Inside Australia’s Most Respected Boxing Gym (58 Years!)

Sam Brizzi is carrying one of Aussie boxing’s greatest legacies.

The Brizzi Brothers started their gym in a Preston shed 58 years ago. Cos has passed, but Benny Brizzi, a deadset living legend, is still holding pads nearly six decades on.

Sam grew up in that world, banned from boxing as a kid because of epilepsy, and now coaches Olympians, turns street kids into fighters, and, alongside his cousins and Uncle Benny, keeps the Brizzi Bros name alive.

👇 In this episode:

• Brutality, discipline, and how the Brizzi Bros gym has saved lives
• Why Benny Brizzi is still running the gym at 78 and what makes him a legend
• The raw truth about building champions — from smashed windows to world titles
• Sam’s own story: banned from boxing, now coaching Australia’s best
• Why combat sports should be in every school and how boxing straightens out street kids

Proper old-school boxing. A family legacy 58 years strong.

Lets fkn go 🥊🚀

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
People love brutality. We all have that ability and we
all have that want to fight. We think it's wrong to have
those primal thoughts. It's not.
What we found is the ones who are like that, who are a little
bit more aggressive when they start boxing.
They control that urge. Boxing gyms and especially ours,
we would like to think it's, it's just the way it is.

(00:22):
You walk in and you realize thategos don't exist here.
You know, we've got kids who areboxing for Australia who are
fought for world titles, training with a 7 year old who's
trying to lose a little bit of weight or has been bulleted at
school. And they're the same, you know,
like I was never allowed to box because of a medical issue when
I was a kid. My world fell apart at the time.
Like it's it's the only time I've sort of ever been close to

(00:42):
being depressed. Do you feel like your strike
rate of identifying a raw talent, you reckon you can
separate the ones that you thinkwant to do it and the ones that
you think can do it and does do it?
Can definitely separate who wants to do it and who does do
it. That's pretty clear, because
it's just about being. Sam, thanks for coming on, man.
Thanks for having us inside thishistorical menu.

(01:03):
No, no worries. Thanks for coming, boys.
And yeah, welcome. It's just.
Full of If you look around, man,it's just full of I.
See, I'm looking around you guyslike start the pot.
I'm like, God, I'm just taking this in like Rocky would have
fought here for sure. Yeah, it's been called that
before. It's my old man.
Used to be called Mickey as well.
You know a lot of people. You you reminded a lot of people
of Mickey. So that's the field we want.

(01:25):
This is a gym started by two brothers.
Yeah, still run by family members.
And that's what we want. That's our big ethos.
When, when when did it start? Sam, can you take us back to
when when the Brizzy Bros started this in this in?
This, well, it started before this, didn't it?
So. It did.
It did. This year is actually our 58th
year that we've been open and we've been running.

(01:47):
Yeah. So my dad Cause and and Uncle
Ben started it in 1968 after Benny's boxing career had to be
cut short due to injury. And it was a garage built in the
backyard by my my grandfather. And for him it was mainly like
to keep them off the streets andout of trouble.
You know, growing up in Collingwood, being Italians,
coming over after the war, streets are pretty tough and he

(02:09):
didn't want to see them go down the wrong path.
So he built them a gym and they started training boys there and
literally just snowballed. And here we are still, 5758
years later. Yeah, awesome.
So I was put in place not to just enjoy the boxing but but
legitimately sort of give, give the young fellas a thing to do
and sort of keep them flying straight.
Yeah, well, I think my uncle wasa little bit lost after he had

(02:32):
to stop boxing and dad at the time was sort of working with
the painters and dockers. He was in there which it.
Was a pretty rough time back then.
Real rough time that was that was especially.
In around Collingwood and. Yeah, Collingwood.
Cleaned up a lot now though. Absolutely, Yeah.
Wow. Certain parts, certain pockets,
but yeah, absolutely. And so, you know, and, and at
the time it was, it was a different world.

(02:52):
And my grandfather was a little bit concerned that, you know,
they could stray the wrong path and just put something in place.
And it's their love. They, they were obsessed with it
ever since. And that's been passed on to
myself and my cousins. Was there boxing gyms, you know,
do you know the stories was was there many boxing gyms around
then or, or was there or were your dad and that your dad and

(03:13):
your uncle sort of pioneers sortof starting their own little
boxing gym in 68? Oh look, there was a lot.
Boxing was pretty big back in the day, like you had TV
ringside and channel O so it wason free to air TV twice a week
when? There's only three channels.
Exactly, exactly. So it was on two of the three.
So boxing was quite big. You know like Lionel Rose, he
had 250,000 people when he come home from winning the world

(03:35):
title and Johnny Famish from boxing was huge.
They were. They were as big as AFL players
in those days. But in the area, though, one of
the first gyms there was Leo Berry's in Richmond, there was
Snowy Thompson's in Brunswick where Benny trained as a boxer.
So there were gyms around Jack Rennie, a lot of famous gyms,
but nothing out this way. So to an extent they were.

(03:56):
How many years was it? Was it in the garage for Sam?
It was there for about 30 years and then once I was born during
the 80s, Mum had had enough of all the guests in the backyard
every night of the week and didn't want me to be around it.
But that was a bad call because I've been here ever since and
she can't Get Me Out of the gym,so it could be back home.
Yeah, exactly right, Exactly right.

(04:17):
So yeah, we moved here in 88. Yeah.
And yeah, been here ever since. Yeah, awesome.
So you growing up as a young fella?
So that was just trying to picture my house at home like
with a a full functioning gym out the back.
Yeah, lots of lots of lads coming down with their boxing
gear. He's rolling.
Through yeah, 100% like it's yeah, the training's there.
But no doubt with the, you know,group of, you know, the

(04:40):
testosterone that's in that garage, it was a bit going on.
Yeah, yeah, it was. It was a small gym and there was
only fighters. So now we train people for
fitness and for a little bit of self defence.
But in those days, until I was about 15 or 16, we only trained
boxers. So it was people who could fight
and wanted to fight and intense sparring.
You know. He had guys preparing for
Australian title fights, Commonwealth title fights,

(05:03):
amateur tournaments and yeah, itwas pretty heated back in those
days. We had numerous windows smashed
by heads because the ring was sosmall.
You know the famous stories of if you sat back on the ropes too
far, you got hit with a good shot, your head would go, would
break the window through the window.
Yeah. So no, it was chaotic.
It was a proper gym. It was it was.
There was no messing around likeit is today.

(05:25):
But you wouldn't get away with alot of the things that happened
in in most gyms in those days either.
So, yeah, nice to see your margins around the ropes.
It's a bit more increased. Yeah, these.
Days Sammy got a few chippies inthe gym so they've set it up
nicely for us. What do you reckon?
The secret it's been to survive so long for, you know, 58 years.
Gyms come and go, businesses come and go, things come and go.

(05:49):
Like, you know, all things, all good things come to an end, as I
sort of say. And 68 years is it's a hell of a
long time for anything. What's been the secret, would
you say? Passion, like I asked my uncle
still, you know, how does he, how does he have the love for
and how can he bothered being inthe gym still at 78 and is where

(06:09):
else would I be? And I think that shines through.
I think when people come to the gym they feel that, you know,
'cause they promoted, they coached, obviously Benny boxed,
they love it and and treating people properly.
Our big ethos here is that everyone's family, it runs a
Brizzy brother. Would you say there's been many
sort of reinventions along the time like you were sort of

(06:32):
saying before that obviously only it was only fighters
originally. At what point did you sort of,
was it you that once you sort ofgot involved that you started
taking on non fighters or was your dad and uncle sort of they,
they, they made that move earlier?
Yeah. So I was it was probably 1520
years ago when they both retired, they both had various

(06:53):
jobs, truck drivers, painting and dockers own their own
businesses. But once they both retired, they
had a little bit more time on their hands.
So they started opening the doors just to help the gym out,
you know, pay for fees, pay for amenities, that sort of stuff.
And that's when we started having fitness or people for
fitness and for different reasons coming into the gym.
And till then, we never really even had a woman come into the

(07:15):
gym. I remember getting phone calls
and it was a bit lady saying, Oh, I want, I want a box.
And they would say, well, I'm sorry, we don't have the
facilities. And so they sort of pioneered
themselves, you know, But again,it comes back to being good
people and being welcoming Todayin society, we're all about
inclusivity and, and equity. But this gym has been inclusive
for 50 years. You know, people of all races,

(07:36):
all religions, all demographics,you're all welcome.
And there's no judgement. And, and that shows because
there are people who trained with my dad and uncle when the
gym opened, who are still in touch with us today.
You still come by and and speak so highly of them and it's all
about how you treat people and that's everything in life.
If you treat people like a shit kicker, they'll remember it and

(07:59):
when you fall they won't be there to pick you up.
But if you help people in their darkest times and you just treat
them like a good person, irrelevant or regardless of
their status, they'll remember that and they'll be there when
when you need them. Well, Sammy, mate, that, you
know, to hear you say that just gives me goosebumps because I
grew up in the area, right? We're in Kingsbury.
I grew up in Bundur, just down the road, just down the tram.

(08:20):
And like I was saying before, I was so excited to come today and
shout out Matt Ruggiero, who hooked this up.
Cheeksy. Yeah, but he took this up
because again, like me and Matt grew up across the road
together. So Matt's 10 years younger than
me as well. So I understand how he found his
way here because we grew up we just a ground Bundaroo football
club and just around the area, anyone that ever spoke about

(08:44):
boxing would say, you know, Brizzy Brothers.
And it was only ever positive and and good, good sentiment.
Does that make sense? And that's on the back of
obviously all the people that have flown through and now
they're out there just selling the Briszy Brothers Gym.
Does that kind of make? Sense.
Yeah, absolutely. And, and, and there's 10, you
know, there's six decades of that, which is why it's so I

(09:07):
guess saturated and why I guess it keeps popping up for us young
men out this side of town. That kind of makes sense.
Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, boxing has
traditionally attracted rough kids or kids who are sort of
potentially going down the wrongpath.
And, and so that's where it started from.

(09:30):
So if you're working with those kids, you have the temperament
and you have the ability to workwith anyone, right.
And, and now we've got, you know, middle class.
This is the middle class area now.
You can't get a house around Kingsbury Reservoir, Preston for
under $1,000,000. Yeah.
Which like, mate, I couldn't go to sleep with the kid without
hearing sirens at night. You know, it was the first
suburb in Australia to have roller shutters.

(09:51):
Preston. You know, Little Chicago.
For Valley Street, it was ValleyStreet.
Valley Street. Valley Street's just what?
5 minutes behind our house, behind where the gym was, you
know, we're Wood St. Yeah, yeah, and it's behind.
So mate, I couldn't go to sleep without the sound of sirens.
But yeah. Any good gym?
Not just us, any good gym. Especially from from those days.

(10:11):
The old school gyms, the community hubs and everyone's
welcome. Everyone comes to to, to vent,
to learn, to get fit and just for a little bit of mental
health. We've been dealing with mental
health before it was even a thing.
What really jumps out to me, Sam, is these, these
organisations and community groups that, that your, you

(10:33):
know, your family started because in, you know, being
inclusive. It's, you know, people are being
on it now and let's be inclusiveand let's include everyone,
which is amazing. But communities like this have
been doing that for decades, youknow, and your family is one of
them. Yeah, 100%.
And a lot of the time in those days it was subconscious, you
know, it was, it was just about seeing the person walking them,

(10:54):
walking them, them in and and giving them an outlet.
You know, there's no pure form of adversity but success than
fighting, whether it's boxing, MMA, kickboxing, you learn more
about yourself getting hit on the chin or just about to be
choked out than you do in any other environment.

(11:16):
And you know, COVID for me really highlighted how much it
means to people. Obviously it was the first time
we'd shut ever. We'll shut for 11 months and add
our boxes messaging us. We had 1516 boxes at the time.
At the start we thought, OK, we'll just ride this out.
Six months in, they've put on 15kilos or they've stopped, their

(11:36):
relationships have ended and they just go, we don't know.
We're we're lost without the gym.
And sometimes it's just that community.
You walk into a place with like minded people, tell each other,
you give each other a bit of shit here, you're going, you
know, get fucked, whatever it might be.
There's no bullshit. This is a real place.
Yeah. Well, when you walk in, you
don't walk in with status, right?
And that's what I love about it.Like you, you, you're training,

(11:58):
there might be 4050 people in here.
You're all in your gym gear. Everyone looks the same.
There's no fancy watches or brands or whatever.
It's just everyone's the same you, everyone gets brought down
to the same level. And it's humbling, right?
Because if you do come in and you are thinking that you are
something, then you learn prettyquick that that you aren't real
quick, real quick and real. Quick, and sometimes we take

(12:20):
great pride in that. Correct and correct me if I've
been, you know, in and out of the gyms of recent times and
I've seen it yeah, it's it does happen like people and and
people that come into the gym, it's not like they come in with
bad intentions. They just come in and don't
understand and then they come inmaybe with the wrong attitude or
think that you, you know, you'regoing in or about it the wrong
way. And pretty quickly, man, you

(12:41):
know, the couple of whispers, couple of you know, and then.
Let's put him, let's put him in the ring with Jimbo.
Yeah, yeah. And then Jimbo sorts him out.
He gets the lesson. And I guarantee that kids still
there 10 years later. You know, it's not like they,
it's not like they run him out of the gym.
No, it's more that you sort of get calibrated into how the gym
operates. Yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly.
And you know, today in a lot of sporting teams, you hear about

(13:05):
culture. I feel a lot of that stuff is
bullshit and it's fabricated. Boxing gyms and especially ours,
we would like to think it's, it's just the way it is.
You walk in and you realise thategos don't exist here.
You know, we've got kids who areboxing for Australia, who are
for for world titles, training with a 7 year old who's trying
to lose a little bit of weight or has been bullied at school

(13:25):
and they're the same. Yeah, yeah.
That's A and that's that's a fact.
Well, because I've experienced that in the gyms, right?
And and it really is that. And that's the confronting part
of it a little bit at the start as well, right?
Yeah, absolutely. Because when you come in, you
and then you you're like, hang on, treat me like the new guy.
I'm the new guy. But it's just not how it works,
you know? But can I ask him, with your

(13:46):
dad, was there one specific thing or anything that jumps out
to you that you think the way that your dad looked at boxing
or that he tried to instill intoyou the way to look at boxing?
Not really. So that was sort of more the
business side of of the gym. More Uncle Ben.
Yeah, Benny's the is, he's stillthe head trainer now and he was

(14:10):
the more technical side and my dad, you know, when they were
promoting, he would go and get the sponsors and and organise
the deals and that sort of stuff.
So his philosophy in life in general was just have a go.
And he like, the one thing that I admire about him the most is
his ability to just go out and try.
He would, he would walk on a union job sites and and speak

(14:31):
to, to reps about sponsorship. And he was fearless.
You know what I mean? Like you could have taken him to
Buckingham Palace and he wouldn't have been worried by
the Queen at all or who was in the room.
He could talk to a leper, he could talk to a king.
And that's a very rare trait to have, you know, because it
wasn't ego. It was just him being him.
And yeah, so, so that's that's the thing that I try and take

(14:53):
from dad, especially now that he's no longer with us.
Have a go. Just have a red hot crack.
It might work, it might not work.
But if you do it, you do it 110%.
You know, Benny, the boxing side, it's he's so good at
judging a a fighter and and whatthey need or where they are in

(15:14):
their preparation. And he's about longevity.
There's life after boxing. Yeah, that's awesome.
Sam, is there anyone, if there is there boxes that have come
into the gym that that you've really remembered and gone or
come in at a certain level and they've just taken off or you
know, like who, who are the someof the names that that sort of

(15:34):
pop out to you? Because this has been your life
from now till however old you are now.
Yeah, just churning out Australian champions, Peter.
Yeah, No, we'd like, we'd like. The whole Australian champions.
Yeah, yeah, hopefully a few moresoon.
But no, there's so many. There's, you know, there's guys
when I was a little kid, Ross Richmond and, you know, they're,
they're memorable for various reasons.

(15:57):
Susie Ramadan, the first girl wetrained to end up winning a
world title and, you know, having a, a tremendous career.
Yeah. Guys who went to the
Commonwealth Games of 13 fights beat the world #3 to qualify.
So there's there's so many stories and and boxing is great
for that. What What's been your favorite
experience because you've been Commonwealth Games Olympics?

(16:18):
Yeah. You've been, we were talking
just before this, I can't remember.
You've got 3 continents in the last two weeks.
Yeah, we're about to hit a third.
Do you know what I mean? So you're travelling a lot.
So these crazy awesome experiences and that's, you
know, that's kind of why we do things.
Yeah. What's the best experience?
What would you say is up there at the moment?
There's a few like on for various reasons.

(16:40):
You know, we had a guy qualify for the Commonwealth Games, so
he was fighting the world #3 hiswife was went into labour that
day. He flew home to Melbourne, was
up all night and I said, Oh well, this, this is over, this
is done. And I said, mate, just, you
know, it's the birth of your first time.
Enjoy your time. Enjoy it, we've had a good run,
there's always next year. And he said, no, I'm flying up,

(17:01):
flew up that morning and beat the world #3 and honestly, I've
never seen a room full of grown men cry over a fight.
And it was like he'd won a worldtitle, You know, he just.
Had he do it on the the scores or do you finish him or?
No, no, he he won. He ended up going to a count
back, which in amateur boxing means it's level because he had
a few deductions, but he he won the fight so comfortably and

(17:22):
thankfully the right result was awarded and just the room
erupted. Honestly, such a feel good
story, you know, and going to Paris, like being asked to go to
Paris as a as a support coach since I was a little kid, all I
wanted to do was go to the Olympics first.
Year. What do you reckon the old man
would have thought of that? He'd be, he'd be pretty proud.
I hope anyway. You know of course, but.

(17:43):
Well, that's the pinnacle of boxing really.
Is Amicia Olympic level boxing? Pinnacle of any sport.
Yeah, I, I, I agree. And it's so, so tough.
Was speaking, you know, they have to qualify.
Used to be at ocean a bit through Asia and we were talking
earlier how difficult that is. Yeah, because of.
Can you explain to people what you were saying to me why it's

(18:03):
so difficult? Because I didn't realise that
we're competing against the Kazakhstan's and that's part of
Asia. Yeah.
So for this one, it actually went back to Oceania, which
which helped in US qualifying 12out of 13 spots.
But when we were in Asia, statistically, Asia is the
strongest continent in amateur boxing.
So like you said, we've got Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, who won

(18:25):
five men's gold medals last yearin Paris, 5 out of five, I mean,
100%, and they probably could have had two more.
Like they could have, yeah, covered everything.
Dudes missing out that. Were yeah, yeah, close fights
and you know, but and then you've got India and China,
which obviously population wise are the biggest countries on
earth and they've got massive budgets like China send a team

(18:48):
to qualify and then they send a team of training partners to all
the major tournaments. So you're dealing with a team of
40 or 50 people. So when we're going through
Asia, it was hard and I actuallywent to an Olympic qualifier in
Jordan before Tokyo and we qualified 5, which at the time
was unreal. We will happen two or three or
expecting two or three and we got 5.

(19:08):
That's why, yeah. So yeah, it's, it's, it's so
hard to get there. It's a it's a three-year process
really to get to the Olympics for a boxer.
And how good are you, you reckon?
And I know we know Benny's obviously, but what about you,
Sammy? When they walk in the gym, do
you, do you feel like your strike rate of identifying a raw
talent? When they say that they want to

(19:30):
do it, you reckon you can separate the ones that you think
want to do it and the ones that you think I reckon can do it and
does do it. Yeah, can definitely separate
who wants to do it and who does do it.
Yeah, yeah, that's, that's pretty clear because it's just
about being in the gym and show me how much you want it.
But has there been, I guess more, has there been anyone
that's come in that you've thought?
I don't know about you, mate. I don't think you're going to

(19:52):
get there. But they've, they've proved you
wrong. Do you know what I mean?
They've come in and yeah. Yeah, yeah, absolutely,
absolutely. One of the boys who helps us in
the gym now, Maddie Smith. Absolute legend of a human.
He'd come into the gym and I think he was in his late 20s.
He had 7 or 8 fights and only won two.
And we thought, OK, well let's see where we can take, yeah,

(20:12):
like 2 and six or something, 2:00 and 6:00.
And yeah, at, at, at the start we're like, oh, we're sort of
going to have to nurture him. And you know, like we're not
sure what we're going to get outof him.
It's just the sort of fight by fight or or week by week sort of
judgement And end up winning theAustralian title on his 40th
birthday, Yeah, like literally the day he turned 40, the day he

(20:33):
become ineligible to box as an amateur, won the Australian
amateur title in Perth. So.
What a way to do it? Man and just chipped away and
like in the end he only lost to Australian champions and lost to
the highest caliber boxers in the country and no one else beat
him. So yeah, like he, he is the
epitome of what hard work does. And I was going to say, So what?

(20:53):
What? How do you go from two and five
or two and six? Yeah, where clearly the world's
telling you you shouldn't box, Yeah, to then becoming, on your
40th birthday, an Australian champion.
Like what? What?
What was the differentiator? Was it simply just hard work?
Yeah, and just Frizzy Bros Gym. Yeah, good point.
Yeah, look, you, you've got to have a good coach and you've got

(21:14):
to be comfortable in the gym. So, and, and that sort of became
evident that he was more comfortable here than when he
had been in previous gyms. And it's like anything, if
you've got a good relationship, you bring the best out of
people, right? So it's it's very important.
What I'm saying because obviously Benny being the one
and O fighter that he. Is I was talking to some of you
about that. Soon soon to go 2 and O by all

(21:36):
pods but so he understands goinginto a gym and where it all gets
started. But for maybe myself and the
other punters at home, what is it like rocking up, calling and
saying, hey, can I come down tonight?
You know, what does that look like?
Are you, are we in the ring the first night?
Do you keep them on the outskirts, hitting the fuel of
the bags for a bit? And then you go, hey, mate, I
think you're ready to jump in the ring and have a spa.

(21:57):
Like, you know, for somebody that's been to gyms but not
boxing, man. Yeah.
So at the start it's just teaching them.
We teach everyone in the gym like they're going to box.
So it's all the fundamentals. It's it's not a fitness gym,
it's not fitness classes. And then if we say they're
progressing or they're showing interest that they want to box,
we up it a little bit. So they might do a little bit of

(22:19):
partner work or they might work with a couple of our boxes
because they can control the thespa or they can control what's
happening when you put two novices together, Anything
happens like shit hits the fan, You know what I mean?
Because it's that fight or flight notion and.
And I've been in those, I've been, I've experienced those
situations, man. Like they're terrifying, right?
Yeah. You're shooting yourself, so you
lose all. Control so you could lose.

(22:41):
You could lose a lose a good kid.
Potentially, potentially. Whereas we've sort of fanned if
we put them in with someone who has boxed and and he's in a cock
head. Yeah, excuse my language.
No, no, no, no. All good.
Yeah, he's in a cock head. They learn, so they get hit,
they don't get taken advantage of, or they don't get put in
silly situations. Because you're not trying to,

(23:02):
you're not trying to knock them out.
And what happens like when there's two, I guess beginners,
if you get in there and you feellike the other dude, like it
just escalates really quickly, right?
Because everyone, both of them are shit themselves.
Yeah. Oh, you're hit me.
Well, before you know it, you'rehitting hard.
But where if you've got someone with a bit more experience, then
they can sort of control it a bit more, slow it down and then

(23:25):
make it a little bit more technical.
And they're not trying to take your head off this.
Make no mistake though, Peter, they're still hitting you.
Yeah, absolutely. Like you're still getting hit
and they're. Teaching you, they're teaching
you it's. Not like you're getting hit
soft, you're just not getting hit crazily and silly.
Does that make. And for no reason.
You're sort of moving. And yeah, you're learning, I
suppose. Yeah.
So and you don't have control ofyour defence so you turn your

(23:47):
head, you know, you make mistakes that you don't want to
box it to make. And and exactly and A and a good
boxer and a good person won't take advantage of that.
Gotcha. Whilst you're learning, while
you're coming. Through they'll they'll step
off, say mate. Keep shouting out my man Yui.
Really. Absolutely.
And Yui, dude, Ice Bar is, you know, I think he maybe had
maybe. He gave gave you a little sort.

(24:08):
Of yeah, I'm still scared a little bit.
No, because I love it. And and and you is the perfect
example of a good of a dude, that man, he could have put me
to sleep in seconds. You know what I mean?
Like this guy's a serious fighter, but he man, he he he
pushed me and he worked me and he humbled me, but he he didn't,
he didn't try and hurt me. Does that make sense?
Yeah, it was, it is, it's, it's,it's a humbling.

(24:31):
Sam, can I ask him? The Brizzy Brothers style?
Talk to me. Right.
All gyms, all, all, you know, all gyms.
There's so many, there's no, there's a gazillion ways.
You know, everyone has their ownstyle of fighting and then most
gyms will have a macro sort of style of fighting.
What would you say the the Brizzy Brothers style of

(24:51):
fighting is now? And would you say that that has
evolved and changed since back in the day?
I would say it's sort of an aggressive counter puncher, so
trying to press the pace and then draw your opponent out to
to set them up for a good shot. But primarily, you know, going
forward to, to set the pace of the fight, it's evolved over
time and, and it's changed at various times because of amateur

(25:15):
boxing. The scoring's changed.
So you have to adapt. What worked in the 80s and 90s
didn't work in the early 2000s because you weren't being
rewarded for the same sort of thing.
So yeah, but now it's sort of gone back to A, to A, to the old
school style in general because it's pro scoring again.
So Long story short, 10-9 to wina loser.

(25:36):
Like it is the 10-8 mass system.Exactly 10/8 mass system.
Whereas 1520 years ago when I started coaching, it was a
computer. If someone scored a point shot,
yeah, you would have to have three judges press a button
within a second of each other. Forward to care.
Yeah, so you're getting like Olympic finals 5142, the best
fighters on Earth. So so we've had to adapt and and

(25:57):
credit to Benny and and Dad, they they did adapt.
But yeah, our style is aesthetically pleasing, you
know? I have experienced it with Matt.
So it's it feels like small movements moving forward.
Yeah, keeping the keep. Keeping that range.
Keeping that range, yeah, yeah, man.
Putting them under pressure withwith your presence.

(26:19):
With the present, that's that's a fucking that's the best way to
explain it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I've
experienced and that's because I've been in with Matt a lot.
And that's, yeah, he just keeps inching forward.
Yeah. Does that make sense?
So he's not, he's not lunging. He's not coming at ya.
He just fucking just keeps. Doesn't go away.
Doesn't, Yeah, yeah, yeah. And has just always fucking, you
know what I mean? Like so.

(26:39):
Yeah, man. Similar to a beach, like the
best way of trying to explain itto the boys or to a novice is
mate, think of it like a beach. The rock face is there.
Go back 50 years later, it's a little bit eroded.
Go back 100 years later, it's a little bit more eroded because
it's just wave by wave. Yeah, sometimes the waves are
bigger, sometimes they're faster, sometimes they're
harder. Sometimes there's a fucking
hurricane. So that's.

(26:59):
Hard. You're throwing.
Bombs, yeah, yeah. And just it's bit by bit, it's
wave after wave, it's. Chipping away.
Yeah, but then sometimes, you know, depending on who you've
got in the gym, we've got a kid who's 6 foot 475 kilos, got a
kid who's 57 and 50 kilos. So they can't do the same thing,
right? The other one need a sparring
partners. Yeah, yeah.
Sounds like a guy I know. Always need sparring partners
mate, always welcome. Oh, I need.

(27:21):
All. Company, I'm down and have a
spot mate. Absolutely.
We'll still take that. No dramas.
I love it. Yeah, I love it because I hate
it. Like like I'm, I sound like
let's get in the gym, want to gospa, but the second I'm standing
in the corner, I'm. Standing what?
The fuck am I doing? 100 percent, 100%.
Weirdest shit, man. And then when I walk out of Gaza
off let's do it again. You know what I mean?
Like it's it's, it's about as confronting as.

(27:43):
It's most confronting. Can I ask you, Sam, who's your
favorite boxer of all time? Or or or or favorite boxes?
Yeah, over the years I've. Probably got a couple of got
Sugar Ray Robinson, Sugar Ray Leonard and Manny Pacquiao all.
Three. Yeah, right.
Yeah, yeah, they're my did. You did you go to Las Vegas to?
Watch Money. Yeah, Dad and I watched Money
over there twice. First time we went when he

(28:05):
fought Ricky Hatton which was crazy like 10,000 poms flew over
it's. Going crazy?
Yeah. Going mad, like just singing the
whole time in the streets. They flooded Vegas and you know,
that was when Pacquiao was at his best.
And and to this day, I've still never heard a shot then like
that. He hit him with the left hand
and and I thought he was dead. And we're up sort of halfway up

(28:27):
the back of the third, third level.
And yeah, it sounded like someone pulled the trigger of a
gun. Like he hit him so flush so
fast. And but but being there, it
spurs you to another level, John.
I mean, like, I think everyone who loves boxing or or combat
should go to one of those fightsand not here because Vegas is a
different feel. It's a whole it's experience.

(28:48):
And and then my cousins and I went back and watched these
third fight with one Manuel Marquez, which is one of the
greatest rivalries ever, ever. And it was a split decision.
Another war mate. Just gives you goosebumps
thinking about it, you know? What about Jeff?
Jeff and Manny? We've had, we've luckily we had
Jeff on the pod and spoke about that fight.

(29:09):
Yeah. What's your opinion on that
fight being because you math you'd be a little bit torn,
right? But yeah, yeah, yeah,
definitely. Why I asked you genuine
opinions, like, you know, did you look at that fight and think
he won or you did? Too.
It was close, it was close. I don't think there was a a
clear winner, Yep. But.
But it wasn't a robbery and definitely.

(29:30):
Definitely not. And you know, it's nice to see
that an Australian got a close, close decision for once.
And yeah, it might have been that it was in Australia that it
swayed it, but as it should, right?
Like we fucking the the government put up so much money
and there were 52,000 people. And if it's dead even like you
said, going back to the count back in the in the thing.
Yeah, it's close. And he pressed the fight and,

(29:52):
you know, I, I felt like he, he implemented his style a little
bit more than Pacquiao did. Like Pacquiao might have landed
the better shots. Do you?
Remember the ninth round? Was it the ninth round?
Man stool when he, when he, whenthe ref come over in this office
gets me every time and he goes. You need to show me something.
Jeff Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you.
Need to show me something, Jeff.And he's nearly lucky.
He was out. He was out on his.

(30:12):
Feet and he gets up and he's like.
Yeah, let's fucking go. He was out on his feet and you
know, but that's boxing. That's that adversity, you know,
like and, and, and Horn is such a good representative or, or or
poster boy for, for boxing because he's humbled.
Well, the box just said adversity is.
As fuck. Like he's so tough, you know

(30:33):
what I mean? We remember, I remember when he
come through the amateurs, he come out of nowhere and started
beating guys who had who'd won four or five Australian titles
in a row and just ragdolled them.
Is this the toughness? Yeah, just tough fit, a little
bit of an awkward. Style.
He had that style, that was. Different, a little bit
unorthodox, like their Jimmy's known for that, but it's worked
for them. That produced so many good
fighters and obviously just thatextra little bit and that

(30:57):
ability to take himself to places where no one can go.
You know, he was one fight away from meddling at the Olympics,
from breaking our drought in 2012.
And yeah, he just hit the groundrunning and exploded onto the
scene. And yeah, to beat Manny
Pacquiao, to be competitive withPacquiao, you have to be good to
beat him 60. 1000 people as well.

(31:18):
Yep, Yep. And yeah, for me he kick started
a little bit of a revolution in Australian boxing.
Like you think how many good fighters have come from then
that? Got it back on the news a big.
Deal on it. Yeah, it got it, got it back on
the news when it probably hadn'tbeen for many, many, many years.
From the wow. What's the what's the name of
our mate? Jocko and Danny Green.
No, from Williamstown, OH, Barry.

(31:41):
Barry Michael. That's Bazaar.
Yeah, yeah, Barry Michael days and stuff.
Sort of. Yeah, we had we had Bazaar on
the pot as well. He's legend.
Sam, Sam, something that sort ofsticks out to me with these
amazing institutions, you know, is getting the, you get, you
know, getting the kids that are maybe, you know, like maybe
getting tangled up with the wrong people and, and get and
going down the path they shouldn't.

(32:03):
Does does any sort of example orhave you got any stories for us
of, you know, a kid that's maybecome in and and you go, wow,
like this kids been tangled up here, tangled up there and now
they're at the gym that you've sort of seen get flying straight
based on being introduced to a community such as this look.
Nothing, nothing sort of really stands out, but there's, there's
so many whether it's kids who are getting bullied or who, who

(32:23):
were bullying kids. And it comes back to the point
that they get humbled and it's more about them staying in the
gym and then they'll come back later.
So they, they might train for a couple of years, never box, but
they'll come back in as adults. We've had kids who are fighting
drug issues, got them into boxing.
They might have had one or two fights.

(32:44):
But yeah, turn that turn their lives around.
And that's been filtered foreversince we've been here.
Yeah, yeah, that's just constantly.
It's it's constantly because it's a society issue.
And going back to that point we spoke about earlier, these
issues are only trendy today, but they've been issues in
society forever for 100 years more, you know.

(33:07):
Yeah. So.
So that happens all the time where where kids come in, turn
their lives around or realize that they're fucking up.
You don't want to do that anymore.
And and you might have a parent come in and thank Benny or, or
my dad. Yeah.
You're still around. Do you have any non negotiables
in the gym? Do you you Sam or Benny where
there's just certain things or acertain thing that's non

(33:27):
negotiable or respect? So it's just respect.
As long as you come in, you respect your peers, respect the
place. You fucking talk out of line,
you'll get found out real quick.Or you can go.
There's a door at the front, there's a door at the back.
Fuck off from either. We don't care.
It's. Pretty simple, yeah, No, pretty
simple. We won't stand for it, you know,
And that goes for my boxes as well.
That goes for kids who are boxing for Australia, boxing for
Victoria, Blacks will fought forworld titles, Commonwealth

(33:51):
titles. You don't treat people the right
way. Go.
Yeah, it doesn't matter who you and that goes back to, like you
said, the, you know, the lower type kids coming in and having a
fight. But then like you say, the ones
at the top of the tree that's well that.
Well, they said the example. That's how you said an example.
Yeah, right. Who do kids look up to?
AFL footballers. They don't look at local
footballers. We all do respect they they
should, but they watch Scott Pendlebury and Dustin Moore and

(34:13):
blokes like that and yeah, so ifthey're acting like fuck wits,
the kids will become fuck wits, won't they?
Yeah. So the.
Influences. Yeah.
It's your. Yeah, it's your.
Well, it's a great responsibility to have to, to
keep those role models in here. Not knuckleheads, yeah. 100
cents in the assembly. I've got, I've got, I've got a
bit of a strange one. I was requested to ask this one
for talk. Talk to us, mate.

(34:34):
We're here. I hear Maddie tells me you're
pretty passionate about how to throw a left hook.
Yeah, talk to me. No, it's can.
You give me what's, what's what do I need to know from me left
hook? What?
What's your left hook? Right is my little bit of work
or you? Pretty so I can I I don't wanna
say it just in case my opponent,my next opponents studying me,
but I throw I mean 232. Yeah, well, you shouldn't that

(34:56):
size, that sort of reach. Yeah, yeah.
Well, I figured that out for myself.
So you see, that's why I'm trying to bridge the gap through
intelligence here, right? Yeah.
So I figured out me and ChatGPT are figuring it out.
Yeah, but yeah. I ChatGPT.
Well, I did. I figured out earlier.
Don't say that we don't have anygyms mate, they will take.
Over get out early with me throwing the jab they you know,
you get the high guard a fair bit.

(35:17):
So I I figured out a a 232 yeah,I don't like it, man, you know
what I mean? So what's that?
A 2? So A2 is straight down and it's
sort of just with when their hands are up and sort of gets
their attention, then the three is the hook and you're throwing
it. So then you knock their guard
out of the way and they're like,what are you doing?
And then straight down the pipe now exactly.
So you clear the way and you're just straight down the pipe and

(35:37):
you just and it's and it's quickpeek it's it's 232 straight down
there. So it's a good one, but.
It's a nice one. Enough about.
My talents. Let's get back to this left hook
because I'm, I'm, I'm what do I need to know?
What, what am I doing? What's the technique?
Look. Everyone has their own way of
teaching something, and I'm justa big believer.
Left hooks. Long story short, a lot of

(35:59):
coaches teach you to pivot the foot and land with the knuckle
or the palm of the knuckle down,palm of the hand down.
For me, I think that's so slow like that.
If you do, if you just sit thereand do that, that already
isolates your shoulder. Your shoulder is by no means the
biggest muscle or the strongest muscle in your body.
No, it's not always. So, so, yeah, exactly.
So if you think physically you're in the gym, what do you

(36:20):
pick Something heavy up with your legs, your back, the three
big muscles, right. So punching power and speed
comes from incorporating your whole body, These 3.
So for me, it's about how you transfer your weight onto your
front leg and the speed that youthrow the hook with whether you
turn your knuckle or turn your foot.
It's it's irrelevant. And I just feel a lot of people

(36:41):
these days teach it wrong because they read from a book or
they're shown, but they don't, they don't go into the gym and
they don't learn and they don't practice properly or they they
haven't seen it. Like I could show you 1000 left
hooks and you think of the best punches in history, the best
left hooks. Joe Frazier, Mike Tyson.
Well, the hello, the Russian. Well, when I was over at the gym
over there, they were doing thatRussian, sort of.

(37:02):
Yeah. So they they have their own
version where they throw more from long and they throw a
Czech. Hook.
Yeah. The Czech, Yeah.
And theirs is all about scoring points at long range and using
that leverage. But umm, traditionally,
especially professional boxing, when you throw the left hook to
knock someone out, you don't throw out the score.
You throw out to hurt someone. It's a it's a catastrophic
punch. Right, I've never looked at it
like that. Yeah, now the left hook should
be thrown to hurt someone. It should be a finisher and

(37:27):
you've got to generate the most force in the shortest amount of
time possible. Let's transfer your weight under
your front leg, incorporate yourhip and get the shot from you to
them in an instant. So it's the transfer of weight
and the use of the hips opposed to the shoulder making yourself
turn that knuckle. So which way if I'm if I'm

(37:48):
throwing the hook, am I throat like landing like?
I would prefer like that palm facing you, palm in.
That's how I naturally. Because that's quicker, correct?
And you go back to natural instinctively.
Boxing's all about instincts. Yeah, that's more natural for
me, yeah. What you're going to do in the
ring is going to be instinctive,right?
So you've got to train the best instincts possible.
Yeah, it's not going to be. Turning you're not going to be

(38:08):
remembered. To turn you're not.
You don't have time, Yeah, you just don't have time.
You're going to hit with a couple of shots, so.
Yeah, I'm just hearing fast. And get the legs involved, get
the big muscles. In SO it's one thing I speed.
Boxing explosive. Lands Lamb.
That's the one thing that I've learned over the journey and
especially like the transformation of my body and
the strength to be able to, I guess, do the rounds and

(38:28):
whatever body man at your core, like everything's coming from
your legs in your core, if that kind of makes sense, you know?
It's the whole lot and that's why boxer size and and boxing
fitness is so popular because it's a full body workout.
Yeah, the hands just get the credit.
Yeah, correct. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, exactly,
exactly. So somebody talk to us, man.
You've got a lot going on. You, you, you, you.

(38:50):
You're part of the Australian coaching team, you're working
towards LA, you've got some boys, you're working.
What's the plan with the gym? Where do you see the What do you
see Breezy Brothers doing over the coming years and the
direction you want to take it? In the short term it's trying to

(39:10):
get a few boys to box for Australia.
We've got four or five kids, allin their early 20s.
They haven't over 40 fives Olympics.
Nah, they they might they have aworld Masters games so that's
something to keep your own yeah yeah, which is pretty big it's
gaining traction so so you. And me, mate, we might have.
To never know, you never know. Absolutely, absolutely.
But yeah, short term, it's getting a few of our boys up to

(39:32):
that sort of level or or aiming to and that and they've all got
LA 28 firmly in their minds. And you too, like you've
obviously it's a dream for you to get back another Olympics and
be a part of it. Like I can only imagine what all
kids grow up. Don't you PK, if you're into
sport, what it would be like to be an Olympian or to be around
that sort of environment? Yeah, to work towards it,

(39:54):
whether you're in the ring or outside.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, A. Big deal.
Absolutely. And like with me.
Without playing the violin. You know, like I was never
allowed to box because of a medical issue when I was a kid.
We never. Asked you.
That yeah, no, that's all right,that's all right.
We can come back to it. But so my first dreams were
boxing for Australia. Yeah, of course, being our first
Olympic gold medallist, right, That, that was always my dream.

(40:17):
And so that sort of with that, with the cards that have been
dealt, I've had to achieve that in other ways and and coaching
has been my calling as it turns out.
How old were you when you found out that you couldn't, that the
dream was over, and what was? 17 far yeah just finished high
school and. You've been boxing, you're
probably pretty handy. Yeah, I'd like to think so.

(40:37):
Well, we would have found out, wouldn't we?
And that's, that's sort of like the thing that bothers me,
right? Like in my mind, mate, I'm, I'm
120 and oh, shadow boxing. I haven't, I haven't lost the
round yet. So.
You've never had a 5? Nah, so.
I'm gonna know when Sammy Rizzi.That's it mate, that's it.
But yeah, you got a better record than me.
What was it though then, Sammy? What was the condition?
I had epilepsy as a kid and yeah, like I grew out of it.

(40:58):
I'm all good now, but doctors weren't prepared to to sign me
off on it, obviously because of what if that big question and.
Alexi's scary man. I had a family friend that I
grew up with, She had out Chris.He's probably watching, but he
had epilepsy as well. So I sort of got to say there's
a little bit of a kid. Yeah.
Yeah. Right.
So then what? What?
What does that do to you? See him like.

(41:19):
Oh, at the time mate, like. That's your dream.
Do. Yeah, might like in hindsight,
it wasn't a big deal, but my world fell apart at the time.
Like it's, it's the only time I've sort of ever been close to
being depressed or, you know, because I just thought it would
happen. I just, I thought it was my
fight and I thought it was just written in the stars.
And yeah, I still remember coming out of the the the

(41:40):
doctors clinic and just being heartbroken.
I couldn't even tell my parents that that I'd failed.
How was the old man? Well, you tell the old man.
Look, I don't think that wanted me to box necessarily.
I know he would have supported me and pushed me all the way if
I, if it did pan out, but knowing how hard it is and how
brutal it is, I'm not sure he really wanted me to.
And he never pushed me towards it.
I just, I was in the gym becauseI was with my dad, I was with my

(42:02):
uncle and this is where I wantedto be.
It was the second time I ever saw him cry, to be honest.
And I and I didn't expect that. I didn't expect that he would
react that way. And yeah, but yeah, it's the
second time I ever saw him cry because he knew what it meant to
me. Did.
You do? Have you ever done anything
else? Bits and pieces, but nothing

(42:22):
with real conviction. Everything I ever did was always
going to be centering back to here.
And you were always going to take over the family boxing.
That was just. It was just no, no, I thought I
was going to be the one that would take the name to another
level through through my boxing.As hilarious and arrogant as
that sounds, I'll. Show you how to do it that.
Completely intent that I was going to show how good they are

(42:44):
through my career. I I truly believe that I was
going to be Australia's first Olympic gold medalist and go on
to have this and that. What are you saying?
Have a guess. We'll see if this podcast turns
pear shape. Well, you know what I'm going to
because you, I, I think I've gota bit of maths.
No, no, he there was something that made me think you were
younger than me before. So I think maybe you're when

(43:04):
you're talking years or I think about 42. 38 not far.
Not far, I was going to say 40 and I went up to.
No, that's all right. That's all right.
I haven't aged real well. 38 Youknow what?
You're you're spot on. Yeah.
OK, cool. 38, yeah, that makes sense.
I was just trying to think of what who was coming through like
who was who were the fight, the Australian fighters around that

(43:25):
time, Who would you have been fighting?
Oh, what was that, 2004? Some good fighters.
I I probably would have got my head punched.
Should be grateful that I wasn'tallowed to box, to be honest.
But. I doubt it.
Nah, look, there's always been good fighters through.
Australia's history at the time was that was like being Green
and Mandima at the peaks of their powers, so probably would

(43:47):
have been a bit after them. But look, it's all hearsay now.
What? Why would you afford that?
Probably middle middle or light heavy middle in the amateurs at
75. Maybe super middle weight if I
ever turned pro or 79 depending how strict I was with my pastor
and and and the beers. But but yeah, look, that's all
hearsay now. It it is what it is.

(44:10):
At the time I didn't see why it happened.
You just deal with it. Do you believe in things happen
for a reason Now that you say that?
Well, you can look back and you can rationalize it a bit because
that's a great. I don't think you can
categorically say things happen for a reason.
Maybe in this instance, yes. I had a dream that I I died in
the ring as well as a kid. So who knows?

(44:31):
Who knows how that would have panned out.
I really remember having a dreamwhen I was about 14, waking up.
I got killed in the ring. Yeah.
So who knows? Who knows?
Who knows? Maybe you were chosen for
something more important. Maybe.
Sammy, which is helping the helping the helping the crew
come through. Maybe a tragedy was avoided.
Who knows, Maybe I would have died in the ring.
Wow. Think about.
Like they didn't know I had epilepsy or you know, or there

(44:52):
was problems, who knows? But.
On the flip side of that, how many, how many lives have you
changed? Has the Brizzy Brothers, Jim
changed or you directly? You yourself, Sam, do you know
what I mean? So yeah, you've had that one.
How many more to come? Yeah, Yeah.
Do you know what I mean? Like, it's crazy.
Crazy when you look at it. And you.
Yeah, you put it into perspective like that.
Yeah, and and with Benny, with my uncle, that's the thing he's

(45:16):
proudest of. Like how many kids lives he's
changed without sounding like a wanker?
He should be, because it's real and it's true.
Man Yeah, yeah, yeah and and forhim, it's like he's proud that
they've got a gym or a place where they're comfortable and it
might be an achievement, might be them losing weight or it
might be them facing their bullyat school, which is huge, right
like if you're. Just making better decisions.
Here, Yeah. Because I said to you when I

(45:37):
came in, like if I had to come into this gym when I first heard
about it as a youngster in year 7 or whatever, yeah, I reckon my
life would have been a lot less complicated than it was.
Does that mean? Oh, definitely.
It definitely would have been. Because you could get anchored
to get anchored to somewhere andto somewhere good Somewhere.
Yeah. Yeah.
To get anchored to somewhere good.
Exactly. Instead of getting anchored to

(45:57):
'cause you're gonna anchor yourself.
So everyone anchors theirself somewhere.
Find something, they find something.
Right. And and yeah, I found nightclubs
and DJ ING and partying and whatever as well.
Yeah, and I don't regret any of it.
Yeah, but I just I wish it was paired a little earlier with,
you know, finding something likea gym and and some coaches like
yourself and Benny to maybe get me flying straight.
But I love it. I told you I've got all three of

(46:18):
my kids. You said Sam, and, and we were
talking earlier, you said you, you believe that combat should
be part of school curriculum 100%.
And I believe that as well. And I believe that to the point
that since all three of my kids turned 5, they've all done jiu
jitsu and they can choose to do boxing, but they have to do jiu

(46:39):
jitsu just like parents make their kids do swimming.
My kids did swimming. You know what, No word of a lie.
My kids were fighting. My boys were fighting me and
bashing me. They'd bash me.
They're 4 1/2 and I was looking up jiu jitsu Geelong.
Last night and you should. And you can hear.
Absolutely. And I'm going to let you talk on
it, Sam, because you know you'reon the frontline there.
But tell us what makes you believe that and what makes you

(47:01):
think that. Yeah, I categorically I totally
agree. It's a real Bonnie.
And and yeah. It's, it's direction, it's
focus. You know, kids these days,
they've got so many distractionsthat can shape them good or bad.
With social media, all kids haveenergy, right?
Nervous, good, bad. Some kids are quite introverted,

(47:23):
some are loud and, and think they're a lot tougher or a lot
smarter than what they really are.
Combat humbles you. If you think you're on a
pedestal and you think you're better than everyone or you
think you're tough than someone,you get humbled real quick.
Whether you're getting hit in the face or drop with the body
shot, choked out in jiu jitsu, kicked in the head, whatever it
is. On the flip side, if if you're

(47:46):
if you're introverted and you'requiet and you sort of walk
around in a shell, when you realize that you can fight a
little bit or at minimum protectyourself, you know that the
bully isn't as as bad as he looks.
Yeah. Or they're not as tough as they.
You don't have to be. Scared or standing up to them
and saying OK, let's go out to the school, let's go out to the
cricket ground, mate, I'll meet you at 3:30.
We've had stories of it in our gym.

(48:06):
We've had family members of it. I remember I was asked to teach
a bully a lesson in humility andit's prolific.
We're all violent. I'm a big believer by nature.
It's human. Yeah, it's.
We're human instincts like what are the two oldest vocations?
Primal instincts. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, sure. Soldiers war.

(48:27):
Gatherers. Hunters.
Yeah, gatherers, hunters, we've been fighting for as long as
mankind and we're always going to want to fight.
Hence why the UFC is so popular,right?
Because people love brutality. Think back to the Roman Empire
and people used to go to church Sunday morning and then go.
Yeah. Then go watch people kill each
other or try and kill each otherafter church.
And yeah, you know, so it's it'snurturing and controlling human

(48:52):
instincts. We all have that ability and we
all have that want to fight to be violent.
It's built in us. And we can all bullshit.
We can all lie and kid ourselves.
We're only a few chromosomes away from being mammals and
dragging our knuckles still, right?
Honestly, that's evolution, right?
That's that's true. That's fact.

(49:13):
We think it's wrong to have those primal thoughts.
It's not. We see a beautiful woman, we're
attracted to it. A woman says a good looking guy,
she's attracted to him. There's parts of us, some more
than others, who need to be violent, who want to be violent.
What we found is the ones who are like that, who are a little
bit more aggressive when they start boxing.
They control that urge or they have an outlet.

(49:34):
They can hit someone. They can get hit on the chin.
You know, some people like beinghit.
I'm sure you would have found when you got Hitler initially.
It's like. It was confronting the first
time, Yeah. You remember it, Need it.
Yeah, it's nothing I. Told you how do you?
Feel when you got out of the ring after your fight or after.
Your first I got, I got. I actually got hit in the first.
I got an overhand right in the 1st 30 seconds of the fight.

(49:55):
But that woke me up. Yeah.
And then I heard Matt yells in the corner.
Put your fucking. Hands up.
Exactly. Right.
But I was telling you about a hit with Agra.
And I tell Agra all the time, like 1 sparring with one of my
mates. I remember, like I thought I was
going to pull my teeth out with my mouth cut, you know what I
mean? And it was just a flash hit on
the chin. Yeah, your chin went numb.
And it does. It confronts you.
It makes you wonder if you want to go back again.
But there would have been a little part of you like, fuck

(50:17):
yeah, yeah, sick. Because you want to do it.
Again. Well, well, because you, because
you feel like you, you, you, yougot through the absurd versity.
Does that make sense to you? You achieved something correct?
You know what I mean? Correct, Correct.
And yeah, So I think it teaches kids to be disciplined.
It teaches them to be humble, but it gives them an outlet,
right? Like, you think back when we
were kids, you wrestled with your mates all the time, didn't

(50:37):
you? And sometimes it started out
friendly and then it got a little bit nasty and then you
calm down again. So violence is inherent in
people, we just need to control it and need to show them that
there's a time and a place for it.
And you avoid that. You avoid kids walking the
streets with fucking machetes. Man or or.
Bashing grannies and invading houses and like shit, like come
do it here, yeah. Yeah.

(50:58):
Come on, any of you. Kids out there you think you're?
Tough, old and legal. This is an open forum.
Any of you kids out there who think you're fucking tough?
Come in. Come to Browning St. and we'll
see how tough you are. And you might punch one of our
heads in. Yeah, but we might punch one of
your heads in. But I guarantee you.
They'll walk out with respect because self respect.
It's not just. Respect for you all.

(51:19):
Yeah, self respect. And that's the greatest kind of
respect. Yeah, I've always told my kids
Sam the about the fighting and stuff because you you can think
that, you know, other parents, Iguess know I guess for parents
of my friends, kids and whatever, know that we're a bit
of a fighting family, you know what I mean?
But the reality is, like I said to my kids, I'm not teaching you
kids to fight because I want youto fight.

(51:42):
I'm teaching you kids to fight. So you never ever have to fight
because fight or flight. You keep saying something, you
find yourself in a sticky situation.
It's fight or flight. You run you, you potentially get
chased, you get caught, whatever, whatever happens.
If you're if you're fright, thenyou just you don't have the
skill set to look, protect, lookafter yourself, but you care.
Of course you panic. So you you go to fight and you

(52:04):
find yourself in a bad situation.
But if you learn jiu jitsu or boxing or you have the
confidence that you can look after yourself when you're in
that high intense situation, that's when you've got the
skills because you've been in the sparring and you're not
going to be shit yourself and fight or fright.
You'll be able to diffuse the situation.

(52:25):
Yeah, exactly. You can actually there's there's
a third because there's a third thing when people go, there's
fight or flight, but I think there's a third thing.
If you can, if you learn combat sport, if you can look after
yourself, there's five flight ordiffuse, you can stand there and
say, hey, mate, man, this is let's not do this.
You know what I mean? No need.
And there's a chance that you can defuse the situation.
You end up not having to fight opposed to if you didn't learn

(52:47):
how to protect yourself, you endup in the fight because you shit
yourself and you've got to thinkyou have to fight and you think
you have to fight when you don't.
Have to, it's awareness as well,right?
Like I've been in situations when you went out when you're
younger and you'd think it's going to kick off.
Yeah, let's go, let's go. Because the alternative on the
street, there's no rules. There's no doctor, there's no
ring, there's no referee. No weight classes.

(53:09):
And you know, one wrong shot, mate.
You hit someone, you kill them. And for what?
You ruined your whole life because you didn't know how to
control yourself in that situation.
Yeah, you know, and, and it might not even be that you had
that intent, but you hit someone, they fall the wrong
way. Well, it's happening.
It can be catastrophic, right? Like, and so that's what you
want to avoid. You've got that self respect,
but you don't need to go ahead and prove yourself.

(53:29):
Or you can sense when there's going to be an issue and you can
walk away from it. Awesome Sammy.
Man, this has been a crazy chat and I'm.
I'm wrapped like I'd like Benny organizes everything.
I just left the office. I was 10 minutes late and you're
rocking to this joint, mate. This is this is history.
This has got. Yeah, I just special place.
And I wish you all the best for for the journey that you're

(53:51):
going on and all the good thingsthat you're doing and
congratulations. And it sounds like man, you've
just been more more important outside the ring than you know
than you than you could have ever been in it.
You know what? I.
Mean well, I haven't touched on it.
I just want to make it Sammy's like really, really involved
with the amateur boxing here as well.
I mean this does not only run inthe gym, but correct me if I'm
wrong, you're out there officiating, supplying the

(54:12):
gloves and like you. Yeah, so, so our family on that
through Dad and Benny, it's. This is boxing Vic.
Anything I do is just enhancing their legacy.
It's just standing on their shoulders.
That's, that's it. And that's the way I see it.
My, my calling in life now is toenhance their legacy and, and
along with my cousin Ben and youknow who, who's in the gym every

(54:34):
night with this Benny's son. How old?
How old's he? He probably would get upset if I
actually told you, but he's in his early 50s.
Oh. OK, cool.
Cool. Yeah, that's Ben Junior, who
mate like, crazy story there. Born without limbs below his
knee. One of the first people in
Australia have a prosthetic leg.He's one of my biggest
inspirations, honestly. Like it's such a crazy story
that we've got. We haven't.

(54:54):
Can we get him on the pod? Absolutely.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And he's.
Doing such good. Work with NDIS now and if you
look up MP box on Instagram, you'll see his page and, and
he's a legend, you know, so it, it's family.
It's about our surname being carried to where it should be,
to where I believe it should be.So I'm, I'm riding on their,
we're riding on their coat tails.

(55:15):
And and yeah, I want them to be synonymous with boxing, but not
just boxing, but good things being good people.
Yeah, there's more to it, isn't there?
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.
If we don't get that right, we won't get the results.
Yeah. And yeah.
So no, thank you. Thank you for coming.
And yeah, showing a little bit of our story, you know, like 2

(55:35):
little brothers who caught a boat over from Calabria and the
family come over like Noah's Arkin, in, in the 40s.
And that, yeah, to have a littlebit of an institution and our
little piece of, of, of something special that we love.
Very cool. Mate, it's, it's super, super
cool. And, and I, and I think the
legacy is even stronger than youcan even wrap your head around

(55:56):
because when you're so close to it, you probably don't realize
how far it ripples out. And like I said, it was rippling
out when I was a kid, you know, and we've got another 33, four
decades of what you guys are stacked on top.
You get reminders like when whenwe buried dad, one of our boxes
from those days was there just sobbing like any 60s, you know,
sobbing. And we get invited to weddings

(56:19):
and like you get mentioned in speech and you think shouldn't
be getting mentioned in speechesbut and they say that.
The. Effect that you have and and you
know, we still catch up with families for Christmas year by
year and why not sound like much, but when they haven't been
in the gym for 20 years, 30 years or brothers asking you to
catch up and inviting you to theto special family occasions.

(56:40):
It does mean a lot. And it's a, it's a nice reminder
of of that what you're doing is affecting people in a good way,
not just teaching them how to fight, not just wins or losses,
which I'll get caught up in. I.
Am guilty of you know well 1 andI.
Think I think some some of some others do as well.
Mate absolutely. But but yeah, at at the base of
it all, it's about how you treatpeople and good things will come

(57:03):
from those who are good to others.
Well done, Sam. Congratulations mate.
Mad respect, Sam. Thank you.
Thanks mate. Appreciate.
It please like share, subscribe see at the top that was a.
Cracker. Let's go People will be part of
a winning team. People can find a better version
of themselves if they choose you.
Just need to go start some shit action is all that.

(57:24):
Matter. Be a man of your word.
Think I look back now and I'm like, well, that took some guts.
He can't, he can't. He can't see you at the top.