"Maybe I am a slapper, but I must have the hardest slap in the world. I was never taught to punch like that, if you see footage of my early schoolboy fights you see me using more textbook punching technique. But I always had problems with my left wrist because I hit far too hard for my age, by the time I was 15 it got so bad that I was told I'd never box again. So we had to work around that."

He also explains his stamina..

"I've been training like a pro since I was 13 years old. That's probably why I've got so much stamina to call on, that's the carry over. You know, through adolescence I suppose. It's set in my system. That's what I put it down to. I was up at 6 in the morning every day, pounding those valleys - then I'd get back, have my bottle of milk and get ready for school. I was training for the world championship!"

And his toughness..

"I didn't have much when I was a kid. I grew up on a council estate and I was always the shy, sporty one who got picked on by other kids on the estate. It was only at school I was able to socialise. We moved out of the estate when I was 11, but by then I was at comprehensive school and getting picked on there. So I never escaped from bullies. I became abit of a loner at comp school, I hated it. I dreaded going in every day, I was often on the brink of snapping when I was picked on there but always somehow managed to bottle it all up and let it all out in the boxing ring."


'Schoolboy fights' = British ABA Schoolboy Championships, btw