

23:12

even know what part of the UK was in at that

23:15

stage. And with no mobile phones in. So

23:17

I phoned my mom home. And I said, ma'am, I

23:19

said, Freud, Patterson has given me the opportunity to stay

23:21

in America. Oh, son, you never

23:23

come home. I said, be home next year, ma'am.

23:26

I said, I will come home. So

23:29

he took me to Gleason's gym and

23:32

was our Gavin and Bob Jackson to

23:34

the men that had the gym. They had

23:36

done business with CUS. And

23:38

they made CUS. Oh, yeah, yeah, I live with

23:40

CUS. So I got a sparring session that day

23:47

in Gleason's with Art Tucker.

23:50

And I can't remember the other heavyweight name. And

23:52

I gave a good account to myself, you know.

23:54

So I'll Gavin and Bob Jackson said there's a

23:57

young heavyweight in the Catskills called Mike Tyson. And

23:59

he's like, looking for sparring partners. So

24:01

I went, how do you mean the young heavyweight? They said he's

24:03

17. I was so happy to hear 17

24:07

because like I said, I've been so used to fighting

24:09

men and the Americans that had given me

24:11

the beating the week before was 28 big

24:13

marine sides. And so I said, yeah, I'll have some of

24:15

that. I didn't know

24:17

who Mike Tyson was. Mike Tyson was knocking men out

24:19

left, right? And so I didn't know this. He sparred

24:21

with Frank Bruno when he was 15 and

24:24

battered Frank Bruno and Frank Bruno had battered

24:26

him. So they

24:28

had given so

24:31

much praise to the show heavyweight and

24:34

Frank Bruno at the time 20 powerful,

24:36

powerful man. And him and Mike

24:39

savage sparring sessions and

24:41

so I believed, but I didn't know this. So

24:43

when I got to the Catskills and

24:46

I met Carson Camille and Manny and

24:48

Tom Patty and Jay and the Hilton

24:50

brothers and some other fighters that were

24:52

there, it was such a warm welcome.

24:55

And I thought, how beautiful is this up

24:57

under Catskill mountains, on the Hudson River. It's

24:59

supposed to be where Rip Van Winkle slept

25:01

for so many years. It's so tranquil and

25:03

peaceful and beautiful. And I thought, well,

25:06

this would be like a hole from home for me. Next

25:09

of all, I met Mike. I was introduced to

25:11

Mike. He came over, embraced me,

25:13

welcomed me. And I'm looking at

25:15

him and he was smarter than me.

25:18

Yeah. Several months younger than me. I'm

25:20

6'1", 6'1", a couple of inches shorter

25:22

than me. So he

25:25

spoke with a bit of a list and

25:27

I just thought he's smarter than me. He's

25:30

several months younger than me. I'm

25:33

mad at him. Right. But I didn't know

25:35

what he was able to do. I didn't know what he

25:37

was capable of at the time. And

25:39

we walked and we talked and he was

25:41

fascinated with the history of Irish boxing. He's

25:43

like a walking encyclopedia on boxing and

25:45

he loved the history of the Irish fighters.

25:47

He loved the history, particularly Barry McWiggin at

25:50

the time, because Barry had the relationship with

25:52

Mr. Eastwood who when

25:54

I went professional, I signed with Mr. Eastwood.

25:56

So he was fascinated about Barry because his

25:58

relationship was cuss. was like father

26:00

and son and at the time Mr Eastwood

26:03

and Barry like father and son. It

26:05

was very very wonderful at the time. They

26:07

had a fallout towards the end which was

26:09

sad but at

26:11

the time I don't

26:13

know. There was all sorts of talk going on but I

26:15

don't know. I wouldn't like to come in either because Mr

26:18

Eastwood was a coin decent man

26:21

and Barry MacWiggin's a coin decent

26:23

man. But whatever happened during their

26:25

relationship and managerial time

26:28

of Barry, it went sour and it

26:31

was sad to see. Money?

26:34

I don't know. I don't know. It normally

26:36

is money. Yeah

26:39

usually but it was sad to see because it

26:42

was so wonderful and with him being the Irish world

26:44

champion and like I said the relationship

26:47

that had was special but it went sour. But

26:50

anyway me and Mike we became instant

26:52

friends and we walked and we talked.

26:54

We had that night went

26:57

to watch footage of the fights that he had

26:59

access to. He had access to Jim Jacobs and

27:01

Bill Caton's library of fights which was the biggest

27:03

in the world and Mike was

27:05

watching them on old cine reels and it

27:08

was incredible and he used it like he'd say

27:10

if Joe that left talk landed man that would change

27:12

the history of that weight division you know

27:14

and to Mike there wasn't enough

27:16

boxing to watch. Really? Oh he lived for it.

27:19

There's only to me there's only so much he could watch but

27:21

he could watch it and watch it and watch it live for

27:24

it. What sort of year we're talking here? 83,

27:29

83, 84. It was

27:32

incredible like I said the warm

27:34

welcome. The next morning we're

27:36

jogging together and

27:40

Mike was an incredible runner. We joked for

27:43

a mile and he took off like a gazelle. And

27:45

I was still feeling so confident though Joe. I just looked

27:47

at him and I thought I've got

27:49

your measure. I really believed it.

27:52

Come back to the house after I run. Rest

27:55

it up for the breakfast. Get

27:58

ready to go to the gym. afternoon. And

28:01

suddenly, all these big

28:04

powerhouses of men appeared. They

28:06

were in a different part of the grounds. And

28:09

we were in the main house, we were boys, Mike

28:11

had the whole top of the house. His

28:14

room was incredible. And he

28:16

used to sit on the exercise bike and watch the footage.

28:19

And just wonderful memories. And anyway,

28:23

we're getting onto the mini bus to get out to

28:25

the gym. And these men were walking very somber. You

28:28

know, I'm a boy, happy as Larry, full of

28:30

the joys of life taking. I got his man

28:32

here. But these men knew what was coming. I

28:35

didn't stupid Patty here didn't have a clue

28:37

what was coming, you know. So I

28:40

got onto the mini bus, travel down to

28:42

the gym, got into the gym, got

28:45

bandaged up, shadow box and warming up. And

28:48

then cuss went right glove up. I'm

28:51

looking around. Well, where's Mike and I look

28:53

into the ring and he's pacing

28:55

the ring and a pair of shorts with his shirt off.

28:59

I'd never seen a physique on a 17 year old

29:01

boy like it in my life. I

29:04

hadn't seen him stripped to the waist, his

29:06

neck, his chest,

29:08

his biceps, but he

29:10

turned around his back. Incredible

29:13

physique. And cuss pointed to one of the

29:15

men to get in. And he

29:18

was knocked spark out first

29:20

punch. And I

29:22

tell people I'm not ashamed to say it. I ruined

29:24

a pair of underpants. I shit myself. I got the

29:26

fright of my life. I thought there's no way a

29:28

17 year old boy should

29:37

have that power. Anyway,

29:40

they got that sparring partner resource,

29:42

brought another ring. Two

29:44

more got in, knocked them out. I

29:46

was number four. I got battered for

29:48

three minutes, but I stayed on my feet longer than the

29:50

three previous sparring partners. I

29:53

got out of the ring, couple more got in and they

29:55

lasted whatever length of time they lasted. I was back in again.

29:57

I've done another three minutes. I've done six minutes with him now.

30:00

day and I got battered

30:02

but the madness in me because I do believe

30:04

to fight you've got to have a little bit

30:06

of madness in you you know and

30:09

some of more madness than others but

30:11

the madness that was in me I believed

30:14

I'm gonna get the better of you one day I never did I

30:16

stayed on one of the two years and I

30:18

loved every moment of it yeah like I said

30:21

he made me cry so many times but

30:24

the friendship that we built at the time

30:26

has still stood to test the time and it will

30:29

40 years later 40 years later we still laugh and

30:31

joke together and one day one

30:33

day he said to me this

30:36

particular day after 22 years

30:38

of friendship we were together and

30:41

he said how's your mother doing Joe I

30:43

said she's not so good Mike she's

30:46

a lump removed from her neck my uncle

30:48

Brian died my brother at 47 were cancer and

30:50

he wasn't even a smoker my mom was a

30:52

smoker so I said I'm a bit

30:54

worried about this lump like let's go and see her mother

30:57

Joe so we landed in Dublin

30:59

it was hysteria okay oh my god what year

31:01

was this then roughly I can't remember in the

31:03

2000s 22 um so that

31:07

would be 18 years ago

31:09

so early 2000s mid 2000s

31:12

okay so because I was backwards

31:14

and forwards to America even though it wasn't boxing

31:16

so wasn't it wasn't he banned from coming in

31:18

the UK but it was 2012

31:21

they changed the law in 2012 and he was in the UK

31:23

in 2012 because I was with him with Scott Welch

31:28

and they changed the law anybody with

31:30

four four year or more sentence can't

31:32

come into the UK might sort

31:34

of six year sentence which is wrong to

31:36

do that to the man he served his

31:38

time yeah you can't keep punishing people if

31:40

you punish them for doing a crime and

31:44

I think there was it was wrong

31:46

what were they done to him what

31:48

did they do to him they don't have a

31:50

charge you know and I

31:53

was a character witness for that case Desiree

31:56

Washington she was a Sunday school teacher teaching

31:59

children the principles of of Morals of Life.

32:01

He was judging him as a black beauty

32:03

pageant and he was a

32:05

big star and she went to

32:07

a married man's room. A

32:10

married man with a reputation as a womanizer. She

32:13

wasn't a principled woman because why would you

32:15

go to a married man's room? You're teaching

32:19

children the principles of Morals of Life. So

32:22

she went to his room. She

32:24

was out dancing the next day. She

32:27

was bragging to her friends that she was Mike

32:29

Tyson's new girl and he

32:32

walked into the club with another beautiful

32:34

black lady and she was scorned and

32:37

her roommates laughed at her and she felt

32:39

that she'd been used. Being

32:42

used is a big difference to being a black

32:44

lady. He got done by

32:47

a lady judge called

32:49

Patricia Gifford and

32:52

shortly before that case

32:56

one of the Kennedys was after beating a

32:58

charge and I think that if they'd have

33:00

let Mike off the Kennedy case would have

33:02

been dragged up again. What was it feeling

33:05

like when you brought Mike to Dublin? Incredible.

33:07

What year roughly we talking? Oh God. I

33:09

remember 22 years after speaking

33:11

for my mum anyway we landed in Dublin. We

33:14

landed in Dublin and me

33:19

and Scott, Mike, my wife, she was

33:21

my wife at the time, my wife

33:23

now and we landed in Dublin

33:26

and we got

33:28

picked up in Dahoma, Jerry

33:30

Hutch picked

33:32

us up in Dahoma. It was hysteria in

33:34

Dublin. I bet. Did they know he was

33:36

coming in? We had already gone round. What

33:38

were you getting in for? Just

33:40

to see my mum. He was visiting my

33:42

mum because she wasn't well. They'd been speaking

33:45

on the phone for 22 years and they'd

33:47

never met so now she's not well. She'd

33:49

been released from hospital because

33:51

the MRSA book was in

33:53

the hospital and she couldn't mind herself so she

33:56

went to her sister's house, my

33:58

Auntie Linda. And the

34:01

house in the state where my auntie's house was,

34:03

was the house in the state where my family

34:05

had been evicted from. Right.

34:10

So to walk onto that house in the state, I'll tell

34:12

you about that eviction, Dutch. People think

34:15

that Joe Egan's life is incredible.

34:17

Yes, I've had a good life.

34:20

I've had a hard life. You

34:22

know, I've had to endure things that I've been

34:24

shot a couple of times. I've been stabbed

34:26

a few times. I've built the

34:28

royalty out of respect. I built a known man

34:30

out of fear. And

34:32

even the shirt I wear, there's two

34:35

spellings of the word fear. The fighter

34:37

spells fear, face everything and rise. The

34:40

person that doesn't want to fight spells it, forget

34:42

everything and run. You know, and I've

34:44

been a fighter all my life. We'll lose our draw. I'll

34:47

fight. Do you understand? I'll

34:50

give it a go. I won't be bullied and

34:52

lay down. And

34:54

when we were kids, me and my brothers,

34:58

we used to buy a bag of

35:00

lugs for £1.50 and we'd

35:03

chop the lugs into sticks and

35:05

we'd get the inner tube of a car and we'd

35:07

cut the inner tube of a car across like that

35:09

and make a big elastic band and

35:13

put the elastic band around the bundler sticks and

35:15

we'd sell the bundler sticks for 25 pence. So

35:18

we would make £7.50 out of £1.50 bag of lugs. And

35:22

me and my two brothers done that for a

35:24

couple of years, little boys making a few pence.

35:28

But then the council said that

35:30

we were running a business from the

35:32

council house and they put the rent up

35:34

to maximum rent and they backdated it for

35:36

two years and they said we owed them

35:39

£6,000 in arrears for rent. Little

35:42

boys putting the chuckman sticks. So

35:46

when my dad came back from England

35:48

working, he said no,

35:50

this is a right. So he fought

35:53

against the council and in

35:55

the courts. And I was

35:57

away at 16 boxing in Denmark. And

36:01

the council made an example of

36:03

my family because my dad

36:05

had stood up to the council which were

36:07

bullies as well. You know, they've since

36:09

been proven that they were all in the wrong. And

36:13

they evicted my family. I didn't know this was

36:15

happening. I was in Denmark boxing in Eschberg

36:17

in Copenhagen. And I'm

36:21

ringing home after my fights and

36:24

I can't get an answer on the phone. So

36:26

I rang my Nana. I said, Nana, I

36:29

can't get an answer on the phone. Somebody said six

36:31

brothers and sisters and my dad home and my mom

36:33

there. My Nana started crying. She

36:36

said, your mom's all right. She's

36:38

not going to die. She'll live. And

36:41

I said, what do you have about Nana? She

36:43

said, your mom's tried to kill herself. I said, no, no,

36:45

my mom wouldn't do that. My mom's the

36:47

happiest woman in the world. But

36:50

what had happened is the bailiffs and

36:52

four days of battles trying

36:54

to get into my family home.

36:56

And some of my dad's friends, Mickey

36:59

Hudson, Brian Murray, Maca Kona,

37:03

Matty Dunphy, friends that were my

37:05

dad's pals used to play the card games in when he'd come

37:07

home from England. They all fought

37:09

in the house against the bailiffs.

37:12

Four days and four nights. I didn't

37:15

know this was happening. And after

37:17

four days and four nights, my mom just took

37:19

a breakdown. And

37:21

she. She's

37:29

a colorist. She's

37:36

not going to know. She

37:46

survived. But she tried to

37:48

kill herself because it was just too much. So

37:52

when I landed back in

37:54

Dublin and got

37:57

picked up by the mini boss,

37:59

I got picked up. up to the bottom of the

38:01

road where I lived and the

38:03

TD at the time which is like an

38:05

MP in England is a member of

38:07

the government Michael Sean Moore he fought

38:09

for my family because what was going

38:12

on was wrong. They've

38:14

since named that road Sean Moore Road so

38:18

I got dropped at the bottom of

38:20

that road and my suitcase on my sports bag. I

38:25

ran around

38:28

that road and came

38:31

round. It was a big war. We

38:34

were number six Brevin Grove and

38:38

my dad was sitting on a rocking chair outside

38:40

my internet belongings that had

38:42

been turfed down onto the street.

38:46

All my boxing trophies all broke up but

38:49

after four days the bailiffs couldn't get in so

38:52

the police were called in to guard her but

38:54

my grandfather was a sergeant in the guard her and

38:56

my dad had respect for the police same as I

38:58

have respect for the police you

39:01

know they have to be there the

39:03

police have to be there because otherwise you'd have anarchy.

39:06

I don't like seeing them in my rearview mirror but I

39:09

know they have to be there you know so there was

39:11

a front page picture of the guard

39:14

shaking hands with my dad because they didn't want to

39:16

be doing this. They didn't want to

39:18

be doing this. We were

39:20

a good family. My dad was a

39:22

good man. Anyway,

39:26

during my case I was supposed to be

39:28

in a run. Brace

39:30

my dad. All my boxing trophies were

39:32

smashed. Brothers

39:35

and sisters in family friends

39:37

houses because they wouldn't have

39:40

been put into homes. Anyway,

39:45

it was proven later on that it was a wrong

39:47

thing to do. My dad had

39:49

been in the right. They

39:51

were wrong. Kids chopping sticks but

39:54

you can't turn back time and

39:58

anyway that was the housing estate. Mike

40:02

Tyson was walking on to me with me.

40:04

All them years later, Manti

40:06

had a house on that house

40:08

in the state. And we walked onto

40:10

that house in the state, me and one of the

40:12

greatest heavyweights of all time. And

40:16

it was like, we

40:18

just have an incredible feeling. We

40:20

actually showed Mike the house we were evicted

40:22

from. I've apologized to

40:24

my brothers and sisters that

40:27

I wasn't there. They

40:30

say, you're away boxing

40:32

for your country, you're away boxing for your

40:34

city, you know, and you're doing this so

40:36

proud. I probably

40:39

wouldn't have made much difference being there, but it

40:42

was horrible for them to go through that. Because

40:45

when my dad was away working, I was like the man of the

40:47

house. I was the man of the house. And

40:52

I was the brother. Anyway, I'm

40:55

now on this house in the state with

40:58

Mike, Scott

41:02

and Ruth and Manti's house.

41:04

There was a gang of my friends, so

41:07

many men that I

41:09

fought with my dad, they were there, you

41:12

know, Mike knew the

41:14

story. And I introduced them. It's

41:16

like he knew them because he'd grown up

41:18

listening to these stories. Anyway,

41:23

Mike embraced my mom. This is a man

41:25

that can break bones with punches, shatia

41:28

jaws, shatia ribs, break

41:31

your hand half with a punch and

41:33

he's embracing a fragile woman. And

41:35

it was beautiful to see. I

41:37

was so it was it

41:39

was just wonderful. And

41:42

they started talking about birthdays. And

41:45

Mike's birthday is the 30th of June. My mom's

41:47

birthday was the 12th of July. And they're both

41:49

of the same birth sign cancer. And

41:52

Mike said Mrs Egan, he said I remember on my 18th

41:55

birthday, which was 22 years previous. together

42:00

when we were 17. He said, I

42:02

remember on my 18th birthday, he said, you sent

42:04

me over a birthday present, a shoebox full

42:07

of potato chips, Irish tato crisps. This

42:09

is on the internet, am I talking

42:11

to you? Irish tato crisps.

42:13

He said some sweatshirts. There would have

42:15

been secondhand sweatshirts and some money in

42:17

an envelope. It would have been very

42:19

little money. And

42:22

my mum said to Mike, you remember that

42:24

Mike? He said, yes, I remember

42:26

it, Mrs Eakin. He said, very few people have given

42:28

me anything in my life. Yes, I

42:30

remember it. Scott Welch got

42:32

choked up. Ruth got choked up.

42:35

They walked out of the room. I

42:38

broke down crying. And

42:40

Mike looked at me, excuse my swearing.

42:42

I don't swear much. But

42:45

Mike went, Joe, motherfucker, you're always

42:47

crying. Because he made me cry

42:49

so many times. He spotted me.

42:51

I'm sorry I got emotional now

42:53

today. I do cry a lot, but

42:57

he embraced me and my mum. And I

42:59

just thought to myself, this man could have

43:01

been a billionaire athlete, remembering a

43:03

couple of packets of crisps, couple of pounds in

43:05

an envelope and a couple of secondhand sweatshirts 22

43:08

years before. I couldn't remember what I

43:10

got 22 years ago. I'm sure you couldn't remember what

43:12

you got 22 years ago. But it showed

43:14

what it meant to this man. And I

43:17

love him dearly. He has

43:20

had a sad

43:22

introduction to this world. He's had a hard

43:25

life, but not a hard life. But I

43:27

don't envy his life. Mine is probably tame

43:29

in comparison to what he's had to live.

43:31

Yes, he's become the heavyweight champion of the

43:34

world. But he's had to endure the

43:37

sadness, the horrors, grown up

43:39

as a child in Brownsville. That's

43:41

tough, Jesus. He saw the man hanging at

43:43

10 years of age as a child. Any

43:45

10 year old child finding a man hanging

43:48

is going to traumatise him. But Mike, Mike

43:52

is a warrior and a half. How

43:54

different is he inside the ring to outside the

43:56

ring? He's a lovely man outside of when he's

43:58

not hitting you. He's lovely. him in Vegas

44:00

about 10 years ago. How did you get on? Lovely. He's

44:02

great. He's a great lovely human

44:04

being. I can't believe the size of him.

44:07

I know he was not training well this is like 10 years ago but

44:10

you wouldn't think he's been knocking out big men.

44:12

Very deceiving. Very deceiving. But it's the speed. The

44:15

power and the speed. But see when he's not

44:17

hitting you he's a really nice guy. Yeah. You

44:19

know when he throws a punch he throws a

44:21

punch with bad intentions. Yeah. You

44:23

know and for the life of me

44:25

you know even when they describe gunfire he

44:28

hit his American saying no it's only friendly

44:30

fire. I don't believe there's anything friendly

44:32

in a bullet. The same as I

44:34

don't think there's anything friendly in a punch. You

44:36

punch somebody you're throwing them with bad intentions. Yeah.

44:38

You know. What's that feeling

44:40

like being punched by Mike Thomas? Very painful.

44:43

See if Mike missed you with a punch

44:45

you'd get pneumonia from the draft. Yeah.

44:49

He was just so powerful and so

44:51

fast. But I was fortunate because I

44:54

wasn't 6 foot 5. The 6 foot 5, 6 foot 6

44:57

guys would get

44:59

that extra 4 or 5 inch momentum from

45:01

his upper cut. I've seen him lifting powerful

45:04

men off the floor. Big powerhouse men lifting

45:06

them. Like what you see in a cartoon

45:08

movie. You know because he'd get

45:10

that extra 4 or 5 inch momentum and he'd

45:12

bring up that power and his thighs and

45:15

his just leverage was incredible. What were

45:17

you doing in your 20s, 30s? Did

45:20

you ever get into trouble with the old bill? Not

45:23

in my 20s. What

45:26

sort of trouble? I'll tell you what happened Dutch right.

45:28

I've been a good person all my life. I'm not

45:30

trying to trouble

45:32

a case of myself. No, no, no. Everyone knows

45:34

you've met. I respect the law. Do you understand?

45:36

There has to be rules. There has to be

45:38

people to enforce the rules. Otherwise

45:40

I said earlier on you'd have anarchy. When

45:44

my boxing career finished. Roughly what age?

45:47

I was 25. I had a bad

45:49

car crash. Did you? Bad car

45:51

smudge up. Broken bones? Yeah, smashed

45:57

knee, smashed jaw, smashed shoulder. after

46:00

one of my pro fights actually. Yeah I'd won

46:02

the fight I got 64 stitches after

46:04

the fight. I got caught across

46:06

the top of the eye, the side of the eye,

46:08

across the cheek, the lip. You win. Yeah I won,

46:10

yeah big Carlton Headley went on to be the Gladiator

46:12

Raider, it was a great fight. Yeah. Incredible fight. I

46:15

was on Dave Boy Macaulay's world title bill

46:17

and to box on a world title bill

46:19

was incredible. A great Irish champion Dave Boy,

46:21

Dave Boy Macaulay and I boxed on the

46:23

bill in the King's Hall but after the

46:25

fight because I was so badly caught and

46:28

got stitched up in internal stitches

46:30

and everything I didn't want to really stay

46:32

in Belfast so I went back to Dublin.

46:34

My sister would organise the coach for family and friends

46:36

to come up and watch the fight. They went to

46:38

the after party after the boxing and

46:40

I'd been stitched up so three

46:43

o'clock in the morning we're going back to Dublin on the

46:45

coach. Good atmosphere on the coach,

46:48

my granddad, family and friends and

46:51

my girlfriend at the time who

46:55

tragically died three

46:57

days ago, four days ago, she died last

46:59

Thursday, got rest her, 51 years of

47:01

age, Lisa Murphy. We were

47:03

together for 11 years,

47:06

unknown since she was a child. My

47:08

auntie, Lindy used to call her dad,

47:10

Des the drummer. My brother

47:12

Paul died 30 years ago so for Eileen and

47:14

Des to bury two children

47:16

it's sad but she

47:20

fought stage four cancer for

47:22

years. Brave, brave, brave woman. But

47:25

she died last Thursday. She's out of

47:27

her pain now but

47:31

she was on the coach she'd come up and

47:36

my granddad was saying goodbye to

47:38

us because we were catching

47:40

off the coach at Pannell Square and

47:44

the driver said, I'll

47:46

throw up this to the next night, save his walk

47:48

to the car and

47:52

my granddad wasn't going back to the house he was going home

47:54

and in an old Mercedes taxi like

47:56

a tank of a car came across

47:58

the lights, broke the lights. went into a

48:00

skid, hit her from the

48:02

side of the coach and lifted the coach. My

48:05

granddad, he fell, I

48:07

grabbed Lee, so otherwise he'd been thrown against the windscreen

48:09

of the coach and she went

48:11

unconscious and my arms twisted

48:14

my knee, damaged the bone

48:16

of my knee, my shoulder, my jaw. But

48:19

we were after stopping 10 minutes

48:21

around the corner, 5 minutes around the corner to drop

48:23

a friend of my sister's, my sister's an accountant and

48:26

her friend David Mitchell who was a doctor, we

48:28

were after dropping him off on Dorset

48:30

Street before we turned on to Pinell Square.

48:32

This is Dublin. And

48:34

when we

48:37

had to go to the hospital, this was at

48:39

4 o'clock in the morning, he came on duty at 8

48:41

o'clock and he'd only left

48:43

us four hours before and suddenly there's a group of

48:45

us from the coach in hospital. He

48:47

couldn't understand what had happened and we often joked

48:49

afterwards, if we hadn't stopped to drop you off,

48:51

we'd have been ahead of that actually that broke

48:53

the lines. But luckily

48:55

enough, nobody died. The passenger in the

48:57

taxi was badly wounded and

49:00

I was badly wounded. My

49:02

granddad, he was hurt. And that was the point when you

49:04

and my career is over. Over. What

49:07

was that feeling like? Horrible. You

49:09

were missing food. Absolutely horrible. And

49:13

my life went downhill fairly

49:16

fast. And

49:20

I didn't know what to do with my life because

49:22

everything had been boxing. But I spoke to Paddy Finn

49:24

who'd retired from boxing because of the injury

49:26

in the back. He'd have trapped a disc in his back, whatever

49:29

injuries he had. And he'd come

49:31

over to the UK to run pubs in Birmingham. So

49:34

I was in two mines to go back

49:36

to America or do I stay in the

49:39

UK? I

49:41

went to see Paddy Finn and he gave

49:43

me the opportunity to run his pub. And

49:46

he sent me on courses.

49:48

I'd done an MPQ course, two MPQ

49:50

courses. I'd done a BII certificate, British

49:53

Institute of Inkeeping, because I'd left school with

49:55

two swimming certificates. I had nothing, no really

49:58

education. I believed the boxing was going to be good. to make

50:00

me my fortune touch. So suddenly

50:02

now I've got certificates. I was top

50:04

of the world, you know,

50:07

and I ran Peddie's pub to Dublin and Portland

50:09

Birmingham for two years. And

50:11

then the opportunity came up to take a pub

50:13

over in Odington called the Lindhurst. Now

50:16

the Lindhurst estate was a tough, hard

50:18

estate. And there was a pub that

50:21

was doing a

50:23

thousand pound a week, but in a big function room. And

50:27

me and my business partner told me, we took

50:29

the pub. I became the licensee.

50:31

I'd been the licensee of the Lindhurst of Dublin. I've

50:33

never been in trouble in my life with the police

50:35

and on over discharge from the parts

50:38

of Miami and Dublin. And

50:42

I've worked with Delta Airlines as well in

50:44

between. I had the FAA certificate with federal

50:46

aviation authority with the Delta Airlines. I

50:48

was working for the airlines when I was boxing pro. And

50:52

so I was a good character, you

50:54

know. And so we took

50:57

the Lindhurst September 97, took

51:00

it from a thousand pounds a week to

51:02

16,000 pounds a week. We built the trade.

51:04

We put a quiz note on Monday night

51:06

with the darts

51:08

team, the football team. We really... We put

51:10

everyone in community. It was the boxing community.

51:12

I mean, we put two tournaments on in

51:15

the function room. Bonnie Johnson came to perform

51:17

a British champion. Richie Wood,

51:19

our former world champion. Ernie Shavers,

51:21

the world heavyweight contender. Rob Norton,

51:23

the world cruiserweight champion. I

51:26

had Paul Barbadette, I had a lot of football

51:28

players come. So suddenly this house in the state...

51:30

Come a hub. Yeah, it was great. These people

51:32

on the house in the state were now

51:34

mixing with celebrities and the quiz night. They traveled

51:37

far and far to come to the quiz night

51:39

on Monday night. The staff were

51:41

wonderful and we were having a great life. But

51:44

then the racketeers, the parasites

51:46

on society, they decided

51:49

on the 19th of July, 1998, that they were

51:51

going to demand money

51:54

by men. It's protection money. People

51:57

think this only happens in movies. This happens in real

51:59

life. And they put a

52:01

demand on me and my business partner

52:03

who's ex-French foreign Legion, medal of honor winner, soldier

52:07

and a half. I'm a fighting man.

52:09

So I proud men. And they put a demand

52:13

on the pub for 500 pound a week. So

52:16

I said, Tommy said, Joe, let's take

52:18

it to them. I said, no, Tommy, my

52:21

boxing life is over. That

52:23

was my first bite of the apple. This

52:25

is my second bite of the apple. Some

52:28

people don't get a one bite. I've now

52:30

got two. Yeah. Right. I'm not a vigilante.

52:32

Yes, I'm a fighting man, but I'm not

52:34

a vigilante. Let the police deal with this.

52:37

So the police all informed Tommy

52:40

wasn't happy at the time. But I said, look,

52:42

Tommy, I'm the licensee or the pillar of the

52:44

community. I don't want to be seen as a tug

52:46

like them. Right. This is

52:48

tuggery. And the police

52:50

know what's happening the following week on the

52:52

26th of July, 1998. The police

52:55

had an armed response unit ready. They knew

52:57

what was coming to the pub. 37 men

52:59

armed with a shotgun, a handgun, hatches and

53:01

machete machetes attacked the pub.

53:04

I was blessed with a Sunday

53:06

communion on the function room. But

53:09

the pub was frequented by boxers. Tough

53:12

guys used to come in.

53:15

Have the games a pool of

53:17

the jokes and the laugh of the careers. And

53:20

one man in particular, a man called Steve Dalton. Bravest

53:23

man I've ever met in my life. He

53:25

was there that day. His wife, Tina,

53:28

his sisters, Kathy and Lynn, they were

53:30

in the pub. His family frequented the

53:32

pub. So when this gang attacked

53:34

half an hour previous, I got a phone

53:37

call from a friend of mine

53:39

to say that these gangs are gathering. Now this gang

53:41

had been attacking and burning pubs

53:43

actually burnt down two of Patty Finn's pubs

53:46

over the years. Right. They

53:48

were recognized as racketeers

53:51

scum from Birmingham. So

53:54

they were gathering in this pub. I got a phone call

53:56

to say these gangs are gathering. So I phoned a police

53:58

officer that was dealing with the case. Sergeant

54:00

Andy Gilbert is now high up in the ranks

54:02

of the police. A good man

54:04

coined decent police officer. And

54:07

he said, Joe, I'm on my way to you. He said,

54:09

I radio the station. Okay. Officers

54:11

to March and his pubs dispersed this gang as he

54:13

was on his way to me. This is fact. I'm

54:16

not making this up. As he was on his way

54:18

to me, he got sent on a Mickey Mouse alarm

54:20

call to the Bronford. Mine was a genuine distress call.

54:23

They knew that those men come into my

54:25

pub with firearms. They're an armed response unit

54:27

ready. 30

54:30

minutes later, there's 37 men on the

54:32

car park in my pub with hatchets,

54:35

machetes, handgun, shotgun, and

54:37

they attacked the pub. Headlines

54:40

in the newspaper after the incident said

54:42

the Brave Heart film made

54:45

the attack on

54:47

the Lindhurst made the Brave Heart film look

54:50

like a Walt Disney movie. It

54:52

was a pitch battle. Blessings

54:54

have got nobody died. Those people lost limbs,

54:58

hands chopped, legs chopped. I

55:00

took two gunshot wounds. Steve

55:02

Dalton, bravest man I've ever seen in my life,

55:04

he ran at the bullets. I

55:07

watched him. I hit behind a wall. I hit behind a

55:09

wall. I'm not ashamed to say I got the fright of

55:11

my life. You know, I'd never been in

55:13

a gun battle. Dalton ran

55:16

at the bullets and took two

55:18

gunshot wounds. When

55:21

I visited him in hospital, he

55:23

said, I've done it for my wife and my sister, John. I was the

55:25

only one who was in the building. It

55:28

was horrific. The

55:33

reason I got wounded is because a man called Tim O'Regan,

55:35

a man that had fought in World War II stepped

55:37

out after Dalton had been shot

55:39

with his hands up. He said, I

55:41

know these boys. I can stop this. And

55:44

as I stepped out to pull him back in behind

55:46

the wall, the guy that was doing the shooting, I

55:48

won't mention his name. I won't mention his name. I'm

55:50

not going to glorify this scumbag. He

55:54

shot innocent people, unarmed people,

55:57

right? He's a thug. As

56:01

Tim O'Regan stepped out with his hands up, I stepped

56:03

out the pulling in behind the wall and this man

56:05

was handed a saw and off shotgun because he threw

56:08

the handgun on the floor after firing three shots from

56:10

the handgun, two of the bullets to get my friend

56:12

Bolton. He threw the handgun down the

56:14

jump and he threw it on the floor and

56:16

he was handed the saw and off shotgun and

56:19

he blasted Tim O'Regan into the hip. He blew

56:21

the hip clean out of a man that had

56:23

fought in World War II, an Irish

56:25

man that fought in the British Army in World War II,

56:27

survived World War II to get shot

56:29

on the Lindhorset estate but had no life. So

56:33

as he got hit in the hips with the

56:35

shotgun pellets, someone had hit me around

56:37

the arms and stuff and it

56:40

was probably the most horrific stench I'd ever

56:42

smelt in my life, the smell of burning

56:44

skin. My skin, Tim

56:46

O'Regan's skin, Steve Dalton's skin, in

56:49

the foyer of the Lindhorset pub, a confined

56:51

space. And to smell

56:53

this, it was a horrific burning

56:55

skin stench. Anyway,

57:00

after the battle, I had to go to the hospital, I

57:02

was badly wounded. How long did this battle

57:04

go on for? Thirty minutes. Fifty-five

57:06

minutes before the first policeman arrived.

57:09

Police stationed 600 yards down the road. They didn't want

57:11

to know. Disappointed,

57:14

let down. And this

57:16

was all because you were standing your ground saying,

57:18

I'm not giving you a man. I got an

57:21

email from Andy Gilbert afterwards. I still got the

57:23

email. And he said, Joe, he said,

57:25

I'm sorry that you didn't get

57:27

the service you deserved on the day. And

57:30

I'm sorry that your life spiraled out of

57:32

control afterwards. My life went downhill very, very

57:34

fast, very, very fast after that. What

57:36

happened to that boozer? Close down? No, it's gone now.

57:40

No, no, afterwards. Afterwards, we kept it on.

57:42

Did it scare people going back into the

57:44

boozer? The trade must have dropped. The

57:47

public supported me. Yeah. Because

57:49

this gang that had attacked were

57:51

recognised racist, part

57:54

of the combat 18, Part

57:57

of the so-called National Front. I had a lot

57:59

of black people. The frequent my com

58:01

you know the somebody black man

58:03

stop with me that day. What

58:05

a wicked Danny Brown T T

58:07

Lurch You know health fail fragments

58:09

you know. X. Boxes

58:11

personal friends a month Mike

58:14

Tyson. In. Flight to

58:16

them down to the hotel when he was

58:18

over the box or brought these men and

58:20

women that it stood with me. Down.

58:22

To meet moink any thank them Personally

58:25

felt in a particular for put into

58:27

lies on the Lloyds for his brother

58:29

Joe. This is

58:31

now. In. All the making this

58:33

up this that presented might have some

58:36

party at a dinner and the Hilton

58:38

Hotel in Birmingham presented Steve Bolton attest

58:40

to for fifteen hundred audience but it

58:43

already thank them at the the hotel

58:45

in number one like was over preparing

58:47

to fights are loose have reason to

58:49

differences of two occasions you know and

58:52

these guys on the least as much

58:54

as any sense of anymore trumpeted your

58:56

poop jokes an arm landed a they

58:59

were like an awesome is my friend

59:01

you know but. We.

59:03

Kept the popcorn fruit for few years after was

59:05

me my business partner. We never hit the heights

59:07

of what we'd originally it but we kept the

59:09

go. It was that suppose I'd say the reason

59:12

why now it's be go see. If I hadn't

59:14

kept the go and I was alone they would

59:16

avoid going to understand so I kept the go.

59:18

it's we went from. I remember

59:20

my count that can preach out. He

59:22

said to me he's Kipnis thirty Titan

59:24

sit oaks when you took the pulpit

59:27

a thousand pounds and he said you

59:29

for have doubts about how did you

59:31

feel the city for it He said

59:33

what is gone from sixteen thousand act

59:35

out before and a half to has

59:37

a go back to the thousand So

59:39

get that feeling again of how he

59:41

felt when you hit the for an

59:44

hour first time round but at that

59:46

stage we were needing six thousand pounds

59:48

to break even because we'd be deployed.

59:50

More staff and we will do

59:52

more things with the entertainment. It's.

59:55

so for the first few weeks to

59:57

be been closed for weeks to please

59:59

close The Chief Constable

1:00:01

insisted that I made safety to

1:00:05

the pub. I had to put crash barriers

1:00:07

up, shutters, cameras, because he said,

1:00:09

this gang has a reputation of

1:00:11

burning down venues. So

1:00:13

we had to make this pub. It was a fortress,

1:00:16

you know, which wasn't very appealing on

1:00:18

the eye. But we still built

1:00:20

the trade back up. How did you

1:00:22

feel afterwards? Were you thinking revenge? Was

1:00:24

there people around you? My business partner,

1:00:27

like I said, ex-French foreign legion, he

1:00:29

was disappointed that we

1:00:32

didn't take it to them. I

1:00:34

was a little bit disappointed after being let down by the

1:00:36

place that we didn't take it to them. But

1:00:40

like I said, nobody died, right?

1:00:43

It was abandoned brothers

1:00:45

that day and sisters. Did

1:00:47

they ever come back again? No, they didn't. How

1:00:50

paranoid were you after that? I

1:00:53

knew in my heart

1:00:55

that they hadn't got courage to

1:00:58

come back. They got beaten on

1:01:00

that day. They were just bullies. And

1:01:02

when you beat the bully, they don't come back. Are

1:01:04

you telling they brought 37 men? 37, yeah. Jesus.

1:01:08

March to high strength. March to up and roll. Because you didn't give

1:01:10

them 500 quid a week. 500 quid a week. Was

1:01:12

there nothing else, nothing else underbelly, as

1:01:14

though undercurrent around this? No. We

1:01:17

were purely thinking of a monkey away. They were getting protection money from different pubs

1:01:19

in the area. That's right. Are

1:01:21

these still alive today? Yeah.

1:01:25

Have you ever seen any of them since that day? No. No. How

1:01:29

would you be if you saw the top

1:01:31

men? I

1:01:34

don't really want to say on air. But

1:01:38

let me tell you something now, for what

1:01:40

it's worth. See if they tell me

1:01:42

today, I've got a terminal illness. See

1:01:45

the man that shot me, he's dying tomorrow. Yeah. Right.

1:01:48

That's fact. And I look at the camera and I

1:01:50

say that, you're dead tomorrow. If

1:01:52

they tell me I've got a terminal illness

1:01:54

today. I carry this. I carry

1:01:56

this in my heart. And

1:01:59

it's a heart. thing to do to swallow your pride. Right?

1:02:03

He's an evil, evil, evil man.

1:02:06

Right? One of the

1:02:08

gang leaders, one of the gang leaders that actually

1:02:10

killed his best friend, stuck a sword, cleaned through

1:02:12

his best friend. This is fact, I'm not making

1:02:14

this up. It's not a sword, cleaned through his

1:02:17

best friend, killed his best friend.

1:02:19

So what chance is people that they got that don't like?

1:02:22

Right? And my

1:02:25

life has been hard, Dutch. My life has been

1:02:27

hard. I've had a hard life. I've had battles

1:02:30

all my life. But I've never bowed down

1:02:32

to a bully. Yeah, never bow down to a bully. And I

1:02:35

won't bow down to a bully. Right?

1:02:37

I won't bow down to a bully. And that's what they

1:02:39

are bullies. Right? But

1:02:41

see, when you got to swallow your pride, it's a

1:02:43

horrible thing to do. It's a horrible thing to

1:02:45

do. You know, and I'm

1:02:48

as proud a man as any man on this planet. But

1:02:51

these were pure evil on the day. You've

1:02:54

been carrying this round for 25 years, 20

1:02:56

odd years plus. Listen,

1:03:00

there's evil around us. Society is full of evil. You

1:03:03

know, society is full of evil.

1:03:06

He's an evil man. You know, mask,

1:03:09

you know, mask that day. The

1:03:11

rest of the gang will balaclava and scarves

1:03:13

all around the face. But I knew who they

1:03:15

were. You know, I knew who they were. But

1:03:18

the guy that done the shooting had no mask. I've

1:03:21

never said his name and I won't say his name on air because I'm

1:03:23

not going to glorify him. Even in my

1:03:25

book, I call them Jack Welch. Right?

1:03:27

Because five people went to

1:03:29

identify him after the shooting. And

1:03:31

he walked free after 36 hours.

1:03:34

And the sergeant that phoned me Vicky Seville

1:03:36

phoned me Sergeant Vicky Seville, a

1:03:38

beautiful lady that had been wounded in gun

1:03:41

battles. She phoned me.

1:03:43

She said, Joe, I'm ever

1:03:45

so sorry to inform you. But we're gonna have to let this

1:03:47

man go after 36 hours. When I

1:03:49

was arrested after the battle, I was held for 48

1:03:51

hours. The man

1:03:53

that done the shooting walked free after 36 hours and Vicky

1:03:55

Seville said to me, Joe, you look out

1:03:57

for yourself. You be careful. I said, they're not coming

1:03:59

back. they're not coming back, right?

1:04:02

I had a few threats over the

1:04:04

phone, a few threats over the phone, because that's about

1:04:06

the strength of them, you know, like

1:04:09

most police, they take a paste in,

1:04:12

they're not coming back near you, you know, stand

1:04:14

up to the police and I've stood up to them

1:04:16

all my life and I encourage people to stand up

1:04:18

to them. How did your life spiral out of control?

1:04:21

What happened? Happened? Shouldn't have happened.

1:04:23

But because I got charged with attempted

1:04:25

murder, all I've done was defend myself. That's all

1:04:27

I've done. On

1:04:30

a different occasion? No, the same occasion. Same occasion?

1:04:32

Yes. I got charged with attempted murder.

1:04:34

I beat the charges, headlines in the newspaper, justice

1:04:36

prevails. I beat the charges. All

1:04:38

I've done was defend myself. Right? At

1:04:41

the time the brewery were trying to evict me because they said

1:04:43

I wasn't a fitting proper person for running their pub. All

1:04:45

I've done was stand up for my community in the

1:04:48

pub and then

1:04:50

I had a few issues in Ireland that

1:04:53

I was defending as well over a property. So

1:04:56

I'm fighting for a house in Ireland that I

1:04:58

own. I'm fighting the brewery for

1:05:00

a roof that I got over my head in

1:05:02

the UK and I'm fighting a

1:05:04

charge of attempted murder. So

1:05:07

I wasn't getting legal aid. I sold everything I had.

1:05:09

I sold my watch that my mum and dad got

1:05:11

me for my 18th birthday. I sold my ring that

1:05:13

got me for my 21st. I sold my leather jacket.

1:05:15

I sold my car. I sold everything I had to

1:05:18

get legal fees. When I ran out of the money, a

1:05:21

guy that frequented the pub, a guy

1:05:24

called Robbie Weaver, his nickname was Robbie

1:05:26

Box, used to

1:05:28

come into the pub as a car dealer. We

1:05:30

had an old folks home next door. And we had

1:05:32

people coming in from the old folks home. I had a man turn 100 and

1:05:35

101 in

1:05:37

my pub. He used to come in with his son. His

1:05:39

son was about 80. But the nurses

1:05:41

and the carers used to bring these old people into

1:05:43

my pub and we'd had to drink so cheap. I

1:05:45

don't think we're making any

1:05:48

money breaking even. But it was just lovely to do

1:05:50

this for old war veterans, people that had survived the

1:05:52

wars. And it was just lovely. But

1:05:55

this car dealer used to come in, he was like a Delboy

1:05:57

Jack the Lad, and he'd buy drinks

1:05:59

and I thought he was a nice enough guy but

1:06:01

as it turned out he was a rogue and

1:06:04

he said Joe he said can

1:06:06

I park stolen cars in your car park. Now

1:06:09

at that stage I was so low so scared

1:06:13

of what was happening to me in my life

1:06:16

because it was going down the

1:06:18

drain so fast. Were you boozing as well? I

1:06:20

don't drink, I don't drink alcohol, I don't touch

1:06:22

alcohol. I'm an Irishman who doesn't drink. My dad

1:06:24

used to say son you're a failure as an

1:06:26

Irishman, it's expected of the paddies to drink. I

1:06:28

don't drink alcohol, I don't smoke, I don't drink,

1:06:30

I've never chucked drugs, I don't gamble. I've

1:06:33

worked all my life. Even when I was boxing pro I

1:06:35

worked three jobs. I worked the door

1:06:37

in the pub, I worked the door in the nightclub and

1:06:39

I worked for the airlines. Boxing professional. So

1:06:42

now my life has gone down the drain

1:06:44

fast. To go from never being

1:06:46

in trouble to charge with attempted murder, battling for

1:06:49

a house in Ireland that I own, battling

1:06:51

for a roof over my head in Birmingham.

1:06:55

So when he gave me the opportunity to park

1:06:57

stolen cars on my car park, I would have

1:06:59

let him park tanks on my car park. I

1:07:01

was so desperate and I

1:07:03

was desperate. I

1:07:05

regret doing it and I

1:07:07

live with the shame for the rest of my life. And

1:07:10

then I am ashamed of it but

1:07:13

I got involved in a crime because I needed money

1:07:16

and the man that

1:07:19

gave me the opportunity to do the crime, he eventually

1:07:21

went police evidence and he set

1:07:23

us up and I

1:07:25

got sent to prison. I originally got two

1:07:27

and a half years but because I'd beaten the West

1:07:29

Midlands police in a previous case, they

1:07:31

wanted to punish me and they tried

1:07:34

to increase the two and a half year sentence for

1:07:36

seven years. For what? For just having

1:07:38

stolen cars on your drive. For stolen cars on

1:07:41

the car park. Surely not. They wanted to make an example of me.

1:07:43

So they tried to increase the

1:07:47

two and a half years, the seven

1:07:49

years, they increased it to four. See when you're inside

1:07:51

and they give you more time, there is a kick in the

1:07:53

googly's back, you know? But the

1:07:56

shame that I had was, like

1:07:58

I said earlier, I was a bit of a in this interview. All I

1:08:00

ever wanted to do was to deal my daddy proud. And

1:08:03

the only time I'd ever saw my dad cry in my life

1:08:05

was when his dad died and I was a little boy. And

1:08:08

I came home from school half past four, me and my two

1:08:10

brothers, and my mum was in the

1:08:12

hallway, patient the hallway, she said,

1:08:14

get up the bed, get up the bed. I said,

1:08:16

mum, it's only half past four, Batman's on at five.

1:08:18

She got up the bed. So Connolly

1:08:20

went to his bedroom and I sat on the stairs

1:08:22

looking down through the banisters with my armour and my

1:08:24

brother in it. But

1:08:27

that came in from work at six o'clock. That hour

1:08:29

and a half was like, just

1:08:32

never it was like it wasn't ending. That hour

1:08:34

and a half. When my dad

1:08:36

came in, because I was so scared

1:08:38

to see my mum like this, agitated

1:08:41

and pacing the floor. So

1:08:43

when my dad came in, she spoke to my dad in the hallway

1:08:45

and I saw him hold his head in his hands and

1:08:48

cry. And I got the fright in my life.

1:08:51

I'm cradling my brother. I'm

1:08:54

watching my daddy cry. I'd never seen him cry before.

1:08:56

He's the hardest man on the planet. He don't cry.

1:09:00

But as it turned out, his daddy had died. And

1:09:02

I didn't know what was going on. And

1:09:04

I watched my dad break down and

1:09:08

cry when we found out what had

1:09:10

happened. It

1:09:12

was very, very sad. When the clock on,

1:09:16

I'm on trial. I felt

1:09:18

guilty of a crime. I was guilty of. Shame

1:09:21

to say. I looked up to the gallery and

1:09:23

my dad was like the age of you. He

1:09:26

had his head in his hands crying. I felt

1:09:29

sick. Even now, telling

1:09:32

you, I still feel sick to

1:09:34

think that what I did made

1:09:39

him cry and had the same effect on him

1:09:42

as when his daddy died. And I was

1:09:44

like, I'm ashamed. I've never been

1:09:46

in trouble since and I will never

1:09:48

get into trouble again. You understand? Because

1:09:52

it made

1:09:56

him cry. How old were you

1:09:58

when you went into prison? 35?

1:10:01

I served two and a

1:10:04

half years. Sorry, I served two years, excuse

1:10:06

me, I served two years.

1:10:12

I've done three prisons. I've done Blake

1:10:15

and Hurst, then the ship me to Layhill and then the

1:10:17

ship me to York Range. I saved a man's life in

1:10:19

prison, you know, so

1:10:22

that was something good. What was that like for

1:10:24

you, being an honest, old-class? I wasn't

1:10:26

honest at the time because I thought you're wrong.

1:10:28

No, you've done wrong, but you're an old-class there.

1:10:30

I've been brought up very well. You've

1:10:33

had a tough life. All of a sudden you found

1:10:35

yourself 35, no boxing, lost your boozer, man

1:10:39

sort of charges, everything on you. He's bubbled you

1:10:41

up for having nicked cars on the

1:10:43

drive. All of a sudden your life must have been like,

1:10:45

what is going on? It was horrible. It

1:10:48

was horrible. But while I was in prison,

1:10:50

I made the most of my time there. Like I said,

1:10:52

I saved a man's life and others had a heart attack.

1:10:54

I was in the St. Johns Ambulance brigade when I was

1:10:56

a kid, so I know by the first date. I

1:10:59

set the alarm, the security team

1:11:01

came and the OSG officer who'd

1:11:04

been a soldier, fought

1:11:06

in the wars, doing part-time work to subsidize

1:11:08

his pension and help keep the man alive.

1:11:10

I got accommodation there to form the governor.

1:11:12

I got accommodation there to form the governor.

1:11:15

I helped a few prisoners when I was

1:11:17

inside. Guys

1:11:19

that were suffering mentally,

1:11:21

you know. I suffered myself,

1:11:23

but I was stronger mentally than what they were

1:11:25

and I always helped carry them. I had a

1:11:28

couple of nice jobs when I was in the jail, one of them in the

1:11:30

gym, Audley. I

1:11:33

got myself fit. So when I came

1:11:35

out of prison, I made the comeback

1:11:37

in the boxing. That's all I knew how to do. At

1:11:39

the age of? 37. And

1:11:41

there was a big write-up in the boxing

1:11:44

news. It said George Foreman makes the comeback

1:11:46

after 10 years, Big Joe Eakin makes the

1:11:48

comeback after 12 years. To get mentioned in

1:11:50

the same paragraph as one of the greatest

1:11:52

heavyweights of all time was such an honor,

1:11:55

such a privilege. Can't my

1:11:57

name mention in a paragraph alongside him?

1:12:01

I've got photographs on my phone of

1:12:03

Barry McRiggan queuing with Shane at my

1:12:05

book launch with Mike Tyson. Mike Tyson

1:12:07

launched my book in Canary Wharf. I'll

1:12:10

show you afterwards. Mike

1:12:12

Tyson launched my book in Canary Wharf. I

1:12:14

met Cass Pennant at a Joe Frazier

1:12:16

dinner. I met Cass at a Joe Frazier

1:12:18

dinner. I knew who Cass was because my

1:12:20

nephew Tom is a West Ham fan. So

1:12:22

half joke and half old and earnest. I

1:12:25

said to Cass, you might write a book about me. He said,

1:12:27

let me see what you got to say today Joe. And

1:12:30

I spoke afterwards. He said, if you can get Mike

1:12:32

Tyson involved in this book, we'll give it a go. I

1:12:34

phoned Mike. Mike was in Brazil and he said to Cass

1:12:36

anything for my brother Joe. Mike did the

1:12:38

forward for my book, came to launch my book in Canary Wharf.

1:12:41

World Canary Wharf to a standstill. Thousands

1:12:44

and thousands and thousands of people queued overnight. I

1:12:47

know everybody was there for Mike Tyson, but he was

1:12:49

there for me. And it was one of the most

1:12:51

incredible days of my life. What

1:12:53

a failing Joe. Unbelievable. What a failing.

1:12:56

Unbelievable. I'm going to get Mike Tyson in while

1:12:59

I'm signing my book. I'm going to write a book.

1:13:01

Yeah, beside me. I'm going to sign my book back

1:13:03

in the Canary Wharf. Several world champions in attendance. Paul

1:13:06

Shulker Jones, Charlie Magri,

1:13:08

Alan Minter. Alan Minter,

1:13:10

what a fighter. Steve Collins came to the

1:13:13

book launch, but Barry McWiggin queued with the

1:13:15

normal people. And when he got to the

1:13:17

front of the queue, I

1:13:19

jumped up. Mike Tyson jumped. I've gone Barry

1:13:21

McWiggin. Barry stepped back. I got the

1:13:23

first show with the photographs out. And then Mike Tyson embraced

1:13:25

him, cornering him around. And Mike

1:13:28

Tyson said to Barry, you're Barry McWiggin. What

1:13:30

are you queuing for? For the shows you

1:13:32

don't respect. Humblers of the

1:13:34

man. Shane was just in

1:13:36

awe. That's just my dad. I went, your

1:13:38

dad is Barry McWiggin. That's the word. Yeah,

1:13:40

yeah, yeah. Mike asked him to come

1:13:43

back to the hotel so he could have a private audience

1:13:45

with Barry. And I said to Barry, I told you Barry

1:13:47

all them years ago, that this man adores

1:13:50

you. Adores you. And

1:13:52

Barry didn't believe it. I said, I told you Barry, I

1:13:55

don't tell lies. You know? But

1:13:57

Barry queued. I got the photographs on my phone. What

1:13:59

a failing joke. I know, incredible,

1:14:01

incredible, incredible feeling. But

1:14:03

the thing is, right, my

1:14:06

life has been a roller coaster. But

1:14:08

I tell people, it's just my analogy of life, that

1:14:10

when you're on a heart monitor, I've been on a life

1:14:13

support machine, I was five days on a life support machine,

1:14:15

three days on a coma in North Carolina. First

1:14:17

place I ever had a life, I see, and

1:14:20

I see you in it. Hold on, hold on, you were

1:14:22

on a coma for three days. Why, what, when, who? It

1:14:25

was just another incident in my life. Go on.

1:14:28

I won't go down that road, I was five

1:14:30

days, I don't know what he was in. No, I

1:14:32

was five days in intensive care in North Carolina, three

1:14:35

days on a coma. I've had run-ins

1:14:37

at the Grim Reaper many, many times in my life.

1:14:41

He hasn't took me yet, I fought him off a few times. But

1:14:44

it will come to one day. One day it's

1:14:46

gonna come to us all. The only short thing in

1:14:48

life, tragically, is death. You know, you gotta live each

1:14:50

day as if it's your last. Every day is a

1:14:52

gift from God. That's why it's called the present. I

1:14:55

believe in God. I pray every day. You

1:14:57

understand? I don't know if my belief's not to anybody, but

1:15:00

see when the shit hits the fan for people, and it

1:15:02

hits the fan for people regularly. What's the first thing that

1:15:04

they say? God help me. Do you

1:15:06

understand? And I believe, whether

1:15:09

you call him Allah, whether you call him Buddha, whether you call him

1:15:11

God, there's thousands of denominations, there's only

1:15:13

one through God. And we have

1:15:15

to respect him in the proper way,

1:15:18

and respect others. And

1:15:20

I respect everybody's religion. I

1:15:22

don't preach mine

1:15:25

to everybody, I just say what I

1:15:27

believe. You mentioned earlier that when

1:15:29

Mike flew into Dublin, you had your mate,

1:15:31

Hutch, pick him up. Yeah, yeah. You had

1:15:34

Gerard Hutch pick him up in the Hummer.

1:15:37

What's the big feud with the Kinahans and the

1:15:39

Hutchs over the years? Why is that? I'm

1:15:41

friends with both sides. And

1:15:44

it's sad to see, because

1:15:46

these people were all friends, but

1:15:49

it's the world that they're in. And

1:15:51

in the world that they're in, they've had

1:15:54

disputes. And in the world that they're

1:15:56

in, it doesn't resolve

1:15:58

in punch-ups. It's

1:16:00

the gun. And tragically and sadly,

1:16:02

there's people dying on both sides, friends of

1:16:04

mine have died on both sides. I've

1:16:07

tried my level best to keep the peace. You

1:16:09

understand? But I'm

1:16:12

hoping that it's over now. I'm praying

1:16:14

that it's over now, because I don't

1:16:16

see any more. Like

1:16:19

I said, boiled friends

1:16:21

die. And it's

1:16:23

just sad. I don't know the full engine out. So what's going

1:16:26

on? It's just horrible. What happened

1:16:28

on that day on the 5th of

1:16:30

February 2016 at the

1:16:32

Regency Hotel? Were you there? No. No. What

1:16:34

happened that day? I don't know the full

1:16:36

engine. But I know that there was a...

1:16:39

Was it loads of boxes in the hotel? Yeah, there was a way in, the

1:16:41

box in way in. Yeah, there's a box in way in. But

1:16:44

I don't know what to talk about. Yeah, okay. Fair enough.

1:16:46

I don't know what to talk about that. There's friends

1:16:49

of mine on both sides. Even the boy that was killed

1:16:51

that day, David Byrne, he was my

1:16:53

good friend. I know David's dad. I know

1:16:55

his brother Liam. I've been out to visit

1:16:57

David's grave. I didn't go to the funeral.

1:17:00

But he was my friend. And

1:17:05

some of the guys that done the shooting, I know their

1:17:07

families. And I've

1:17:10

cried over David's dad. His father

1:17:13

was yours. And I was sitting with my little boy. It's

1:17:19

just sad. But before

1:17:23

we were saying that, we were...

1:17:25

I want to find out that day, what

1:17:27

happened that day with you confronting, you going

1:17:29

head to head with Tim Witherspoon. Oh,

1:17:31

that's a stupid incident. What was that about?

1:17:34

No, it was a stupid incident. That should

1:17:36

never have happened. No. That should never have

1:17:38

never happened. Tim's my friend. Tim's been my

1:17:40

friend a lot of years. Tim's stayed in

1:17:42

my home. My wife's got dinner for him.

1:17:44

I've sat beside him many, many times at

1:17:46

dinner with him. He's my friend. But

1:17:49

Tim was looking for some extra

1:17:51

work. And I found a pal

1:17:53

of mine, Scott Murray. The tour was meant to be Ken

1:17:56

Norton and George Tuvallo. Sadly

1:18:00

got wounded since died. He couldn't travel

1:18:02

so they sent over Tommy Morrison has

1:18:04

since died and Tony

1:18:06

team she took her and George

1:18:09

Chevalo so I found Scott Murray for

1:18:11

my heavyweight champion who has passports and color I said

1:18:13

Scott can you give Tim a bit of work? He's

1:18:16

a joke course He said I give him a thousand

1:18:18

pounds to come on the night have his photographs talked.

1:18:20

I Phoned

1:18:22

Tim I said look Tim come on

1:18:24

the night stay in my house. I Said

1:18:27

and come on the right gets a photograph stuck thousand

1:18:29

pound. Oh great job. So Tim

1:18:31

come into Birmingham the night before Didn't

1:18:34

stay in my house went

1:18:36

out clubbing Got drunk

1:18:38

many young lad That

1:18:41

suddenly became his agent. Yeah, so Tim's

1:18:43

arrived on the night a Few

1:18:46

drinks in him with this young lad who's now Tim's

1:18:48

agent. Yeah I Don't

1:18:51

have in the photographs talk Tommy Morrison

1:18:54

great champion Tony team She took a

1:18:56

great champion George you follow an incredible

1:18:59

fighter George Chevalo and I'm standing alongside

1:19:01

these great champions and Tim as well

1:19:03

I'm so humbled and honored could be

1:19:05

with this illustrious company. I

1:19:07

was only an Irish champion I was only

1:19:09

a sparring partner Mike Tyson. I was nothing

1:19:12

special very very poor as a

1:19:14

matter of fact Compared

1:19:16

to their ability So

1:19:19

the young guy that Tim was with said Tim these

1:19:22

guys are paying for photographs, where's your money for

1:19:24

the photograph? So Tim

1:19:26

stepped away. Where's my money for

1:19:28

the photograph? So I said Tim

1:19:30

Tim calm down You've

1:19:32

been paid money to have your photograph talk

1:19:36

Tommy Morrison Tony tins. He took a

1:19:38

George Chevalo Looked at him.

1:19:40

Tim has stepped away and

1:19:42

he's raised his voice and He's

1:19:45

getting very leery, yeah, so

1:19:47

I thought to myself right? I'm a fighting man

1:19:50

If I stand back and he hits me with

1:19:53

that right hand to time heavyweight champion of the

1:19:55

world He's gonna decapitate me. He would knock me

1:19:57

out with that right hand. So I thought my

1:19:59

best chance is to step in. I'm

1:20:02

not a cook but I

1:20:04

thought if it's gonna go to blows

1:20:06

to give myself the best chance, step

1:20:08

in close. He's a bigger more powerful man than

1:20:10

me but if I step in close I've got

1:20:12

a fighting chance. That's all we ask for in

1:20:14

life is a fighting chance. So I

1:20:17

stepped in and I said Tim behave

1:20:19

yourself. You're in the wrong here.

1:20:23

Luckily enough he realized at that

1:20:25

moment in time he was in the wrong and

1:20:28

he stepped back and he said okay I was so

1:20:30

glad that he stepped back. I might

1:20:32

have come second that day but I'd have given an

1:20:34

account to myself but we've been

1:20:36

friends for a lot of years and we're still friends to

1:20:38

this day. It shouldn't have happened. He was

1:20:40

out of order and he knows that he was

1:20:42

out of order. The young kid had fired him up saying

1:20:45

what's going on and it

1:20:48

was just a bit disrespectful but like I said Tim

1:20:50

a drink on it. People make mistakes with drinkings. You

1:20:52

know I don't drink alcohol so I don't know what's

1:20:54

going on in the mind of somebody for a drink.

1:20:57

But it's my pal and that shouldn't

1:20:59

have happened and I'm so glad they didn't come

1:21:01

to close. Yeah same. But he was an incredible

1:21:04

champion of the world Tim. Doesn't get the recognition

1:21:06

he deserves as a great champion but

1:21:08

what an incredible fighter. What was it like getting

1:21:10

in the ring with Lennox Lewis? Oh it

1:21:13

was an incredible feeling because Lennox was

1:21:15

number two in the world at the time and

1:21:18

I boxed in the

1:21:20

New York City Golden Gloves. I

1:21:22

won the New York State Golden Gloves and

1:21:25

I boxed in the New York City Golden Gloves and

1:21:27

I got beat in the New York City Golden Gloves

1:21:29

by a fighter called Sinclair Babb. I

1:21:33

had sparred with him in Lake Classet training on the

1:21:35

New York team and I

1:21:37

felt that he's major but I

1:21:39

don't know how to fight in the amateurs.

1:21:43

The occasion got to my head and they

1:21:47

beat me. I met a

1:21:49

great guy at the Zannix at the garden and I thought I'd win

1:21:51

this fight. I'm in the main garden and I was thinking in the

1:21:53

next fight but that's it. I won't fight

1:21:55

at the top of that. Don't be thinking in the

1:21:57

next fight. But I thought because I'd been sparred with

1:21:59

him beat them as

1:22:01

Baron, I could beat him in the fight, but he

1:22:04

was better on the night and he beat me and

1:22:06

he won the New York City Golden Gloves. In

1:22:08

the next round of the championships he got knocked out

1:22:11

by a man called Kamuro-Dum who

1:22:13

went on to win the American title and fought

1:22:15

against Canada as an American champion and got

1:22:17

knocked out by Lennox Lewis. So

1:22:20

now the Canadian All-Stars are boxing the New

1:22:22

York All-Stars, state and city. Sinclip-Ab

1:22:24

wouldn't fight because he'd been knocked out by a

1:22:26

man that had been knocked out by Lennox Lewis.

1:22:28

So now the star of the Canadian team hasn't

1:22:30

got an opponent. The star of the New York

1:22:33

team was a guy called Frankie Loyles who went

1:22:35

on to win the World Super Middleweight title. So

1:22:37

the two stars of the Canadian and New York

1:22:39

team went on to shine as world champions. So

1:22:42

they were stalking for an opponent for Lennox 1985. So

1:22:45

I said I'll fight him. They said Joe, the man

1:22:47

that beat you got knocked out by the man that

1:22:49

got knocked out by Lennox Lewis. But I

1:22:51

said I wasn't knocked out and I said

1:22:53

I've been taking Mike Tyson's punishment. If

1:22:55

I can take Mike Tyson's punishment psychologically

1:22:58

I believe I can take anybody's punishment.

1:23:00

I have a good chin. I've got strong ties. I've

1:23:03

only ever been put down twice in my career. Once

1:23:06

I got up the other time I didn't.

1:23:08

I got stopped. I did get up but

1:23:10

I couldn't fight on. So

1:23:13

both times getting put down I got

1:23:15

up. Once I went on to win, once

1:23:17

I didn't. But I got beat on my feet. And

1:23:21

a couple of times I've been put onto the ropes, bounced

1:23:23

off the ropes, punished. But didn't

1:23:26

go down. The two times I went down once I

1:23:28

got up to win, once I didn't. But

1:23:31

I got up. I just got beat on my feet. But

1:23:33

I've got a good chin, got strong ties and

1:23:35

I knew that I could take

1:23:37

Lennox's punches. So I said I'll

1:23:39

fight him. Anyway I got in, got battered for three rounds on

1:23:41

the amateur. He was number two in the world. Bronze

1:23:44

medalist in the 1984 Olympics. Pan American

1:23:46

Games gold medalist. Got the golden 88,

1:23:48

went on to win two or three world

1:23:50

heavyweight titles. No shame to lose. I had to

1:23:53

stand on my feet with him. Who was the biggest

1:23:55

puncher? Lennox Lewis or Mike Tyson. I had to have

1:23:57

both power punches. Both power

1:23:59

punches. Lennox might hit you with a couple, might

1:24:01

get hit you with one, but

1:24:03

they all hurt. But

1:24:06

I've been hurt by lesser punches than them. Lesser

1:24:09

punches might get hit. The

1:24:11

first time that I was really...

1:24:14

Anyway, when I fought Lennox, I

1:24:17

lost on points. And

1:24:19

it was an incredible feeling to

1:24:21

be able to stand and hear that final

1:24:23

bell, because that's all you want to do.

1:24:25

Yeah, pride. There's a

1:24:27

poem or a song, stand up and fight,

1:24:29

fight like hell. Stand up and fight

1:24:31

until you hear that final bell. And that's what I wanted to

1:24:33

do, was hear the final bell. How lovely

1:24:35

is it knowing that you fought these men who went on

1:24:37

to become the world champion? Incredible. They shared a ring with

1:24:40

them. Amazing. The

1:24:42

best win of my career are people who seldom. He

1:24:44

went on to win the World Heavyweight title. I'm abounded

1:24:46

by him in the first round in Atlantic City. I'd

1:24:48

already lost in Atlantic City a few years previous, but

1:24:51

now I'm boxing in Atlantic City again. I find the American

1:24:53

number one who went on to win the World Heavyweight title.

1:24:56

My two corner men wanted to retire me on

1:24:58

my stool at the end of the round one. This guy's battered

1:25:00

me to a pulp. He was too fast, too graceful, too skillful.

1:25:03

Just an incredible fighter. And he was hitting

1:25:05

me with punches every angle. Or

1:25:08

not to my corner. Demoralized,

1:25:10

but still full of fight. My corner

1:25:13

men said, we're going to retire you on the stool. I said, no

1:25:15

way. I can't quit on my stool. No chance. No

1:25:17

way. Quit is never win and winners never quit.

1:25:21

I got off my stool. I came off around two and

1:25:23

Selden looked at me. You're coming out for

1:25:25

round two. The bell went. I

1:25:28

couldn't hit him in round one because I couldn't get near him. But

1:25:30

he stood still for that split second and I landed a body shot.

1:25:33

Oh, oh, bang. Landed

1:25:36

into his ribs and he sort of

1:25:38

bent over, curled up in

1:25:40

pain. And I thought I could hurt

1:25:42

you. I can get to you. And

1:25:45

I went on to win the best fight of my career.

1:25:49

There was 10 world champions in attendance.

1:25:51

Jake Lamont at Rocky Grass piano, Joe

1:25:53

Frazier, Jujijo Walker, Sandy Kattler, Billy Cone,

1:25:55

Frito Antifurma, Floyd Patterson, Chico Vicha. And

1:25:58

there was 10 world champions. champions

1:26:00

in a tender and we're

1:26:02

fighting in front

1:26:04

of an audience of ten world champions but

1:26:07

Jake Lamont of the raging bull he was outside

1:26:09

the ropes Jake Lamont oh I fighting the fight

1:26:11

outside the ropes I was fighting inside the ropes

1:26:13

and Jake fell and hurt his arm and caught

1:26:16

his eye I didn't know this I had my

1:26:18

problems in the ring I didn't know what was

1:26:20

going on outside the ring so after

1:26:22

the fight I had to go to hospital I'm

1:26:24

in the pain the adrenaline's well

1:26:27

enough and the ambulance

1:26:29

is delaying I thought well I haven't heard

1:26:31

seldom that bad they're not delaying for him

1:26:33

but then Jake Lamont was brought to the

1:26:35

back of the ambulance the raging bull I'm

1:26:37

sitting in the ambulance I'm now going to

1:26:39

share an ambulance with Jake Lamont it's

1:26:42

cut his eye and hurt his arm I'm

1:26:44

in agony I looked at me and he

1:26:46

went to heavy weight great fight

1:26:48

kid best anesthetic I've ever

1:26:51

had the raging bull complimented me on

1:26:54

a fight yeah pain was lifted

1:26:57

years later he did a two book signings with

1:26:59

me did a book signing in Carlisle and he

1:27:01

did a book signing in Doncaster visited the man

1:27:03

in New York many many times

1:27:05

we became the best of friends and

1:27:08

one time we've done an interview with the BBC

1:27:10

and like I said earlier on my weight fluctuates

1:27:12

you know I eat a lot train I lose

1:27:14

it I eat a lot of train I lose

1:27:16

it but this particular

1:27:18

time Jake's done the book signing

1:27:20

and we're interviewed by the BBC and

1:27:23

takes it in front of the BBC cameras they

1:27:26

said you Joe go way back said

1:27:28

me and Joe were a friends a long

1:27:31

time he said Joe was like me Joe

1:27:33

would fight anybody I thought the raging boss

1:27:35

come here compliment me comparing him to him

1:27:37

no one knew couldn't agent folks but

1:27:40

he said he wasn't so fat then you

1:27:44

know my weight fluctuates yeah you know you have the kindness you

1:27:46

are there's a mutual

1:27:51

friend of us marks myth I know

1:27:53

my lovely man what guy a very

1:27:55

nice guy very nice cause the security

1:27:57

firm in Pournemouth that's why I think it's not the security

1:27:59

now I know he's doing personal

1:28:01

training as well. His brother's the ex-American

1:28:04

football player. Lovely family, both of them

1:28:06

lovely. Mark was telling me

1:28:08

how you organised for him to go and

1:28:10

train with Lennox. Listen to this. Yeah,

1:28:12

and he still thanks you for that. Lennox

1:28:15

is a good guy, right? Lennox is a

1:28:17

good guy. I like Mark's fight, he's good

1:28:19

people. And Lennox

1:28:21

was visiting a friend of his.

1:28:26

I think it might have been Spencer Fearon. Spencer's,

1:28:28

I think, a cousin of Lennox. And I'm

1:28:30

sure it was, if

1:28:32

it wasn't Spencer, it was something to do with Spencer.

1:28:35

And they were raising money for a

1:28:38

particular gym. And Lennox

1:28:41

got to put his hand in his pocket.

1:28:43

And he's done many, many times. People don't

1:28:45

give Lennox the credit that he deserves for

1:28:47

being charitable. Lennox has done so much for

1:28:49

charity, same as Mike has. These are good

1:28:51

people, kind, decent people. But

1:28:54

Lennox, they said, we don't

1:28:56

want you to put your hand in your pocket. But if you

1:28:58

could do a bit of a training session and a bit of

1:29:00

a lunch with 100 people, and

1:29:03

we get some contributions of these 100 people.

1:29:06

A select 100 people, right?

1:29:10

So Mark had said to me,

1:29:12

I'd love to meet Lennox, so. So I said, well, look,

1:29:14

I can organize, you and a friend has been one of

1:29:16

these 100 people. But you've

1:29:19

got to give a little contribution to

1:29:21

the cause. I said, you

1:29:23

get to train with Lennox, and you get to

1:29:25

eat with him and talk with him. And he

1:29:27

said, Joe, dream come true. I'd gone down with

1:29:29

one of my security men, GT, and

1:29:32

I didn't train, I wasn't training. Literally,

1:29:34

GT. But Mark was

1:29:36

training. But Mark's pointing

1:29:38

the bag before Lennox arrived. This is

1:29:40

true. So next of all,

1:29:42

Mark gets the tap on the shoulder. Excuse me, you've got

1:29:45

to record it. Mark gets the tap on

1:29:47

the shoulder. So Mark's a big man.

1:29:49

He's a big lump, yeah. And he turns around and

1:29:51

his eyes are on the chest of

1:29:53

this powerhouse of my Lennox doers. So

1:29:56

we look so, and then it shows the

1:29:58

class has started. Mark,

1:30:01

look at him. But it was his

1:30:04

first confrontation when then I said his

1:30:06

first meeting with Lennox and Mark laughed.

1:30:09

But he said, my God, Joe, he's a big

1:30:11

powerhouse. I said, Mark, I know how big and

1:30:13

powerhouse he is because I said I faced him

1:30:15

in the ring and he

1:30:17

is an incredible fighter. Doesn't get the

1:30:19

recognition he deserves as a champion because

1:30:22

he was in the limelight of Mike Tyson. Lennox

1:30:24

is a great champion. He was a great fighter.

1:30:26

What are your thoughts on Saudi these days? Everyone

1:30:28

going out to Saudi for the big money. I

1:30:30

think it's great. I really do believe. It's

1:30:34

gone from Vegas now to go straight to Saudi, big

1:30:36

dollar. There isn't the atmosphere though

1:30:38

that creates in the UK. There isn't the atmosphere

1:30:41

there. The thing is, with

1:30:44

the Saudi royals, they

1:30:46

respect the warriors because

1:30:49

they come from warrior races themselves.

1:30:52

The nomadic tribes in the desert

1:30:54

years ago and their battles. So

1:30:56

they're descendants of warriors. So they

1:30:58

respect the fighters today and

1:31:01

they are giving them their just rewards,

1:31:03

the big payback, minding them

1:31:06

properly. And I love it. Good flights, good hotels.

1:31:08

I love it. I think it's great. And

1:31:11

with this, it's bringing

1:31:14

more fighters into the sport.

1:31:18

And with the success of the YouTube

1:31:20

fighters, which I think is fantastic, I

1:31:23

think it's incredible because you've

1:31:25

got hundreds and millions of

1:31:27

people watching on the YouTube, whereas

1:31:29

terrestrial television only has so many

1:31:31

millions. Sky Sports has only so

1:31:33

many millions. Box Nation has

1:31:36

only so many millions. BT Boxing has

1:31:38

only so many millions. The YouTubers,

1:31:41

hundreds of millions. Now, if

1:31:43

a small percentage of these

1:31:45

YouTubers watching the YouTubers box

1:31:47

suddenly think, I like

1:31:49

this sport. This is an incredible sport. Boxing

1:31:52

has gained millions

1:31:54

of fans. The boxing is

1:31:56

blossoming with the success of the YouTubers. It's

1:31:58

the same when Andrew Flair. Lintov box,

1:32:01

front page news, an incredible cricket

1:32:03

player getting into box, a professional

1:32:05

boxer. People

1:32:08

criticise them. I didn't criticise them because he

1:32:10

showed courage. You know, you play the game

1:32:12

of cricket, you don't play the sport of boxing. And

1:32:14

he got into the box and there's

1:32:16

millions of cricket fans around the world that love

1:32:18

Lintov. Even like KSI boxing. Incredible.

1:32:21

He's game. Let me tell you something now, right? I

1:32:24

admire and respect any

1:32:26

of these warriors because that's what they

1:32:28

are, the warriors. In their prime, if

1:32:31

you had to put your

1:32:34

car on it or house on

1:32:36

it, who would win? Muhammad Ali or Mike

1:32:38

Tyson? Muhammad Ali. Okay. I've

1:32:40

spoken to Mike many times about this. To

1:32:43

me, Muhammad Ali wasn't just the

1:32:45

greatest boxer to enter a boxing ring. One

1:32:48

of the greatest human beings to enter the world.

1:32:50

The boxing was privileged to have that man. That

1:32:52

man could have put his hand to basketball, baseball,

1:32:54

American football. He was just a supreme athlete. Boxing

1:32:57

was privileged to have him. He was in with bigger punches than

1:32:59

Mike. He was in with George Foreman,

1:33:01

who years later went on to win the World Heavyweight

1:33:03

title of 45. Muhammad

1:33:06

Ali beat him in his prime. He was in

1:33:08

with the hardest heavyweight puncher of all time, Ernie

1:33:10

Shavers, beat him. Actually,

1:33:12

Barry Hurn mentioned that. I had Barry Hurn on the podcast

1:33:15

and he said, I said, who was the biggest puncher you

1:33:17

went Ernie Shavers? Oh yeah. Ernie Shavers recognised

1:33:19

as the heaviest puncher of all time. You'd

1:33:23

go Ali all day long, would you? I'd go to the week.

1:33:25

I believed that he's boxing ring. And Mike, what about Mike if

1:33:27

you ask Mike? Mike

1:33:29

has his opinion as a fighter that he believes

1:33:31

that he could beat anyone put in front of

1:33:34

him. That's the fighter's belief. Even fights that I

1:33:36

was getting in. I had no chance against

1:33:38

Lenox Lewis. I had no chance.

1:33:40

But in my heart and in my head, I believed

1:33:42

I could win. You sort of hoped I'd have a

1:33:44

bad day and you knew the special day. But

1:33:47

it's the fighter's spirit. So now

1:33:49

today, you're 58. And

1:33:52

you called out John Fury. No, I didn't call

1:33:54

out. Did you not? No. Did

1:33:56

John Fur call you out? No, John Fury has made a statement. Saying

1:33:59

he would... any 58 year

1:34:01

old on the planet. He's

1:34:04

the toughest 58 year old on the planet

1:34:06

in his mind. Now

1:34:09

I'm 58, I don't think I'm the toughest

1:34:11

58 year old on the planet but I believe on

1:34:13

my day I could beat John

1:34:15

Fury. So I just said I'll

1:34:18

take up that challenge. I said I have

1:34:20

a goal, John you want it? Let's get it on. Do you

1:34:22

know John Fury? Yeah I know man, I like

1:34:24

John. Can you text him and say shall we

1:34:27

get it on? I've got his number. Yeah. You

1:34:29

know I haven't texted him, I haven't phoned him

1:34:31

to get it on. I've just

1:34:33

made a video to say

1:34:35

you've called out Mike

1:34:37

Tyson. Now no

1:34:39

disrespect to John Fury, he's

1:34:42

not in the league of Mike Tyson but he's a

1:34:44

fighting man. John's like me,

1:34:46

he's a man of courage. We

1:34:48

weren't any good. Neither of us were any

1:34:51

good. We were just tough men. Yeah. But

1:34:53

two donkeys make a great race. Right?

1:34:56

And I believe that John Fury never fulfilled

1:34:58

any potential because he would have been working

1:35:00

on a building site and then going to

1:35:02

fight. I was the same,

1:35:04

I never really fulfilled any potential. Not that I had

1:35:06

any but I was working

1:35:08

three jobs, sleeping, eating, training as much as

1:35:10

I could in between working three jobs. Why

1:35:12

would you want to fight John Fury? Why

1:35:16

would I want to fight him? He's put down

1:35:18

a challenge. But why would you want to take that challenge? At

1:35:20

the stage in my life I'm 58 years of age, I

1:35:23

want a challenge. I haven't been in the boxing

1:35:25

ring in 20 years but I haven't cycled the

1:35:27

bike in 20 years on the streets either. But

1:35:29

I've now got to go out and do a

1:35:31

cycle bike, a bicycle and cycle around the streets

1:35:34

of Bournemouth. I'm not going to win tour to

1:35:36

France but I could cycle a bike. I haven't

1:35:38

been in a boxing ring since I was 38,

1:35:40

20 years. Mate

1:35:46

I reckon you're going to pack a place out if you

1:35:48

were fighting John. Listen let me tell you something now right.

1:35:50

Are you doing it for the money? I'm

1:35:52

not going to do it for nothing. No but would you be...

1:35:55

I'm not on a trophy, I'm on a payday. You're on a

1:35:57

payday? Of course. Is that the biggest motivation for you? No not

1:35:59

really. Okay. drink, I don't smoke, I don't take

1:36:01

drugs. I've got a nice job. Listen,

1:36:04

when I got the part

1:36:07

in the films, over 60 now. Over 60. I worked

1:36:09

before Academy Award winners. I've been

1:36:16

very, very blessed. But the

1:36:18

first film that I got to do, I got to do Cass. And

1:36:21

when I was on the films, I met Tamar Hassan. And

1:36:23

Tamar Hassan said, you've got to go presence on screen,

1:36:25

Joe, which will advance your acting career. My

1:36:27

agent could do something with you. I said, I've acted my way

1:36:30

through a boxing career, I'll give it a go. His

1:36:32

agent sent me for the audition at Sherlock Holmes, and

1:36:35

to play Mac Murdo, to play character fighting

1:36:38

Sherlock Holmes. I

1:36:40

got the part, they sent me to

1:36:42

the read through. My name played Joe Egan

1:36:44

next to Jude Law, Robert Downey Jr, Eddie

1:36:46

Marson, Rachel McAdams, who after I got the

1:36:48

Academy Award for South Pole, sitting opposite Joel

1:36:50

Silver, the CEO of Warner Brothers, Guy Richie.

1:36:53

And the guy said, Joe,

1:36:55

I've been trying to get you in one of my films for

1:36:57

a long time. I said, Joe, can I'm Robert Downey Jr. Linden.

1:36:59

This is Iron Man. And he said, Joe,

1:37:01

you come with a fearsome reputation. I couldn't believe these

1:37:03

people even knew me. Anyway, we traveled

1:37:05

down in the many books to do the practice

1:37:07

fight. And Guy said, how are things, Joe? I

1:37:09

said, things are okay, Guy. I'm making ends meet.

1:37:11

Same as I'm making ends meet now. He said,

1:37:14

as your agent told you, what you get for the

1:37:16

fight scene, I said, Guy, I never even asked. I'm

1:37:18

just so honored to be in your film. When he

1:37:20

told me how much I was getting for the fighting,

1:37:22

it was more than I got in any of my

1:37:24

professional fights. I was deadly serious. I said,

1:37:26

Guy, for that money, Robert Downey Jr. can really hit me.

1:37:29

You can kick me as well if you want to. It

1:37:31

was more than I got in any of my professional fights.

1:37:33

And he started laughing. He said, Joe, don't you mean beating

1:37:35

up? I said, for Guy, for that money, I'll

1:37:37

do a few weeks in hospital. I didn't

1:37:39

have to get beat up. I got called my name Big Joe in

1:37:41

a prison scene. They called you, you kept the

1:37:43

name Big Joe. Robert Downey Jr. called me Big

1:37:45

Joe in the prison scene. It made my mom

1:37:47

so proud. And it made all the

1:37:50

beatings that I've talked. And I've had some savage beatings in

1:37:52

my life. It's made all the beatings

1:37:54

that I've talked worthwhile. In

1:37:56

the recent films that are done with Russell Crowe,

1:37:58

it's called Prize Fighter. Russell

1:38:00

Crowe calls me Joe in the film. I've

1:38:02

been called my own name by two Academy

1:38:04

Award winners. How good does it get? That's

1:38:06

what's fair. You know, unbelievable. The money was

1:38:08

secondary. Yeah. It's the same way with

1:38:10

the fight with Joe Fury. It's pride.

1:38:13

He's called out a 58 year old man on the

1:38:15

planet brave enough to fight him. I've stepped up to

1:38:17

the mark. Now I'm hoping that he stands on what

1:38:19

he says. The money. Yeah,

1:38:22

of course, it's going to be money. Like I said,

1:38:24

trophies are no good to me now. Yeah. But

1:38:26

the money will be a bonus. But it's a

1:38:29

challenge. It's a reason to get fit. It's

1:38:31

a reason to have have have something to

1:38:33

motivate me in the gym to focus on.

1:38:35

You know, I'm still working. I'm still making

1:38:37

a living. I'm still making ends meet. I

1:38:40

work for two good men, as I said

1:38:42

earlier on, Ali and John O'Connor, you

1:38:44

know, good people. And I'm blessed with them in my life at

1:38:46

this stage of my life. You know, I wish

1:38:49

they'd been in my corner when I was boxing because

1:38:51

they're in my corner in life now. And

1:38:53

I got. I've

1:38:57

got I'm OK. I'm OK in finances because

1:38:59

I don't drink or smoke or take drugs

1:39:01

or gamble. And I've

1:39:03

always had the safety, no security. So

1:39:05

you you are a beautiful human being.

1:39:11

Thank you very much for that compliment. I've said if you are

1:39:13

a one kind human being with a massive heart and

1:39:16

soul. It's

1:39:21

really powerful, man. Thank you. Thank

1:39:23

you. I tried to to

1:39:26

be the best I can be. So we can in

1:39:28

life. Just try our best. You're a good man. You're

1:39:30

a good man. Oh, I got a lot of kindness.

1:39:32

Yeah, you got a lot of. I've got the same

1:39:34

friends about. I know I can imagine I can imagine,

1:39:36

mate. Like you're

1:39:38

the you're you've got that all about you, that everyone

1:39:40

will want to be with you and everyone will be

1:39:43

kind to you, nice to you and

1:39:45

the way you correspond to people back and forth, get back

1:39:47

to everyone and be kind to everyone. That's special, mate. There's

1:39:49

not many people in this world like that these days. Caught

1:39:54

me off guard with that compliment. I mean it. I

1:39:57

know. Thank you. But I've had and

1:39:59

I really. appreciate you coming

1:40:01

down. It's great. I've

1:40:04

had hardships in my life. I remember the first

1:40:06

time I got put down. I got to listen

1:40:08

to it. My dad used to call me for

1:40:10

my runs in the morning and

1:40:12

I never liked running. He used to say

1:40:14

drag yourself out of bed soon. It's like

1:40:16

dragging yourself off the deck when you get

1:40:19

there. No one's going to deck me. My

1:40:21

chin's granite. That's what I believe in the

1:40:23

John Fury fight. I

1:40:25

believe my chin is still granite. I've been

1:40:28

hit on the chin by three heavyweight champs in the world. Lennox

1:40:30

Lewis, Mike Tyson and Bruce Selden. They didn't knock

1:40:32

me out. John got hit on the chin by

1:40:34

one heavyweight champion in the world, Henry

1:40:37

Acwondo. He got knocked out. I believe that on the

1:40:39

night of the fight, and I hope it happens, that

1:40:41

my chin will stand up. If anyone

1:40:43

listening to this or watching this on YouTube

1:40:45

want to see this fight, please leave comments

1:40:47

below. I want to see this happen. I

1:40:52

believe the YouTubers, KSI, Mams

1:40:54

and his management team, I believe

1:40:57

that John has upset a lot

1:40:59

of YouTubers, front chairs and disrespecting

1:41:01

them. These are young children, young men,

1:41:03

young women, adults. How

1:41:06

do you feel about John Fury throwing chairs and

1:41:08

names around? I don't like that because boxing doesn't

1:41:10

just need great fighters. It needs great ambassadors. I

1:41:12

think John's letting the sport down with his conduct.

1:41:14

I don't like that conduct. The fact

1:41:18

that he's been aggressive towards these

1:41:20

people, that are fans of

1:41:22

the sport, that are potential

1:41:24

fans, that are going to bring in

1:41:26

more fans. Don't disrespect the sport. Don't

1:41:29

carry on like that.

1:41:31

Carry yourself as soon

1:41:33

as the heavyweight champion in the world. Carry

1:41:36

yourself as an ambassador for the sport. He's

1:41:39

letting the sport down with his conduct. When

1:41:45