AIR DATE:
EPISODE: Episode 1
Female and Male Boxers Struggles In and Out of The Ring ??♂️?
#TSBR #StaffordBoxing? #StaffordBoxingTheMakingOfChampions? #Struggles #Overcoming #Discipline #Consistency #Heart #Family #Help #Fear
Transcribed
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 hello and welcome to another great episode of the Stafford boxing report.
I am your host lady Stafford, you already know I’m Stafford the big Stafford that is no cappuccino Stafford boxing, the making of Champions what’s going on everybody around the world, what it do what’s happening in my boys, welcome.
You know we like to we own in to the Stafford boxing report.
You know we got a great show today we put a lot of work.
We hope that you enjoy this podcast show as much as we put into it, so you always get out of it.
What you put into it so we always put a hundred percent.
You feel me one Buck.
Yes, yes, yes, what’s going on! Well, I want to start off by just saying that I want to shout out to all the women that are doing their thing.
Stay at home, moms mothers who work in and out of the household, just everything you do just keep your head up.
Make sure that you surround yourself with positive people and stay out of trouble, keep changing and do what you do.
I want to give a shout out to all my Bros out there who want to grustle the grinding hustle.
You did and who’s doing great things in in the home and doing amazing things in the community.
Oftentimes Bros don’t get a lot of credit and support, but your voice Stafford.
You know what I’m saying saluting you.
I see you out there in the community doing big things being great fathers.
Great providers, great spiritual, covers for not only yourself but your wife, your kids, your children’s Mother, etc, etc.
I see you getting up early in the morning getting to it trying to make them donuts for real.
So I respect you guys and I’m just sending you some love, because we need to uplift each other up, and so I hope this acknowledgment will put a little fuel in your tank to, and I do want to say something since you said fathers, whether they’re, married Or if they’re not married – and I want to say this to the mothers and I’ve said this before – but I keep hearing about it – stop talking bad about the dad to your children in front of the kids because, in my opinion, that’s mental abuse.
But regardless of what you want to call it as abuse, it’s not our kids fall that we chose to be with that person and sometimes depending on what’s going on with one particular person we stay when we know we shouldn’t, but it happens.
That’S our fault.
We have to take responsibility and if we know that the dads – not all dads, it’s some that are not going to pay child support right, but they still want to see their children.
Let them see the child because you don’t know what they’re going through.
I’M going to let you know.
Yes, I do have kids.
I never spoke bad about their dads to them, because that was none of their business.
Just as long as the dads did not do anything that would be harmful to them, then I was good and yes, I was the primary person who was financially responsible for them and, yes, I did have some help from my parents, but they were still my responsibility.
So, in my mind how I was thinking I’m, like you know what they’re my kids, if they decide not to, then I have to step my game up and do whatever it is that I have to do to make sure that my kids have what they have.
Not say oh you’re a deadbeat and do all of that, so my kid’s dad should be very happy and grateful, because I have no ill intentions towards them once they apologize and even before they apologize.
I was good so stop doing that yeah.
They need their dads.
They do and you know, Sheila.
I really want to commend you because, as long as you and I have been together, you never spoke down, it was my fault.
I never.
I never heard her say anything negative about them, uh, which was rare, and that’s what made me really like look at her in a different way, and you know she wanted the kids followed to be in their lives.
I wanted them to be in their lives, but you know when I try to introduce well when I did introduce myself and say: hey man: listen, I’m in your daughter’s life, Etc.
Uh.
You know, I know oftentimes when a a man come into a woman’s life and she have kids oftentimes.
You know the man, he does things to the child and be a very abusive towards their mother.
I didn’t do any of them things, but buddy thought I was sweet like I got dog on me.
Glazed honey bun and he tried me what’s that place called that they turned the light on oh Krispy Kreme, with the red light on.
So it was fresh coming through the glaze machine and he tried me in terms of trying to holler at my wife, and I told him I said: hey bro, listen! First of all, you should respect me for the simple fact that I’m coming to you as a man introducing myself, and on top of that, I’m telling you like, hey man, I’m not trying to be her father.
I have no desires to be her father.
I said you are her father and I want you to be in her life.
He gon na take all of us to help this young lady be who she needs to be, but unfortunately he had other plans and you know oftentimes, you know someone trash might be another person treasure.
So when you have someone significant in your life, I think it’s very important that you respect them, that you value them and you appreciate them because once they gone, you know someone like me, you see with the drip on her last name, Stafford that is no cat Out real talk, and also I want to add on to that with family, because it’s been bothering me a little bit, but I’m not going to go too deep in this.
So you don’t have to worry, Stop Believing one side of the story and and get all the facts, because there’s three sides: one person’s side, the other person’s side and then it’s the truth.
So now nobody’s talking and it’s really crazy.
So now you feel some type of way and you really have no reason to feel some type of way and to the women or everybody we have been, and I have been somewhat transparent, just giving you all little Snippets of whom I used to be and who I am now and some things that I’m trying to work on.
None of us is perfect and I believe that really sets us apart, because you have so many people on different social media platforms and they’re, always trying to give advice, give advice, give advice, but the kicker is they’re, not sharing some of the things that either they’ve Gone through they’ve experienced they’ve done or the challenges that they may be going through, and I think that makes us solid because we have been doing that.
So not only that, but I think oftentimes you got so many people giving advice, but their lifestyle doesn’t match up to their advice.
And so what you see here today is two imperfect people whom God has chosen to do an extraordinary thing in the community, and you know oftentimes.
I choose not to be personal with people, because uh I think Time Will Reveal that.
But what I will say is that everything you see is 100 authentic, it’s no artificial, colors or any type of adjectives added to who we are.
We are real, real, we’re very transparent.
We have a passion for helping kids, we have a passion for doing the things that has been placed in our heart by God himself and we’re just going to do our part in terms of be uh, who we are, what we’ve been called to do together and Individually – and you know I feel, like you know, Sheila, we are in a unique and privileged position in life.
Number one is that you have a husband and wife doing something together.
Number two is that our passion is to help kids.
The second thing is education.
I’M man me and Sheila is very passionate about education.
I I always look online and I see other parts of the world where they take education, more serious than the kids here in America.
I’M I’m very disturbed and very disappointed that I continually see a repeated thing in terms of the kids coming to school.
You fighting with teachers, you’re being disruptive you’re, tearing up the school property, and then you and then so now the parents are in cahoots with the teacher.
Now I’m not saying that there are, there aren’t any bad parents and there aren’t any bad teachers.
I’M not saying that, but I humbly uh believe that a teacher does not have an agenda to wake up early in the morning put on her clothes or his clothes.
Get prepared, leave, drive, maybe an hour away from their place of residence to the school.
To be able to be disruptive or disrespectful to the kids, I’m I’m just saying: I’m I’m seeing how teachers are viewed in America compared as teachers like in Africa, China, um uh.
You know South America, uh, Pakistan, India, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, a teacher is looked upon as being honorable.
You know what I mean and in the United States teachers are underpaid.
They got to go through so much through the union to get mere crumbs, and you know I don’t like to get involved with the politics and the government Etc et cetera, but there needs to be an overhaul in terms of how we treat our teachers, how we Um set up things for them to be able to succeed in the classroom not having to come out their pockets to pay for books, uh pencils, paper, folders, all these type of things, which should be provided by this particular school, and it it.
I just you know, I’m I’m very concerned because when I look at school system 10 to 15 20 years down the line, I just see a big disparity in terms of the resources at this particular School compared to that particular school.
But in the Stafford Boxing Club mentoring program we emphasize about having a public library car, because I want all our kids that are in our program to understand that you would never give us an excuse why you didn’t have the information.
One thing about a public library system is that is tax payer money that goes into the libraries.
If the library don’t have it they’ll check the circuit and other uh surrounding libraries in that particular County.
If they don’t have it, they will order it.
So it’s no excuse for our kids to understand that they will be go-getters go-getters of their knowledge.
That’S what we emphasize that’s what we preach.
We preach about academic excellence and also having a character of a champion.
Our slogan is Stafford boxing, the making of Champions We want the kids to walk with a champion character and struggle is real.
The struggle is real and that’s what this topic this.
This podcast is about the struggle, the struggle in our homes, the struggle in our community, the struggle in the workforce.
The struggle in the boxing ring this the struggle in these streets.
It just serious out here, and you know we want to share a little light about the struggle, but in that struggle we believe that it polished us to become diamonds so that we can shine, and so we have to be mindful of the journey oftentimes people man.
I can’t wait till I do this or wait till I do that or wait till I accomplish that.
But then, when you get there, then then what’s next, you know we we emphasize to our kids, it’s not about the destination.
It’S about the journey, because life is a journey, so you will always be engaged to your journey so that you can continue on in your journey and and as you move forward in your journey, you will hit certain milestones and then show growth effects.
You know what I was thinking.
Do you think that, since we are talking about, the struggle is real? We should talk about when I was going to school, but just keep it real short sure.
Well, I’ll start it off, and then you finish it okay.
So before we get into especially with within the boxing industry, with the struggle being real, we’re going to give you just a snippet of Our Testimony, my husband and I we were homeless, we were living in our car.
I had a accident which was not my fault.
I got hit from behind.
It was the impact of three different cars.
I could barely walk for about a year and a half, and I took care of my wife.
We both lost our jobs because of that you know now, of course, we did have some money saved up, but it wasn’t.
Can I can.
I say this before: yeah go ahead, so a lot of times people may have things in place so that when life, uh experiences or you know, crisis come that you can deal with it, but man sometimes you can have stuff in place and it still may not Be enough, so I don’t like talking about us, you know being homeless.
You know what I’m saying I just don’t like talking about it and the reason I don’t like talking about it is because the possession that someone may have of you but look but there’s a but there’s a but there’s a bright light.
And it’s something that I have been wanting to talk about because, like I always say baby, it’s not about us! There’S always somebody out there that’s going through something and when that guy had got in contact with you on um the YouTube or one of the podcasts.
When I think we were talking about uh domestic violence, yeah yeah yeah, and it’s and it’s even if it’s just one person and that one person who you spoke with, I promise you you gave him something good and he took it off.
So I understand my husband, but there’s a there’s, a look where we are now so just real quick.
He took care of me because I barely could not walk for over a year and a half.
We were in this situation.
So, within this situation, my husband said: God told me that you need to go to school.
We did everything we were supposed to do now.
The the wonderful thing about this is there’s two.
Ladies and I am so sorry, I do not remember who they are.
I talk to them and I told them I said: look I’m not that person anymore.
I don’t do any of the things that I used to do.
I said I just want my education.
I just want to go to school.
They both said, don’t worry about it.
We got you, I showed my husband, we were at the library and it said: congratulations.
You will be coming to Georgia State, so we went.
I was going to tell them about when uh the time when I had came downtown, and I had um oh yeah before that.
That was maybe what about two three years before before that yeah was it.
It was oh wow yeah.
It was so okay, so [ Applause, ], let’s back up put in reverse my husband, was always going to Georgia State University.
He was doing one more thing.
God bless Dr Susan McClendon.
I met her one time or two times over at a College of Education um.
She is the uh she was the late daughter of Dr Alonzo cream Crim high school in Atlanta on the east side, but she was over the Crim Center in the College of Education building at Georgia.
State University – and I established a relationship with Dr McLennan, and one of the things that I want to say about Dr McLennan was that she was her spirit, was like a butterfly and anytime.
She saw a black man or a black woman, doing something significant or positive.
In the community she will always helping Dr McClendon always open up the Crimson for allow me to come, fax, some scan some, you know print something type, something or whatever I mean whatever uh secretarial thing that I make administrative uh resources that I may have needed at That particular time to further my vision, you know my entrepreneur journey.
I have to credit a lot of that to Dr Susan McLennan and also her son is a football well one.
I remember one of her sons were playing for the University of Georgia and then he became a coach and the youngest son.
Now he also so the last name is McClendon, so he plays for uh University of Georgia, which they just won a national championship.
So when I was on TV – and I saw the back of the name of the jersey that said McClendon and I looked at him – I said man – I remember you was younger, but he a big dude now, but anyway go ahead.
Okay, so my I used to stay in the car in a parking lot and I used to see the kids there being groups having fun talking their books carrying their book bags and I cried – and I cried because I was like these kids are doing something with Their life, I want to do something with my life.
I want to go to school.
I want to have an education, and I will always tell her, I said sure, your time gon na come when you’re gon na go.
You know have an opportunity to go to to school and I always wanted her to go to Georgia State anyway, because Georgia, State to me, is the best university in the whole wide world and Georgia state is, you know, played a significant role in my development as A man and who I am today so just to make it real, quick.
We were in different spots and then the one spot that we were in was, I would say, in the hood.
It was in a bad spot where we ended up.
It was in a bad spot because you said the first 48 was there.
We used to see we used to see break-ins, it was prostitutes, people who were on drugs killings that was going on around us and I would wake up at four o’clock in the morning.
Both of us yeah, I know, but I’m just saying no baby.
They know that if I’m talking about me, I’m talking about you too, so I would walk.
What do you think? How long was it uh? I say about a mile and a half too.
I would I say about a mile and a half to close to two Okay yeah, one way to the bus stop and at one time I had to catch three buses until I caught on that, I really only had to take two that was during the rain.
Sleet, hot all that we didn’t have any heat, we didn’t have any AC in the car and I didn’t have a laptop.
So I would be up from four to ten because perimeter closed at 10 and then we started going to down to the downtown campus and their Library closed at 2 A.
M.
So we’ll be there and I’ll be there studying trying to learn this algebra he’s doing his thing with his business.
Okay, so I was taking like five or six classes.
I was really trying hard shout out to coach Edwards coach Edwards at the recreational center at the Carson campus.
Yes at the Clarkson campus, he gave me an opportunity.
I was a student assistant, that’s up to you right yeah! No, I don’t even know how yeah I think so I was also a personal trainer there as well, so shout out to coach Edwards He’s like a man, a father figure to me and he really stood by us.
The whole um Clarkston campus yeah.
You know it was like a family, though you know what I mean, because they knew you and then they knew me.
But when my wife would catch the bus at night I’ll be waiting for her to get off the bus and we’ll walk like another mile and a half, because it was dangerous because it was some of everybody.
It was nothing but God that really kept me safe.
Because, really in that area that we were yes, it was anything could have been.
Struggle was real, so I had a purpose and I saw it and I’m not even afraid to say this.
I pretty much wore my my driving suit every day right every day, bro and the same thing every day and the the kids of course used to make fun of me, but I really didn’t care.
I wasn’t getting my eyebrows done getting my hair done my nails to be honest with you that wasn’t important to me.
Of course I had to try to take care of my hair because I didn’t want it to fall out, but that wasn’t important to me.
What was important to me was to just keep my eyes focused focused, and I just stay to myself.
I I did work at the gym and my husband was helping and he was working and he was doing his thing so yeah.
So then I ended up going to the downtown campus, but the pandemic hit.
We had it online or whatnot and because shout out to Bonnie Young she’s, the one who wrote the recommendation for me to get into the sports Administration program and Dr um.
What’S my man name, oh when I took the African-American history, oh please remember his name.
He was the best for real.
He had like nine or two yeah about 100 degrees.
I hope we remember his name, but he all.
Let me shout out to all of my professors: uh shout out to all of my professors and now for those who may not know, I have a bachelor’s degree in sports Administration with a modern entrepreneurship.
Oh and shout out to Dr uh, Dr Hughes, Dr Newman yeah.
Dr Newman and Dr Hughes, that boy from The Edge – yes, yes, uh uh, what’s his name doctor you’re gon na figure it out uh, I start with a k.
I can’t remember right now.
Is it uh, I I was about to say uh, so, okay, so after that and uh um, I graduated that’s when I said Sheila learned some more about boxing and then I was watching Mike and Cedric and then they oh, they were just so open.
They had open arms, we used to talk, discuss back and forth and then Graham got in contact with me on LinkedIn and then Eric.
We all just started talking, so it was like, and let me just say this real quick when you do what it is that you’re supposed to do and people vouch for you do not disappoint them even now.
I I don’t want to disappoint anybody just because I am no longer doing certain things does not mean that I I still have to hold myself accountable, but then also those who put their names on me or names on my husband.
We can’t disappoint them.
So we’re not trying to do yeah anything to to ruin that, so that’s our testimony, so the struggle is real.
So can I add on to that sure I want to also say that I’m proud of you, because through it all you never stop loving me.
No for what you you never once um say that hey man, it’s time, I don’t want to do this, no more it.
It was like I felt like going through that really made our bond stronger and when I saw you walk across that stage – and I saw you shake the president hand to me – that was that that was that was we.
We was walking across that stage together because people don’t know what I had to go through to make sure that you got the opportunity to pursue your education without being interfered from the former Administration.
You know what I mean and I was willing to you know.
I ain’t no willing, but I put my life on the line for you, because this is something that I believed in my heart that God told me so: hey man tell Sheila.
This is her opportunity to go to school and I’m proud of you, because you you did this like straight through you didn’t take no breaks during the summer.
You feel what I’m saying and then I am so grateful to God that we had the money.
You know.
I mean to be able to pay for the rest of it because had I not had the money saved up yeah, I would have been hurt, and so I understand now when people say how I run out of money yeah.
So, having gone through that experience with you, I just realized, like man, it’s important to to save your money, it’s important to to not spend uh carelessly with your money to be a good Steward over your money and Sheila.
Okay, everything that you went to school for is kind of like yeah you’re, applying it now – and I want to thank Dr Dr Newman man yeah because well we’re together.
Well, her curriculum was like something else, but I was like nah.
I did the research and looked at certain departments, and I looked at the entrepreneur and I was like, and I looked at all the classes that they were having I mean offering and I was like well.
Let me see if you take this class it’ll help you with this.
If you can take that – and you can substitute with that, so what I was doing was typing up emails and you know on her behalf and she was sending it to his well now.
I can talk about it because, but I was I was.
I was the one behind the scenes, shooting them emails to the different departments and heads and say Hey.
You know woo and Dr Newman allowed my wife to be able to substitute those classes for entrepreneurship when that wasn’t part of the curriculum.
So, for her to get her minor in entrepreneurship was something that was different.
That’S something that you know that curriculum didn’t offer.
I just felt the need to you know her, be informed and have more knowledge of what is to be an entrepreneur, because you know Georgia state is a research University and and that’s and that’s who I am I’m a researcher.
I will research something down to the T and I have to thank Georgia state from way back in uh, not uh.
Well, anyway, back in uh, 1990s, six or seven one of them they had library, South and at the library South.
It used to be open, like the computer lab used to be open 24 hours a day, and so, when I was going to school at Georgia State at the time, it was on a quarter system.
Now today is on a semester system and so like.
If you fail one class, it’s it’s like you, you might have to drop that class, but anyway down in in the computer, uh lab man.
I should see these guys come and they used to be there like 24 hours a day they used to have a toothbrush.
They washcloth and a Ziploc bag.
They used to watch their face, come back, and so that had a huge impression on me and how they would do the research and that’s when the internet was just starting to you know what I’m saying take off the research of the in-search engine.
I think it was Yahoo yeah, Yahoo and AOL were were the premiere here.
Yahoo and AOL was the premier search engine, and so Georgia State just man just that experience made me.
You know it just impacted me and being around people at that particular time who were focused, and they were ethic, was different so anyway, coming back moving forward to this time so with Sheila.
I was so proud of her because, like man throughout this whole journey at Georgia, State like we used to be at the library like two in the morning, so we’ll be at one library and then we’ll go to another library downtown and we’ll stay there.
And she would have failed uh algebra algebra.
Was it twice yeah? I failed the.
Let me see I I failed algebra because I had to take the basic algebra because I never taken it before missed it by one point and you want to give him.
He wouldn’t even give me the point, but that’s okay and then so the pressure was on because it said if you fail this time, you have to wait a whole nother yeah yeah and we were that wasn’t gon na happen.
So I I just stepped up my game even more and it’s crazy, because when you have that one in class like if you’re taking five or six classes – and you have that one class where you have to put extra in it’s like.
Oh, my gosh, I’m I’m on this one class 24 hours that I have other work and I have reading and chapters and be like 12 pages long and then I might have to read it two or three times so I did everything I was supposed to do So I passed that then I took the algebra the regular algebra.
Now my real algebra Now remind you.
She was out of school for over 25 years.
I didn’t.
I never took algebra before in my life and shame on the person that put letters in algebra.
That is so totally ridiculous, but anyway I flunked again because there’s so many different parts to algebra and I’m like.
Are you serious? It’S like chapters, I flunked that my husband told me to take it in the summer, but the summer classes are seven weeks.
I didn’t pass it and the teacher who I had she felt so bad.
She came to me and she said I feel so bad that I didn’t even pass you.
She said you did everything possible that you were supposed to do to pass and I told her I said you know what that’s okay, because the little bit extra that I was able to learn when I took it again.
It was like a refresher, but then I still had a few other ones that I had to learn, but it wasn’t as hard, but it was hard.
So this is where we are now, so the struggle is real and and anybody anybody can do it.
You know I’m gon na talk about this, but it’s not something that you know um.
I know that Georgia state would never give me the recognition that I deserve.
Never I I understand it and but the facts is the fact we can pull paperwork out to vouch what I’m saying so, the former Administration, the president of the school, I’m uh, um yeah all right.
Well, I was going to talk about it, but my wife said: don’t talk about it right now, but at the end of the day we have the first African-American president here at Georgia, State University, and can I say that part okay, so without my [ Music ], But without what it is that you had to go through and what you had to do, he wouldn’t be here and that’s a fact and that’s a fact, Dr Blake, Dr Blake.
No and Dr Blake, I ain’t ain’t gon na, say nothing how you anyway, but I you know I ain’t gon na trip, because you never know how the tables may turn.
You know how God oh yeah, yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, and I’m not talking bad about Dr Blake or nothing.
But sometimes you get frustrated I do.
But but at the end of the day it was a sacrifice that was made that paved the way for Dr Blake to become the first African-American president in Georgia, State University history.
That’S a fact as a fact, and my name is added to that spell boxing.
What’S going on, you know, but anyway, let’s move on okay.
So all right! So since we’re talking about the struggle is real, I have some boxers that have gone through the struggle.
So the first one is Billy Ness.
He was called the Saint Paul thunderstorm.
He was a boxer and he was diagnosed with Bright’s disease, which is a kidney ailment.
I remember you were telling me about that.
Everybody was discovered this, though I guess the way with between you and Georgia State University having to do so much research, and then I just be researching and digging.
You know I took journalism, so the journalism class helped me out a lot too thanks and he did fight Jack Dempsey.
He lost he fought in the 1913s.
He only had five years to live, but he’s still fought his health started going down and he had a family.
He had a wife and kids.
He asked his manager.
I need one more fight because I want to give my family one more great Christmas before I go um, so his manager worked it out.
He had to fight.
He made two thousand four hundred dollars from that five.
That was a lot of money in those days.
1913, yes, that’s when Georgia state was was uh.
That was the founding year at Georgia, State 1913.
, but it was in 1918 that he was given the diagnosis.
So on New Year’s Day in 1924 he passed away, so he was able to give his family the best.
Last Christmas, before he passed away now that’s a struggle now that is really a struggle, because during that time too, and the medicine isn’t like how the medicine is now and it was a struggle during those times but baby we had talked about how being a professional Boxer or it all relates to even everything that we do yeah a man, a boxer go through so much like the struggle yeah.
So then we had Danny Jacobs.
There he’s called The Miracle Man and he had spinal cancer, and he had to be put in a wheelchair.
He was able to have the surgery the cancer was removed, but the doctors told him that he may not be able to ever walk again well within from them, telling them that and having a surgery.
He went through six months of therapy physical therapy and he ended up fighting hmm and he did a knockout knockout yep.
So please tell me that the stroke the struggle is real.
Now, if you want to talk about Tyson Fury, Tyson Fury has also opened up about his mental health when he was having some mental health issues too, and it goes further when boxers male or female, they have so much on their plate.
That they’re thinking about they’re thinking about their training, they’re thinking about their opponent, they’re thinking about everything that they have to do.
Sometimes they have to be away from their families because they have to really stay focused on what it is that they’re doing.
Sometimes the person who is boxing may be the the only bread winner to help with their family, and then they know that there could be a serious injury that can occur and has occurred.
Unfortunately, and they don’t really have any peace until after the fight, even with their training, they say that you can get hurt while training, and that has happened too and to keep focused and to still do what needs to be done.
The struggle is real, I mean we can also talk.
Oh Jack Faye.
He was homeless.
This was during the time when the coronavirus had just came about and then the pandemic hit, and when that happened he couldn’t he wasn’t working.
He didn’t.
He didn’t even have any money and then he had some family issues.
He was trying to find work, but he couldn’t, he still went to box.
He still went to train.
He still did what he was supposed to do.
He was trying to find a job.
He couldn’t find a job and that’s when an opportunity came about, and that was on May of 2021.
.
We have another one: boxer, Lamont, Peterson him and his brother were both homeless at a very young age.
They were eight and six.
They were the second and third of the youngest of 12 children.
They were put in foster homes, one of the foster homes they ran away.
They did stay on and off with family.
I know his name yeah.
I just said Mike Peterson.
Oh Dr Barrow, yes shout out to Dr Barrow: oh, he is the most yo.
He is the most animated positive person.
I learned so much because that was in my African-American studies and when I tell you, Dr Barrow man, I’m talking about man, he called me, Dr Stafford man, because anyway, but Dr Barrow was man, he was very interesting and the I think the other students couldn’t thought.
He might have been weird, but he wasn’t weird because of the way he’ll come into class he’ll, say everybody’s just going to be great.
We are going to have lawyers and doctors and just used to speak positive affirmations to us and I think the way that he went about things people would be like, and I used to look at him be like and I’ll be like.
No don’t do that.
You just don’t know you really.
We really have a special man.
Man, Dr Barrow, is a great man.
He is passionate about it.
Oh, he is very passionate and passionate.
I mean he’s one of the most passionate human beings that I really met when it comes to always positive and he was an aborted school.
I can’t remember was it in England, he went to a boarding school in England, it might, it might have been England.
I know he’s, I remember he said he’s been there man, Dr Barrow.
I wonder if he got his degree from England because he used to say if you want to be a lawyer, was it England that he said where it’s shorter, yeah yeah? He will always encouraged me, he would say he’d say Dr Stafford.
You need to go to uh to England, because you would be a great lawyer because you know who – and I would tell him Dr Barrow – that I’m very humbled that you would even acknowledge my skill set.
But I learned that through it goes back to Georgia.
Yeah go.
It goes back to Georgia State in terms of like just research so so being in the blood.
Plasma industry is a very analytical industry.
So when I read about blood and and then the the Regulatory Compliance with the Food and Drug Administration and the CFR and just other regulatory information as it relates to a blood plasma establishment, so just reading that and studying that it helps my mind to comprehend information.
I think that was the gift that God gave me is the ability to comprehend information.
So if I go into a conversation and I’m – and I may not know the topic, if I sit there for a few minutes and get the listening to what’s going on – I just pick it up just like that.
So when I was dealing with an issue in my journey – uh civil – let me put that out so I would go to the law, library at Georgia, State University and the law library at Emory.
And so I would just study and read and read and read, and I never forget that um, that that librarian at Emory University she told me she said you’re gon na pay one two ways uh when it comes to your case, you either gon na pay.
For the money or you have to pay through it through time, one of the two and she said that – and I never forget – and I was very – I was very grateful to receive something like that from a law library.
She said you, I’ve, never seen no one like you before, and I was like what do you mean shooting, like just your drive, your focus, your discipline and to never taking any type of law courses or anything how you able to grasp and able to put together This and do that and and but I don’t know – I just thank God for everything but uh but yeah Dr Barrow – is a great guy he’s a professor at Georgia State University over at the Carson campus uh.
His subject matter is African studies and he is definitely a pillar for the Georgia state educational system.
I mean he is awesome.
Bro like he was very yo.
He spoke so much life into my wife.
He wrote a recommendation letter for you to get um for a scholarship um.
I mean he just believed in my wife and he was yo yo.
He solid.
But anyway you know shout out to Dr Barrel one more [ Music ] Dr miles.
Oh yeah, that’s my negotiation class man.
It’S so many professors at Georgia State.
It’S so many people that I know at Georgia.
State like when I went up high when we had our first negotiation.
He said.
Yes, you are staffer all the way, because I set up a high price because we used to have to negotiate with each other it’ll, be, of course, one-on-one or then it’ll be a group, and I I struggled on my second one because I’m like I almost cried.
I was about to cry, I did cry, I cried.
I cried.
I cried a lot of times, but then you’re trying to get this education, my gosh, but I was there because you know saying I was like baby.
I used to take my frustration down on him too.
If I didn’t, I didn’t care about that, because I already knew what she was going through and I knew – and I was looking at the end like I was like we just gon na – have to go through this.
I don’t care nothing about that, and so I just I’m just amazed by the transformation that she has evolved into this.
This amazing, beautiful, intelligent woman and so in our program.
Sheila has set the bar up this high, so it shouldn’t be no excuses for nothing y’all.
As in the Stafford Boxing Club mentoring program to get a college degree yeah, they have to pass me: oh yeah doctors, I don’t even want to say Masters, just go straight up to doctors.
I thought I wanted to do that.
But oh I’m tired.
But let me finish this and the two brothers.
They also used to live an abandoned, build as they would sleep in abandoned buildings, cars that were abandoned bus terminals and from time to time they will live at their grandparents basement, which had roaches, occasional snakes and rats.
During that whole time, they were still going to the gym training, doing everything that they had to do and everything that they were supposed to do so once again, the struggle is real, but you know what she most of the most of the successful boxers have come From that background, come from poverty yeah and they were always to like Floyd Money Mayweather.
You know he come from that state, same Javonte, Davis, um.
What’S my man name Philadelphia um he went to prison and then he came out.
Uh hey! What’S his name, it’s right! On the tip of my tongue, I’m looking right at him: Bernard hospitals, Bernard Hopkins here, another one uh Mike Tyson, uh Evander Holyfield.
I remember Sugar Ray Leonard testimony.
He he had a for real one: uh Marvis, Hagler, Tommy Hearns.
All them guys come from impoverished background, but yet they stuck with their dreams, and I was listening to a podcast by uh.
His name is coach, Collinsworth he’s out of Houston, and he was talking about how these boxers sometimes would sleep in in the backyard of someone’s shed.
Now.
Just think about that.
I don’t know if you know what a shed is, but it has no insulation.
It has no no circulating air system in it, no heating system, it just a aluminum shed so and so in the the the winter it gets cold cold and in the summer it gets hot, hot and so for a boxer, because at any given moment a boxer Can get a fight just like that, and a boxer got to be ready for that opportunity because they may not get it again.
And so you know, the profession of a of a boxer is real, but that’s just anything in life, though you feel what I’m saying, but I think also the difference with the boxer.
It’S more uh.
It’S a lot more physical, it’s more physical, and then you really have to rely on your mental and your spiritual and just everything.
Now, I’m not saying there are physical jobs too, like constructions or if you anybody who works in a warehouse, but the boxing Is For Real.
It’S a difference.
You have to.
You have to go through more and you have to.
You have to do more and and you’re putting your body through different certain changes, strength to get the make sure you have that cardio and and and and that’s why.
I think and that’s why, in that book we were reading about the mindset of custom, auto and cuss will talk about how, if you can focus on and excuse me if you can have the discipline to focus on what’s going inside of the ring and not pay Attention to the things outside the ring, that’s a mark of a champion, that’s the discipline and the characteristic of a champion, because if you can separate those two and focus strictly on the boxing, you will Propel like when you walk in from your dressing room to the Ring it’s a lot of going on.
But if you can just focus on that ring, what’s about to happen and know that you are entitled to be a champion because you put in the work and that’s the thing that I really love about custom model and his philosophy and then just the way how He uh sacrificed his life for the embediment for the sport of boxing.
You know, cuss was because struggle was real too, oh, because because I was always after him the mob.
Not only that, though, because used to sleep on the floor, you know he he he slept at the gym um.
He when I, if, if my memory serves me well when he went to the Army, he would sleep on the floor instead of sleeping in the bed right, because he didn’t want yeah um to to like, like if he got captured or whatever yeah.
He wanted to make sure that he was prepared to be in an uncomfortable, uh position, and so he would sleep on the floor and you know cuss was just he was just one of a kind, and I can see why Mike Tyson is so ever indebted to Custom model because it was a psychological um transformation and Mike Tyson, mind that made Mike Tyson believe in himself in himself and everything that cuss was saying to him and so because didn’t get an opportunity to see the manifestation of the vision.
But we gon na.
Take that baton and we’re gon na run with it we’re gon na run with it cause we we, we never met you, but we are inspired.
We are we adore you.
We are, I mean everything that you stood for for a man to during that time.
Segregation was real and when you were driving the boxers to go fight and it was time to check in the hotel room and you and Camilla you was like well, if you can’t accept them in this hotel, then I ain’t gon na be in the hotel, and You used to sleep out in the on the bus with them.
You know I mean like so cuss wasn’t all about that old lit wrestling and all that he was strictly about to walk and – and I’m not gon na lie like because, like reading your books – and we have to finish – I think I got this much left in Um Iron ambition: you do you’ve been reading it like that yeah I got I yeah.
I got this much okay.
I got this much like you’ve.
Read it already right.
I got this much but um.
That’S a fascinating book and Mike Tyson details, the story, how cuss helped him believe and that’s the thing about a leader, a Visionary, a Visionary can see things that the crew may not see and so like.
When, when God spoke to me, he said, hey man, you and Sheila going through the boxing thing.
I was like what I was like.
I ain’t.
We don’t even know nothing about no boxing, but we start researching.
We start, you know, saying becoming a student of the the crab and you know we ran across custom model and we fell in love and and we started educating ourselves and reading because I think and watching and watching videos and watching videos and watching and just you Know like, for instance, how Mike Tyson will talk about that number system.
We were listening to so many uh cuss videos that it was kind of like that number system.
Five.
You know what I’m saying two one.
You know what I mean like we wanted to to.
I don’t know man, we want his voice to be tattooed on our heart and our spirit and our mind, because what we’re doing is what cuss was doing for the kids in New York.
He was getting the kids from the slums like the ghetto, the ghetto yeah, and he was allowing him to stay in his 14-bedroom Mansion.
Now I don’t know today.
No, you should do that man, you, because I’m sorry cause it’s totally different.
How I used to be because I’m just saying bro I mean it is crazy, but the philosophy and the fundamental principle about being mentally strong and implementing everything that we learn and it’s continued to learn and seeing and hearing.
And that’s how we look at life about the peekaboo.
You know what I’m saying we want to guard ourselves.
You feel me.
We want to guard ourselves, make sure you know that hey man, we just like that, so everybody got their own Styles.
We just feel now.
Some people saying that the peekaboo not good, but you know to each its own, but you know there is some advantages and disadvantages.
If you’re a short fighter, they say that the peekaboo is great, but if you tall there is some just discrepancies that can be.
You know in favor of the polls and fight or whatever, but it was this white guy that I seen that used to uh be trained by a cousin.
He was like six six, two six, three six four or something like that and he was using the peekaboo.
You know what I mean so you know now I love peek-a-boo, but I also love um Floyd Mayweather defense, I mean yeah.
I ain’t gon na lie.
Floyd Mayweather defense is like it’s like like we I have talked about last week.
I like the fact how they can change their opponent’s Direction.
Yeah like I like how he does that and that’s that’s I just I just love it.
Andre Ward was good too.
He a champion.
I mean it’s, it’s so many great Fighters that have so many great Styles, but the thing that I don’t see any Fighters today is here: it’s like a lot of it’s like no head movement and they always have their Garden.
Yeah like this or just like this.
It’S never like this, and I’m like what are you doing.
You can just get snuffed anytime and you’re, not even amen and shout out to any.
You know young boy, young girl, uh anyone who’s ever had aspiration to become an amateur or a professional fighter.
Man, man, I just want to say man, yo, keep going Brad, don’t stop, please don’t stop the TMC.
The marathon continues bro because you never know one day we might be talking about you and your testimony and you see how all these guys testimony has inspired.
She and I that we talk about them and we draw from that.
So, even when times are tough for us, because life and just life, we draw on the strength of those Champions, and then you start remembering what those guys went through and but most importantly, it’s the word of God.
It’S our foundation that give us the strength to keep going anyway, but adding on to that, we think about those boxers who had you know overcome huge obstacles to become world champion in different weight classes, and so we’re just so inspired by these great Fighters.
And we want to encourage those young boys, young girls, young men, young women, women and men who are currently boxing to not give up.
I don’t care what you got going on.
You stay focused bro cause, I’m telling you bro.
That opportunity comes just like that and when that opportunity does come, you want to make sure that you prepare for your opportunity because opportunities don’t come around all the time.
So it’s very important to be prepared for your opportunity, so you can take advantage of it.
Yeah! That’S pretty much, you said everything you really did, but I want to switch it up, just real quick, because I know it’s almost about that time.
Just one thing – and I told you I wanted to talk about when I had told you what the president had said and I think that plays with the two yeah so just real quick.
I was watching on Tick Tock I watch Clips.
I don’t actually watch the shows.
Is this guy? His name is Jason Lee and he’s big in Hollywood, and he has his own little show he had Krishan Rock and blue face on there.
He said he had just went.
He had just come from the White House and the president had said that this couple is the most talked about the most followed to the point that people don’t even know what’s going on and what the White House is even saying, like their press conference or anything And I have to say that’s sad because with us talking about the struggle is real and staying on your journey.
The marathon continues and seeing the end results a lot of us.
That’S not what we’re doing and then to even piggyback off of when my husband was talking about the kids fighting the teachers, the kids fighting themselves.
I watched a clue of Christian rock she’s, the co-producer we’re even talking about her, but it’s a reason why the co-producer – and I believe I believe blueface – is the producer of a show called baddies West.
Well, I looked at the audition and then I looked at the show on Tick Tock, it’s a clip and it’s very sad how you have these women that all they do is fight.
There’S no talking all it is.
Is I don’t like you you disrespected me.
You shouldn’t have said what you said now get up.
I want to fight you, you, you and you so run up for the auditions.
It was very sad because not only were they dressed inappropriately, but what it was that they were saying what they offered.
Now.
That’S good that some of them do have their businesses, but they were doing things.
That’S just in my opinion is is not right and that’s why also besides, maybe the kids just wanted to do what they want to do? Maybe it’s personal, their family, the demographic area where they live, but also the music and entertainment period to where now it’s we’re not doing any talking, we’re just fighting and that was coming rolling over and it has been into the schools.
So what I want to say to the parents, we understand that things are very hard.
The struggle is real, whether if you’re married or if you’re, single and you’re doing the best that you can.
You have to go to work, but there has to become a point to where you know what your child is doing and even though you may be doing all you can sometimes kids just go on another path, so it can go either way.
We have to do better, and I spoke to my friend today.
I don’t even know her name, the Elder young.
I called her my Elder and I had spoke about her last week.
She said back in her times that it was a community that raised children.
So if you lived next door to somebody – and you did something that neighbor was going to tell your parents or during that time they would have permission to spank your child now, look I get the spanking part.
We don’t want anybody, not unless your family and you’ve been given permission to spank your child, because there’s a lot of things that people are doing to kids and children.
That’S just and the law is disgusting that too, but it’s gotten to the point where now we can’t even say anything to the child or the children, because the parent or the parents are going to go off and want to fight you because they’re trying to help
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