#354. Bare Knuckle Heavyweight World Champion Fights For His Autistic Boy - Dan Lerwell

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2:23What's it like having the reputation of one of the toughest men in Wales?

2:27Dan Lerwell: You know, I got brought up in a fighting family. I mean, it's just something that's always been a part of my life. Do you mind getting hurt? I don't mind getting hurt, no, no. You fight bare knuckle, you're going to get out. You know, I've got my jaw, I've had stitches, I've had numerous stitches. What is your ultimate goal with bare knuckle boxing? Why are you doing bare knuckle boxing? My son. That's the only reason. I don't care about titles, I don't care about money, I don't care about who I fight. As long as I fight the best to raise autism or awareness, that's all I want for fighting. When my son was born, when Theo was born, I didn't know nothing about autism.

2:58Dan Lerwell: It is not made aware enough in Britain. Tell me about what happened the other day with that bloke. There's a video of me and my son on Instagram. There's loads of horrible comments on it. He comes to me, kisses me. And what people don't realise, I ask him for another kiss three times, and he's trying to make his empathy a bit better. I've been called a **** sonny. If you say something about me, don't bother me at all. When they say something in my stomach, that's when it makes you bang. That's why I see red then. When you first saw that comment, what went through your head? I wanted to kill him.

3:26I wanted to strangle him.

3:32Dan, welcome to the show, mate. Hello, Dodge. How are you, mate? Nice to meet you. Yeah, mate. Really nice to meet you. I've actually seen you fight a couple of times. Yeah. And I remember going to Bristol. We'll talk about it later on. but I remember going to Bristol and watching you put an eight bang combination in bang bang bang bang down and I was like Jesus Christ who is that bloke so now you're finally here no I'm finally here yeah yeah yeah and for a good friend of mine Joe Joe yeah who owns BKB has put us in contact changed my life Joe yeah yeah I bet he did we'll go into that but let's roll all the way back what's it like having the reputation of one of the toughest men in Wales I just

4:09Dan Lerwell: I play it down a bit I just tell them it's lucky punches So, yeah, it's still a bit surreal for me because I'm just a fat kid from Town Hill, as I always describe myself. And, you know, I got brought up in a fighting family. My grandfather, my uncles, my father. And it's just something that's always been a part of my life. Yeah. Yeah. So when you're saying you grew up in a fighting family, what was growing up in Swansea like in the 80s and 90s for you? In the 80s and 90s, I grew up in Town Hill. I'd see my father have loads of fights. He was a tough guy, one of the tough guys in the area. So yeah, I'd see a lot of fights in my time.

4:51It was growing up, it was all right in Town Hill. I liked it. I was used to it. I'd never been anywhere else. Always growing up in Town Hill. Joyriders were rife up there. I used to be on Friday show. We used to watch the Joyriders and stuff like that. But yeah, it was great. It's a great community. What do you find with Swansea and like the council estates? Everyone knows each other. so no one goes short nothing and that's where it was like for years and years proper community proper community yeah that's amazing when you say your old man was scrapping was he street fights or actually combat

5:23Dan Lerwell: well it is by my own man he's a black bit of judo and he was very good at judo and like he packed it in and obviously he used to have a bit street fights he used to bother drunk in fights more or less and he used to win a lot but that way yeah he was very good very very tough man and did you grow up with brothers around you? Sisters, brothers? No, I'm the only boy. Was there? Yeah, I got two sisters, yeah. Because normally, when you grow up with like three, four brothers, always the youngest one who's always the hardest nails. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, okay. I grew up with, I had a lot of cousins. We were a very close family.

5:54So I had my cousin Richard, my cousin Nicky, he's a fighter as well, Nicky. Richard didn't go down a fight and he was a hell of a rugby player. Was he? Yeah, so you know, and like our friends become brothers, like John, Ricky, we had, you know, growing up we had loads of friends and they were like my brothers, yeah. like now as an adult I know you can bang out people for fun and you're not you're a really kind human being when you were growing up when did you realise you could be banging people out? I never forget I was 15 and I was arguing with a boy he was a bit older than me I think he was about 6 years older than me or 5 years older than me and to be honest I shit myself so we started arguing he slung a punch and I hit him and he just disappeared where's he gone?

6:38and you sleep on the floor and then I realised alright that was easy so I'd have to be afraid of fighting no more yeah it was a bit crazy do you ever you know like before going into a fight do you get that adrenaline do you get that fear before going in there

6:53Dan Lerwell: I've done it so many times now I don't I don't say that being an asshole I get I get excited it's like as soon as I'm in that ring it's like an excitement if you go bottle it the feeling of it you'd be a billionaire it's an unbelievable feeling yeah it's just crazy I do get a bit nervous when my daughter walks me out yes because in the back of my mind I don't want to get hurt in front of her but that's the only thing I think of when I'm walking out there yeah what was it I want to know about I want to know about this story when you and your pal dressed up when you and your pal cross dressed and went out fancy dressed out in town yeah and I want to know that story of what actually happened that night right so it's quite a long story so I cut it down but through it was me James Lilly John Phillips the ex-USC one of my best mates it was about 20 of us we were dressed as women but tell the truth we were dressed as prostitutes that's what we dressed up as it was a stupid idea we got dressed up went out we had Wine Street we were using women's toilets now today you'd be allowed to but then you weren't allowed to I mean they frowned upon it then so we had bouncers coming in trying to chuck us out and we dancing with the bouncers we had a hell of a night it was a hell of a laugh It was one of the best nights out I've ever had.

8:08Dan Lerwell: We end up going to Kingsway. And the funny part of the story is, the boys we actually had a fight with, they were fighting with Spider-Man and like a Batman before us, outside a pub called Escape. So they're still bouncing off a drain and walking up the street. They see us, me and James Lilly. They call James Gay and try and hit him. Well, they did hit him. I've seen it. I've run up. I've hit the two of them and knocked them both out. But I'm not the famous one for it. Lilly's a famous one for picking his bag back up. so yeah it was it was a it was a crazy story yeah and it went viral it did go far and it was like it was like when youtube first yeah come you know come about and we got offered i'd be off for win three i did and my grandfather would have gone mad at the time he's alive he would have gone mental so we didn't bother but i went on a load of things from it you went on a tv show who was the comedian uh jimmy car jimmy car's yeah program with a load of other big fuck was a year that's right that's right and they've sort of brought you both on didn't they go well you've got to guess what these two boys have yeah well i i was quite shocked because they thought we were the boys who got knocked out yeah so it was quite funny yeah but but again we we met loads of people from it i mean jimmy car's one of the soundest guys you ever met yeah he gave us free tickets to his show he said if you ever need to come to a show just let me know they were fantastic i i didn't like uh john from ross that much he was a bit funny compared to the rest of them but the rest of them they were all sound all brilliant so tell me about your fighting background then you were fighting as a kid you were fighting all the way through when was it you actually found your passion to go you know I need to put my street fight in it was I'm good at street fight now I want to put it into doing something semi-professional and professional the kids in school I wasn't in the school but we used to have a range of fights in school and it was three of us that were the toughest in the school it was quite funny actually because we were only kids we didn't even know about fighting him, you'd just go in the gang where he was called, we'd have a fight, the teachers would come down and break it up and that'd be the end of it.

10:03Dan Lerwell: But that's how it started. I was a judo boy. I'd done judo from eight years old, my father's judo, my uncle's judo. And it just rolled on from there. I was never a bully in school. I was always like a quiet kid, always a shy kid. And I'm still like that, but just an insecure kid I was. But I think it was, it was not mad, but it was like a self-harm kind of thing. I'd have a fight if I got hurt. It was my self-harm. It was just one of them things that I enjoyed doing, unfortunately. Do you mind getting hurt? No, no. I don't mind getting hurt. No, no. It's like swimming, you know. You go swimming, you're going to get wet.

10:42Dan Lerwell: You fight bare knuckle, you're going to get hurt. So, yeah, I broke my jaw. I've had stitches. I've had numerous stitches. I've had a few injuries. You know when you say what it's like to be getting hurt, content like that, but your tolerance levels must be so high to pain. Well, the funny story is about my jaw. I think jaw and I was a story. I fought a guy named Danny Walsfold. The first punch he caught me brought my jaw. I stopped him in the first round. I get out of the ring, eating the Snickers, drinking my Monster like I do after a fight and didn't think nothing of it. Woke up the next day.

11:17My missus said, there's something wrong with your teeth. I said, what do you mean something wrong with my teeth? She's not lining up. I said, oh, shut up. I said, there's nothing wrong with them. she nagged me nagged me nagged me went to the hospital

11:26Dan Lerwell: goes in to see the nurse they send me back out goes for x-ray sends me back out so I go snickers again I'm eating snickers the doctor walks out to the room what are you doing he said put that down I said what's the matter he said you've got a clean cut snap in your jaw he said I was like oh my god so I carried on eating I said I'm not wasting it so I had it and yeah and then I had a nightmare after that the worst pain was after the operation to be honest not even the broken jaw I wish I never had it because they cut through saliva gland it was leaking all down my neck it was a nightmare it was after that and when was this?

12:01pardon?

12:02Dan Lerwell: when was this? that was a fight after Danny Walsh falls through going back two and a half years ago okay a year and a half ago something like that yeah yeah so going back to your combat sports before we get into the bare knuckle boxing which I just think is one of the best sports I've ever watched live by the way it's exciting my god I love boxing I'm into my boxing I love boxing and grew up with boxing and then my pal Joe who owns BKB invited me said come down to Cardiff and come and watch this thing called BKB I was like and as I was going down there we were ringside before I went in I thought I don't know what to expect here because sometimes you see it on telly but to see it live is the most exciting sport I've ever watched in my life it's pure like first round knockouts it's crazy and the noise the noise everyone says but the noise it's like you know I do a large cootie for the boxing and you can hear I'm hitting in boxing but the noise in bed.

12:52Dan Lerwell: It's like Born on Born. It's a crazy song. And some people love it. Yeah. Some people don't. My mother hates her. Yeah, I'm sure. I'm sure. Yeah, but some people love it. Well, that's what people want, don't they? It's violence. Legalised violence. Legalised violence. That's what people love. And it's funny, before that, you'd always think bedrock or boxing, everyone would go, it's illegal. Yeah. It's illegal. It's illegal. People still say it now. I knew you were explaining to them, like, you know, it's legal now. We do it on a big platform now. Yeah. And some of them still don't believe me. Yeah.

13:19so what was the difference for you like going in from a from a ring that's square to all of a sudden to a trigon wing the first time I went in there I jumped in the deep end I fought the world title the first time I fought in the triangle I fought a guy named Cub Hawkins cracking guy amazing fighter and the first time I was in there I found it I don't know how to describe it a bit claustrophobic you say there's nowhere to hide with a square ring you can run you can go round you know cut them off in a corner they can still get out but you know you do steps

13:50Dan Lerwell: in the trigon you cut them off in that corner they're not going nowhere but on the flip side you can't throw your hooks properly because it's so tight the corners are so tight in them so I did find it a bit different at first but I kind of adapted quite quick because of my judo the grappling side of it and you know the grip inside of it so yeah you come on quite quick in the triangle so for the listeners out there not watching you're in a triangle yeah tell the listeners out there what the rules are what you're allowed to do and what you're not allowed to do in bare knuckle boxing the rules were a bit different from the square ring like we used to box Queensby rules which was two minute rounds three two minute rounds five two minute rounds and seven two minutes of world title but now it's all three minute rounds how many three minute rounds it starts with five five threes six threes of world title the rules set in you're allowed to grab so you're allowed to work in a grip in a clinch which was a lot different from Queensby rules which suited me a lot because of my judo.

14:48Yeah, and that's about it, really. It's the clinching, the clinch work, and the ring, obviously. But the rounds didn't really bother me because I'm fit enough for three minutes, so that didn't bother me at all. So you're quite happy to go for three minutes, five rounds, because your fitness levels are so high. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I have never done five rounds in a Trigon yet, to be honest with you, but I've done five rounds with BKB. Only I've ever been a distance once,

15:14Dan Lerwell: so yeah it's just it's um but I think people don't think I can go distance but I know I can't I I train the rounds and rounds and rounds with Enzo and yeah I'm fit enough for 12 rounds Enzo McInerney you train with him yeah yeah yeah he's my coach he's my boxing coach what a lovely bloke he seems one of the nicest guys you ever meet yeah mate genuine gentleman yeah I see that when I see him getting interviewed I think you know what I really like this bloke he's a lovely guy you know what am I getting him on in fact yeah he'd be great because with Enzo he's straight yeah there's no in between with Enzo he's straight if you're doing something wrong you'll tell her it's wrong if you're doing something right you'll tell her it's right there's no there's no smoke being blown up your ass yeah he's a great guy and where's his base then Buddy Mine ABC where's that Swansea in Swansea as well yeah yeah okay yeah we've got a few good boxers we've got Willie Gleaney coming up now as well he's a European champion now we've got Ashley Johnson and she just fought Molly McCann yeah it's a great gym you've got some really talented kids there that's quality the kids beat me up yeah so yeah how many times a week are you training?

16:13When I'm in camp it'd be five, six days a week. I never used to have a rest day until I met Enzo. He makes me have a rest day now but yeah, five, six days a week strength, conditioning and boxing. So give an example on your camp. Would your camp be like a 12-weeker? Normally eight. Eight weeks but you're in good anyway. I stay consistent

16:31Dan Lerwell: so I stay doing the weights and the circuits. I am not much boxing as long as I broke my hand in my last fight but I do stay boxing twice, three times a week as well, just keep my hand in. But yeah, I never used to but I do now Oh, yeah, yeah. As you've got all new guys who are youngsters. Yeah, absolutely. Do you know what I think is mad as well? I know it's just a real simple thing to say, but bare knuckle boxing. You have nothing on your hands. Like literally nothing. It's literally... But I see you like clumping people on the back of the head. I've said the toughest part with a right hook and a left hook and a up hook.

17:03How tough... You know, how many times are your knuckles gone in the middle of a fight when you're going, do you know what? In fact, you're lucky you bang people out in the first round. Yeah, yeah. You're not lucky. it's a talent by the way but what is it like knowing you're in a fight and do you know when you're in a fight that you've actually just broken your hand when you're in there believe it or not I've brought my hand once in 17 fights I've never one in 17 fights that was Jack Marsh one of the one who comes to Bristol when you did the 8 combo yeah yeah I brought my hand I suffered to them with Robert Corky I still he was still one heel properly and then I damaged it even more then against Danny Mitchell so I've had a good rest of it

17:39Dan Lerwell: it's good but yeah once I brought my hand up to all them fights which is crazy that's amazing really isn't it I'd be very lucky yeah are they just like have you trained yeah my hands I worked outside all my life so they're out of a mess let's have a look at them yeah okay yeah fair play what is your ultimate goal with bare knuckle boxing why are you doing bare knuckle boxing how old are you today I'm 40 you're 40 why are you still doing bare knuckle boxing today at the age of 40 my son that's the only reason I don't care about titles I don't care about money I don't care about who I fight as long as I fight the best to raise autism or awareness that's all I want that's all I want for fighting and I'll keep on doing that until I think in my head look I don't like your training anymore I'm not doing this anymore and then I'll finish as soon as I feel like that I'll be done I'll find something else to do then to raise awareness perhaps I hear men or something like that you're just giving me massive goosebumps doing it for your son that's the only reason that is when my son was born when Theo was born I'd known nothing about autism nothing so I had to learn about it and it is not made aware enough in Britain I mean I've been to America I've been the best place I've been actually Denmark yeah we sit in a restaurant they've got a quiet area and I ask them what it's for it's for disabled kids and people on the spectrum that like being in crowds but Britain is way behind okay way behind so you're doing the fighting to raise more awareness about autism so how would you explain your boy he is just a bundle of joy and love and he's amazing yeah he i'm got a bad bone in his body um you know don't get me wrong he still struggles he's still nap he's he's don't speak much uh his class is non-verbal but he do speak that's that's one of the parts i don't understand about autism but uh he's fantastic he's a monster yeah he's gonna be like my dad yeah he's he's an absolute monster and um yeah he loves fishing he's into fishing now so I'm chuffed to that I think the big shock is when you have a son with autism or disability or any child with disability as a father you know you have all these expectations he's going to do football he's going to do rugby he's going to do boxing and then when you get told you know he's disabled and then you start reading up and then you realise some of this might not happen it is a big shock the system when a baby's here but you get used to it and you get on with it life's life you know I got my faith and he was given to me for a reason amazing and how old is he today?

20:07He's 12 now, yeah. Massive shout out to Theo. Yeah, he's 12 now. I've seen your clips you do with him and stuff. Yeah. And it's beautiful to watch how close you are. He's brilliant, yeah. He's fantastic. The bomb we got is unbreakable.

20:22Dan Lerwell: Yeah, I see that. I chuffed that, yeah. Tell me about the day-to-day having a boy with autism. What does that mean for you? Day-to-day, at the moment, I've split with my ex-wife. She does all the day-to-day work. I take my hat off to her. She is a fantastic mother. and I'd never slag her off on it at all. All the stuff we've been through, I still wouldn't say a bad word about her. But day to day, it can be hard some days, but in other days, it's just a breeze. Like people say, oh, you know, do you do it? Eight times out of ten, we're so used to what he does. It's just a breeze now. But when you do have a bad day, it's a bad day.

20:58Dan Lerwell: Yeah, yeah. It's a really bad day. Like, you know, even a baby crying, he'll run over and try and hit the baby. Really? And he don't mean it. he don't mean it it's just the noise it's so high pitched it's just messes with the sensory needs and that's the big thing with you is the sensory yeah high pitched noises crowds stuff like that he's not a big fan of that yeah yeah good mate of mine Neil is military down here ex-military Royal Marines and he's I saw him today he went oh my god you got Dan on I said I got Dan on he goes oh my god I'll reach out today because Neil's got autistic children as well and he said you always get back to him and reach out and it's tough man I have loads of messages and I do miss some but I try and get back to everyone the message we brought He said you went back to him Yeah yeah I do try and get back to everyone because at the end of the day if I didn't get back to him it's pointless for me raising awareness so I do try my best Tell me about what happened the other day with that bloke Oh Mr Sam Yeah What's going on there from start to finish Right There's a video of me and my son on Instagram There's loads of horrible comments on it I'm kissing him he comes to me kisses me and i ask him another kiss and what people don't realize i ask him for another kiss three times because it drums him into a man and he can kiss dad it's not a bad thing and it's trying to make his empathy a bit better um i've been called a non-sonner i've been called every i got thick skin if you say something about me don't bother me at all when i say something that's when it that's when it makes me better and that's why i see red then and he put an absolute disgusting comment on there.

22:31Dan Lerwell: He actually deleted it. What did he write? He wrote, what did he write? He wrote, why have that kid still got, why have that teenager still got a dummy? And he wrote, and the dad's a nonce for kissing him and stuff like that. And he wrote something, something along the lines of, you're a retard like your son. Something along those lines. It was disgusting. And, you know, in fact, he did delete it, right? But the thing is, I seen it already. And what he didn't realise was, he commented on another troll's comment that was calling me a nonce and autism and I only shared autism for likes and stuff like that.

23:03Dan Lerwell: It was a load of crap. And he wrote underneath, superb comment. But he didn't delete that one. And he tried making out. He didn't know my son was disabled, you know, this and that. Well, if he read that comment, he would have known because it was autism all over the comment. So he's just a liar. He's just a shitbag, to be honest with you. And, you know, I'd love to go up there. I probably will end up going up there because I only asked him for a video saying an apology and he won't give it. Has he done an apology? No. he said sorry to me on the phone. And I said, look, just give me a video. I said, give me a video saying sorry.

23:36That'll be the end of it. I can't do that. People will know, you know, people know this, people know that. And then some people knows me, no, I wouldn't do that. I'm like, well, mate, it's up to you, whatever you want to do, do.

23:45Dan Lerwell: But if you don't, you will see me one day. So, yeah, it was disgusting. It was disgusting. The man's an idiot. And he's known for it, apparently. He's very well known for it. Where is he in the country? Sussex. Not far? not far from where I'd done a podcast with Liam so yeah not far from Liam at all so and that's the thing these people some of them got fake profiles you can never find them but the ones with a picture you can find them like that I mean the internet 24 hours yeah you just put one post on someone alone straight away like that so I don't know why they do it you know and his excuse was he was drunk and he was only commenting what he'd seen but you comment on what you see fair enough but if you see something you don't like and you don't agree with just scroll past you don't have to put a dirty comment or a horrible comment just scroll past it's as easy as that or it's someone's son yeah especially when it's a disabled kid and someone's son it doesn't even have to be a disabled kid it could be any child if you're going to comment on a child's post it's disgusting it's terrible it might be anyway it's terrible so yeah he just I'm not going to waste my time anymore asshole but But there was a funny part of it.

24:57I posted, there was a picture of him on a company.

25:00Dan Lerwell: I did apologise to his dad. I put a video up apologising to his dad. So I posted a company because his picture's on it. And obviously my followers then, they took it in their own mind and commented on all his business reviews. His reviews went from 100 % to 16%. And then I had a phone call then off the noughties saying he's had over 150 phone calls in the office, death threats and that. But, it's nothing to do with me. I unphoned them. I unphoned them at all. I unphoned anyone to phone them. And I did put a video up there and asked them to stop phoning. Because at the end of the day, as much as I, you know, I'd love to ruin people's, you know, his life.

25:38Dan Lerwell: It's not, it's his dad's life. And his dad has nothing to do with it. Oh, so it's his dad's business. It's his dad's business. He works for his dad. Oh, he works for his dad. That's why I put a video up asking, not to phone the business. Because it's, you know, all right, it's his dad, but he's got nothing to do with it. You know what I mean? so yeah and that's the kind of guy I am I'm not like that at all so as a very humble human being who's loved by hundreds of thousands of people around the UK when you first saw that comment what went through your head?

26:11Dan Lerwell: I wanted to kill him as the same as any dad would I wanted to strangle him that's the truth of it and I did see a bit of red I was on drive up there the same when I found out where we was I was on drive up there the same day not tell long go up there and back but you know something stopped me so my son needs to be moaning put it that way that's what stopped me yeah yeah that's way hard it is hard because if you didn't have a son you'd be in there it is hard I was going to stop posting him I was going to stop posting stuff about me and my son altogether and then like I had a good think of one I thought you know why should I stop with these idiots keep doing it it's beautiful to see it's beautiful to see and it's raising a lot of awareness as well I have more good messages and good comments and bad ones so yeah i got that out of my head in the end yeah yeah but he i wish you could meet him theo's amazing yeah yeah and if people everyone loves him everyone who meets him loves him instantly he's fantastic yeah yeah that's quality mate yeah he's brilliant have you ever had any dark times in your life yeah where you feel like i'm not sure i want to carry on yeah i've um I tried to end my life once I've had suicide well I still have suicidal thoughts now but you learn to deal with it I'm diagnosed bipolar ADHD and yeah I've been like this as a kid but when you've had it for so long you tend to mask it you tend to learn how to mask it it's like you know like people don't see that side of me I try to hide that side away from me I talk about it a lot just trying to help one person but I mean I do yeah yeah it's not a very nice thing to have.

27:49Dan Lerwell: But then, I got my kids and that's what saves me now. You know, I'd done one stupid thing on my son's birthday, trying to hang on myself and to be honest with you, since that day, in my head, as soon as I'd done it, as soon as I'd done it, as soon as I kicked that stool and I tell everyone this, it was a mistake. In your head, it's a mistake and I reckon 99 % of people who do it have that same thought in their head as soon as they do it. so don't let suicide be your last mistake and that's what I tell everyone yeah bloody hell it's you know it's good to talk yeah thank you if you're honest yeah it's good to talk you said you took the stool away did you put the rope up I put the rope up it was actually two no dressing gowns it was two ropes of a dressing gown I put them together wrapped it up yeah and myself yeah and my ex-wife found me cut me down and then a paramount just come it was as I said before they actually said it was quite lucky I didn't break my neck because I was a big boy then I was you know I was heavyweight when I first started BKB so I was quite a big boy yeah so I'd been lucky and you know I was kept for a reason so and my reason's my kids amazing mate yeah that's my reason what was when you say you had suicidal thoughts for many times what was the point that this one last one you said I'm actually going to do it now I'll never forget it the day I went to work in the morning it was a Friday I'll never forget it I was drinking at the time that's one of the reasons why I knocked drinks straight on the head for 10 years and I've never been in a pub I've never been sitting there with my friends I just didn't feel myself so just kind of drinking drinking drinking went to another pub ended up having a fight a really bad fight which was another reason I went home went in the living room gave them all a kiss every single one of them my daughters my son my ex-wife they were downstairs i hit them all as quiet they could in upstairs in the bedroom and then yeah and then i done it then yeah and i remember waking up there's paramedics there my best mate john was there um and they were all screaming at me and then uh we had a bit of a scuffle with the police and yeah that was it yeah it was quite a bad day it's just this It's this.

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31:59Dan Lerwell: it brings back bad memories um but i do speak about it just to try and help people you know you destroy you know people see me as a strong guy even strong guys are bad days yeah yeah i hear you i've lost three pals yeah i've lost a few as well yeah so it's the other weird thing is dan is that i've lost three pals to suicide yeah it never gets put in the press or anything i think so what happens is the person your mate or good friend of yours passes that no one knows anything about it apart from the tight people around him and it's swept under the table and no one's really speaking about it and everyone ever speaks about it again no one speaks about it I know I know I mean one of my best mates when I was young Dale Aiden he committed suicide love him and the devastation of course in his family it's crazy and I reckon the same I reckon it was a mistake any person I reckon anyone 99 % of them as soon as they do it they think oh my god what have I done and they can't get out to it then I was lucky but some people are not and that's what I tell everyone yeah so how long was it do you think it was before you when you did that when you took the stool away your missus come up and found you I don't know it could have been a minute it could have been two minutes it could have been three minutes I haven't got a clue I know we weren't enough you know for me to it was enough for me to pass out but it wasn't enough for me to die so as soon as she cut me down I think she said it took about ten seconds we come back round I took a breath by the time I took a breath at the armament.

33:24Yeah.

33:24Dan Lerwell: God. What year was this? 2017. 17. Yeah. Never forget it. 29th of July, 2017. And how old, how old was Theo then? Theo was, 2004. Just turning four. And I regret it because he was on his birthday. But the thing is, when you're in that state of mind, you think everyone's better without you. Is that what, is that what constantly going through your head? It was in my head for like nine months before that. You know, everyone would be better without me. You know, it's just everything. Everything all of a sudden comes into one day. That's what I try to explain. All the past of it comes into one day.

34:01Dan Lerwell: And he's, do you know what? Everyone's better without me. And once I said you read, that's it. And then until you do it, as soon as I'd done it, it was like, oh my God, what have I done? Yeah. And it'd be too late. Yeah. It's horrible. It's, I won't wish you were my worst enemy. It's a terrible thing. Thanks for your honesty, mate. Yeah. Yeah, it's not very good. what was the what was the next step for you after that the reality of I got help yeah I got help that's when I started taking medication and stuff I did want to take it like but some of it do help when you've got problems it do help for a while I tend to say it masks it more than anything I think the best thing for me was a gym yeah Joe and Jim gave me a chance at BKB gave me something to concentrate on and I've always said fighting saved my life.

34:52Dan Lerwell: Yeah. It did. It really did. Because training is the best medicine. Absolutely. 100%. If you suffer with depression and get to the gym, I guarantee you when you come to that gym you feel a total difference. You feel a million dollars. You feel a million dollars. 100%. 100%. You can go into the gym before going to the gym with a small problem that's went into a big problem. You leave an hour later. It's gone. Yes. It's just gone. It's forgotten. What's that about? Whatever. What are you thinking about? My grandfather, the good saying, 99 % of the things you worry about don't ever happen it's true isn't it and he used to sit there and he used to throw a left up at you he said we didn't see that coming to you and he said no he said well that's like life he said we don't see it coming but don't worry about it is he still with us no he's not is your old man still with us my old man's still with us he lives in France my old man yeah my mother she's a massive part of my life she's probably her mammy's boy I am so yeah yeah I don't want to do without her is she close is you close by your mum yeah she's about 5-10 minutes away from me yeah she fed up a semi yeah how's your life once you made that decision straight after going what am i doing like you say 99 how did you turn it around after that where was it where was it when you they said right we want you to come and do bare knuckle boxing when you where were you and and where did the opportunity come from uh my mate james lilly the one on the kingsway uh yeah he's one of the other just as a crossdresser yeah yeah he had a fight on bkb um and believe it or watched BKB for a long time before that.

36:18I watched Sean George, Kristen Evans, Jimmy McCrory. I watched all the old school BKB. Loved her. I always fancied her. James Lilly went on. He had a chat with the guys. They had me on. I never

36:30Dan Lerwell: forget my first fight. I was a fat guy. I was fat. I was out of shape. I was about 60 and a half stone. Fighting heavyweight. I sees a 6 foot 9 guy walking, shredded. Peter Radford, his name was. I never forget my first fight. I thought, oh, that can't be the guy I'm fighting. So I goes to weigh in. No one there. he don't turn up for the weigh-in so I climb back out and I heard someone say Peter who turns around this 6 foot 9 guy ripped shredded oh my god that's him I thought what I'm going to do with him I don't know what I'm going to do with him he's like he's a foot taller than me but yeah I ended up winning I won in the first round it just rolled on from there it just went right from there what's the thoughts when you're going in there 6 foot 9 lump how much do you reckon he was weighing in at he weighed in the same weight as me but he looked like treble the size of me he was huge because he was ripped he was massive he was massive but he wasn't the best boxer that's where I was lucky because obviously I'd been training with my mate John Phillips I'd been training with loads of people for years Mike Edwards God rest his soul he was another guy I trained with they were animals they were the best in Wales at the time so I was lucky to have mates like that yeah do you know it's funny like when you talk about the fighting men around the world I was lucky enough to get married in Wales I'm married to a beautiful Welsh lady and I know a lot of people around there everyone's as hard as nails it seems whether they're rugby or whether they're fighting or whatever it is.

37:47I think it comes from rugby in Wales to be honest with you. Because rugby's been around for so long and some of them are monsters. I mean, I was in school with Alamon Jones and he was a monster from 12 year old. When you see him on a rugby pitcher and you think, my God, I was in school with him. He is an animal. But yeah, it is a tough country. I think most of it comes from struggles as well. I mean, Wales gets forgotten about and we do, you know, the council states, they struggle now. They still struggle now. I'd done a walk round with Cullens the other day,

38:19Dan Lerwell: and it's still people struggling in this day and age where going to food banks and stuff. And personally, to me, it shouldn't be like that. I don't think it'd be like that at all. Do you know what I mean? So, you know, yeah. But yeah, it's mad. So your journey when you got into BKB, how would you talk through your journey over the last, what, six years? Last six years. What year did you start against the six foot nine? 2018 2018 2018 so the last 8 years you've been in I think it was BKB 13 yeah BKB 13 so it was quite an early one yeah do you remember what you got paid for your first fight £800 I think was it yeah which was good money yeah because I was doing MMA and I was getting paid like 200 quid yeah I mean people don't realise that when MMA started it was no money at all I only had to go straight pro there was no armature nothing so I had my first pro MMA fight 2008 2009 no 2008 and like I got paid 200 quid I got back in for the first round and I choked the guy out in the second round yeah so it was crazy he was going in there blind I love how he's just like yeah he got better and I actually just choked him out next one yeah he leathered me honest I never get out either again I was a big guy this guy walks in Jason Phillips his name was he was huge I thought what have I signed up to what have I signed up to but no yeah I ended up winning and he rolled on from there then the MMA I didn't take MMA serious so I mean I had my two mates Mike and John drumming into me look if you take it serious you'll be as good as us you know come on shows with us John ended up in UFC he always said to me you could have ended up in UFC if you'd knuckled down but I was a late bloomer let's call it I knuckled down about 33 so yeah and when I started BKB yeah do you think you could have gone down that route if someone would have grabbed you earlier with the talents you got with both hands and everything do you think you could have gone down that route with UFC I think what I did all the time was that with ADHD you get addicted to something and as quick as you get addicted to it you think right I've got something next and I didn't even realise that and then when I started reading up on stuff I've been out all my life the only thing I've stuck with all my life is fishing since like 6 and that's the only thing I've ever stuck with but yeah I think if I understood it a bit more when I was younger and I had the discipline when I was younger I think I've got to go a lot further I keep hearing those stories everyone I speak to brings up your name saying he could have gone right to the top in America I think I could have but it's life you've learned from it I'm more experienced now I'm a bit older yeah I know I'm a bit older but I'm still fit I'm still training I'm still training with the youngsters I still keep up with the youngsters until I stop I carry on fighting is there anyone that you look up to?

41:03Dan Lerwell: there's a few there's two people I look up to my Bambaloole my Bambaloole I've always looked up to who's that? my grandfather grandfather yeah he was some man he was he was a strict man but he was a gentle giant and a hard man an old school tough guy like and my dad I looked up to looked like my dad was a judo and then probably the biggest fight then when I looked up to was probably John my mate I was always training with him and yeah he was phenomenal another guy it's like a train but yeah he worked so hard to get where he was and seeing that seeing the work you put in I'm proud of him I've always been proud of him for doing that and where do you think when you first got into BKB did you realise that you'd be fighting on the world stage?

41:50No shall I tell you the truth? Go on I was in one fight to raise money and autism awareness and I was going to knock on the head but it just rolled on I beat a Bournemouth guy CJ Mills in my third fight for the British title I defended my British title against Ricky Nelda and I won a world title of Mason Shaw in five fights I was world champion in five fights it's unreal it's crazy it was just like a whirlwind to us and then I got

42:15Dan Lerwell: I did get taken ill then I was registered bulimic and I had a couple of fights I lost two I won one you were registered bulimic I was diagnosed bulimic and what is bulimic? I make myself sick all the time just being spewing up yeah it was again it was bipolar just self hurt and nobody knew I was hurting myself trying to keep my weight down as well when I spoke to the doctor about it he said what's going on I told him and he actually told me there's a lot of fighters that do it a lot of fighters I didn't know that but what am I meant to it I didn't know that you know what sorry for my naivety here when you talk about bulimia I just thought it was girls spewing up because they want to get lean and the best thing about it is people think well we've never seen you skinny Dan it's nothing to do with that bulimia is something you gouge on food you make yourself sick well I wasn't exactly gouging on food I always make myself sick to keep my weight down and then it turned into right I'm self hurting by her and nobody notes in until I got caught right until my mother caught me my ex partner caught me and they were like what are you doing so give me an example well give me an example where you'd have a massive feed up and go do you know what I want to stay lean it's not even about a massive feed up it was like I'd have a healthy meal yeah and I'd feel bloated yeah I think right and I'd have a bad day it would all add up to one and some days I'd make myself sick 15, 16 times a day.

43:38And in the end, it affected, it affected loads, it affected all my vitamins

43:41Dan Lerwell: or my energy. I was training with nothing in me. And I was like, you know, I got out as a photo somewhere on Facebook and he could see in my face like what, why was he training and fighting in that state? But there's no excuses. I won a few fights again. I lost a few fights again. I never made it as an excuse. But yeah, that's what I was doing at the time, yeah. And how would you make yourself sick? Fingers on the throat. Just bang. Just bang. Fingers on the throat. And the funny part of what it was, I always hated being sick. Yeah. Whenever I had anger, when I was being sick, I hated it. Yeah.

44:11But it's just something I ended up doing. Well, for about three years, I've done it. Solid. So, had that only come about when you were in your 30s? I was 32, 33. Okay. Yeah, yeah. 32, 33 when I started buying it. So, yeah, seven years ago, yeah. Yeah, eight years ago. It was a crazy time. And, you know, I admit that now I still make myself sick now and again when I self-hurt. Yeah. So nobody realises. But again, my new partner's caught me and he's like, I didn't know this. But I mean, I try and explain to them then and getting counselling for it again then. And it's all a rollercoaster. But the thing is,

44:48Dan Lerwell: I come out to it. It's always like to the end of the tunnel. So, and I'm used to coming out to it now and I'll never get back to that stage where I think, right, I've got to put a new shirt on my neck. So, and that's what, that's what pushes me forward. Yeah. Don't go back. I will never go back there. Your boy. I'll never go back there. My kids need me money. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, so. Fair play. Yeah. Have you ever been banged up? Yeah, yeah. When I was younger, I'd been banged up a few times, yeah. What for? Fighting, just violence and fighting. Okay. When I was younger, I was, I don't even know how to describe it.

45:19Dan Lerwell: On drink, I was a different person. Totally changed me. I never done drugs. I think I'd done them once when I was 18. It sobered me up. I spoke shit for an hour. Never touched them again. I thought, what's the point in that? But when I started drinking, I couldn't stop. Okay. And my problem was I couldn't walk away from nothing, even the littlest things. Example? Anything. You look at me funny, I say, fuck, what's your problem? You bump into me, even like tip an epoxy drink. I'd always want to prove myself. I was such an insecure person, I always wanted to prove myself to my friends. And in the end, I lost friends over and everything.

45:56Dan Lerwell: I was just a nuisance. And I totally admit that, put my hands up to it now. so do you remember the first time you got nicked yeah I remember the first time I got nicked I was 16 yeah for what I got nicked for fighting I did end up going to prison but I got nicked and it was the first time I spent the night in the cells and me being a big idiot I was I thought I was big and hard I hated it I'll tell you the truth now I absolutely hated it I probably cried myself to sleep right but I would come out I was like yeah I done this and that just bravado just a load of shit and that's what I was like when I was younger most of the stuff I was telling people was a load of shit it's just being an idiot trying to prove myself to everyone and as you know when you get older you think what the fuck I do that far so I knocked drink when he had 10 years ago after it and the second time have you ever been put behind bars for a longer time than just a night yeah yeah two or three times yeah two or three I think it's three times yeah three times what was the first time for fighting the first time was for fighting with bouncers in Wine Street in Swansea in Swansea yeah I you know again someone being an idiot in our group dancing on the table a guy come over doing his job because I do screw you know so I realised the job's hard and like at the time I didn't realise started on the guy leave him alone he gave me a bit of jip I got him a couple of boys thought he was dead he was a hell of a mess I've left and I was a big guy at the time I was unfit so three had followed me out chased me and I thought well I can't run what's the point in running so I end up fighting with them I end up having a battle of them and then I'm in a court it's actually all written on the paper and yeah I had I think it was two years you got two years yeah it was my first one how old were you then I was 22 23 yeah yeah but um yeah it was a few and it was a few little ones then but and then when you come out did you have the more fear of what your granddad would think or your old man would think because I know you've got a lot of respect for both of them or were you still at that point where you didn't care my father was quite quite the same as me we were quite similar in that way on drink my father was a lunatic on drink he's a scary man but yeah I think because he'd done it as well he used to try and talk me out he always used to say to me you don't need to do it Dan you don't need to do this you don't need to do that I've done it just trust me but as a youngster you don't listen to your father you know your father tells you loads of new young and as you grow up you think fuck he's right but my my bumper I used to hate I used to hate going up a bit after it I remember the first phone call I made was to my Nana Lule I was in prison and the first person I phoned was my Nana Lule yeah yeah and it was it was that was hard because she was crying on the phone I'm nervous you had my Nana cry and that was the first time yeah you know she had cancer for nine years didn't shed a tear just a strong woman and when she cried on the phone to me it hit home then yeah it was horrible how long were you out before how long were you out on that first time you got banged up and you got banged up again?

49:00It was quite long. I was 22, 25, and I think the last sentence was, how old's Freya? She's 16. She's about three years or 13 years ago. About 27. Okay. So what did you get banged up for when you were 25? Violence. Again? All violence, yeah.

49:16Dan Lerwell: What was that? Do you remember where it was? That was a fight in a pub again. I think I had eight months or six months. And then the last one then was... So you got eight months for that, did you? Yeah, yeah. and then the last one was my mother was fighting with a girl in the club I got involved and I'd done something stupid went up to the parents house and fought the brothers and his father and I got jailed for that but they weren't the ones that deterred me the one that deterred me was the fight I had before I tried killing myself I really damaged a guy that I classed as a friend before that and that's the only time I've ever been sorry for doing something.

49:57Dan Lerwell: I was in court and I was looking at five years. And when you get told you're looking at five years for a poxy fight, it kind of sinks in and what a waste of time. And I had my son then as well and obviously he'd been diagnosed. And I remember standing in court I had doctor's letters for my son. The solicitor got all the letters he could and my solicitor saved me because I had two years, two months suspended when he did say five years. He said five years from the start. And I remember the judge looking at me at the end of it. He said, you've been saved this time by grace. Oh, he said, I don't know, but you have.

50:33Dan Lerwell: And he said, next time you were for me, it'd be seven years minimum sentence. That is, if you push someone, even if you have a pee in the street, it'll be seven years and you'll be gone. You say ta-ra. And since that day, I am in trouble since. Fair play, mate. Yeah, because my boy needs me more than anything. So yeah, that kind of hit home then. And at the time, I gave up drinking. saw that you know probation knew I gave up drinking they come to they informed the alcohol enormous I went to yeah it was that's what that's what flipped it that's what flipped my mind yeah you get told that getting told around five years and not seeing new kids that long all your kids haven't come to visit you in prison like the last two I'd done it was short sentences so my daughter was born then and I never had a visit with me I didn't want her to come here I told her I was working away but that I didn't want to come.

51:25Dan Lerwell: That's one place I didn't want to come. What prisons were you in? Swansea. Just stayed in Swansea a long time? Yeah, yeah. Swansea, yeah. And how was that for you? You can see why people go back. If they've got nothing on the outside, they've got a roof over there, they've got three meals a day, they've got a gym. You can see the people have got nothing, they're always back and forth there and they get institutionalised then and they're there. But when you've got a family and when you've got kids and when you've actually got family, I love you,

51:54Dan Lerwell: and take no thing from that I'm not saying it to be deterrent you from it it is the worst place in the world I don't care what anyone says you can sit in front of me and say oh I've done 15 years on my head that's what they say to me you hate it every second day if you say different that's a lie yeah it's not a nice place not a nice place at all I had a guy on the podcast who did 43 years when at 27 I think he'd come out like 70 yeah it's crazy it's mental all from a tear up with Dorman like years before decades ago it is mental it's mental madness like the system I don't agree with some of it like I don't know what it's like in England I remember in Wales you see nonces getting a lot less that pisses me off you get two years for a nonce and they can come out and change their name some of them didn't get jailed and they get protected it do it riles me and then you read a story and if someone posted something on Facebook and they have two years and you're like what's the deal with that but again The nonces The nonces should get wrapped up around the lamppost Of course they should And write nonce written on it so everyone can see who it is 100 % And then he gets banged up he gets a 10 he gets castrated How fucking dare you go near a kid It's crazy What goes through your mind Do you know what I mean And even like the ones I've fought they should have life As soon as there's something to do with kids they should be lifed off Just get rid of them Just as simple as that And the kids don't get hurt then But the way the system works I am with a clue I am with a clue which really works.

53:23I find the system bonkers in this country. I think it's backwards. People can say to their blue in the face, you know, some people say, oh, no, it's more, it's more, you know, British people. Yeah, we know British people do it as well, but these guys come over on abortion. I know, mate. They're giving a guide. I know. They're giving a guide not to rape women. Not to rape women and children. Not to sleep with unaged kids. I think what's happening is they're trying to wind us up. The more you see it. Yeah. And like, all these conspiracy theorists, you call them mad sometimes, but the more you see it happen, you do actually think there's an agenda behind it because I don't understand how the government is still going to happen.

53:58And I mean, I think I seen a case in London the other day with a 12-year-old in a park, got dragged into a bush and it's like, is that enough for him to stop it? If that's not enough to stop it, then what is? Or there's an 80-year-old man in a church. I could speak about it all day, but it's something that I thought I'd never seen Britain in my day. I'll be honest with you. Never. I didn't even know that sort of stuff mad stuff I knew it happened in some mad nutty country not where we live it's crazy it's crazy and it's becoming the norm and that's the that

54:32Dan Lerwell: that is the problem it's becoming alright yeah it's another story and it's like no it's not another story that wouldn't have happened if the government just down a bit that wouldn't have happened three years ago it wouldn't have happened three years ago as little as three years ago I've only seen this change over the last three years I think I think since 2022, 2023 it's been happening but the last three years it's gone bonkers it's gone terrible I don't know why I want to be talking about this it makes my blood boil I'm the same I can feel it boiling same it's disgusting at the end they were just normal people normal people that's what we are a nice easy life agreed the kids are safe women are safe that's all we want that's all we want and then you get classed as this I don't even know what you get classed as you get called so many names right now and I think there's a lot of I think we're at a point now Dan where there's a lot of geezers out there us lot yeah men out there who are men who's going fuck we've had enough what else can we do what else can we do now you're going to suppress us so much something's going to explode something's going to happen there is no way we should be in this position anyway in the first place and I think until something is done about it it's going to get worse and worse and worse and like you can call people far right you can call them that you can call them fascists they just want a safe place for women in church and that's that's the main part of it but those words being thrown out of there fascist we're just patriotic patriots patriotism nothing to do with racism nothing to do at all we're just patriotic who want to protect the girls and our families and our mums and everyone around us and live a nice life that's who we are well in Wales it's um Plaid Cymru in charge in Wales now say again Plaid Cymru I don't deal with politics it's a political party and they want Wales to be a refuge for immigration and it's like we've got enough problems there is without without more rapes and stabbings it's just it's just bonkers it's crazy it is do you think do you think there's going to be a civil war I think in my time there will be if something's not done about within the next two or three years I reckon you know it's already started in Ireland and I think it will be I think it will be yeah in the next two or three years 100 % it's baffling it's mind baffling isn't it because you've got no answer for it I don't think anyone can answer for it I mean you could ask a politician they always seem to direct it to someone else yes oh no but it's not like that it's like this and it's like just give me a straight answer do you know why no I think the reason why they don't give you straight answers because they're all employed for four years yeah they're all under a G's yeah yeah yeah 120 grand 130 grand I'm not going to upset anyone you know what just get through my four years I've got that money stashed in the bank I'm done fucking get I'd rather lose all that though and go right I'm standing up this is the answer who's behind us for the common sense party and that's the problem with the parties now no one got a backbone that's the problem no one got a backbone to stand up and say look this have got to stop the British people don't want it it's got to stop and no one's got the bone no one's got the fucking brass balls to do it let's be honest do you think there's enough men who are thinking like we're thinking enough men out there who would go yeah we're thinking on the same level is what we are.

57:47I reckon, right, 70 % of Britain are thinking on our level and I reckon 30 % of them don't want to say nothing. Yes. They're too scared to say anything because they get categorised then and then the other 40%, you know, they do their best, don't they? But, I honestly, the way it is, I can't see it changing. I can't see it changing if something big happens and that's... You know, the weird thing is, is that everyone I know is always going, where would you move to? Where would you move to? How many of them, I want to stay here. we all want to stay we want to stay on the coast every conversation where are you going to move to I want to move to the sun somewhere safer I used to look back at South Africa 20 years ago I've got my pal right Dean Hutton South African moved over here lovely fella hard as nails gets it common sense just gets it like we do we're at a barbecue party this summer four guys four pals around having a drink having a laugh talking about the state of the country he was quiet and after he finished the conversation I went what's up with you mate he went I was listening to the whole conversation the way your country's going us lot talking because he's only been here three four years he goes that's what discussions we were having 20 years ago in south africa and i said all the way and i was like my god i said that just summed the whole thing up it's a bit of everything like

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1:01:02Nothing. And then we've got the war. Obviously Iran now. the world is just it's just a very fragile place very fragile but all I care about is Britain

1:01:12Dan Lerwell: is Britain same as me that's all I care about is where my kids are that's it mum, dad, family type house where the family are and that's it but I reckon two or three years if the government will do something it's going to be it's another thousand days I've got it on there I've got this app on my phone called Countdown and I've gone next election like 2029 August I say I've got a countdown every day every day you've got to wait it's sad it's crazy but I'm knowing the political parties and I think they're all the same I think they lie and lie and lie to get in and then when they're in they're like oh my hands are tied now we can't do this we can't do that we just need someone to go in and say right all them are off the table we're doing this and that's it if you don't like it it's tough do one go find someone else I said I did a thing the other day if someone Sunday night TV any politician caught out lying must go live on Sunday night TV so the whole nation can see and he's got to stand up and go sorry I got caught out lying there with that in Wales they're saying if any politician gets caught lying they're going to sack them but how are they going to know they're lying they're lying with them they're all lying all of them lying and if they say they don't they're lying again it's crazy it's just it's just crazy we could talk about this for hours I want to go back to the weekend No problem with all.

1:02:33Back to the fighting. Yeah, because I'd be where I was. Same, same, same. Your journey on the BKB now. Yeah. What's the future for you? You're 40 years old. 40 years old. You're winning. You've got a massive name out there. People love you. You've got a wonderful relationship with your boy and your family and your daughter and everything else. What's the next steps? I'm fighting for world title next. He's a monster of a guy. The guy is, but I think I could beat him. And yeah, and just carry on fighting. Just carry on fighting, raising autism awareness. that's my goal and as I said I think you know I've never turned a fight down they can give me a fight yeah in the end they don't even ring me anymore they just say oh we got to go fight Dan yeah we got to go fight yeah cool but what I will say like the last couple of fights I've had Robert Cork Danny Mitchell Jack Marsh all been high end fighters they brought the best out to me and that's what I need I mean if you fight in a guy

1:03:28Dan Lerwell: you think you can beat you tend to lack in training you tend to lack in everything when you're fighting a guy right he's up for it he's up for a fight this is going to be a fight you train you train your ass off and that's the big difference I like that Jack Malshman he's a lovely guy yeah I like him a lot he's actually a mate of mine oh is he good powers yeah he's an ex-paratrooper ex-paratrooper ex-UFC he's a really tough guy mate and he comes across lovely as well he's one of the nicest guys you're a gentleman mate we'll get him on who's the other fella I remember you invited him we were inside and I was like I really like that lad oh he's a lovely guy Him?

1:04:00Yeah, he's a lovely guy. Mate. Oh, he's a gentleman. Yeah, but what a fighter. He is, he's class. Mate, I've never seen angles. He reminded me when I saw him. He was so quick. And he's coming at different angles. He reminded me of Prince Nassim Hamid. He is a fantastic amateur as well.

1:04:16Dan Lerwell: Was he? He was a fantastic amateur boxer. Was he? Yeah, I think he was on the Welsh team, the British team. He's a really good boxer. He's a real deal. Real deal. One of the nicest, down-to-earth guys you meet. Yeah. He's a lovely guy. We should get him on as well. Yeah, he's a nice kid. We'll end up getting all the Welsh boys, all the Welsh's fighters on the podcast quality. So your next step, have you ever fought in America? Yeah, twice. Whereabouts? I fought New Mexico or Miami. Tell me about the New Mexico experience. New Mexico experience, I got knocked out in 10 seconds, well, under 10 seconds.

1:04:49It was a bit of a nightmare in New Mexico.

1:04:52Dan Lerwell: I was sent out there like four days before. And what I didn't realise at the time, I just said, yes, the fights. But when I went to the gym then out there, Jackson Wink, it's like 65 ,000 foot above sea level out there. It's a total different atmosphere. She said he needed a beer like two weeks before. Well, I didn't know that. Otherwise, Georgia, when I was there, they would have sorted me out. They would have sent me out there. But, well, I didn't know that. I thought I'd just go out there and fight. So I'll never forget, the first day I woke up to go training, I went on the pads. Now, I'd been doing like 12, three-minute rounds of the engine on the pads.

1:05:23Dan Lerwell: I took my corner man, Luke, with me. We'd done one round on the pad, and I was breathing out of my ass. I thought, oh, my God, what's going on here? oh man did you have no clue no one gave you the heads up no that's what I'm like I murder like Ansel mentioned it he said look it's going to be different over there I said oh I'll be fine you just brush it aside and then when I went out there I was like oh my god yeah so it was a big eye opener going to New Mexico yeah it was a few things happened out there we missed the directed flight so we got we had a flight into Denver but they booked the flights so soon together Mike Melded booked the flights so close together we missed our flight we had to wait three hours for another flight so he gets into New Mexico gets to the hotel our hotel room said it had to be booked for us so we had to get all the mail again but yeah it was a good experience and I will say about the Americans everyone's friendly out there it's crazy out there they can't not be friendlier it's just bonkers but you still can't beat a British crowd British crowd in a fight the atmosphere is totally different than British and in Miami then it was a good one because it was just me and my daughter I didn't take a call corner man, maybe nothing.

1:06:29Just me and my daughter went out there for a world title with no corner man. Mate, that's not bad. He stopped me on cuts. I think if I had another couple of rounds I think I would have stopped him because every time I was catching him I was hurting him but Cub is such a good fighter. He was just, the only way I can describe is erratic. He just throws punches from every angle. He cut me, I had about 37 stitches. He cut my eye, he cut my nose, he cut my mouth. He was just fantastic. It was a hell of an experience just to fight him to be honest with you. Yeah, I enjoyed it. it was good I enjoyed it enjoyed the experience do you know what I love about this I just love how raw and honest you are yeah like that's the only way isn't it that's the only way to be here I love it he goes oh yeah I took on a fight he was an absolute monster everyone's a monster I banged him out I done him equality yeah but that's that's the insecurity thing again I've been insecure all my life so everyone I fight I think my god he's like 10 times better than me and I might actually win I'm like fucking hell I won huh what's happened yeah do you shock yourself every fight do you every fight I shot myself yeah how would you explain you that's a tough one yeah that's a good question I'm quite good at these but that's a tough question just a normal guy just a guy that you know I got blessed with Theo I got blessed with my two daughters I got blessed with Theo he's autistic and I think he's a gift I still say this to his day I think some things he does

1:07:53Dan Lerwell: I could never do and yeah I'm just a blessed guy with good kids. And how would you explain your fighting style? Explosive. Yeah, very explosive. I'm good when I hurt someone. I normally finish them. I'm normally good at finishing and I can smell, it's to say I can smell the blood. And I know when the finish is coming. So when you're in the ring it doesn't matter if it's coming in the first round or second round you know I've got you. Do you know I've got you? Well, since I started with Enzo I've been with Enzo four years this year or three years this year he's calmed me down a lot he's brought me back to basic boxing like my jab's a lot better I use my jab a lot more than I was before I was just going in for a tear up so I'm boxing a lot better my boxing ability has gone through a roof a minute with him and he have brought me on a lot the same as my strength and conditioning coach I never used to do no strength and conditioning until I met Dean and yeah you know it's brought me on a lot the pair of them as a team it works it works great fantastic and it's not just a team we've become really good friends as well yeah like really good mates yeah it's crazy it's crazy what fighting brings like I've met guys and become friends with guys you never meet in your life I mean George all of them they're not just my promotion and stuff like that they're friends and it's crazy it's do you know what I found I found beautiful to see when you fought Jack yeah and you put that combo and then he went down and you run over to him and you're on your knees thinking I want to save you I've just fought you what's it like fighting a good mate he was we had we had people say before the fight that we shouldn't be fighting but we had the same weight I think I was ranked number 5 he was ranked number 3 it was one of them things we were at the fight it's just business and we actually messaged each other before it said you know are you up to the fight yet are you up to the fight yet no there's no and mostly nothing like that we just get in there we give our best the winner's a winner I wouldn't have cared if I lost that's the truth of it because I know how good Jack is I know how much of a good guy he is and it's one of them fights where I was just excited to fight a guy that I've achieved what Jack have and it was it was a good fight and yeah it was hard I'll be honest with you it took me a lot to switch off in there I mean I think I switched off against Jack as soon as I got in there as soon as I was in the ring but before that I couldn't I was still speaking to him like in the changing room as he was on the road I shook his hand on the way out and everything yeah it was and then as soon as you're in there it just switch switch goes yeah but normally as soon as I walk out the switch goes but with Jack it was a lot harder it was a lot it was a lot a lot harder fuck I hate to get a right hand off yeah it was a lot harder or a left hook yeah just lucky punches just lucky punches I hate to get a right or a left hand off I remember you come off and a girl interviewed once and you were just like if I clump someone on my right or my left I know they're getting down yeah what a lovely feeling that must have been it's um it took me years to realise it I'll be honest I only had 10 amateur fights and I lost my first 4 my 5th fight I knocked the guy out oh god that was easy so I just carried on I had 5 knockouts in a row it was crazy but yeah I think what helped me a lot was I've trained with John all my life he's a high high level fighter high level boxer it's like an absolute train so I can I can take a punch as well because I've been hit by him and he brought me on from like a raw novice to what I am now and you know I still train with John now and you know and Phil Phil is his coach I train with him I train with Enzo and it's just I find if you go to different places and pick up different things all them things come together absolutely yeah is there one fighter you look up to and go do you know what he's the daddy of all fighters in your world at the moment in bare knuckle or in everything bare knuckle in MMA he'd be feeding him in the ankle I used to love him I used to just love how he didn't look in shape and he just mauled everyone but in bare knuckle if I had to see a fight in bare knuckle it would be Jimmy Sweeney yeah okay yeah he was he was a he was a boy yeah he is a boy you know today but I don't care if he's lost he is still the king of bare knuckle yeah the stuff that guy have done is yeah what's the most you've ever earned for one fight um no £9 ,000 yeah oh man yeah do you when you compare that to what the equivalent of you in boxing do you feel hard done by it's never been about the money to me that's that's that's people say to me you're mad you know eat my friends say but it's never been about for me it's just about getting a platform and i i keep on going on about it but it's the truth it's just to get a platform to get a whole autism awareness out there like um i i fight i'm in part of a charity called fighting for autism yeah and you know i help them as much as i can i i just i'm just a guy this is this is me I love to fight I loves my son I loves my kids I want to raise awareness for autism and that's it it's as simple as that I can go fight again locked up so yeah that's a good part that's a good part yeah yeah yeah so yeah that's that's about it yes that's it I've really really enjoyed this chat thank you thank you what a proper gentleman yeah that's the way we brought up yeah my so it's It's old school.

1:13:17I tend to tell people it's old school and that's the best way if I'm honest. I'm loyal. I know. I'm a loyal guy. I am who I am. You see me as I am and that's it. That's what you mean to who I am. Yeah, and that's it. Before we finish up here, if there's someone thinking what you went through those years ago when you took the stool away, what advice would you give them right now? Don't even attempt it. Go and speak to someone. Even if it's a phone call to Smartens, even if it's a doctor,

1:13:46Dan Lerwell: what I used to find was speak to someone that doesn't know you you can open up to someone that doesn't know you and then you're not going to judge you if you open up to friends and family sometimes you do get judged I know it sounds the opposite way but that's the truth but just speak just open up to someone and say look I'm feeling like this but I promise you I promise you this if you do do it it'd be the last mistake you'll ever make and I promise you that that's no bullshit as soon as it happens that'll go through your head and that'll be the last mistake you'll ever do because after that, there's no more life.

1:14:17Dan Lerwell: And yeah, that's... I'm heavily involved in a company called Jack. Yeah. It's on the back here. J-A-A-Q. Yeah. Dot org. Just ask a question. Anyone who's feeling down, it's all about mental health. Anyone who's feeling down or you're about to do something stupid or you've got, I don't know, you've got bulimia or you're stressed or whatever it may be, you're typing in suicidal thoughts, get onto this website straight away. Yeah. It's kept really simple. It's all video-led. That's fantastic. It's amazing because what you do, if you type in that sentence, I want to da-da-da to myself, you just come up, reams and reams and reams of rubbish you're writing.

1:14:51This one is video led to take you through the steps. Take you through the steps. 100%. Yeah. The other thing that people don't believe me with is like when you're on a really down day, get to the gym, go for a walk. If you've got a dog, take a dog for a walk. Just get outside. Just do something to take your mind off it. And then you've got that time to think. You come back and think, you know what, I'm a bit better now.

1:15:12Dan Lerwell: I don't feel like that now. I'm still depressed then go to doctors then go and speak to someone just get just remove yourself from the situation for a bit even if it's half hour it's still enough time for you to change your mind and that's the truth of it Dan final words for your beautiful boy Theo keep being you I hope we watch this when you're older and I would never change you for the world love it I wouldn't change you for the world love it mate I've bloody really really enjoyed this thank you thank you for making in the effort coming down from Wales no problem at all proper gentleman no problem at all you've got an amazing future ahead with a BKB yeah I hope so quality well not much of a future I've thought you know I've got a couple of years couple of years mate you'll be getting to about 50 no doubt I'm still doing like 65 I'm like I thought I'm still doing it I'm still doing that quality lovely to meet you mate good man it's been great it's been fantastic you're a gentleman thank you very much thank you very much cheers buddy thank you thanks for watching guys if you'd like to see someone on the show leave a comment below and if you haven't already do us a favour If a shows a bit of love, press the subscribe button.

1:16:14And it allows us to grow the show even bigger and bigger each week. Nice one.

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