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From Basement Gym to Boxing Community: Punching out w/ Jason McCarthy · Off the Bench - London

• Off The Bench London (01:26) What up another episode I'm Malcolm the milkman's Scott the visionary Hohn We got a special guest today. We're in his house. We're out of the clubhouse and into we're in his den. Dojo dojo. I like that. Yeah, the dojo. Gym Gym. Well, before we introduce you introduce yourself. Who are you? My name is Jason McCarthy. ⁓ the owner and head coach at MPT. So MPT this Gym Sweet. Congratulations. Appreciate it. Me personally, like I came here last year, got to know you a bit, got to know like your passion project punch out. Man, like you give hope for a lot of people who want to be an entrepreneur who want to start something like this. Do you mind like kind of like letting us know like if like your kind of overall vision on how you started this and punch out. ⁓ How I started MPD. Yeah. Yeah. No, that's okay. I've been personal training ⁓ for in fitness, probably about 12 years, over 12 years now. But anyways, ⁓ and ⁓ kind of a box way back in the past. And then decided to ⁓ you know, train guys in my basement gym. And all of a sudden I had some guys that were very interested in boxing. So we started doing pad work, different things like that. And one of them's Alcides Molina. And so basically me and Alcides, we started training and he really enjoyed it. So that kind of led to more boxing, getting back into the kind of coaching boxing. And then Alcides decided he wanted to flight. And ⁓ so we decided to get on a card called gladiator dome at the time. Okay. It was a kind of a rez ⁓ demo like smoke smoker, guess. Yeah. And so we went on that and he actually fought a guy with over 30 fights that I actually was my old sparring partner. ⁓ So I'm not going to lie, we were a little nervous and, but, ⁓ know, we Alcides good. ⁓ but then I also, at the time I had a doctor that decided he wanted to, ⁓ start training boxing. was a Juan Racosta And, so when we started matching for this card, ⁓ Juan mentioned that he was interested in, possibly getting on as well. So, you know, that kind of led to one and Alcides fighting on this show. And, I believe it was in St. Catharines. And so we go down there, both of them had a great experience and that kind of, you know, the basement became a little small. know, when he was sparring me, you know, our rear ends would end up in the wall and, you know, there was lots of holes. Alex, to put you against the ropes, I didn't have any ropes. So, so yeah, basically that kind of started the idea of, okay, you know, we need something bigger and better. ⁓ And we started talking to other gyms, kind of trying to gain some space. And then me and Juan were having a conversation one day actually about Faisal Rehman And, ⁓ you know, they're both doctors working the same kind of areas. And, you know, he mentioned wanting to kind of get into, I guess, philanthropy, whatever you call it or whatever. And ⁓ I said I wanted to put on an event as well. ⁓ And so we started talking about the idea of Punch-Out. And at that point, we really needed a bigger space. There was no way we were doing... I don't think your wife would have let you. no, no. There was no way we were... Yeah, exactly. Well, we didn't even know it was going to get that big. But yeah, so immediately we started searching spots. I actually used to work downstairs. Okay before I start coaching. Yeah. Yeah, actually literally I had to move TVs around. Yeah, but yeah, so I knew the family and this place was available kind of jumped on it and let's see what happens right sweet. That was kind of the whole plan behind it. Damn. Yeah, that's kind of how it always starts. Like you just you're doing one thing and then just kind of spirals into something else. You're just like you look back a year later. You're like what just happened? Yeah, 100%. Yeah, I do those two year one year Instagram real. Yeah, you know, will this happen? man, I can't even believe it sometimes. So, but yeah, it's fair. So you were doing personal training and you had two clients who were kind of interested in boxing. Did you have boxing experience before? Yeah. So I, I boxed about 15 years ago. and kind of boxing saved my life. ⁓ I remember getting into a fight at Street Connections back in the day. It was like a youth hangout area. And there was an old boxing coach actually that was there ⁓ volunteering his time. And I got on a fight outside and he grabbed me and he was very stern and he said, you know, you need to get into a boxing gym. And that was actually Lawrence Bloom. damn. And so so unfortunately, you know, I didn't like authority very much. And Lawrence was very much, you know, like a stern man. And so he wanted me to go to the boomers. And, know, I didn't like authorities, so I went to the competitors and I went to King Street. Oh, no. So I boxed at a King Street with Irving Chestnut. OK. And, know, I stayed there and kind of learned the ropes. from there and boxed about, I believe it was 13 fights back in the day. 13 fights. So was Irving your coach then for most of your career when you were boxing before? Yeah, yeah. So Irving was my coach and actually Rob Cairn, which is Kelvin's dad from Rashido. So yeah, Rob Cairn was my coach as well. Irving was always my head coach. Okay. But when Rob came along that's how I started learning how to fight like a smaller person because Irving was very tall right and he would teach you kind of a style that was like okay, this is working for me anybody was always a Like don't get me wrong Irving knew his stuff he changed it up, but it when Rob came along It was really cool because when I started learning ⁓ Different athletes, okay really sure. Yeah, I feel like that's important to learn from different people because like everyone totally different styles 100 % Yeah, I think that's very important. Okay. damn. So I didn't know you. Okay. So you had that experience now when you were opening this gym, did you reach out to those guys to like, get an understanding on how to like have a gym or not really? I did like, don't get me wrong. ⁓ I did reach out to, like Mark, from boomers. ⁓ I did reach out to, I believe it was Kyle from Bushido at the time. ⁓ and, ⁓ adrenaline as well and more just ask and make sure it was okay that I, I kind of opened in the area that I was. Yeah. Yeah. Not really blessing, but just make sure that, you know, I wasn't going to step on anybody's toes. ⁓ but I also did watch these guys, you know, Instagram's a cool thing. You know, you watch their stories, you watch that kind of, can tell what they're doing and how it's working and. You know, obviously I need the model after myself. But yeah, the idea was just, yeah, make friends. get you. get you. For me though, like the one thing I've noticed with you is you're a boxing coach, but I think you're more of a life coach. ⁓ cause I've seen like some of the people that come to the gym, their transformation in over a year of their confidence alone. And it's not just boxing. It's just their confidence. They're more confident themselves. ⁓ what would you say to that? Like, do you think you focus more on like building character over precision drills or like, what's your style? I appreciate that. Number one. but, ⁓ I think that the biggest thing was, so again, I did go to a college and university for fitness. I didn't actually really ever think I was going to get back into boxing. ⁓ it wasn't really something that I kind of planned. just fell into my lap. ⁓ But the idea ⁓ that I got from fitness was that everybody is different. ⁓ like, know, how he throws a jab is gonna be different 12 times, know, 12 different people. And the same thing applies to fitness, so like a squat, right? So that's one thing I've tried to keep in mind. Um, and I think that's what allows me to kind of remember that people are people first. Um, and I will, I gave you a little bit of a shout out to, I also had a coach named Kathy or, um, for a bit, um, anyway, some stuff happened in Sharkey's, uh, King street turned to Sharkey's for a little bit. So I fought a couple of fights out of Sharkey's and, uh, Kathy, you're always kind of showed me when she was coaching this style that just, she was just like, I was just trying to boost your ego if that makes sense. And I don't know, I kind of picked up on that. Again, if somebody's having a bad day, let's talk about it for a quick sec if we can, know, maybe just venting sometimes allows them to kind of let that out. And then obviously punching people in the face kind of helps at times. But really quickly touch on that for a sec. You know, obviously being over aggressive and bringing emotion into the ring. I know firsthand, that's not a good idea. Yes, yes. yeah. I get like a vibe of because boxing, like you said, boxing saved you because like you're getting in a fight. That's how you discovered boxing to start with. So you see all these people in similar situations or they come to you with and they're in that kind of situation. You want to just do the same thing that you thought. 100%. So my coach Irving, again, he I never paid for a membership. I didn't have the funds, you know, as a father at 16 years old, it wasn't an easy, ⁓ easy upbringing. made it myself. but the idea of somebody to just be there, you know, if I needed something, if, if I have, yeah, he'd be sleeping on his couch in the gym and you could just go bug him and, know, Hey coach, you know, this is one crappy in school today and you know, he'd only have one word responses, but it was like it was exactly what you do at that moment, right? So it was yeah, I take big pride in knowing that people kind of help guide me to where I was or where I am. I believe I shouldn't necessarily be here today. Really? Why do you say that? It was a lot of trouble back in the day. Now you have that experience and you can 100 % that keep people from happening. Well, that's kind of what steered me more towards Irving than Lawrence at the time. Yeah. You know, I didn't know Lawrence's past and Irving kind of, you know, was in and out of jail. but you're like, I to that. Yeah. I related a lot more to that than I did. That's fair. It's like hanging out with your peers. Right. Yeah. Exactly. And that makes total sense. Yeah. But damn. So so we have the past. And now we're talking more like the punch out. So this is 2026 episode or basically episode three or volume three of punch out. So this is like a great show because music hall. It's the one thing I always say. The one thing I say about punch out is it feels like it's for the people like everyone can come to it like in and out. It's like over 600 people checking it out, seeing these boxers first time pass. experience boxers from other gyms. It's a great showcase of like what London has to offer. Did you think it was going to be as as a huge a success as it was for episode one? Okay, so so punch out wasn't necessarily meant to help the gym the gym we built a gym to kind of a Punch Out of the house Punch Out it right. ⁓ I didn't realize we were going to get the support that we did for punch out. Okay. And one thing I do got to stress about that is honestly punch out would have never happened without these other gyms. I can't remember all of them off the top of my head but like Ring London, Bushido, boomers, boxing, blue water boxing. ⁓ I think we had ⁓ a championship city boxing as well. Sovereign boxing at the time. ⁓ I reached out and asked the boxing community for some help and man, they answered. by far they, my goodness. So that was the biggest thing because like to give you an idea, I reached out to Kyle because I needed coaches. was the coach. So like how the hell do you? I can showcase. Yeah, I can train these people, but at the same time, how the heck am I gonna get, you know, so then Bushido offered me all these coaches, even Boomers offered to help work some coaches. And yeah, like we had, yeah, the whole, yeah. And you know, we raised a lot of funds for Punch Out MS. ⁓ yeah, it kind of, it exceeded my expectations. and now every year it's been getting better and better and better. Yeah. last year I was on the card. That was a fun experience. after seeing like the first time Alcides cause Alcides as like, there's, there's certain fixtures. There's you, right? There's Alcides cause you Alcides is part of puncher, right? He has to be on the car. Right. ⁓ and then obviously you have the doctor. who's also on the card usually is the main event. Are we continuing that trend? So this year we kind of... So the expectations kind of did exceed a little bit this year. We ended up taking on a lot of people. ⁓ So we've had, I think it's... close to 50 people that came in and have done the 16 week training camp. ⁓ How many weeks are left now? Like five? Yeah, believe so. You're getting in the ring soon. ⁓ But so yeah, so basically we had that and so what was going to happen is I can only have so many people on a cart. Yeah. So basically what happened is we decided at last minute Either we cut people or we offer another arrangement. And cutting people isn't what you like to do. I know I didn't want to cut people. They're working hard, man. Right. So so, you know, I reached out to people made sure that they did want to play and we're talking about doing two shows this year. Damn. And I don't know if you want me to give the you know. All right, so the main event of the first one, ⁓ and I apologize to Chris, but I gotta get my retribution. I love it. I love it. we're switching the main event this year. Yes, are. Chris Harper has beat my doctor twice now, and ⁓ me and Chris are sparring partners. I feel like we could make this like a WWE promotion. The call out just happened. The call out just happened. So yeah, that's the plan of attack is I I'm actually gonna be fighting in the main event or the main show. I look forward to that part. But yeah, I'm looking forward to the fight. Chris is a great opponent and but both of us he wants to keep his undefeated record in punch out. and want to end it. It's going to be a good, good, good main event. then there's a lot of other fights on that card that are going to be pretty, pretty stellar. Okay. And then my plan of attack is we're calling a punch out encore. Okay. It's the second one and we're still kind of in the works on dates, but we believe we have the dates, but we're just going to leave that for that. That's right. That's fair. But the main event for that one is actually supposed to be a You know, and Alcides ⁓ no. Yeah. So that is the plan of attack. So Dario, if you're watching this, you know what's up. Yeah, that is not been 100 percent. So that is is the joke about it enough that it's just like you just made it into existence. I think the first time I got into a boxing ring, my opponent and I we trained together and the whole time it was like that banter of like Yeah, if I get you in the ring, I'm knocking you out. And like, and we were bickering and bickering. It was fun for everyone because it increased the level of intensity for everyone, I believe. But the problem is, Alcides is too nice of a guy and I can't do that with Alcides And I wouldn't be able to be boxing today if it wasn't for Alcides because he took the time to spar with me when I was first getting into it and teaching me my ways. So I can't like attack him the same way. So, but. now have to use my strategic movements and understand everything I've learned. like, this is definitely going to be like a full transition for me. like, I might like five, six weeks. I know, I know, I know. But like what I'm trying to get is like, it's now taking like the art of boxing and not the aggression of boxing. You know what I mean? So I don't think, I don't think you can come into the ring without bringing that aggression. But do know why I settled on Alcides? Well, go ahead. Let us I settled on Alcides because no disrespect to your previous opponent. you kept asking me you wanted somebody to challenge you. And if I can think of anybody that's going to put a challenge to you, it's going to be Alcides. And don't get me wrong, you mentioned also Alcides about the training. I fought Kelvin. before. He's my actually working with me. He's my coach. And I'm calling him out for a rematch at some point. Okay. Okay. So you know, again, it's a sport, right? It's sport. Sweet science. Yeah. So once you start looking at it, it's not like, I'm like, trying to literally just kill this person. You're like, no, I just want to beat them up a little bit. Yeah. I got to point this guy. They've got Navy Falls on the canvas. So as a coach, try to like get, you know, people ready for like a boxing match. And it's not necessarily like, you know, don't black out in the ring. Like, you know, you have to use like the tactics. Like, how do you approach the communication with the people you're training with to be like, sometimes don't let your emotions get over you and follow the coaching. I would say that the first few fights your person's not listening to a whole lot, know, unless they've been training for a year so, like, I'll be honest, you know, 16 weeks for punch out. Is it enough? It's enough to teach them to control themselves to an extent. it's enough to teach them protect themselves at all time, which is the cardinal rule in boxing. Right. Is it enough for them to listen to me when they're in the corner? Probably not. You know what I mean? Yeah. Like that. And that's just it. Right. It's ⁓ like, I'll be honest, even I still I've got, I think I've got 20 flights now and I still have a hard time listening to my coaches in the corner. Really? Yeah. Like Alcides last night, for instance, you know, I actually forgot how, you know, when you have an experienced person in the ring, how much easier it is at times to ⁓ To give them direction. Yeah. Hey, jab. when you jabbed. my goodness. You know, normally I have to scream at five times and then they're like, ⁓ use my jab. But by then your opponents hurt me too. So it's like, so. But with that being said, that is something that I'm still learning as coach too. So that is one thing that I've been really working on more when people are sparring. You know, I'll see. This has been one that he likes to talk to people when they're sparring. And it's very important that they get used to that. Yes. So I mean, I feel like it helps because like, I don't know for myself, I always tell you, move your head. Yeah. Yeah. And then you don't move your head. Yeah. No, but yeah, 100 percent. Honestly, moving your head is probably one of the hardest things I think I've ever done in boxing. can throw punches, no problem. But then, oh, I got to move my head. Damn. Yeah, no moving your head is one of those tough things because like sometimes when you're in a boxer ring you have a million things going on in your head where it's like, okay, I got to move my feet. I got to move my hips, you know, if I'm going to throw one or two or wait, what's my opponent doing? And then it's like, you get punched. Yeah. So you don't even have real time to actually think. So like even hearing a coach and be like, my coach said throw a jab, but I want to throw the two and it's like like the analysis paralysis system always happens. ⁓ but like for someone who's new into boxing, obviously they're not paying attention to everything. They're just trying to go, I'm fighting for my life right now. that's just it. The fighting for your life. That's where it gets a little scary. Yeah. You're hoping that you've put them through enough that they know that they're, they're, fighting in the ring in a sport. Yes. And that there's calculated movements that have to happen. Yes. Not just go out arm swinging because you take a wrong hit. You're going down. Right. So that's a little tricky. I find it like because you're analyzing the other person like you're what we're paying attention to everything. And it's a lot easier when you're not trying to move your head around. Yeah. No. Yeah. Well, when you move your head to the target moves. Well, that's where the starts in your feet really. handy though yeah but that's actually one thing that's really helped me coming back in the ring after you know the 15 years ⁓ you know I like to make a big deal that's why it would punch out I love punch out because I get to make a big deal about you fighting you know you guys are going in and you're honestly risking your lives for the entertainment of people yeah I know amateur boxing is very Ambition boxing is very safe. Okay, I'll be honest actually like the 12 ounce gloves when I'm punched in the face I barely feel them. Okay, know, don't hopefully my next opponent don't watch that but you it's the idea of ⁓ you know, you are are protected but you're still getting in there for battle. Yes. It's and it should be made a big deal about and that's why I punch out for instance, I love that ring lock. You know, it's important for you guys to get that ring lock and cool. As you're doing it with the being able to watch it from above to. Oh, Sweet. It's like the first one you dragged me to. Like, hey, you want to go to a boxing event? And we went went to the first one. So I a serious fight. Yeah. And then he was in the second one. So I'm like, yeah. Now you're in the next. Hey, but that's how it happened. Honestly, after the first year, then all of sudden I got friends for the second year. Yeah. And then it's like the third year I got more friends and it's like, yeah, like Alcides. I swear to God, he brought like, probably like seven, eight, nine people. Yeah. So too was crazy because I remember Alcides being like, yo, you're fighting in May. He's like, what? And it's like, you're signing up and you're fighting in May. And then I was like, OK, I'll sign up. And then I was like, I never got the email. But I did because this is my spam and Alcides is like check your spam. I know you got accepted. And then once I got here, I was just like, Alcides. You've just brought all your friends. It's like, yep. You got me in. It's like, obviously we started the podcast. Another thing that we started that was like, you want to do this? Sure. I got some time. And then he keeps, he did the fight to end years ago. Yep. And then. He's been bugging me ever since. And I'm like, I don't have time. I don't have time. I never have time. then this year sitting there, we're doing trivia poachers. And I was like, what are you doing? It's like, would you do punch? It was like, yeah, I'll do it. So I started messaging and I was just like, here's his email. Here's his name. He's doing punch right now. Gets the email confirmation. It's just like, I guess I'm doing punch right now. Hey, that's the way to do it. But like, since seeing you do it, like you've taken it like completely serious. I'm trying to. Like, I don't want to lose an axe. Well, understandable. But it's like you're listening. You're taking it serious. know, you know, you're now you're talking about cutting your alcohol after your birthday, which I totally respect. Yeah. You should have cut back a long time ago. Stop that. But. Honestly, like from like the outside looking in, like, man, I'm pretty impressive. Like your progress so far. Me too. Now, like as your coach, because you've been coaching him since January. So you seen his transformation from January to now basically what, like, what are the things that you're noticing? Um, not just from him, but like overall, like the whole class, like, what are you noticing with the class? Are they listening better this year compared to last? are they being more experimental? ⁓ so we changed it up a little bit. this year, ⁓ we did like less contact, ⁓ work, which I'm not a big fan of, but because we have some people that are doing the training camp that aren't fighting, we wanted to keep it kind of, you know, ⁓ but I think that the coaching is getting better. That makes sense not to to not to to my own horn, but yes exactly So, you know the 16 weeks in the first one it was like, okay, you know, I know what I want to do How's this gonna work out like because you never know, you know, and it worked out very good So then it was like, okay, let's let's add this let's add this and so going into year three Honestly think that the structure of the programming has been so much better ⁓ And yeah, people are catching on. And I've also had more help this year with other coaches from my gym. So I definitely noticed one of the big things is hands up. The amount of people that would drop their hands after getting tired. Now I see people all the time, hands are staying up, heads might not be moving. I think that was a personal talk right there. are staying up, right? Hey, I gotta give you kind of... I gotta give you As I mean right hand you got me. No, but actually give me another idea though. I was talking to you. You remember talking about the shoulder. Oh, yeah. Turning. Anyways, I've actually been seeing you doing that, like even though I wasn't here on I think was yesterday. Yeah. You were sparring yesterday. I was watching. And so I was making that right hand actually even even better. So it's like, you know, trying to pay attention when. Yeah. Well, and that's just it. Right. And that's what those are the things, though. You know, those are the things that made me happy. know, all of a sudden it's like, well, shit, he's listening. Right? Right? ⁓ she's got this up, you know? Like, so yeah. Yeah. So I think it's going pretty good. So Alcides is like, and I'm not trying to like ruin other members here, but like, he's like your top male athlete. Like, like he's your project child. ⁓ in a sense. So Alcides was originally the reason why we opened the gym. Yeah. And you'll see this was, somebody my plan was to take, you know, pro and, you know, do all these things. I'm not saying that's not going to happen. But Alcides also has a, you know, family and you know, he doesn't necessarily have all the time in the world, you know, travel in the world for competitions that he's not getting paid in. Right. honestly, one of the things that's changed with us is he's coming on as a coach. You know, he's been helping coach. He's gotten his his levels for like he's gotten his coach certification, right? He's he's actually cornered me a few times. Damn, which is actually really full circle. So so Alcides, you know, I give him credit for the big win last night. But yeah, but you know, I I'm going to take him wherever he wants to go. Right. But what I put him. As like the the prime, you know if that's what he wants to do for tournaments. Yeah, so be it but honestly I think we're heading into a more of a coaching slash fighting uh thing so I see i'll see this actually being very beneficial to up and comers. Um, you know, I don't know if you want me to share a story but uh, go ahead, you know, I had a So I fought at brampton cup and uh, you know, I thought a guy that he could hit pretty good And so after I get out of the ring, I unfortunately lost, but I made it. know, I did, I put up a good fight and my head was a little shambles for a second. You know, I needed a minute to breathe. unfortunately the fights and tournaments sometimes go over. So all of a sudden I was last fight and now I've got a girl that's getting ready for her boat. so immediately we're switching pace and Luckily I had Alcides because I'm trying to talk to this girl and it might've been because I wasn't making sense. But she's not really seeming like she's comprehending what I had to say. And so it was, you know, it was kind of causing some just uneasy, like she almost seemed like she was getting stressed out talking to me. Okay. And so you never want that with an athlete. I do not want to be the reason you're getting stressed out. And we all know Alcides, he's a big, you know, burly man. and he's very calm. So immediately he, say, and he goes and he talks to, I see her five minutes later, maybe my brain fog went away, I don't know. Five minutes later, she's all, and she goes out, she wins a golden Brampton cup, right? And, you know, not gonna give, I'll see the salt to credit, you know, obviously she killed it, but the idea is, yeah. It's crazy. of that, I'll see it as we're talking about your mail. Is she like your project child now? you're okay. That's that's the plan of attack. Because in a year, like I even I'm scared to spar with her because my body like her body shots are just boom. Like, you know, most of the time when we spar, we're always going for the head. We never really go for the body until like you're tired. Then you start going for the body because It's a little bit easier because you can punch down compared to punching up. Everyone's punching out here. Yeah. Yeah. But like Mackenzie, man, like her plan of attack is like, I'm going to the body and I'm working my way up to the ladder. like seeing her from last year, because she was on your first card. Yeah. Yeah. She's one of those punch out success stories. Right there, man. Yeah. Well, every year she keeps getting better and better and better. And it's like, is she your next project child? Like I have a couple of years. So the plan of attack for her is yeah, definitely. We're going to continue compete. She's actually fighting next weekend ⁓ on the Toronto card. She's coming down. So she's in school in like North Bay right now or something. So she does. Yeah. So she does a lot of work with me on like I send her workouts and stuff like that. But she also has to be very dedicated on her own. Yes. You she has to do her own stuff. And so yeah, she's out there and she will be driving down to Toronto for just a flight. Yeah. So and she drove to Sudbury to actually set up a top clubs, I think it's called in Sudbury. Anyways, we set up sparring right before Brampton Cup shoes down there as well. We needed her to get some sparring. Yeah. Boxing is an amazing community, man. You just send messages on Facebook and it's like, boom. Yeah, because I know. There's ⁓ another athlete who will be fighting in punch out. He went on vacation in Aruba and linked up with the gym in Aruba to get his work in. I know other people who go on vacation, Dominican get workout over there in Dominican. So like, I know what you're saying when like the boxing community, it's small, but it's, and it's huge, but it's like, it's welcoming. Yeah. Cause everyone has like that open arms mentality. You're like, yeah, no, come on in. Yeah. I went to Cuba actually and ⁓ I set up some firing and with a gym like world champion gym or something. don't know. But it was too far away. So I'm like, you know, I need to get some training. I was actually preparing for a fight. anyways, I go into like this judo gym and I guess they did boxing. One of the tourists or travel agents told me and I go in there and they don't speak a word of English and I'm like, you know, box and he's like, yeah. And so he holds the pads for like 30 seconds with me. And then he said something about sparring. He gets on the phone. He's talking to about 30 different guys. I had sparring for a whole week. I was down there. I didn't make it all week. My wife would have killed me. like this guy set up so much sparring for me down there. And I didn't I didn't understand a word he was saying to me. Yeah, it was crazy. Yeah. Yeah. We'll come beat up the comedian. Now, they're very nice down there. Hey, use Canadian, not American. But this is not a political... Yeah, yeah. you know people that are boxers, if you're going to going there, you'll send them their way. % Yeah. Yeah. Damn. Um, now, obviously you have the McKenzie who's training while she's in school. How is coaching different now? Because obviously she can't come to the gym. Like you can't necessarily see the progress right away. So like, how are you communicating and making sure she's developing on a timely manner while remote. Well, luckily, when she was here, ⁓ we got her into like a habit of ⁓ kind of, she's good. She's determined. She's dedicated. You know, so we kind of seen how she was able to ⁓ push that when she was here. So really, it's just trying to make sure that it stays on top. You know, if for instance, if she hasn't done a workout and I You know, I haven't heard from her, I message, you know, but she's pretty good ⁓ with making sure that she's staying on task. The other thing is we use an app for runs, for instance. So I can always see when the girls that went for a run, what the run time was. They're also pretty good with telling me, you know, everything. yeah. And then the last time was we got some, One of her friends went to Siberia with her for sparring. Took some videos. Okay. nice. I'm sure that helped. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I was able to make sure that before the Brownfield Cup, for instance, because she only goes for like a month or two at a time as well. You she comes back for placement. So she comes back and she gets a spar. And then, yeah, try to plan fights kind of around there. Yes. Yeah, she will be going. We plan on a tournament in Quebec. Quebec Open, I believe it's called. So she she will be I know for that. Yeah. Yeah, but she's a play she's gonna be We'll be seeing her hopefully at the next year nationals. Yeah face of MPT. So, yeah, sure But no, no, know, she's our first gold medalist to ⁓ Uli Boxio, is a gold medalist as well. ⁓ But Mackenzie was our first gold medalist. That's his accomplishment. Yeah, yeah, yeah. was a huge accomplishment. I'm going from like, this didn't exist like, like what five years ago? We've only been open. This is the second year. Second year. So yeah, I think we're going we're going into our third year. Yeah. three years in and you have a golden apple. yeah. No, we're very proud. Very, proud. Yeah. Well, you know, they, they've stuck with it. That's the thing. So that, and you know, we were talking earlier about like punch out and you know, what, something like do people stick around or whatever? And, ⁓ honestly, like that's one of those, we've had a few others that have stuck around as well, but that's one of those ones where she just, she fought her friend the first year and don't get me wrong, her friend brought. And her friend actually, I thought was the one that was going to stick around. And now the friend, obviously she, she still comes in here quite frequently, but ⁓ Mackenzie was the one that stuck around and you know, it, it was crazy. They're still really good as well. But yeah, well that's like a Harper too. He's a buddy. we'll have some fun. I don't know. I just think the entire experience is really cool. Like going in from like nothing to even what 10 weeks in 10 11 weeks in. I feel like everything has changed so much already. Yeah. Well, and you probably already feel it too that ⁓ the discipline that boxing ⁓ is so used in life. Like, you know, skipping, like I hate skipping. OK, I got taught by like a grade one. Like I was 20 something years old trying to learn how to skip and from teachers teaching me how to skip in the in the boxing class. But I hate it. But it's so irritating. But that's the thing. Boxing is irritating. Life irritating. Yeah, there's there's a few things that I say that everyone should learn how to do. Get into a boxing ring or pick up some form of martial arts because of the discipline and golf. Cause golf is life. Cause you could do things numerous times and you think it's going to go one way and you have to pivot. Same in a boxing ring. You have this game plan when you're in the boxer where you're going to, you know, I'm going to steamroll my opponent and then my opponent plans for that. So then you try to go steamboat and you have to change your whole game plan. Right. So, it's just nice. Cause like with the 16 weeks, so you get that, ⁓ it just becomes your routine over four months after the four months you're like, okay, well, now I just want to keep going. ⁓ Like at least like if some of these people I'm sure, or even myself like, where your fitness was, you're like, I don't know how to go work out. I don't know how to do this. I don't know. Like I've never haven't done a push up in years. And then now you're doing it all the time. ⁓ And now you can walk into any gym with confidence and be like, no, I'm just gonna go work out. You know how now? Yeah, no, it's 100%. I, uh, the only thing that I do find is, uh, some people have a hard time when they're not getting ready for a flight. I know. That's the thing, right? Is that if you're not, you want to stay in shape all the time. It's true. You know? Um, and to be honest, like I've been taking a lot of flights. Uh, you know, I like fighting these young guys. It's fun. I get some people under my resume, you know, but, uh, um, but it also, It keeps me challenged for the next thing. Not saying you should do it as much as maybe I am, But I had like five or five fights. Yeah, that was. Yeah. This. So this whole. So since January. January. For. So I started last year after a punch out. Yep. And I'm hoping I'll finish with about 15 fights for this punch out. That's my plan of attack. And then unfortunately, I'm hitting that Masters category. does that mean you're going to Vegas for the tournament? I'd love to. Actually, if any other Masters watch this and they want to get in touch and head down to Vegas, I'm game. I'm game. But yeah, but. Okay, they do masters at 38. I think in the states. Oh fair. Yeah, so I've been masters for a while now. Okay, so can get into the masters next year. Yeah, shut up. Shut up. All right, so other than that, like How do see the future of MPT? How do you see the future of you at ⁓ coaching moving forward from now after punch out? Like, you know, potentially maybe punch out for or like, what's your goal now with the gym moving forward? I definitely want to see a punch out continue. The funds that we've raised go directly to ⁓ the MS research in London. So a lot of charities, unfortunately, they divvy it up around different hospitals and stuff. And this one actually goes directly because one obviously works there. goes directly there. So I'd like to see that funding continue. ⁓ And I'd also like to see punch out grow with support as well. You know, we've got the fighters, which is great. And I expect next year to be kind of, know, but I do want to see it continue to grow with supporters as well. ⁓ You know, the amount of money that we've been able to bring in the last three years has been more than I ever imagined. ⁓ So I'd like to see, obviously, Poncho continue. ⁓ The gym, ⁓ I'm hoping, you know, to potentially have a national champ here. We do technically have ⁓ one in our gym, but she didn't actually win the national. title with us. I can't take credit. can't take no, no, no. But but it's awesome that we get to work with it too. That's amazing. But yeah, that's that's kind of my point of attack is I'd like to see I'd like to see a national title coming to MPT. I think the gyms surpass my expectations. People are hearing about it. They know they know our lion. Um, and, it's just, yeah, like you go to clubs and people recognize me. know I look like a lot of similar bald guys, but, uh, you know, it's pretty cool and all fist pumping everybody. And I've never been a very social person. Really? Yeah, not really. It takes you out of your shell a little bit. Yeah. Well that, that, and, uh, and the idea just like, I don't, I, when you get stuck talking to somebody for 20 minutes, that part kind of, know, It sucks especially because there's no you gotta talk to this guy for 20 minutes and you gotta talk to that guy for 20 minutes What's nice is most of the coaches they're so freaking busy, too. That's literally just this pump this pump Hey, and then you know talk online type deal. Yeah, but Yeah, so my expectations for MPT is to continue to grow but I do want to see the community grow the boxing community, you know, I want to continue to try to make friends with other gyms, know, sparring within our community. London is a huge boxing hub. ⁓ yeah, yeah. And, and you know, we, we benefit a lot, ⁓ just from inside the city. ⁓ so I'd like to see that continue and that, that, that sense of community that all the old coaches used to bring, you know, ⁓ you see it in a lot of these gyms, but I think sometimes we lose way. That's true. ⁓ and I want to see a London tournament one day. That's my plan as well. Okay, like Wakanda tournament we're talking about. I want to see. Okay, so obviously there's one, the Novice It's an amazing tournament. Okay. Boomer's does a fabulous job with that. And I don't want anybody stealing my idea. No, no, no, no. They don't want to say it. No, no, that's okay. That's okay. Because if happens, I'll just play it clean. Yeah. I'd like to see and the coaches used to talk about it back in the day You know a London tournament so like we have so many gyms surrounding areas to can join it But I'd like to see you know like okay. Who's the best welterweight in the city? know best heavyweight in the city all right I'm it's gotta be you know massive title or anything But I would love to see you know like I can name probably about five or six heavyweights that would join yourself included join a tournament, you know, and as long as the skill levels are and such, we could potentially do, you know, couple fights throughout the year. And by the end of the year, we have a crowd talking about a league. Yeah, pretty much like a little London inner city league. I think it'd be really cool. I don't know how we do it. But that's one of those ideas I've had for a little bit now. like that. Once you start telling people about your ideas, then it's just going to slowly start. Moving down. Yeah. And hey, if that works, because honestly, my plan of attack was to try. Well, you got to get all the gyms. You can't just you can't have a one in tournament without some of these gyms. Yes. So ⁓ and I've got a pretty decent relationship with all the gyms. So it's I'd love to to eventually make that a reality one day. True. That'd be sweet. That would be no. And the talk about the community aspect. Before I want to say five years ago. Yeah, I want to say about five years ago, boxing wasn't huge in London. And then the first promotional event happened with Fight to End. Yeah. And then you came along with Punch. And then now all I hear is different gyms now opening up and boxers are going there or like it's blowing up in the city like crazy. but it's like, it's blowing up with the youth. It's not even blowing up with our generation. It's the youth that are getting into it more and more now. So to talk about your community aspect, it's coming. And honestly, you got to look at some of these big promotions too. think that they're been huge. I don't want to say his name. You know, I think he's been huge for the boxing world, especially the female boxing world. But you know, then obviously you have like a think it's zoo for promotions or whatever that's going on right now. And like all these other promote like the Saudi, ⁓ tournament that they did. Like, I think we had a, one of the Wilcox brothers went down there and there was a, another guy from Vancouver, I think went down there. There was a couple of Canadians. I actually tried to get a couple of guys, know, go down there, but anyways, but all these promotions, they're starting to bring this sport back. Yes. know, but one thing I'd like to see that changes in boxing though is, If you lose, know, losses are lessons. An amateur obviously, you know, nobody wants to lose, but you know, they're all supposed to be a lesson. But I think chasing a 50 and 0 record is so dumb. know? Well, yeah, because the people that you had, some of their fights, you're like, okay, that one's just a number. You're just fighting this guy. He has zero chance. I think that needs to change a little bit. But you know what? That's not in the game that I'm in right now. You hopefully we'll get to the program one day. But right now we're just an amateur. So it's, you know. Well, you lose an amateur, you go undefeated in pros. It's kind of the goal, right? And that's how you make more money. And unfortunately, we were talking about this in football. Once you put money towards a sport, after it goes out the window. Yeah, no, I totally get it. It just sucks because like I've seen guys that have lost, you know, time flights. And they're amazing fighters, but now they're 20 and 10 and it's like nobody wants to watch them anymore. It's like, what are you talking about? So, and I find that over the years that's really started to whether it's boxing, USC. Oh yeah. Yeah. It's like. The guys you see in there, the ones that have no losses, really like every time I see it, I just like who did you invite? Yeah. Now, some of them have fought some amazing people. I got to give them credit for that. you know, even Mayweather, man, like, yeah, like you're in that shit. Like, yeah, you know, but it's just one of those things. Like, I think it was Pacquiao that lost a few fights and like everybody's like, you know, now mind you, still got an amazing following. I freaking loved the guy. I actually was a Pacquiao fan over the whole Mayweather Pacquiao thing. So, you know, it's one of those things, but like as you lose, it's like, you know, that's supposed to dwindle your efforts. It doesn't make sense to me. Yeah. But you'll lose one fight and my career is over. Yeah. because they're not a draw the same way. So they'll always stay in the middle of the pack. It will never be the top draw anymore unless their record is like five and one. Yeah. Yeah. But I think that's what we want to as people, right? We want to see that guy put that zero on the line. Mm So I think we get a lot. So we're doing this this year. Yeah. You're putting that zero on the line. All right. I like that. True. That's true. You're going to have your work cut out for you. All right. So in closing, kind of want to do like a bit of a shout out. There was somebody who recently passed away that was very dear to you. Can you just, you know, give us a little synopsis of like everything that he kind of meant to you? Like, yeah. So the coach actually talked about him briefly earlier that set me up. in life in my opinion, Irving Chestnut. ⁓ He passed away recently. It was pretty crazy. Life works mysterious ways. I hadn't seen him in about 15 years and then all of sudden somebody's yelling at me when I'm in the Brampton Cup ring and I look and it's my coach and that gave me some fire. We'll put it that way. And then two weeks before his passing, he actually came down to my gym and and brought a fighter for me to spar. ⁓ So I got the opportunity to tell him kind of how much he meant to me and what he did for me. But yeah, in my eyes, ⁓ he's kind of the reason why I'm sitting in an MPT right now. It's a family and the atmosphere that I felt at King Street, which is the place that I fell out of, King Street School of Boxing. You know, we still, still have Facebook friends and going to that funeral was crazy because it's like all these people were this big when I last seen him. But yeah, he... Words can't really express how much he meant to me. And over the years, I always wanted to reach back out to him and I just never had the guts to, I guess. And yeah, then just kind of fell in my lap. So it was, was very nice. The world kind of went that like, obviously it's not nice that he's passed. You know, I really don't like that. But the, the idea of nice being ⁓ that I got a chance to see him and like a full circle. Yeah. And you know, this actually was his gym at one point he ⁓ after King Street shut down by the Washington fair, which is where I trained at a He moved to this address and he did four C's boxing I actually have a sign in the back that will be going up in my weight room back there and So it was an awesome having him come to this gym seeing kind of what I've done with it and you know, he did tell me I use is very proud and You know, I pay I continue to try and pay forward what he did for me Yeah, I tried my best. tried my best. But honestly, that's admirable. That's amazing. I appreciate that. Shout out to him. Yeah, he's a great person. ⁓ And his family too. had to deal with him, know, taking in all these kids off the and giving them a spot. you know, his daughter used to spar with me all the time. You know, things like that. they go is, yeah, the whole family is just amazing. Damn. And yeah, I tell you that funeral men all from different walks of life. was it was amazing. And it was a huge tribute to see just everybody from all these different walks of life of kind of being in the same building to show respect. I guess the one man. Yeah. damn cool. That's community right there. Yeah. community that he built to 100%. So cheers to him. And thank you so much. Greatly appreciate you coming on the show. means a lot to us. Does. I see you all the time now. I'm stuck with us. So and then you know, like I said, or like you said, the wagers on the wagers on for for punch out encore. That's all I'm saying. The wager's on. All right. All right. I love it. We wouldn't expect anything less from you. Hey, I love it. I love a good wager. So good. That's good. All right. But the best part is I get to make fun of whoever places either way. Yes. Oh, Lord. You do know you're fighting, right? Who? You do know you're fighting, right? I'm not telling you who you're fighting yet. Oh, yeah. But you knew you're fighting. Yeah. OK. So we get to make fun of you if you lose? ⁓ Well, no, you're just going on that zero. ain't losing. ⁓ I got you. got you. No, because well, he's friends with. Yeah, so like Alcides and I are all boys. Yeah. Are you another one that I'll see? OK, no, you brought. I him this time. I had to match my way for once. I brought him and technically Johanna. Yeah, but yeah, but all right. Well, thank you again. That's an episode. That's an episode. Peace.