Boxing Life Stories

By Tris DixonSports

Boxing Life Stories episodes

January 19, 2022 Season 4: #14 Harlem Eubank
Harlem Eubank is an unbeaten professional from Brighton, and nephew to the legendary Chris Eubank Sr and cousin of Chris Eubank Jr. He’s also the son of former pro Simon Eubank.

Here, he talks about fighting in the family, training under Adam Booth, his rise on the small hall circuit, his famous surname and how he’s different from his more famous relatives and his hopes for the future. Harlem talks about his plant-based diet, his aspirations to top a bill in his hometown and his new start with Wasserman Boxing.

He also discusses his late cousin Seb, who tragically passed away in 2021.

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1 hr 35 min
January 12, 2022 Season 4: #13 Chris Billam-Smith
Bournemouth's British, Commonwealth and European cruiserweight champion Chris Billam-Smith has big ideas and big ambitions. Trained by Shane McGuigan after a decent if not glittering amateur career, Billam-Smith has risen quickly in the pros.

He's become a Matchroom staple, twice boxing at Fight Camps, and he's already met men like Tommy McCarthy and Richard Riakporhe and he's sparred Mairis Briedis, David Haye, George Groves, Joshua Butasi, Lawrence Okolie, Daniel Dubois and many more.

He also hosts his own podcast, The Perfect Athlete Podcast, has a hunger for knowledge around sport, performance and recovery and he has a dream to bring big-time boxing to Bournemouth.

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1 hr 43 min
January 05, 2022 Season 4: #12 Bob Hatrak
Bob Hatrak has one of the most-extraordinary stories in the history of boxing.

Hatrak was the warden of Rahway Prison in New Jersey in the 1970s when light-heavyweight contender James Scott rose to prominence in the rankings from behind the prison walls.

Scott, who had a long history of legal woes before going down for life, started Hatrak's Boxing Authority programme and managed to miraculously continue his career while serving his life sentence.

Hatrak was the man behind it all. With assistance from promoter Murad Muhammad and commissioner, former heavyweight champion Jersey Joe Walcott, Scott was able to fight his way to become the No. 1 contender for the WBA title, beating the likes of Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, Richie Kates and Yaqui Lopez in huge fights that were televised from the maximum security prison.

This is a story the likes of which had never happened before and certainly will not happen again.

For Bob Hatrak's upcoming book, click and like https://www.facebook.com/NOMW.Book

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1 hr 55 min
December 22, 2021 Season 4: #11 Ed Brophy
Executive director of the International Boxing Hall of Fame, Ed Brophy was a lifelong boxing fan who has created a utopia for boxers and fans alike.

He's done it all in the sleepy upstate town of Canastota in New York and after opening with just a small museum in 1989, he's built it in to one of the sport's bucket list destinations.

Here, he talks about his journey building the Hall, its expansion, the controversies he faces, the selection process and much more.

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1 hr 36 min
December 15, 2021 Season 4: #10 Carl Greaves
A British boxing jack of all trades, Carl Greaves was a good fighter who boxed the likes of Alex Arthur and Michael Gomez in a decent career.

But he's arguably better known now as trainer to David Avanesyan and as one of the country's most popular managers, promoters and matchmaker, who is now working behind the scenes for Sky and Boxxer.

Greaves takes us through his colourful journey in the sport, from struggling to make weight to struggling to make fights and the battles small hall promoters face, whether in or out of a pandemic.

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1 hr 43 min
December 08, 2021 Season 4: #9 Gary Sykes
Dewsbury's Gary Sykes is a former British super-featherweight champion who faced all of his domestic rivals and just missed out on a huge fight in the US with Adrien Broner.

A former GB teammate and sparring partner of Amir Khan, Sykes twice entered Prizefighter and was famously upset in a round by Gary Buckland, when Sykes was the British champ.

An underrated but popular warrior, Sykes has struggled in retirement and has twice been placed in a psychiatric ward as he's faced coming to terms with life after boxing. He's now in his biggest fight.

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47 min
December 01, 2021 Season 4: #8 Tommy Coyle
Hull's Tommy Coyle is one of Britain's best-loved fighters of the last 20 years.

The all-action warrior came through an eight knockdown thriller with Daniel Brizuela to win the Fight of the Year in 2014 but he also fought the likes of Derry Mathews, Gary Sykes, John Simpson, Michael Katsidis and Hull rival Luke Campbell.

Also know for infamously 'debagging' Eddie Hearn in Boston, Coyle talks about that incident, his struggle with accepting retirement, taking on board damage over the yers and his future in an open and frank discussion.

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1 hr 50 min
November 24, 2021 Season 4: #7 John Rawling
Commentator John Rawling has been the voice of the fights for the BBC, ITV, Sky Sports, BoxNation and now for BT Sport. He's also contributed to the Guardian for several decades and he's been a fixture at ringside since the 1980s.

Here, he talks about his start in the world of broadcasting and journalism and goes on to to take us on a journey through the incredible nights and relationships he's enjoyed with the likes of Bruno, Benn, Eubank, Naz, Lewis, Foreman, Ali, Hatton and, most recently, having been ringside in Las Vegas to watch Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez.

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2 hr 10 min
November 17, 2021 Season 4: #6 Michael Nunn
Former middleweight and super-middleweight champion Michel Nunn, one of the pound for pound stars on the 1990s, went from a life of celebrity and fame to nearly two decades behind bars.

Nunn defeated plenty of big names, Curtis Parker, Sambu Kalambay, Iran Barkley, Marlon Starling, Donald Curry and he also fought James Toney, Frankie Liles and Steve Little.

Here, he talks about his frustration at trying to land fights with Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, Tommy Hearns, Nigel Benn, Chris Eubank and latterly Roy Jones but also about the big nights and his time at the top, including the disputed losses to Little and Liles and Rocchiginai, He was 58-4 when he boxed for the last time but three of those defeats were controversial.

Then came time in prison and it was a long time but he was bright and engaging, it was great to hear him in such good shape and also hear him referring to so many in the boxing community whom he has been in touch with since his 2019 release.

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1 hr 32 min
November 10, 2021 Season 4: #5 Bernd Boente
Bernd Boente is best-known as the right-hand man to heavyweight champions Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko.

Here, he talks about his start in boxing in the 1980s, his journey through German TV working in the sport and his time as a journalist before joining up with the Klitschkos and forming KMG in 2006.

Boente also recalls the highs and lows of being by the side of the brothers, against the likes of Lennox Lewis, David Haye, Dereck Chisora, Corrie Sanders and many more, while sharing memories of Emanuel Steward and others through his own storied career.

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1 hr 40 min