AIR DATE:
EPISODE: Episode 1
Highlighting Christian’s achievements and notable moments in his boxing career.
Transcribed
I am one of the co-founders and Chief Operating Officer for the Stafford Boxing Club Incorporated our non-profit organization, which is a yearly mentoring program for at-risk youth in the community.
So we will be able to teach financial literacy communication discipline decision making, as well as campaigning for a premium education.
These are the foundation for the Stafford Boxing Club, these 20 mentees in our program here at Panola Way elementary school 20 years from now, staff for boxing mentees will be known across the world.
Hey! What’S up what’s up, what’s up, you know, I’m about that baby! Oh yeah, you know, what’s up, what’s up, what’s up man, uh Miss Sheila, you looking all good, you feel me like you.
Looking all luxurious, respectfully, yeah, you know what it is baby.
Yes, man, the Stafford showed and went International man.
I know people real man because we have a guest man.
That’S all that’s all the way I don’t know which way to point, but it’s one of these ways yeah he always on the island, surrounded by water.
Yes, Lord, that’s what we look like yeah, so baby.
Let’S go ahead, introduce this fighter.
Man cause he’s doing big things over here.
He really is not a real.
Not only does Larry Holmes support him, but the WBC has called him the new uttara okay and he is also the u b, o Inter National or intercontinental champion champion.
He a champion yes and yes, like we said, he’s all the ways in one of these directions.
Malta he’s a great boxer.
I really like his style and he’s very aggressive.
That’S one of the reasons.
Why he’s a married man now too? Yes, he is, and that’s why he’s the father too? Yes, and that’s why the WBC uh the world boxing Council for those who don’t know gave him that title because he’s very aggressive and when you do look at him and watch him.
He is about his business.
You bought their life, so everybody we want to introduce Christian to the show, and I have him to pronounce his name because I don’t want to be disrespectful like that, and I was I was rehearsing until you and him were talking and I just totally got tummed Up Christian, what’s up man, I’m here and don’t worry about if everybody gets uh the pronunciation wrong, so he wouldn’t have been the first one and that wouldn’t have been offended either: Hey! Listen! So please do the honor yeah introduce yourself to our viewers? Yes, our supporters.
Okay, so I’m Christian Chocos, Camry um, I’m from Waldo, it’s a tiny island in the Mediterranean, we’re only like half a million people over here and it’s uh 23 kilometers in length the island.
So it’s quite tiny, but we’ve got a very, very rich history and uh yeah.
I’M a pro boxer, I’m a.
I have 33 fight, sound um and uh 23 wins and uh.
I’Ve been doing this for 11 years and I gave my heart and soul to it and uh yeah.
I just love it.
I love.
I love the sport, I love the sport.
I changed my life.
We could already tell that you love the sport just because of your fighting style and what you’re doing in and out of the boxing ring, because one of one of the impressive things too was that you met with the prime minister.
You had an official meeting with your prime minister at Malta.
Two.
Can you just tell us a little bit about that? Yes, we did.
That was uh back in 2019.
um.
I won the ubo Intercontinental title and, along with the along with another Monty’s Monty’s boxer on the same show, and they invited us to.
We have an audience with the Prime Minister, because there aren’t many boxers from Malta who have won International Titus um girl boxes.
So I think we’re only worn out.
Four people have one at the national titles, so when we did they uh, they invited us and it was nice.
I actually felt proud, I’m not really a politics guy, but I mean when you go into the when you go into the one of the official buildings um, which is about 500 years old 600 years old, and very few people actually get to go 500 years old.
It was built in in the 1600s um very few people get to go into a building um over the years I mean just politicians and people with special audiences.
Of course you feel like that.
Then, like there one, I must be doing something you know for sure.
So how did you get started in the sport of boxing uh? It’S a long story.
I’Ve got um I’ve.
Well, my my father’s side of the family, and even my granddads from my mom’s side of the family, like they did the ultimate like tough guys, most of them right.
The alpha means, and so fighting was just something that you you do when you were a kid.
I used to practice martial arts, um karate, but uh can I switch over to football, which is your soccer and uh after after betas are getting bored with it and that transitioned back to fighting, which is kickboxing and boxing initially to keep fit.
But after a month the keep watching coach asked me if I wanted to travel with them for the experience and as I live in a while traveling I’m coming for a fight.
You know I’m not gon na come just to cheerleaders on the side and he said yeah.
It was a big box and there’s light contact and poor contacts, because there we do one light on things.
I’M, like I told him like look at me.
You think I’m a guy who can go on two lights, one day right and then before that um, my my the the boxing coach.
He asked me if I wanted to fight as well and after three months, which was in October.
I had my first admin.
First, boxing amateur fight because of their graceful grounded but uh yeah.
I won that one so yeah, that’s how I started initially to keep fit after after stopping uh soccer, because I had been, I used to train like every day, it’s okay, so I was like I’m not gon na stop from one thing to another, but then once I got in the ring and sparked for the first time I was hooked and doing it now.
You spoke a little bit about the boxing culture culture from where you’re from, but how would how is it like, like in the UK, like no, you know they have like everybody gets together.
They support whether it’s female or male everybody’s, coming together, everybody’s coming to those fights.
So how is it where you’re at uh? We have quite a bit of people? Quite a quite a good attendance.
I mean we’re not going to get like 30 000 in a singing like soccer’s, the the most popular sport and they get like, maybe 2 000.
But when we have the pro boxing shows, we always have between 800 and 1200 spectators and the the people get get up for the most is uh when two local Fighters fight each other.
That’S when a lot of people show up towards the fights you know.
Even me, I mean here here it works.
Like did you have you sell tickets like in the UK, you sent the kids to get paid.
Basically, you get a commission on the tickets and when you’re fighting about the local fighter, like people just keep asking me for tickets because they get really excited and the atmosphere in the in the arena when you’re fighting around the local fighter is uh is different than When you’re fighting an international fighter granted my fights, they always usually 50 50, most of them, even when I’m fighting International Fighters and the the close Affairs so there’s always a good atmosphere but uh when you’re fighting other local Fighters.
That’S when, like the real big atmosphere comes out, so is it fair to say, like you are the face of boxing in Malta now I wasn’t calling myself the face, but I I wouldn’t go that far but uh I’m one of the most popular guys.
Yes and I’ve been doing it for at the moment, it’s just me and another two guys that have been doing it for quite a long time and that’s at a good level, Steve Martin and uh, but yeah, I’m quite popular on the island.
But I sell quite a bit of tickets, uh, maybe fights and uh I’ve been on some TV shows some podcasts, radio and stuff like that, so yeah, I’m quite popular.
So if you popular that means that you the face, I mean respectfully, I mean I know you.
I know that you’re trying to be humble and stuff like that, but okay, the fighters get an opportunity to meet.
The Prime Minister, though, come on now yeah true true one of the faces.
Let’S say I’m one of the face of boxing okay.
I like that.
I like that, so what are some of the challenges that you have faced being a boxer and how have you overcome them? Ah, that’s a good question again spend a whole hour and a half, but we’re just talking nah.
So, first the the main difficulty that we had, like my My Generation, that the next Generations will not have is uh the the lack of experience that there was um within coaching and there is such a small island.
We never had a very good box in history.
Um, so the coaching that there was wasn’t the best it wasn’t bad, but again it wasn’t the best and um.
So then, after I went bro and went to London for the first time for training, I realized it and the sparring as well sparring in and around your weight class is quite hard to come by, like I I’m.
I find it middleweight, but I still Spar, sometimes with the rates and like have weights and Cruiser weights, because sometimes you just can’t get this point.
You know, and the only way to to get around that is to travel and that’s how I got around it and in the beginning I just used to work full time and I used to invest my money back into the sport just to and any money I Made from fights from ticket sales from the fight, I used to invest it back by traveling outside I used to go to London a lot in the beginning and uh any anybody who came to Malta and that’s like listen, I need some scoring.
Are you available? I’M like, even if I would, I don’t know I’ll say like very busy.
I would still just let’s drop everything.
I’M like what can I go Squad? You know it’s like not any, not every day a guy with like 15 profile expenses you on Facebook, I need some supporting them in the country.
Can you come over and when I knew about coaches, who were here and were open to the trained people? And there was Barry Smith who used to come over over here he’s when you know the guy for sure um he’s the big guy in the corner with Ben Davidson.
You know Ben Davidson, the guy was trained Tyson, Fury, yes, yeah, okay, so usually he’s always in the corner with him, and he used to come over to walk a lot he’s here at the moment and um and yeah.
That’S how but then it started to get a little bit easier.
When I started to get some more sponsorships, the more I won fights and made the name for myself.
I got sponsorships um and that made it easier that made it.
I at one point like before: probably I was like traveling every couple of months just to go for a week or two to train someone.
So let me ask you a question: what old school Fighters inspired you in terms of creating your style of fighting as you enter into the ring uh in the beginning, it was all about.
I was trying to be Mike Tyson, okay uh, but then I I still like most of it’s like when I, when I’m killing time, I’m watching old school fights, as I watched all the fights over the weekend like this weekend, I watched the Joshua fight and judora On the undercard and then what do you think about their fight? Well, there’s an operator.
Ah, that’s fine! I’M like the Joshua fight.
I’M like give the guy a break.
I mean he had a guy in front of him who was six nine six eight way more than him yeah.
It was a late notice and he was going to boxer guy, who was like very different to the guy who was boxing and he was setting up the shot that he knocked him out with for like five or six shots before that, because she was like on Chapter body and then like fainting the right hand, going down up and down the jab a lot he was being responsible.
He was boxing when he found the right opportunity and he threw the right hand and connected.
It was lights out.
Yes, it wasn’t as fast as Deontay Wilder.
He knocked him up, but still I think he did a good job.
Were you impressed by the fight nah? The fight itself was boring.
What most heavyweights fights are boring nowadays, it’s like they throw a punch every 30 seconds.
Yeah, that’s that’s what my wife said.
She said the white.
The fight was born.
It’S because, but but most heavyweights fight.
That boring like look at look at like, for example, Luis Ortiz versus Deontay Wilder yeah, Luis Ortiz was just using the jet most of the time and while they was just waiting for the opening, The Knockout is crazy, like kids out cold on the floor, but still The whole fight itself is not very nice.
You most favorite fights are like that, in my opinion, at least because you you’re a guy who’s like 230 pounds, 240 pounds 105 pounds how that muscle requires a lot of oxygen, so you’re not going to be able to throw as many punches and lightly from middleweed.
Like if you watch the Joshua fight and straight after you watch navarrete versus Oscar Valdez, I think it’s like you would think that you’re watching two completely different sports.
So let me ask you a question because one of our supporters sent in a question who’s your toughest opponent, and why uh I can name.
I can name a couple.
I can name a couple uh.
The two guys are four uh, the first, not the first one.
I thought the first guy I brought in Rome um he that that wasn’t enough fight.
He has pointed me, but that was a good fight, the the guy I fought in Switzerland.
It was that fight because I got hit quite a bit at the beginning and I went in with a cut which wasn’t already eat so like at the first round.
First jab, he poked me it spit open after that was gone and uh in England.
I ended up fight versus uh brazili made in Union as well um.
I got a few punches there that that I felt because we fought with Mexican gloves as well how many ounces were they? They were 10 ounces, but the Adidas ones, like the the the ones that are the Mexicans, died.
They’Re just filled with horse head all of them like last fight, that’s what the pair of clitos and they were like a combination of padding and horse hair, and it makes the world of difference.
The last fight was tough for the first couple of rounds because you said horse skin horse skin horse skin yeah horse horse right horse head yeah, no like the gloves.
Yes, yes, Mexican gloves, and so that you were feeling the punch is warm.
What the very heavy puncher, but you can still feel like the knuckles going through not like when you’re fighting with normal gloves like a tiger gloves and then the last fight was uh was a bit tough because I couldn’t get.
I didn’t get his timing in the first round and he started fast.
So when I was slipping and throwing in the middle of the sponges, I was only throwing one punch in the beginning and he continued to punch with me and at one point he hit me Temple and my legs went a little bit few seconds later.
I almost knocked him down with a right hand to the chin um, but his legs recovered better than mine, so he kept the high Pace in the second as well, and then I had to really dig deep and like keep going forward and throwing punches like one After the other, I was trying to hit him everywhere, like body shoulders head chin whatever and – and I I pulled that out so yeah – that, like the last fight, I had to really dig deep, but the fights where I, where I think were my toughest fights like As in where I got hit clean as well as hitting myself, it was Nathan, heavy and Ramadan.
He said yes, and because I thought you had another one and then I’ll go after oh, so the other thing is like in terms of you know, boxing is a mental Sport and every boxer has their own uh regimen in terms of how they meant to prepare.
For a fight, I previous guess, uh Mia Ellis.
She said that if a fighter is not mentally there, they shouldn’t enter into a fight.
So what do you do to prepare mentally for a fight and also what do you prepare excuse me? How do you prepare physically for a fight like what’s your training from a physical standpoint, and what is your training from a mental standpoint that momentum stand for? Is I do a lot of uh visualization, visualization um? I try to imagine how a fighter go.
What I want to do in the fight and what my opponents will do on the fight, and I imagine good scenarios and bad scenarios as well like not just me, stepping and countering or just putting the pressure on.
I imagine getting hits like being actually physically hurt and having to continue through it, because when you do that it adds layers in your brain so that when you actually experience it, it’s not like it’s the first time.
You know it helps when you find film on Fighters, but, like last fight, I couldn’t find anything on the guide except like a 30.
Second, video of him hitting the bed depends.
So I didn’t know what to expect.
It happened to me to find before that as well for the local local guy.
I had seen him fight a couple of times and I probably underestimated them a little bit and everybody was telling me that he was going to come out one way and like putting a lot of pressure on and stuff like that.
Like that’s what I thought as well and then when he came out um, I was surprised because even all my my sparring was uh geared towards people.
Putting pressure on me so uh send the first couple of rounds three rounds, I’m like dude the he’s just waiting for me all the time you know and uh and then after that, then I started going back into the fight and it ended in a draw.
But that’s the thing: I didn’t visualize different scenarios and I didn’t visualize um different things that could happen in the quiet.
They only visualize the positive things.
So when the unexpected happened, it was unexpected.
It wasn’t something it was like.
I already thought about this.
You know, I know what I need to do and I had to adjust on the Fly now with regards to to physical training.
I I get bored easily, so I change a lot but the like, I box, every day, one day to Friday, um so usually I do that either at 11 in the morning or at 2 or 3 P.
M in the afternoon.
So in between my morning, lessons and my Evening lessons because I coach as well full-time at the gym, that’s my main source of income and uh.
Then, in the morning early in the morning, um, sometimes at five and sometimes at six, mostly at six, because I try to um not train people at six anymore um.
I I do my conditioning so before last fight I was, I did the uh 12-week weight, training programs, but I didn’t feel as good with it.
I didn’t feel my usual speed and my bounce on my legs.
It was personalized with the strengths boxing strength, training, guys in the UK boxing science and which are very good, which they are very good at what they do and uh.
I go for my runs early in the morning or I do one second Saturday in the morning.
So you’re talking about 6 a.
m, um a run or maybe buy it sparring, and I want to save my legs.
If I’m getting tired, am I the shadow box a little bit and do mental training um? Sometimes I push myself hard.
I do like uh.
I read the Zone circuit, it’s called where you get your heart recording like Spike or article and um, and then in the afternoon or late morning.
I do boxing right now, I’m working with with another guy.
It’S funny.
I fought him three times it’s about.
Dixon he’s uh he’s very well known on the island as well, and we fought three times and uh now.
He’S training me he’s holding that for me two times a week, because I mean you can’t buy experience and he’s the most experienced guy on the island.
So I mean he can help me um and he wants to.
I was like yeah great sure, then I sparked another two times a week when I’m close to a fight and when I’m not close to a fight.
I just like to hit the hit the back apart from the pets and to Dublin back, I left the double handbag and his feedback as well.
Let me ask him this real quick before I forget, so since you’re talking about your training and what you do and how many days out the week you are a vegan correct, I was, I was a vegan.
Okay, why’d you stop.
As I had uh, I had an eye injury with my retina and the doctor suggested that I start eating uh more fish and fatty foods so that it has a better chance of recovery.
So I started doing it and then I just continued and I had taken some blood tests and my brother swearing.
My blood level is weren’t very good.
They were all either low or uh, or just over the lower threshold of the levels that I should have been and Dr Dogman listen you’re an athlete.
You have changed the way you eat, because your plants are all over the place and then, after I changed my my blood level is like my hemoglobin hormones and stuff, like that, the red blood cell count and all went up quite a bit.
So then I changed.
I’M not saying that the vegan diet is bad or that you have to eat meat, I’m just saying that it just didn’t at that moment in time.
It wasn’t agreeing that once with me, you know – and I kept going like this, so you had talked about how you have to sell tickets and stuff like that.
Does that take away from your training or does the artists have you adapted to that type of? You know I’ve adapted now, I’ve adapted now in the beginning.
It will take me a lot more time, but now usually I message and text a lot of people like a month before the fight, then I’ll text.
Again a week later and then in the last two weeks I just shipped the tickets plus.
I shift a lot at the gym as well, because I work in a really big gym.
There’S like two or three thousand members like with uh with memberships like when they sign up for a year six months and stuff like that, and now I’m quite an outgoing guy.
I I know a lot of people and I have a lot of friends.
So when I’m fighting instead of music, I’m fighting you want to go and they say yeah sure – and I shift it out like that.
It still takes away from your training, and you have to promote yourself a lot, because you have to keep your you have to keep your you have to give yourself in any people’s lives.
You know that you’re still training you’re still you’re.
Still there you’re still boxing.
You know, and you have to make sure that your your visible you’re over there on social media.
So then, when, when you’re fighting, there is actually an interest in people saying wanting to watch a fight.
So it never takes time away from my training, but it does take time away from resting, which is very important, but it’s part of the job.
And yes, it would just do it.
Are there any non-fighters that have had a significant influence in your life because you talked about Mike Tyson? Who is a professional boxer, but are there any type of people who are non-fighters that have inspired you to become the best fighter that you can be? My dad was never a pro fighter, but he was uh, but he’s been a very, very big influence in my life.
I owe him and my mom as well.
I owe them everything, because why that especially, he is still the great sense of self-discipline and me he always pushed me to go to training.
When I was Kid and uh that, if it wasn’t for him and how much he tried to keep me away from drugs and drinking and stuff like that, um, I don’t think I would be where I am myself and uh and then, with regards to famous people.
I would say I was a big martial arts fan, so Bruce Lee and the Chuck Norris jump rope Van Damme.
Like all these, all these legendary figures they, I always like, try to look at the way they trained in the movies and stuff like that.
They flew the splits stretch every day, uh one of the karate so yeah.
They inspired me bro and Street Fighter Street Fighter, the the anime.
So you said that uh well earlier before we came on air, we were doing a lot of talking.
I was like man, we got to say this until we get on the air, so I kind of wanted to backtrack.
I want to talk about like the population in uh, Malta and so uh.
What’S the language that y’all speak, because I see that you do speak English, but you also speak it.
The English has a little twist to it.
Yeah I speak.
I speak one of these uh, the the main language.
Okay, so when kids are growing up, everybody speaks one piece of them most of them anyways.
Then then we learn English in school and we learn other languages as well in school um.
You have to learn the third language in school as well, but the main language uh, the main language you want to is Maltese.
The two official languages are about these in English.
I have a little twist as well, because I’ve been I’ve been working like part time and four times since I was 15 years old, 16 and I’ve worked with a lot of uh foreign people and I’ve traveled a lot so of course, you’re going to.
Of course, you’re going to become an accent here and there hey man, listen.
I want you to say something in a Maltese light.
I want you to say: the Stafford show, you know is a good show and I’m grateful for the opportunity to be on it, and you know I’m looking forward to coming back after I get this WBC belt and uh.
I don’t know some other stuff uh, the Stepford, the Stepford boxing show or watch over here or better contentious baby baby baby.
We official we official, hey man, we official, do you have a fight coming up.
I have a fight coming up on the 30th of September.
I have four on the 21st of July, but I’m gon na go back out on the 30th of September um, I’m looking forward to it actually, because uh last training camp was a bit of stop start because I had uh.
I had a staph infection in my elbow, which I had to get upgraded on yeah.
So then, after I got out of hospital, I went straight to the gym and I trained for three weeks, midweight and fourth.
So I’m looking forward to this fight uh, where I can like train for eight weeks solid and go on the ring who’s gon na who’s – I don’t know yet they’re still confirming I just leave it in there before I used to be on on my manager and The promoter or not who’s, the guy who’s, the guy who’s, the guy and now I’m just listening.
It’S like I.
I realized how much I used to annoy them.
So I’m like when you, when you know just let me know and I’ll be there.
What was your um because I think, like you, had a relationship or you still probably do with Henry Wharton? Yes, yes, she just.
I went well um, the guy.
You spoke to Mark.
He lived in New York for a very long time and he used to interview him because in New York he’s like a new celebrity because he fought for the WBC Title twice three times but lost decisions both times and every time he fought the champion.
They said that he was the one who gave them the toughest fight and he had talked to him about me and they came to Malta for a couple of days to with their fighters to sparmy and when they were here.
They offered me a fight and stoke, and I was like listen.
I don’t have anybody to train me with at the moment.
If you tell me that you’re going to train me in corn, every I’ll come up and try to fight so then we we, we agreed everything.
I went up to York for three weeks to train with him and then I fought in soap and uh and he born at me.
Now I had a very good opportunity to go, live and work there, but unfortunately I couldn’t take it because um this was back in 2020 yeah and like a few days after, like in the weeks I was in New York, there was the whole Panic Brewing about Covert in the UK – and it was good that I didn’t move it was the UK spent like a year like on the different kinds of lockdowns, Jim’s clothes and stuff like that, because I was going to go, take care of the gym and then in the meantime, My wife were pregnant and we had our daughter, so I was like I don’t want to uproot the family and give them such a dramatic show to go to a different country with a baby and stuff like that.
So then I said: listen I mean I can’t do it now.
So how many fights do you have per year? Because you know in the United States you know they might fight like once every I don’t know it seemed like what, once a year twice a year yeah if they’re lucky It Well yeah, if they’re able to maybe three yeah, might be sometimes a limit depending on That person, but not really three, would be the idea, but really two between one and two, but three would actually be the idea, though uh one year out for six times.
I bet was two thousand 2016 up for six times.
Then there was 2019 at four or five times, but usually I fight three and four times a year um, but a month of the shows that are always regular.
But because finances are quite tight and if you don’t have really good sponsors back in you or you.
Don’T sell a hell of a lot of tickets um! You cannot go to that high level of an opponent to fight for good titles, because it’s uh um, I mean most opponents.
Most guys now are charging between 300 and 400 euros per round.
So if you’re fighting eight rounds and he’s charging 300, that’s gon na be eight sixteen twenty four hundred euros and then you have the the expenses of the coach and the fighter playing again and stuff like that.
So the promoter will tell you like this.
All your voices, you know it’s like, but uh, but yeah a lot of shows happen regularly.
So you have a great opportunity to keep active and build up your record and keep your name out there and then, if you’re, investing in yourself and then because you don’t make that much money.
But then you can go and find a good and get better fights over there.
So let me ask you a question number one.
I well it’s a two-part question: how did you meet your wife and uh and yeah? We started dating and we kept dating and then I think, two years later, yeah, two years later, we’ve got my wow I was.
I was also reading that the ring bearers were the sponsors uh children.
During that time I was training all of the their children as well, and I used to see them every day and didn’t have young children in my family.
So I said: listen, do you want your kids to be the ring bearers, honest and grateful I’m like yeah sure it was like so Emilio Valentin and Ellie yeah, so the other thing is like now that you married.
How does your wife, like, I guess, look at you being a fighter? You know like it’s it’s one thing when you were like dating, but now since you’re, all husband and wife, the fact that she see guys hitting you and and all this other type stuff – and you know the love and bond that y’all have for each other, is On a different level, so how long do you think you’re going to continue to uh? I guess tolerate that type of punishment in the sport of boxing uh well in the beginning, at at one point, like a couple of years ago, she was asking me to stop when uh, because uh when we first met like 2017.
I had just turned Pro like about a year and a half before so the fights were in that stuff.
So she used to be like really happy to come and watch me fight and stuff like that.
But then, when I went up a level or two and despite started getting tougher and you start getting cuts and she sees you like during constant you’re driven, you bite down your mouthpiece and you fight back, and she was asking me to like listen to pack it In um, but that’s all that it’s like I’m too young to forgive my mom and I also online back then, and I’m 31 now – and I know I have a few good years left in me because I I live here – I teach life but I don’t drink.
I only drink.
Occasionally I don’t smoke, I don’t do any drugs.
I train every day, religiously, like after fights I take three days off and I go back in the gym, so I’m always in shape, and now she accepted that it’s kind of like hey.
It’S me.
You know I don’t want to be one of those guys that keeps fighting under there like 43 or 45 or 40, because I want to enjoy my kids like growing up, because I know that I have a very busy busy day and but she’s accepted she’s accepted.
So she’s nervous she’s, very nervous when she comes to the flights um.
So I don’t think like before I used to go out and speak to people before I speak to her before the fights.
But now I just lock myself in my dressing room, because I don’t want that nervous energy that before the fight um, but I mean she’s, nervous, she’s, afraid but she’s accepted as well.
She knows dangers so, but again she she’s an equestrian right there as well.
My wife so like the force jumping yeah, so I thought there I mean this is not like you’re playing tennis or something.
Why do you think this sport as well so like leave a man? Be you know so now there is an emergence for women in the sport of boxing.
Yes, and so you have a young daughter right, and so your young daughter sees you go to the gym.
She watches you Etc, et cetera.
So would you allow your daughter to enter into the boxing industry being that now, the the future is extremely bright for female Fighters, even though there might not be a lot of female fighters in Malta, but I’m pretty sure by the time that she gets of age And get to that level where she may have an interest in fighting, would you allow her to enter into the boxing industry yeah, of course, so of course, and um? Well, one thing is like: if she would, I would not push her, but if she would want to do it, I would encourage her.
That’S one thing: second thing: whether she wants to or not she needs to learn how to defend herself, because the word is a nasty place, so she needs to learn how to throw a punches someone in their nose and just run away.
So, let’s think third thing, of course I would have my reservations because it is about sport.
You have to dedicate your life to it.
You know I mean you, have your dreams, you have your goals and then you might dedicate your life to it and end up empty and anyways, but uh to me personally, even though I’m not a world champion or anywhere close um, I it changed my life.
It changed my life, always better A lot of times I mean I still grow my bad habits, because when I was a teenager we used to get into like bar fights every other weekend and used to drink.
It’S crazy, like the amount I used to drink back then, if I did it now, I was like and um like money wise as well.
I make a decent amount of money like so I owe a lot to the sport of boxing as well.
So would you be her trainer as well as a manager of course, of course, of course yeah, but it’s a shiesty business and he – and he knows it’s just like with Mia and her dad yeah and she was like.
I trust my dad because they’ll say you’ll get this certain amount of money, but then you’re really not getting that money, because they’re taking a big hunk of a percentage out, leaving the boxer like empty-handed they’re like what in the world so pretty much like when you Finish when you are finished with boxing you’re, not gon na go anywhere from it you’re.
Are you still going to be a part of it? Of course I could see like training and shows yes.
I wonder I wonder I want to keep training people for sure.
I want to have my my own gym, my own small gym, nothing, big um, to keep training people in and uh.
I want to help out in some official capacity as well like either referee and maybe help Anthony Association stuff like that, because I I read a lot.
I’Ve been reading a lot for a long time about boxing, so I know how stuff works when it comes to being a manager, Matchmaker promoters, what they do, what they don’t do, what they try to do to get little boxes, and I always want to be there For the boxes you know, or I mean I dabbled – into promoting as well um a little bit, and so I understand probably from Waterside as well.
So I think I would I I think it would be a shame if I didn’t say any book in the sport of boxing and because I have a lot of knowledge and a lot of experience and a few years that I’ve been well.
I’Ve been boxing for 11 years now um, so I think that it would be a Shame by The Impossible and with you saying that about you doing a lot of reading and of course you do have experience and you’ve been studying in the sport of boxing jump Row please, what would be something that you would change that you see or some changes that you just that you know is just flat out not right, so I would the drug testing drug testing needs to be like overwhelmed everybody who used to be drug tested.
I mean, like the associations, need to be held to account that everybody, every father needs to be drug tested, even if it’s just around the business, not the blood testing, but everybody was asked through it.
Like judges need to be on the accountable, they need to explain why they give certain scores and uh like the the whole organizations like the big organizations.
All of them is too much.
There needs to be one that governs all like same rules, same criteria, one set of rankings I mean yes, it will create a big backlog for Fighters fighting for titles, but still, I think the way it is at the moment is through too decentralized, like even in The USA, like you, have how many states, 52 or 52 left 52 State athletic commissions with their own set of rules, all standards, own guidelines, their own judges, their own referees and in every state it’s almost reach its own.
Yes, you have the ABC the association of boxing commissions, but it only goes so far.
You know it’s like when there was like, like Miller when he was, he wasn’t licensed, so he wasn’t going to get licensed in New York and he was applying for a license somewhere else.
So that, because there’s not just one one agency, one one organization that takes care of everything, everything is like everybody is like reached at home.
You know even the rankings.
The way they work is not.
I fight you and, if you’re higher than me in that beat you I take your place.
I mean you see it like.
In some organizations like all of a sudden, a fighter is ranked 75 or 65.
Then the next week is ranked number 13 completed for a mandatory title detention.
I mean xboxing yeah and it’s going to save them for a long time.
I think, but a new Christian, I’m I’m sitting here, listening to you and I’m watching you and I feel very privileged and honored to to be interviewing you and it’s not so much from the boxing standpoint as being a boxer.
It’S like I’m talking to a living legend like in your country.
You are a legend like when it’s all said and done: you’re gon na impact, the sport of boxing and Malta and you’re going to pave the way for younger fighters.
You’Re gon na I mean you are an inspiration to your community and, like I was telling you earlier like me and Sheila we’ve been praying that God expand the Stafford show, because we we believe that we bring something unique to the boxing industry.
Everybody has to find their Niche right and I believe like because we don’t have like a a boxing background but Sheila and I we study the sport, because our inspiration is custom model, which is the which was the trainer of Mike Tyson.
And we read, you know a lot of books, we read the books and stuff like that, but the point of the matter is: it’s like: he always talked about character and he always talked about Legacy in the impact.
So I just believe that you’re just beginning to uh scratch the surface of the sport of boxing in Malta and like the fact that you are training these kids, you never know what these kids will become and how you’re impacting these kids life like, for instance, you Say that you owe a lot of gratitude to the sport of boxing, because it kept you out of bars, it kept you disciplined it kept you off for drugs, it kept you.
You know just out of foolishness the same thing that the sport of boxing has done.
For you, you are instilling those same things so now it’s like a ripple effect like you are preparing generations, and so with your notoriety in Malta, and you already meeting the Prime Minister who is extremely busy.
He got a lot of pressure on him to run that country.
The way it’s supposed to be run.
I mean you already to me in the spiritual realm, I’m looking at an individual that don’t really understand the significance and the impact that he’s contributing to the sport of boxing, and hopefully I make a significant impact um.
I try my best, especially when I’m training like teenagers and stuff like that, especially when they are interested in fighting to bring them up the right way and like to give them a good word of advice, so that they don’t repeat the mistakes I made when I Was younger I mean, but that’s not for me to say you know it’s like I mean when it’s all said and done.
That’S for other people to say like I want to have a big impact.
I want to be a good good memory of me with the things I I do not just with my fights but other things, with training people and helping boxing in general um, but then that’s for other people to say, like my impact, what it was well, I’m Saying it now, you know what I’m saying, I’m saying it, because you are a very humble guy and yeah and and I’m gon na tell you.
Man like I didn’t know what to expect, but it was like.
We had immediately clicked as soon as you came on and we when we were talking in the Green Room, it was like man, okay bet, it’s gon na be a great show, and then this has been a great show.
Like I I mean I can talk to you for hours, because my mind keeps coming up with questions after questions after questions at the questions and so being that Malta is on an island.
So, what’s the most popular dish and and like you know, what’s the fashion like you know what I’m saying, I’m just trying to get a visualization of of the culture there uh traditional Edition is a very good for international relations.
Uh rapid rabbit like rabbit and stew, um or rapidly tomato sauce, and I mean tradition, we’re apparently big with local, feasts and stuff.
They are good.
It’S like my hometown.
Just had the seriously it’s like the patron saint of the town.
They get you get a week where everybody’s celebrating you’re, not in a very religious way.
It’S just there’s the there’s the mass, but then there’s the band marches through the streets every evening for a weekend like people are jumping behind the band and singing with the band and a lot of drinking and celebrating yourself, um yeah we’re as a country.
It’S a Roman Catholic country as well uh we’re quite family oriented as a country as well like we’re such a small island like the kids, might leave house, but they’re still about 10-15 minute drive away or 20 minutes.
So you still go to visit your family.
Very often like I live 10 minute drive away from my parents, so I try to visit at least three times a week, even if I just go for like 15-20 minutes, I I go quite often and now with a little kid the hell they help us take Care of her when maybe she’s sick and she cannot go to the nursery or like right now.
The nurseries will shut down for some of all this.
So when me and my wife are working, she stays with my mom yeah, her grandma, so because you because he got some dishes, you have some dishes named after you from at a restaurants yeah I had I had.
I had a dish, not no uh.
I had a dish.
I had a burger, the chocolate burger with a double vegan meat, pepper, yeah.
Ah, okay, oh okay, man, Christian man.
I ain’t gon na lie shout out to mws promotion, exactly and NWS promotions, he’s a great guy Mark and he’s really good at his business as well.
Chris and I ain’t gon na lie man, man, man, I’m proud of you bro, I don’t even know you but man just talking to you, man and like your your energy, like your maturity at the age of 31 man, I’m man, I’m proud of you bro, you Don’T you don’t really understand how proud I am of you and I want to say to your mother and father man they’ve done a remarkable job man and I I can see that and shout out to your wife too, for real yeah.
I mean she.
She doesn’t have it easy with me either, but I mean if anybody at 5 30, you marry himself, so I mean yeah.
She, she she’s supportive, she’s, quite supportive.
I got one more question before we get out of here: yeah yeah, so I’m gon na ask you one more question and then I want you to end it with a gold nugget.
A gold nugget is is wisdom.
You know advice that you will leave to viewers to a young fighter, female uh male boxer whatever.
So now I looked at your record, your boxing record right and I said to myself.
You know in your losses you never did get knocked down.
It was always by point right, yeah, and so I wan na.
I just want to understand what motivates you to get back up and continue to.
You know, move forward because, as you can see, the last fight, the mega fight with Earl, Spence and Terence Crawford.
I really believe that that fight that loss really took something out of Earl, I mean yeah.
I saw some recent photos he’s taking a vacation, Etc, and, to be honest with you, I, like both Fighters, I really didn’t, want them to fight each other, but boxing is a business.
Boxing is a business of hurting people Etc.
So what what inspires you to keep getting back up and like, like, I said you never get you you never got knocked out, which is great, so the other part of that is what do you learn from them lessons? I don’t call them losses.
I call them lessons and when can we see you become a a world champion hold that green belt, the WBC, because I believe that those lessons that you learn is preparing you for that moment, like I saw Terence Crawford, have like a parade right, and so, as I was talking to you and me and my wife: we had this discussion, so Floyd Mayweather has kind of I mean he’s, helped the industry, but he’s hurt the industry in a way, because every fighter thinks that without bad words correct so a fighter thinks, like you Know if they don’t, you know or think they’re, oh they’re gon na make correct and so being that you have some lessons on your record.
I don’t think that those lessons will hinder you from getting that that title fight.
You know what I mean because, as a boxer, that’s really what you really want.
You want that opportunity.
All those fights all the training leads up to that one particular fight, and so I I I just want to to hear from you like how how do you get back up and continue to move forward? Nah I lost, I lost some fights when I was really pissed off because, like they were like close fights, which I thought I should have won and um and uh like here at home and I got losses, so those ones are really hard to take those ones.
So those ones are the ones that, when you really think you won where you know you won, but you should lose that that’s when I that’s the only few times I’ve thought about backing it in you know, and I started boxing late and I can see the Difference of myself like after fights, I always get that little bit better.
That’S why I’m still, I I’m still very passionate about it.
I’M trying to perfect myself but um.
I know I still have good fights left in me.
I still haven’t reached some targets that I sit down for myself.
So that’s why I’m still working so hard and um – I mean yes, you lose, but I lost.
I was never gon na go on beaten anyways, because I took my first pro fight on two weeks notice, because one of my teammates pulled out – and I said it out the wood.
Instead, I wasn’t stand around it and I lost on points a majority decision.
So my first five was of us, then I came back and I want some that I went to Italy and I lost some points which I thought was a very wide decision which was but then I came back and continued fighting.
So you know, I said I love it.
I love fighting.
I still have objectives, and now I set my mind too and I said: listen, I’m not going to allow anything to anything to deviate from the this path that I want to achieve these goals that I want to achieve um.
So nothing will deviate me from the part that I need to be on, and I mean it’s like yeah, you get pissed off when you lose and you like.
Why did I do that badly or like? Why was he better than me? I trained hard blah blah, but then I always give myself one more shot.
You know, because again I started boxing late like I started unboxing every day when I was 20 years old, when I was 10 20 years old, and that was still the first two years.
I was gon na kickboxing and boxing I have.
I had no amateur experience.
We had like white collar fights um back.
Then there was no amateur boxing, so the level wasn’t that good and I, like I told you, I didn’t – have the best of coaching at the beginning.
So now that I have it, I have like more of a semblance of our providers.
Life who achieve things should be, I think it would be stupid of me to throw it all the way.
Now you know.
Yes, I have my losses and, yes, the boxing business.
The way it works is not going to be times to win getting the opportunities that I want to.
But I mean you just have to keep stringing together, wins and making sure that you don’t that that you win and doing an impressive session that they don’t lose and then the opportunities will come.
I mean Freddie Pendleton, you know Freddie Pendleton.
Is you say what shred dependent and you know who Freddie Pendleton is no Brady been an old-time fighter? I think he used to fight in the 80s um.
He started out at the journeyman.
He goes like his first 11 fights in America.
Oh, oh! That’S! What uh Mustafa was talking about yeah? Then he started training and he won.
I don’t know how long and he ended up putting that in the ipf world championship one or the other yeah.
So I mean if he can do it like and other people do it.
You know what Christian I I really uh see you getting that opportunity.
Man and I want you to continue to be who you are man.
I see nothing but great things happening for you.
Man number one is that you’re a family man and I believe that when you get married, you get blessings and you get favor, you get opportunities that you normally wouldn’t get and that just ordained by God – and I just think that the person that you are you You are very marketable and, like you just said, the only thing you need to do is is win and I’m gon na ask you one more question and I’m I’m out.
So the mega fight was last or about two three weeks about three weeks ago: yeah when you’re going for a Terence Crawford or Errol Spence, and why uh I went to their especially because they’re expecting the pressure fighter.
Like me correct that’s what my wife said.
That is Crawford, he’s so talented that you always that I always thought there was a very big chance that he would win, but I would never have guessed that he would win on uh by knockout like that, because I was thinking.
Expense is so much bigger and he’s been a welterweight for so much longer and taller and he has more reach, but I mean when I saw the fight.
I was like dude what the hell.
You know it’s like Aaron’s, Crawford, you it’s just on another level.
It was like they were playing two different games and and on the inside, where Aaron Spence should have been the stronger.
The bigger guy I mean Terrence Crawford was still manhandling him, so it was crazy, so yeah.
What did you learn from that fight? That’S sometimes size.
Doesn’T matter that much that sometimes I think sometimes we Fighters heal ourselves too much to make weight when it’s when it’s uh good, when you would probably just be better off fighting at a higher rate.
Estella
Very impressive this young man Christian from Malta!! It’s interesting how Boxing like Music can speak to many nations, be universal, the positivity and mental, physical conditioning. The interview questions were very good and engaging, hope you will have Christian back on another show , the show truly now has international attention ??