00:00 Today I'm joined by Jimmy Saints, middleweight pro boxer,
00:02 straight out of Essex, signed with Matchroom
00:04 and recently had a successful pro debut
00:06 and is preparing for his next fight.
00:08 Jimmy, how are you?
00:09 - More good, thank you.
00:10 Yourself?
00:11 - Yeah, yeah, good, thank you.
00:12 Thanks for coming in today.
00:13 - No worries, thanks for having me.
00:14 - Yeah, yeah, no, a pleasure.
00:14 Obviously, as I just said there,
00:15 you had a successful pro debut a few weeks ago
00:18 and you've got your next fight coming up.
00:20 We'll get to that as well,
00:21 but somewhere I like to start with a lot of boxers
00:23 is the very beginning.
00:25 Do you remember your first memory of boxing,
00:28 whether that was the first time you put on a pair of gloves
00:30 or just when you were first aware of the sport?
00:34 - Yeah, definitely.
00:34 I was always a very active kid.
00:37 I was very hyperactive, driving mum and dad mad, as usual.
00:41 I started boxing around five or six.
00:43 My dad's friend, he had a gym.
00:46 It wasn't really a boxing gym,
00:47 just sort of had a ring there.
00:49 So I've done some training there.
00:52 I was absolutely useless to start off with.
00:54 There's a few older boys there I started sparring.
00:58 And I just sort of sparred once or twice.
01:00 And within two, three weeks,
01:02 I was getting the better of them,
01:04 giving them a bit of a basting.
01:05 That's what usually happens when you're starting up.
01:08 So then I went to a proper boxing gym,
01:10 Brooklyn Boxing Club.
01:12 I think I was around seven, six or seven.
01:14 And just went from there, just loved it.
01:16 Sparring all the time, fighting all the time.
01:19 I had loads of skill bouts, they call them,
01:22 or gym shows, they call them.
01:23 I probably nearly had about a hundred of them,
01:25 which is where you just travel around
01:27 and spar in other gyms.
01:29 And I just loved it from there,
01:30 and I've never looked back, and here I am today.
01:32 - What was it like at school being a kid,
01:35 or maybe the only kid who boxed?
01:37 Do you think that at all sort of informed
01:39 how the other kids looked at you?
01:41 - Yeah, definitely.
01:43 It was always, if anything in school happened,
01:45 like there was a bit of a fight or scuffle or something,
01:47 I was always called, 'cause I was like a known boxer.
01:50 Do you know what I mean?
01:51 I was meant to be, like knock everyone out,
01:53 I sparred in a spa.
01:55 But I was actually quite a small kid.
01:57 I weren't massive for my age.
01:59 I think I was just under height.
02:02 So yeah, I weren't really fighting a lot,
02:04 but I had a couple of fights at school,
02:06 but nothing too major.
02:07 - And you weren't causing--
02:08 - I wasn't causing them, no.
02:09 - I was gonna say that.
02:10 - Yeah, I wasn't causing them, yeah, yeah.
02:12 - I've seen some footage of some of your amateur fights,
02:14 and there's one knockdown, and it looks at least,
02:18 like after you knock the guy down,
02:19 you give him a bit of stick.
02:20 I don't know if this was like a one-off,
02:21 if you can remember this,
02:22 or is that something that just is an edge
02:25 that can come out when you box?
02:27 - It can come out,
02:28 but there's a bit of a backstory behind that.
02:30 Just because, I don't wanna go into too much,
02:32 but just him, the boy and his coach
02:35 were talking behind my back,
02:38 giving me a lot of stick behind my back,
02:40 saying they was gonna knock me out,
02:40 saying they was gonna do this,
02:41 saying they was gonna beat me,
02:43 saying I pulled out of fights, which I haven't.
02:46 Yeah, so it was a bit talk 10, everyone.
02:48 And boxing's a small world,
02:49 so you tell one person, they're gonna tell 10 people,
02:52 and it eventually gets back to you.
02:54 So I found out, and then there was a bit of needle
02:57 between us and the coach,
03:00 just because I've got respect for everyone
03:02 who gets in the ring, do you know what I mean?
03:02 I don't wanna be slagging people off,
03:04 especially behind their back.
03:06 Yeah, so I told him to get up.
03:08 Which, looking back, I probably shouldn't have done,
03:11 but I just got a bit of the adrenaline going.
03:13 - Yeah, yeah.
03:14 Is it hard, like when you said, you know,
03:16 you went in knowing that he and his coach
03:18 had said these things, but then also, like,
03:20 saying that you've developed as a boxer
03:22 to the point where you don't wanna get into a firefight
03:24 when you don't need to.
03:25 Is there a bit of conflict in you in that moment?
03:28 Like, you wanna sort of, obviously you wanna get
03:30 the knockout more so in a situation like that,
03:32 but remembering not to get carried away.
03:34 - Yeah, definitely.
03:35 That was what my coach, Steve Waters,
03:36 was telling me in the corner as well.
03:37 He said, "Make sure you keep to your boxing,
03:39 "and let him come, and don't get involved."
03:42 That's one of the things that probably helped me
03:45 get the knockout as well, yeah.
03:46 - You had a, as I said, we'll get onto your pro debut
03:48 shortly, you had a really promising, you know,
03:50 amateur career and record.
03:52 You'd have a couple of defeats along the way.
03:53 What did those teach you, and maybe how did they
03:56 affect you in the moment?
03:58 - Definitely, I think when I was younger,
04:00 I think I was about 14, 13, 14, I had about four or five
04:03 losses on the bouts, and I had a bit of time off
04:06 just over the summer.
04:07 I had a bit of time off just to reflect.
04:09 I just didn't do any boxing for probably four or five months,
04:13 just completely stopped over the summer,
04:16 got a bit chubby, as kids usually do.
04:19 And really, I missed the boxing so much
04:23 that really when I got back into it again,
04:26 I just made sure I didn't have that feeling
04:28 of losing four or five times in a row.
04:30 Yeah, so it really motivated me to get back in there.
04:34 - And then as I said, you know, a very successful
04:35 pro debut in September.
04:38 It was on the undercard of a world title fight
04:40 at Wembley Arena in London.
04:42 Can you talk about what your thoughts and feelings were
04:45 in the moment when you're walking out
04:47 in front of that crowd?
04:47 And then also like their reaction when your name was called,
04:50 'cause you know, you can hear like a lot of support
04:52 in the arena.
04:53 - Yeah, well, when in the amateur,
04:55 there's nothing like you just get in the ring,
04:57 do you know what I mean?
04:58 Whenever the bout's finished before, you just get in there.
05:00 There's no really walk out.
05:03 Summer of the national finals, there is,
05:05 but it's completely different, do you know what I mean?
05:08 Usually I've just got my dad there clapping in the corner
05:10 on his own, saying, "What, like, come on."
05:12 But I said this earlier to someone else actually,
05:16 just before I was going out to my walk out,
05:19 I sort of went one way, and all my coaches, Tony,
05:22 the cut men team went the other way, getting to the ring.
05:25 And I was there on my own for about two, three minutes.
05:27 And it sort of like fight or flight kicked in.
05:30 I was like, well, I've got to step up now,
05:32 or like hit myself in the face at least.
05:34 Yeah, so I got a bit nervous then.
05:37 I was like, right, this is time.
05:39 And then to be honest, when I was walking out,
05:41 I didn't know what to expect.
05:43 But as soon as I walked out, there was a few people,
05:45 I bought tickets, loads of people come,
05:47 like right to the front, it was at the barrier.
05:49 So which I thought was quite good.
05:52 Yeah, but I really enjoyed the ring walk,
05:54 and I love watching the video back.
05:55 I've watched it back a few times.
05:56 - I bet, yeah.
05:57 And you know, you got the stoppage in the third round,
05:59 four were scheduled.
06:01 Did you feel any pressure at all,
06:03 whether it came from yourself or, you know,
06:05 for any reason to get a finish, to make a statement,
06:09 you know, in your first?
06:10 - Yeah, definitely.
06:11 There was a bit, just because I sold quite a lot of tickets,
06:14 wanted to make sure, make it worthwhile
06:17 for everyone coming out, spending their money on me.
06:20 But there is a bit of a thing with everyone
06:22 getting the knockout in their first fight.
06:24 But to be honest, I won't fuss
06:25 whether I got the knockout or not.
06:26 Just as long as I boxed well and got the win,
06:29 that was the main thing for me.
06:30 - Yeah, well, you did box well,
06:31 but also what is that moment like when the ref steps in?
06:34 Like that immediate moment when you realise that-
06:36 - I won.
06:37 - Yeah, yeah.
06:38 - Yeah, it was a good buzz to be honest.
06:39 When I got on top of the ref,
06:40 I didn't really know what to do with myself.
06:41 It's just like how I ended up here,
06:43 do you know what I mean?
06:44 But yeah, it was a great experience.
06:46 - Yeah, and November, second week in November,
06:48 you're going to be fighting in Newcastle.
06:50 How are you feeling about that?
06:51 And then what about after that?
06:53 How active do you plan on being?
06:56 - I want to take one fight at a time, to be honest.
06:58 Me and Tony have watched and looked back on my first fight.
07:02 We've picked out a few little things that I need to work on.
07:05 And that's what I want to make sure.
07:06 I don't want to be just fighting
07:07 and then month later, fight again.
07:09 And then not learning anything from the fights.
07:11 I want to be watching the fights
07:12 and picking up small things,
07:13 what I need to be working on,
07:15 which I feel like we've done this camp with Tony.
07:17 Tony is a great coach
07:19 and he knows what little things I need to work on.
07:22 So I want to be doing that learning along the way.
07:24 - Nice one.
07:25 Well, everyone here wishes you the best of luck
07:27 in the next fight.
07:28 Hope the training goes well until then.
07:29 Thank you again for joining us.
07:30 - Thank you. Thanks for having me on.
07:32 - Thanks everyone for watching.
07:33 We'll see you next time.
07:34 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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