Big Bad Barry Hall is Back! Talks Curtis Scott showdown, Sonny-Bill Williams / Paul Gallen rivalry

Big Bad Barry Hall is Back! Talks Curtis Scott showdown, Sonny-Bill Williams / Paul Gallen rivalry

my phone started blowing up are you watching this I’m like no I don’t know what you’re talking about and then someone sent me a link saying that uh he’s going to retire my old ass or something I don’t know what it was but um the Stars aligned I guess um I was thinking about jumping back in I was starting to train and and and get quite fit and then uh then I got called out so um I answered the call Welcome to the No Limit boxing podcast we have a special guest today big bad Barry Hall is joining us today is July 10 fast approaches uh returning to the ring against Curtis Scott and we’re lucky enough to have him in for a Yar today um on the No Limit boxing podcast baz thanks for joining us thanks for having us I’ve seen a few of those episodes they quite good you do a good job ah thank you well I actually hate doing it but no one else is going to sit in here and do it for me it’s killing me but I I um it’s a great chance for everyone to get to know um our Fighters and and people coming on the shows and and uh I think it’s a great chance for everyone to to hear a little bit more too about your your boxing journey and and um yeah how how you got to here and uh what you’ve got coming for us on July 10 yeah it’s um you know the Journey’s been been up and down I boxed as a junior um so uh my dad was a was a boxer and a trainer and like any young kid you just wanted to um get your dad’s approval I guess I I didn’t really want to fight to be perfectly honest but he we had a bit of a makeshift gym in the in the backyard in in the garage and I used to start hitting the bags and um eventually I was playing AFL at that time as um as a 13 14 year old and I said to Dad I want to fight and purely just to impress him and um we end up starting to do some amateur boxing so um did did okay and you know want to want to stay title and um but I sort of got to the point of I was 16 17 and I I was 54 kilos believe it or not and uh I grew quite a bit I have a bit of gross bir but I I got to the point where all my mates were playing football um started to experiment with alcohol and drugs and girls and all these sorts of things like the evolution of a young man goes through and I was sort of missing out on all that not that I wanted to do all the bad stuff but I was missing out in the parties and the girls and you know all these things all my M are coming to school on a Monday talking about I’m sitting there going gez I trained three times on Sunday and wasn’t that fun but um so I got to a point where I actually last lost my last fight and I actually use that as an excuse to not fight anymore I I said to Dad I train too hard for this and it was a bit controversial uh we thought we won the fight and I I said I try too hard to be ripped off like this so I might give it a bit of a break so um that’s how my amateur boxing career stopped I guess and I started to play football it was one of those sliding door moments where I uh I went halfway through a season so I was in June uh yeah it was in June I played for a football club avenol who was a small country town of people who noted some numbers I went and played half a year there got seen by a recruiter um I end up winning the league medal that year and then I got invited to a rep representative Squad and um it just started my career I guess to be drafted from an AFL perspective so sliding door moment I um I wasn’t enjoying the boxing too much although I was okay at it and I just wanted to play footy again and um yeah I I got the chance well I reckon you made the the right choice at that time went on a great AFL career obviously and um being here we we’re based in Sydney so we we jump on the swans bandwagon really loved your work as a as a swan when did the the itch for boxing come back in for you I I guess I so I did okay as an amateur and I I always wondered okay if I if I went down this route you know I spoke about the sliding door moment if I walked through the other door what what would happen um I always trained it um you know was one of the the sessions I always did um extras as a as a footballer was to do the boxing because it’s hard and it’s tough and it’s you know really challenges mentally so I’ve always had that in me and the great Johnny Lewis used to come in and train with us and it was it was just great so my and my number one sport as um as a sports fan is boxing yeah I love it I don’t watch footy I don’t watch League don’t take offense but I I just watch Boxing in UFC so it’s something I I’ve always been a fan of and uh yeah it was probably just a an n one to scratch a little bit and um the opportunity come up you know the ripe page of I think I was 42 or 43 to to fight Paul gallon and uh yeah I thought well why not I’m I’m fit I’m able I didn’t have a a great Long Camp to prepar um but I I did it and um did okay you know was a draw would have loved a decision but um it was also a challenge the challenge aspect is is a big one for me is to challenge myself um and that’s something that I think crossover athletes don’t do yeah um is challenge himself straight up and that’s something that I wanted to break the mold of and um it’s been to my detriment a little bit because you know I’ve uh had the draw against Paul and then the last fight I had was against sunny and got stopped early and uh yeah you almost put yourself into a relevancy I guess so um yeah to take the challenges sometimes yeah it’s a great thing from my personal perspective but um your next fight after that it doesn’t give you much currency so let’s talk a little bit about that fight really because it was a it was a huge huge fight you know everyone was talking about it um you know arguably the toughest guy out of AFL against arguably the toughest guy out of the NRL meeting in the ring and it was a it was a very controversial decision was it how do you think that fight actually went I thought uh out of six rounds I won four um I thought from a boxing standpoint as I said I’m a boxing fan so I look for clean punches and scoring punches you know not necessarily the the uh dirty boxing in close and if people score that I would say okay well you got a an argument there but I I thought I landed the Clon of punches I thought the second half of the fight I uh I started to kick on um and yes I thought it was was four to2 that that’s my personal perspective I’m sure Paul’s got a different opinion but um yeah I I I thought from a boxing purist and watching it back I wasn’t sure in the night I thought I won everyone was saying I won but you know that’s neither here nor there that’s people on your Camp saying that but when I did watch it back I thought I landed the Clon of shots and I I took control of the fight later and how’d you find gallon as an opponent oh it’s tough L like you know if you’re going to have your first fight as a professional it’s probably not a guy you want to pick on let’s be honest he’s a walk up he’s tough he walks through your punches and his uh his aerobic capacity is great you know and if you got a chin and you got the aerobic capacity it’s it’s it’s half the battle is a heavyweight um let’s let’s be honest and he’s he’s done really well um so to have that on my first fight was uh it was a challenge and that’s what I wanted and uh we took it up and obviously the rematch didn’t happen um for various reasons and uh you know he went on to fight Mark hunt and uh you know totally get it yeah big fight I think it was a um yeah that was an interesting one yeah then your your your second fight then um Sunny Bill Williams um you know again did didn’t go the way that you’d planned how was that fight it was a disaster really to be perfectly honest um all your fears as a as a fighter or an athlete um it’s like from a footy aspect you do all pre-season and you go 2 minutes into the first quarter and you you blow your knee out and your season’s over that’s that was how it felt and uh you know I trained so hard um and there was things during camp that you know didn’t go to plan and all those sort of things but I don’t think it’s a Camp’s ever perfect let’s be perfectly honest but um I’m very much a big believer in everything needs to align um my training camp my sparring my body uh my team I think everything just needs to a line and it didn’t it just didn’t um I didn’t have a clear mind um I actually watched the fight back and you can see it in my eyes it just wasn’t there um it was almost like I was in a Dreamland I was I was a sit and duck um let’s be perfectly honest so I didn’t go to plan and all my worst fears uh come to fruition I guess I got knocked out and um I I C to Temple shot early and then I was I was gone but even before that um yeah I just wasn’t there so and that’s no one’s fault that’s my fault so I’m not blaming anyone I’m not blaming my team I’m not blaming anything around me it’s my fault it’s my responsibility so that’s something that’s almost um what has played on mind for I’ve thought about it for nearly two years every single day um because of an o me really does cuz I’m a competitor I don’t know what I can do and it certainly didn’t project that night so um it’s one of those competitive annoying things the thing that fascinates me with boxing and the experience for you as a as an AFL player if you have a loss or a bad performance you’ve got six or seven days and you can turn that all around and you know you go from coming off a a poor performance or or a big loss and then the following week you can be the absolute Superstar You’ve Won the game and and everything’s turned turned around in that short time how is it as a boxer when you when you’ve got to deal with a loss or or a a performance that you’re not happy with that that long period in between the opportunity to to turn that around yeah it’s it’s one of those that’s why boxing is not an easy game and it’s a brutal Sport and it’s um that’s why I love it also um you got no Second Chances really like once it’s done it’s done um and one thing I did go through and as as I just SP you I spoke about um thinking through it every morning I get up before I go to bed I’d think about it and was probably more just uh annoying at myself that I’d let stuff get to me during that fight camp and fight day so um because I know my abilities and I still think to this day and people might say you kidding yourself after the result but I still think I can beat sunny I absolutely do and no disrespect to him um he sacrificed he done the work he did what he had to do so but I still think I could beat him um first and foremost and yeah I I got to a point where um I couldn’t Rectify any of that because you know he’d moved on um he went and for Mark H as well so Mark H’s been my demise I didn’t get the rematch with Paul and then he goes and fight Sunny which obviously didn’t work out for him but um yeah and probably the self-doubt starts to creep in okay uh has my chin gone um so one thing I did do which was my Saving Grace really was uh Troy pure which I you know quite familiar um he was training for a u might have been a state title A Queensland title fight and uh he said oh can you come in and give me a hand uh sparring I said I said yeah I’m not sure how I’m going to go cuz I just got knocked out in two minutes but um I can come and give you four rounds um and so I went in there and and and had those doubts of is my chin still there is you am I still able to do this and um without going into sparring stories but I did did okay and you know Troy was fight fit at that stage and I’m like oh [ __ ] I got hit a couple times and I’m I’m fine so I’m like geez is is it’s sort of um pushed away that dat a little bit yeah and by the last couple rounds I started to get really confident again and and get back to what I normally am yeah so just just the doubts and the uh not being out to rectify the wrongs was uh something that uh yeah to train and Spire again almost fixed me up I guess didn’t fix my ego up um and people go suly knocked you out in 2 minutes like it’s that’s still there but it’s um yeah in terms of ticking the box from me um yeah that that certainly was um a big help so then I’m assuming that this is what’s led to you being just like yep let’s go when we when the opportunity to fight Curtis popped up obviously Curtis um called you out after the fight straight after the fight um and had a bit to say after the fight is this what is this part of that motivation that made you say yeah let’s do it well yeah I’ve been training a little bit not not fully serious but you I go to Fidel’s gym at at Fight Club up in the Gold Coast was probably a couple times a week and just take a few boxes and do a bit of sparing with Troy and um just pretty social I guess and uh just to keep the mind right and then uh obviously Curtis had his fight with Joey and um he did quite well and then I didn’t watch it so I don’t take offense to that either but I was doing something with the and then my phone started blowing up are you watching this I’m like no I don’t know what you’re talking about and then someone sent me a link saying that uh he’s going to retire my old [ __ ] something like that I don’t know what it was but um the Stars aligned I guess um I was thinking about jumping back in I was starting to train and and and get quite fit and then uh then I got called out so um I answered the call I’ll tell you what for my social training it’s a lot different than jumping in the in the ring with the Queensland heavyweight champion and and and sparing four rounds with him that’s that’s that’s pretty solid social social training that you’re doing there um so the since then have you had a chance to watch the the Curtis and Joey fight yeah yeah I’ve watched the fight and I watched his last fight that he had and man he’s good hey I’m not going to take it away from him I respect him as a as a fighter he’s a fighter yeah um and he’s improved quite a bit he’s quite fit and he’s tough and he’s not scared so this is a boxing match technically but it’s going to be a fight let’s let’s be honest it’s going to be a fight so um and it’s one of those challenges he’s a young man he’s a young bull and he’s going to come forward and I don’t have to go searching for him and uh yeah it’s one of those challenges I spoke about my previous challenges which haven’t served me but I’m going to make sure this one serves me correct do you think his his style suits you for this fight yeah yeah it does yeah yeah the Paul it’s I should um it’s almost a Paul gallon fight he’s walks forward he’s quite fit um so I I think one thing with the Paul Galla fight is I I didn’t fight enough I box too much and rather than in the second half of the fight is really push and put an exclamation mark on it I didn’t I just box and did what I had to do and then got out there it was lots of question marks in that fight about my my gas tank and that’s one of Paul’s strong points so I sort of held back and just did what I had to do rather than really push the fight and try and put the exclamation mark on it so um there the lessons you learn it’s inexperience that’s that’s what it is but um yeah this fight’s as I said as I said before he’s he’s in your face and he’s going to come forward and he’s fit and we’re going to throw punches and that’s what I’m preparing for now he’s done a bit of training with Paul Gallen too so they’ve um I G’s even been in his corner at previous fights or always been there to support him and and he’s done a lot of sparring with him have you have you spoken to G um asking a little bit about Curtis looking for tips or anything like that or no look at I don’t think we’re um I’m on G’s Christmas card list but no look I’ve done a sportting with G we’re we’re all good we’re all we’re fine um he thinks he won I think I won and but maybe it’s a school we have to settle down the track but um yeah no I haven’t SP to him to be perfectly honest um I don’t really know what Gail’s doing or whether he’s training I know he’s retired but is he um yeah that’s that’s an interesting one do do you think that a win against Curtis can open the door for the rematch with gal well I’m not going to sit here and say that I’m doing this just to fight Curtis Scott yeah so I’m not looking past Curtis Scott so don’t take that the wrong way Curtis I’m uh I’m doing this for a larger reason yeah um a larger is there’s a little bit of are you going to elaborate on that one or or we’ll just see what happens see what evolves on that one well I I got to tick the box I got to I got to take the first step and the first step is is ctis Scott and then when the second step is there to take um I’ll let you all know no we look forward to that definitely um is is there uh anyone that’s actually on your hit list that you’d that you’d talk about that you that you’re interested in fighting in the future other than um who we’ve spoke about previously I looked at the two guys I’ve I’ve fought previously is um the one that defeated me is probably the the number one um because that’s the one that I I think is got away from me so um I I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen again but um I also understand from Sun’s point of view he’s you know he moved on and it might be on their radar that’s that’s totally fine as well I disrespect it’s just something that I want to do we see a lot of lot of NL guys that are putting up their hand and can to jump in the ring um I personally feel that that guys from from AFL they train a lot more like boxers the the anerobic capacity is a lot more similar to to boxers and um why don’t we see more AFL guys putting their hands up for fights I’ve often thought uh why don’t we see this and and um obviously current players contractually it’s it’s probably they a stricter aren’t they yeah yeah you can’t ride M you can’t do anything got ski yeah skiing’s dangerous can cross the road with bubble wrap but um yeah and and I totally understand it like a player is the club’s asset so you got to protect your player and you know if you pop a sh or break your jaw yeah um even preseason wise it’s going to set you back so I totally get it but I just think the rugby rugby league culture and and the game you play is tough like it’s it’s it’s certainly a game that I would love to have played and tried but I don’t know how you guys just keep backing up every week and you must be sore but um that toughness is just bread in you and to go on a boxing ring and get punched in the face is probably not that big a deal where in AFL it probably is must be perectly honest so um you guys are in a full hard contact spot every single week for 22 or 26 um weeks of the year and to go on a boxing Rings probably not that big a deal where AFL it’s probably a little bit more of a a daunting experience so um right not not tarnishing anyone but that that’s my opinion but in saying that I do see a lot of lot of AFL BLS that are that are doing the the training Jamara for for one um I’ve seen him he he’s boxing regularly um and I know he turns up to the fights he’s got a real interest in it um is he someone that you could see uh having any success is there anyone in the AFL at the moment that you think you could see having success if they if they tried the sport um I’m going to be honest with you I don’t really watch it so I don’t know many current players but um I know there’s a couple X players players who uh are fighting at the moment are Kay Smith yep is down to Alice gym um Steven Baker is about to have a fight with um broy Holland yeah right um that’s that’s coming up as well and not to promote any other um shows if we’re not happy we can cut it out but there’s a few guys starting to filter through now that are that are coming through um but yeah I’m not sure about current players to be honest and is that someone would you look at challenging that way as well or or you still or or just see how they go just see how they go I think um yeah the names we mentioned it will probably kep me busy but yeah I look forward to that I I I do hope that we can um see more of you I know for me personally I’ve always been impressed with with your Technique and your style and I do agree that the performances just didn’t go um your way the way that that they had planned uh what are we what are we looking forward to July 10 uh Curtis Scott there’s a lot of rumors that or a lot of chat that that this could well be fight of the night um and I know anytime the heavyweights step in it’s always it’s always a chance of stealing the show um what have you got planned for us on July 10th well I’m planning for Curtis Scott to walk forward and me throw punches at him and him walk through them so that’s what I’m preparing for so um I’m going to be fit and I’m going to be prepared for him to come forward and I I’ve yes it’s a boxing match but I’ve already alluded to it’s going to be a fight so um yeah that’s something I’m preparing for I think it’ll be it will be a good fight as I said I’m not taking this fight because he’s a tomato can I’m taking this fight because I rate him yeah I think he’s a a tough fight and uh it’s a challenge so that’s why I’m doing this otherwise I wouldn’t do it well it’s a big chance for him to make a name for himself as well too right yeah I was a bit surprised when he called me out and he was a little bit aggressive in his call out because I I seen him at your show previously yeah at the the swans Academy yeah place and he come up and sett L and he was he was quite nice and then I seen the clip and his energy certainly changed so I like okay maybe someone’s made him say that I don’t know but um I’m sure I’ll see him soon enough we can ask him I do feel like the excitement overtook him after the fight you know and and you’d probably know yourself leading up to your first fight the um you know the anxiety and the and the pressure building and then and then as soon as the fight’s over it’s like the the pressure valves released and and then everything got to come out and you say [ __ ] but um yeah I get that um I say silly [ __ ] all the time so yeah I get the adrenaline and you know he’s pumped up and he was he was obviously quite happy and elited and um but yeah I’ve answered the call I’ve I accept his challenge hey even with your um even with your amateur career background and and your experience in boxing what boxers did you look up to as you you know when you were coming along was there anyone that you that you really followed that you were really impressed with well unfortunately I was in the era of uh you know I think the the welterweight So to that St sugaray Leonard Tommy Hearns um sorry middleweight and Marvin Haggler is my favorite fighter of all time can switch S poor Orthodox and just tough never got knocked out um just a tough man I think his mindset is is one thing I really liked it was every fight he was wearing hats with war on it and he was he he beat guys more talented but um yeah he just toughed it out and he was he was a guy that uh I always looked up to loved um so yeah probably Marvin hegler is the one well I reckon that’s probably a good time for us to do our our points built different build your own boxer one thing points bet and I have in common is we’re both One of a Kind how your horses points bets the only thing buil different around here mik no Shack there’s only room for one Shack in this town for a betting experience that’s truly built different I got old today download the points BET app today points bet built different you win some you lose more for free and confidential support call the number on the screen or visit the website um what we do is we we’ve got uh every attribute that we that you lik in a boxer we want you to build your perfect boxer um based on these attributes from from the people that you’ve seen over the past so thanks to points about build different build your own boxer who’s got the power who’s got the power in current day yeah or power for your for your perfect boxer can be over any era I think uh George Foreman is is a guy who’s Mike Tyson’s obviously got power but George Foreman’s got that big thuing pushing power um it’s just raw power I think George I wouldn’t like to be hit by him I love watching that heavy bag footage yeah um speed speed well to stick with the heavy weights um Mike Tyson speed is that was a part of his power was his speed um so I think Mike Tyson he’s even quick now at the age of 57 so um Mike Tyson for me yeah yeah absolutely uh boxing IQ boxing IQ um I think sugaray Leonard was quite good but pel wher was another guy yeah so so smart U but we see the current day now Terence Crawford very smart um very smart guy so um I’m probably going to go Terence because of the current day yeah okay I lock that one um jab who’s got your jab uh Larry Holmes I’m I’m sticking Larry Holmes obviously Thomas Hearns was another one but Larry holes one of the best jobs you’ll ever see yeah beautiful um chin best chin Marvin hegler you already said knock down fought everyone yeah that’s great a heart heart um you see gy aoro gy was just a a heart and soul fighter yeah um see some of the The Mickey W fights they three they yeah yeah just um you know wasn’t winning but just hung in there and and was in the fight till the last the last 10 seconds so he had some heart yeah that’s hot um defense defense I think one of the greatest of all time is you know Floyd Mayweather yeah it is it’s hard to go past him on that one isn’t it it’s hard to go past him on the IQ as well but he was he just fought the best of the best played safe his defense was that good he scored stayed at home’s way and collect the cash and he did that very well too um look where thanks for thanks for joining us today um really looking forward to July 10 I think there’s a a huge opportunity for for you and Curtis to steal the show and and for plenty more opportunities to come off the back of it so um thanks for coming in here with us and look to yeah look forward to seeing your performance thanks for having me good luck all right thanks for tuning in uh we’ll catch you next time on the No Limit boxing podcast

Former AFL star Barry Hall joins No Limit Boxing CEO George Rose ahead of his comeback fight against ex-NRL player and cross-code athlete Curtis Scott. ‘Big Bad Barry’ reflects on infamous and high-profile sporting career which included controversial mega-fights against fellow cross-code athletes Sonny-Bill Williams and Paul Gallen, as well as his life long passion for boxing and how the sport has been pivotal in turning his life around.

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