#21 Andrew Blucher: Fighting Forward

In this episode, we sit down with Andrew Blucher — Indigenous boxing coach, father, and mentor — to talk about his life both inside and outside the ring. 

Andrew opens up about his upbringing, the sports he loved growing up, and the deep pain of losing his father.

Now a father himself, Andrew has channelled his experiences into coaching alongside Benny at All Star Boxing, where he proudly trained his two daughters as emerging fighters. 

He shares the realities of coaching in Queensland boxing, the struggles of finding quality matchups for female boxers, the shortage of fighters in the sport, and the behind-the-scenes challenges coaches and parents face navigating the boxing world.

This episode is a conversation about resilience, culture, fatherhood, and fighting for opportunities — both in life and in the ring.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:02

Hi, I'm Time Anna. And I'm Renee. And we're Burning Bridges Podcast.

SPEAKER_02 0:08

We started this podcast through my own life experiences and a journey to healing. I've always been curious about what others have gone through and the moments that have defined them.

SPEAKER_03 0:17

Here we believe in the power of storytelling through raw, unfiltered conversations with high-profile to everyday people. Like, follow, subscribe, and turn your notifications on. Let's get into this episode. The following episode may contain discussions of sensitive and potentially distressing topics. Viewer discretion is strongly advised. This content is intended for mature audiences and may not be suitable for all listeners for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

SPEAKER_01 0:49

I'm a proud uh melanjolic man from Bow Desert, and we're tuning into Burning Bridges.

SPEAKER_02 0:54

Sweet yeah. It's like it's a big crowd there. But on the crowd. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_03 1:06

Hey Bluoch, it's great to have you here with us today.

SPEAKER_02 1:09

Thanks for being here, Blooch. It's all good. Yeah, but I've been called heaps of different names. We've known for each other for I don't know how many years have we known each other? At least 15 years. We've yeah, so we've known each other for for some time and with with Benny as well with all-star boxing. And you pretty much help Benny alongside all that journey. Pretty much right beside him. Yeah, from the from the start. Yeah. From the start. Yeah, we're actually actually having a bit to do with all-star boxing now. Yeah. Without even going down the I just bring news here. But yeah, no, that's cool. Like, really like All-Star Boxing and everything they do down there, and Benny and the team and all the coaching staff. And went down there around the time I'd done Benny's and done some footage down there, and just the amount of people down there, the parents and all the kids.

SPEAKER_01 2:02

It's it's a good vibe. Yeah, it's a good vibe. It's always been a family irritated club. And just keeps growing. Like you get some move out, you just always there's always there's always new new ones coming in.

SPEAKER_02 2:15

Yeah, and the good thing is too, even when I do go down there and the guys that do know me from years ago, like even to hose mates, always come up and say hi to me, and it's cool.

SPEAKER_01 2:25

Yeah, that's one thing that I always always did when I was doing the peewees and whatever. Whenever there was new new kids or anyone would come in, I'd always get whoever's been there, especially the other kids and all that, they used to get them to come in and say hello to the new new kids. Um, just to introduce themselves so they're not so like once they get, you know, shake hands and all that, they usually mingle straight in and get get right into it.

SPEAKER_02 2:47

So yeah, it makes them feel welcome, even as an adult. It's good to have that, you know. So I could just imagine a young kid going to an environment like that where it can be quite intimidating because kids don't have any any idea what they're walking into, really.

SPEAKER_01 3:03

And you just don't know what where these kids are coming from either. Like what background they could be having trouble at home, they could be having trouble at school, or you just don't know. Yeah. When they come into the gym, you want them welcomed. So that's one probably one big thing that the that's All Stars is pretty good with.

SPEAKER_02 3:23

It is, it is. Every time you go there, you just feel welcome. And one of the other reasons you were down there too was because your daughter was fighting down there.

SPEAKER_01 3:33

I've had my oldest girl Tamara, I had my second eldest Tia, she's she's fought as well. And I had my my third eldest, uh Tarika, she fought. Uh she's only fought a couple of fights, but I'd like for her to do it more because she has got the talent, waiting for that to mature a bit more, or you know, just it's up to her. I've learnt in the past not to push my kids and be that parent, like, just do it. I'll change with her. I've like, it's up to you if you want to do it. I'm not, you know, I'm not the one that's getting my head punched in. You are. So it's up to you if you want to train, it's up to you if you want to listen, it's up to you. You're the one that's getting in the ring, and you're the one that's gonna feel it, not me. I'll just sit back, I'll watch. I can only help you with advice, but everything else, that's on that's on you, not me.

SPEAKER_02 4:20

Yeah, I think that's a good thing for uh good advice for as for other parents too. Because we more so want to push our our children to the sports that we prefer or we like, and it just yeah, it doesn't form a healthy Yeah, that's one thing that we've noticed with like me and Benny when we started doing it till what now is that just drop your kids off and just go.

SPEAKER_01 4:44

Don't don't baby them because that's who they look for, right? They look they look for their parents when they're when they're in trouble or when they're hurting or when they're they can't do something or they get frustrated or something. They look for their parents, just drop them off and just go, and you'll be you'll be surprised how different they are without their parents around for comfort. They'll actually think, oh, I can I can do this. But if your parents are there like, my parents are seeing me, oh they're getting I'm getting hit. I'm going straight to them. Right. So it's one thing that with this especially when peewees, because kid we get kids from like five years old to ten years old. Of course they're gonna look for their kid, their parents, right? It's one thing we always try to think, just drop them off, go. Just they're right. We got them for 45 minutes, hour, come pick them up. They're not going anywhere else. Little kids always want to be big kids.

SPEAKER_02 5:34

I'm a big kid, hey dad, I'm a big kid. Yeah, their parents taking them into an environment like that. I could see these kids again, I'm big now, eh? Because I'm boxing. Yeah. It's I think it's good for the confidence and things like that.

SPEAKER_01 5:47

Yeah, it's really big, it's really big for their confidence. And like the whole reason why my kids went into it is obviously when Benny started doing Kabingai, he started training and he only had I think it was like three boxes at the time, I think. And then he he hit me up because he's got all the boys and I got all the girls. And he hit me up and goes, Oh Blitz, you want to bring girls down? I said, Oh, yeah, well, yeah, well, whatever, what why not? So I brought him down and I just I wasn't even thinking of them fighting as a competition or anything. I just brought him down just so they could learn how to protect themselves, right? They started training. Tia was a bit ifinati, like she didn't really like getting hit at the time, so she was like, nah, I'm not doing it. But tomorrow she's just hard-headed. I think she trained for about not even two months to three months, not even that. And she was already having her first fight. Betty said, nah, she's ready, let's go, let's do it. I'm like, you sure? Yeah. She had her first fight in Bodazit, where's my where all my family is and her family, right? We took her there, and then she got the win straight after the fight. We're both on the phone, me and Benny got on the phone, yeah. It looked like happened glaring. I think we were both crying because of it. Because he treats my kids just like his own as well. So we jumped back in the car. I think he told me to drive, which was unusual because I think he was driving the whole time when we went there and whatnot. And he said, No, no, Bluach, you can drive. And I was like, Well, my nah, go to the bottle, mate. I need to celebrate. And that was like a proud moment between between me and him or something.

SPEAKER_02 7:16

Yeah, that would have been uh a good feeling for both of you just starting up all-star boxing, yeah, and taking your your kids up to Airbo Desert for the fight and and having a win for tomorrow. Would have been uh the start of of many achievements for tomorrow personally.

SPEAKER_01 7:33

That was like the start of it.

SPEAKER_02 7:34

Before we go any further with especially tomorrow's boxing career, let's go back to the start of you and where you you where you were born and how your upbringing was.

SPEAKER_01 7:45

Yeah, my upgrading was like a bit up and down. So I was born in Brisbane, moved to Perth, I think when I was like three, four years old. I was only young then. Because my old man, he was in the army, of course. So he got posted to Perth and then he he was based there for a little while. I think I was there till I think we stayed over there for a couple of years or something, because a lot of broken energies and and whatnot. So dad didn't really want us to stay there. So he sent me and mum back back over to Brisbane and he stayed there until he got posted back. And then I I think it was about five or six then. So I'd never really seen my father as much because he was always in the army, he was getting posted around, and it was more just me and mum, me just being a and I'm the only child, so I I've got no brothers and sisters. I was always looking for me cousins or friends that I you know grew up with. I ended up getting into a bit of trouble when I was younger, getting in the wrong pass. I was I was um at one point I was about 12, 13, I think it was um stealing cars, breaking into shops, breaking into bottle ofs. I was drinking at 14, smoking at 14, smoking billy's and pot at 14. The only thing I'm thankful of is that I never went and looked for the harder drugs, like your coke, your meth, your all that kind of stuff. I never got into paint snipping, which was a really big, big thing back then. I seen a lot of my family and friends and a lot. They started doing a lot of the paint snipping and a lot of that kind of stuff. I watched a lot of friends that got into the paint snipping really hard, which damaged their brains. I think a couple of them, a couple of them actually died from it. Yeah, that was a very bad path that I went down. And I turned just I just turned 18. I used to blow off really quick in a short temper, short short temper, just not getting told, like getting told something, and I'll just like don't tell me what to do or whatever. I ended up getting kicked out of Sandgate High for throwing a chair at the principal while I was in the principal's office. Got kicked out of there. Uh I was walking around and the teacher asked me to pick up some rubbish. And while I was picking up the rubbish, I had smokes and lighter and everything fell out of my pocket, so I had to go up to the office for it. I think the principal at that time was Mr. Major. I had too many strikes, so ended up getting rid of me. And then basically from there, I didn't go to school for about a year. I was about 18 and a few months or whatever it was, and then I met Gail and I've been with her since since now. Decided I'd, you know, I'll I'll go back to school, try and finish my grade 12. That didn't work. Obviously, my anger again and just BB me. But for me to get into back into school, I had to go to Brackeridge High, and then obviously anger issues and all that and whatnot. And I started stuffing up again. But I was with Gail for about I think it was about close to six months, and then found out she was pregnant. Um, I got kicked out of school um just before that, I'm pretty sure. And then um I basically just started working straight away once I knew that she was pregnant and whatnot. It was funny because we we were staying at dad's at the time, he didn't have no idea. No, mum and dad didn't even have no idea that she was pregnant, and then she was about seven months, and she hid the whole thing, and then it got to about eight months. She ended up going to Townsville, and then she was on the phone to me saying, Oh, I'm not coming back until you tell your parents that I'm pregnant. Oh, you're kidding me, I've got to do that. And she's like, Yeah, you gotta. I was scared of the old man because I've seen him go off and because I didn't want to stuff up that relationship with me and him. I'm like, Yeah, alright, so I'm on the phone, I'm telling dad, and then dad just rips the phone out of my hand, and he just basically goes, Girls, he goes and goes, Um, you better be getting your ass back here now because you're not having that baby up there.

SPEAKER_02 11:16

Was that a relief for you? Like, yeah, and your dad's response was quite positive and supporting. Yeah, that was really, really good for him.

SPEAKER_03 11:24

You never wanted to follow in his footsteps and join the army or anything?

SPEAKER_01 11:28

Tried a little bit because he he's seen what it's like to be in there. He really didn't want me in there that to do the same path and what he had to put up with. From when he started to what it was when he got out, it's just wasn't the same. There's a lot of he said it just got changed too much. And he he said it got to a point where he just couldn't handle it anymore. So he said served 22 years regular, and then he did um Aboriginal and Tile Strait Islander recruiting up and down the Queensland coast, just um recruiting Aboriginal Tile Straight Islander kids and going to schools, going to like NADOC weeks and all that. Did that for five more years, and then he got out out. Yeah, ended up just driving trucks, and his last one was the landscaping guard at Klanger, and that's where he was before he passed away.

SPEAKER_02 12:19

How old were you when when your father passed away?

SPEAKER_01 12:21

Well he was 49 when he passed away, so I think I would have been about 25, 26. Yeah, he passed passed away playing cricket that's that same weekend. Um, because dad was playing B grade or C grade, I'm not sure what grade it was was, but I was playing A grade. I was actually gonna go watch him play. Um got a phone call when I just left. I got the phone call saying oh dad's it's um collapsed. I'm like, yeah, okay. And then one of my mates, he he rang up and he goes, man, you gotta get here. It's it's not good. I'm like, right, I'm already on my way anyway. So when I just got there, they basically had him on the ground and the paramex just got there. When I got there, he's already here.

SPEAKER_02 13:06

What helped you get through the grief of losing your father?

SPEAKER_00 13:12

Um Gail was a big one. Kids as well. A lot of the mates that were around at that time as well. Was um good. Yeah, it was hard.

SPEAKER_03 13:28

So both of your parents are aboriginal?

SPEAKER_01 13:30

Nah, no, just be father and my mother's she's we're all white. That's probably why I'm like this. My father's black as more of mum's genes, I think.

SPEAKER_03 13:37

And you're close to your mum?

SPEAKER_01 13:39

Oh, I haven't spoken to mum for I've actually forgotten now. Like she don't even she hasn't even met my youngest good and she's what nearly four years old, I'd say five years. She went down that path where she'd rather pick her family over mine. So if you want to come see me, you come see me. I'm not going out of my way. Living in the like a mansion kind of thing with her brother and sister. Yeah, that's another that's a whole nother story. That one. How was it with school? At the time I was just yeah, short fuse. I was always getting one get picked on. Obviously, I just I came to the point where I was always looking after myself, and I was thinking dad just telling me, like, don't let anyone put you down, like you always stand up for yourself. So that's where I came in with the with the boxing with Benny and all that, because he did the boxing journey and then I did the jujitsu journey. So I did jujitsu for about 10 years, and that's what dad put me in to to look after myself because he wasn't really around.

SPEAKER_03 14:31

So you were a young father when you finished school?

SPEAKER_01 14:34

We were still at dad's and mum's at the time at Brackenridge. We ended up getting our own place up at Moorefield, little little house, and then that's where I started working at um Whammeram strawberry farm, uh picking picking strawberries and at Kilcoy Meatworks as well.

SPEAKER_02 14:51

What was the hardest thing for you being a young father?

SPEAKER_01 14:54

When dad passed away, Gail was pregnant, or Gail fell pregnant to our third. We ended up losing her. We went through the whole pregnancy with with her.

SPEAKER_02 15:02

When you're like in your 20s and you're having young children, how hard was it for you raising a family?

SPEAKER_01 15:09

This one thing that if you're young and you got you know you're really good at sporting that is just don't drink, don't get into grog or don't get into that stuff when you're young before you're eight even like because that's what I did.

SPEAKER_02 15:20

Alright, let's let's go to where we in the start where we're talking about Tamara and the boxing and how well she's she was going or where where she was heading in the boxing. You know, you you've been through a lot within the boxing.

SPEAKER_01 15:35

Yeah, a lot. I've seen a lot and there's a lot of things I don't like about it. There's a lot of things I I like about it. Only because of Tamara's journey with it and what it is now. When Tamara and Tia when they were when they were boxing, if they were doing it now, they'd probably have a better opportunity than what what lies for them now, if they started now to what they were back then. Only because of the the whole the whole system with every tournament back then when we first started with Kabingo and when the All-Stars started, we have to take the whole team to every tournament. We could have a team of 10 to 20, so we have to take the whole 20 boxes that we got in the club, weigh them in. So they've got to they've gotta make weight to what weight division they've got to be in, right? So they're gonna cut weight, go to these ones, and out of that whole 20, we could have two or three boxes that get a fight, and then you get 17 that are sitting back not getting a fight, they gotta sit there and watch, and then they sit there all day.

SPEAKER_03 16:31

That doesn't make sense.

SPEAKER_01 16:33

This is what it what it used to be like. So when we used to take them, we used to take them in, weigh them in the morning, and then obviously we've got all weight classes and all that. They put them on the whole big board, and then basically once it's all done, all the coaches would come along and then pick their fights out of those divisions, out of each one. So you just imagine the fights and the nibbling and between coaches, and and because we when we first started, Kabingo was we were like the lowest of lower. Like we were like everyone wanted us because we were like the easy, the easiest, easy pickings, right? They'd be like, Yeah, yeah, we'll take we'll take that flight, we take that fight. But then we started getting like we started with three, four boxes, and then we ended up more boxes in and then more fighters, and then we had a bingo, I think we had a team of 20 to 25 boxes at one point. It came to the point where we were getting that good, they didn't want those fights. So we'd we'd be missing out. So, because our boxers were getting that good and winning all the time. Then we were going to tournaments with all these boxes, expecting to get a fight, and then like, no, no, we're not fighting you. Like, we'll take this one because it's easier. With Tamara, it was hard because every weekend I'd be going, oh, we got fights this weekend, we've got a tournament up here. We could, you know, make sure you you're on weight, so she'd cut weight. So every weekend she'd be cutting weight at the end of the week to just so she's right, so she wouldn't eat for a whole night. And it gets to you, like it gets to your your mindset, you know. Like, I think she ended up with 67 fights in her career, right? I would have weighed her in three, four hundred times.

SPEAKER_02 18:09

Four hundred times and only getting six to three fights out of those four hundred. Yeah. And not just that, I think the perspective of this too is you could be driving like a two-hour drive, three hour drive to go somewhere. Go somewhere, and you're and not expect a fight. As a team, would these fighters go with individually with the parents and things like that?

SPEAKER_01 18:29

Kabingo, we because we're our team was starting to get a little bigger, so we end up taking a bus and taking a team in the bus and do that. Um, and then parents would, if they got a fight, then they come. If they didn't, then it wouldn't come. We'd try and pre-match if there was gonna be a long distance fight. I did it with Tamara once, with I end up pre-matching her, which we're not supposed to, but I was pre-matched her with a Bundaberg girl. So I'm like, alright, so got her ready and like taking her up there that's knowing that she's gonna get a fight. We get up there because it's one of those ones we're still, you know, you didn't know who's turning up. All the other clubs turned up and they put this whole list. They end up picking another girl because it was an easier fight, an easier girl. So I just drove three and a half hours with Tamara, knowing that we're gonna have this fight, and then we're not. Are you kidding me? So I lost my shit, of course. Fucking I I nearly end up fighting with the Bundaberg um coach over it. Little things like that, you just like like you gotta pay for the fuel, you gotta pay for all this, and for me coming all this way for nothing, like, and obviously there was no other girl for her to fight. Because there wasn't, there's not that many, there was not many girls around for tomorrow or to you to fight back then, and like making weight's not easy, it's a lot of work. Uh it and then you train it all week, and then you're not eating for three hours to get there.

SPEAKER_03 19:49

So these are obviously rules set by the boxing association.

SPEAKER_01 19:53

The whole thing, the whole association thing now has changed. I think they've been doing it for the last five, I'm not sure, about five years, say everything's done on the internet now, so everything's done on Facebook, Messenger. Like obviously, when it comes to that week, that flight week, they'll boxers will know if they're fighting that week. So they got a whole week to prep for a fight. We never did that. One of the bad things, like that's one of the things that probably pushed my girls away from boxing. It probably pushed a lot of people away from boxing because of that. Because going to those tournaments every week, every second week, and not getting nothing.

SPEAKER_02 20:25

How did your daughters go in boxing? How how far do they get it?

SPEAKER_01 20:29

Tamara, she she got two Australian titles, five golden gloves, I think five or six state titles, Southeast Queensland titles, Wide Bay titles, all of that. I think it was about six or seven international fights with Taipei, New Zealand, and Tia. Of course, she's got an Australian title as well, and state titles and all that as well. So I'm proud of them because what they've done in their careers. I'm just grateful they they can look after themselves. Like they can stand up for themselves and not I don't have to worry about them. Like I get like when they go out, I hear stories like I don't want to hear. Um oh Tamara's doing this, and I'm don't want to know about it. Are you gonna do anything about it? No, I'm not doing nothing.

SPEAKER_02 21:11

This is they've done a few trips overseas with your boxing. Yeah, I've I think I've had two New Zealand trips. I'll I'll I'll correct myself here. Because when we had Benny on and I was talking to him about New Zealand, uh New Zealand one, and and he couldn't remember it. And he goes, Oh man, I've I've damaged myself too many hits. But so he didn't go, it was you that led the team there. I took the team there, so yeah, it was you because when we left the fight, we were headed back. We got a phone call.

SPEAKER_01 21:40

Yeah, one of the ones passed away. Yeah, died, died in the ring. Died in the ring just when we left, which I'm really grateful that we weren't there at the time. Yeah, because it was traumatic. Because we I glad Vegas and Tamara and Tiki got they were still young. That would be traumatic at any age to say. Yeah, that was that was pretty that was pretty hectic. And earlier you said that you don't. your kids anymore to do sports kids. Yeah well with Tamara and Tio I did. Like I was really like hurry up get the car let's go we've got to do this gotta do that. And even that training I was like just drumming it, drumming it, being a you know, because I was coaching as well knowing that my kid can do better. And then they're like slacking off. I see everyone else going hard and I see them like come on you you can go harder. It's one thing with like being a coach and a father at the same time is that you just can't coach your own son.

SPEAKER_02 22:27

I had the opposite effect on that with money with football coaching. I coached them from you know under sevens up to under 12 and I was like that you know pushing you know the potential you know they can do better so you push them harder and they hate it. Yeah you know you're being hard on them and then when I stopped coaching and then he had other coaches and that I feel as though he he lost his confidence.

SPEAKER_01 22:50

Because my father he coached me in soccer he didn't let off on me he like treated me like he was like harder on me than what he was with everybody else.

SPEAKER_02 23:00

Even like that too because then because I coached man in in rugby league then I coach my daughters in basketball and I'm the same with both. I was hard on them coaching my daughters playing basketball but now them being adults now like my daughter would say oh you know thank you dad like we hated that but now we look back and we're like you you just wanted the best for us you wanted to excel not just in basketball but that's in life in general that's how you gotta push yourself you got to push yourself through those limits.

SPEAKER_01 23:34

I'm glad that they the way they are now like the way that they can look after themselves and like boxing is it is it is a hard journey like it's not easy. You're either in it you're not is either you're committed to it or you're not but when I first started I was just doing it with Benny so I was just learning like I was I learned everything from not just Benny I learned from every other coach as well but yeah I've I've stepped away for a bit now like basically comes down to Benny just taking the bite in the bullet and going I'm gonna do this full time yeah and leaving Kabingai and starting his own journey. That was under Sill Johnson. Yeah under Sill um like because I look up to Sill and even Benny looks up to Sill he was like a father father figure I looked up him too because he looked after me when I was a kid too because I was in the CDP program and all that with like troubled kids and so I went to a like a couple of boxing tournaments with him sometimes because he always take like all us indigenous kids with us and whatnot. Like always had respect for Syl. It was kind of hard to leave Kabingo because of that I had that respect for him. How was he with you when you left he was very disappointed he probably knows he he knows now that it was probably the best thing for Benny and what we did.

SPEAKER_03 24:43

So from when your daughter used to fight to now is there anything that you think the Boxing association could do better?

SPEAKER_01 24:50

Like what really gets on my nerves is the different associations. So you got like Queensland Association you got global you got ABC you got all this like it's just rubbish. I feel it should be every club in Queensland should be fighting against each other not these different associations right so um just last year like I had so obviously we're in Queensland association with all star boxing so we I thought oh well I'll I'll start Rika in ABC like she's not signed on with but then obviously Queensland Association complained about that she's because we trained at an all-star but we're fighting in all in ABC because they just don't like each other. So it's not clubs here there's clubs in this different association that we can't fight. Oh within Queensland yeah there's always got to be a top dog right so there's a top dog in Queensland boxing in Queensland Association and there's a top dog in ABC there's a top dog in global it's always got to be one top dog and obviously they don't want to work with each other they obviously don't want to make it into one if it was all in one if it was all everyone every every club working together and whatnot we probably have more in the Olympics winning Olympic because Queensland's a big it's a big state like we win most of the nationals because we've got a big state we've got a lot of good boxers. A lot of these boxes in other associations they're not gonna get in the Olympics they're not gonna get in Commonwealth games because they don't they got to go through Queensland Queensland association just different rules Queensland Association's got rules ABC don't like their rules so what's the pose of ABC association then like they've still got their Queensland Australian titles and what but they're not gonna they're not gonna fight in the Olympics or Commonwealth games and it'll never change I reckon because they just can't work together.

SPEAKER_02 26:39

So your suggestion would be everyone just works under the Queensland one just one association.

SPEAKER_01 26:45

They actually work under one association a lot of these Queensland boxes would have a whole heap more fights there'd be a whole heap of more fighters that they can fight. The fights are going to be better the tournament's going to be bigger one thing that I've really really wanted to do I've always thought about it over the guy the whole time is put an Indigenous boxing team together. You know you have a tournament once a year boxes from all Queensland or wherever all Australia would and having an Australian indigenous team. What's stopping you from doing that? Just organisating and having the right people and you've got to have money to do things. My number one coach would probably be Chris Evers because obviously he's a Palm Oil and he's indigenous he knows everything about boxing you go after those other big indigenous boxers like Mundine all them I'd love to put an Indigenous tournament together and have it on NADOC day. As in Indigenous fellows fighting indigenous indigenous boxers fighting whoever or whoever Australian indigenous team fighting say New Zealand team come over. I think that's a great idea. And it'd be free get it all paid for of course you don't want anyone paying to watch the boxy like NADOC week's a free event and you've you're showing off the boxing you're showing it off to everyone so obviously all the kids are going to see it all these indigenous kids because you'd be surprised exposing the talent of indigenous fighters.

SPEAKER_02 28:08

Yeah well if anyone's wants to help luoch out with that reach out to them reach out to us make people more proud and you know these young kids look up to these these up and coming sort of um talent with a whatever sport it might be like you'd you you'd be surprised how much talent there is and then like with Aboriginal Tolstra kids and teenagers natural fighters like they just know how to like they're just so they got own style.

SPEAKER_01 28:36

A lot of them don't have that pathway it's one thing I've always loved about the way Benny comes across with indigenous people because he thinks he's black. He thinks he's black he knows he thinks he's black right sometimes he I sometimes I think he's blacker than me. If there's any indigenous kids that come into his gym or anywhere don't even pay like sometimes he's just like no just get in just put some gloves on have a have a punch like he's just he's always been like that. He's just got that thing he's got that way with with um indigenous kids the way he talks to them and the way because he mucks around them like he's got his way of thing like yeah no he's a good fella Benny and he just knows how to relate. Because we both grew up with them all like we grew up with like a lot of our mates are the same and he's a he's a large and like he knows he knows his stuff. Where are we at now hun is there anything that you want to add or talk about just probably shout out to obviously Betty um Benny's one Gail Dorok and Ira Eddie Blair and he was there for me my kids for their graduation shout out to Tia as well so she's due any minute for our first grandchild grandchild.

SPEAKER_02 29:44

So exciting congratulations um yeah she's ready to pop so we're just waiting are you gonna be grandad or pop or no not not go there at the pop we'll go through we'll start off with our closing questions and what's one of the hardest experiences that you've gone through in life should have gone through a different pathway with my cricket.

SPEAKER_01 30:05

What's a pathway probably the best best pathway is especially in that kind of sport you just got to be committed and not go a stupid pathway I did with the drinking smoking yeah training training hard listening if you got if you got the talent take it on board don't don't waste it.

SPEAKER_02 30:25

Other question we want to ask everyone what does healing mean to you?

SPEAKER_01 30:29

Probably being honest um one thing I'm seeing a lot is a little a lot of dishonesty like in my in my way now in my family and and everything is too much argument too many lies. Family used to be family it's not family anymore. I think it's all changed since Facebook, Instagram, all that kind of stuff's come on board people listening to other people and then not listening to the right people not getting it from where it's supposed to come come from one thing that I I miss is just family not fighting. Just keep to ourself and look after our own family. My final question is what is the meaning of life to you? Um I want to live longer than my old man. Uh I'm actually going for surgery soon for the gastro sleep um next month so I'm in the process of getting that already so I can get myself healthy so I don't go down that same pathway as my old man. So I want to be around with me grandkids for everyone just don't keep it to yourself. Go talk to someone don't let it eat up inside you if you got troubles talk talk to someone that's great you can't keep can't keep it inside you gotta a lot of people that got different ways of treating things at the night working could be anything could be money could be stress at work stress at home just talk talk to someone someone's got the right advice somewhere yeah yeah thanks for that my final question is if your younger self was listening to this what advice would you tell him don't go so don't go the same pathway I did. I would have gone a different pathway with my sport but hoping I went through the same pathway but still have what I got now a different sport journey but have what I've got now like with family.

SPEAKER_02 32:29

Thank you so much for this and thanks very having you here with us today and but um that's it for us thank you for this and leaders see ya