Middleweight boxer, Jimmy Sains, sits down with The Independent's Combat Sports Correspondent, Alex Pattle, to discuss getting into school yard fights, trash talk and 'needle' in the ring and his professional debut.The 22-year-old newcomer recently scored his first professional win against Poland’s Bartlomiej Stryczek at Wembley's SSE Arena. The ref stopped the fight after three rounds following powerful blows from Sains to Stryczek's head and body. Sains has been signed to Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing.Watch on Independent TV, across desktop, mobile and connected TV.
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00:00 Today I'm joined by Jimmy Saints, middleweight pro boxer,
00:02 straight out of Essex, signed with Matchroom
00:04 and recently had a successful pro debut
00:06 and is preparing for his next fight.
00:08 Jimmy, how are you?
00:09 - More good, thank you.
00:10 Yourself?
00:11 - Yeah, yeah, good, thank you.
00:12 Thanks for coming in today.
00:13 - No worries, thanks for having me.
00:14 - Yeah, yeah, no, a pleasure.
00:14 Obviously, as I just said there,
00:15 you had a successful pro debut a few weeks ago
00:18 and you've got your next fight coming up.
00:20 We'll get to that as well,
00:21 but somewhere I like to start with a lot of boxers
00:23 is the very beginning.
00:25 Do you remember your first memory of boxing,
00:28 whether that was the first time you put on a pair of gloves
00:30 or just when you were first aware of the sport?
00:34 - Yeah, definitely.
00:34 I was always a very active kid.
00:37 I was very hyperactive, driving mum and dad mad, as usual.
00:41 I started boxing around five or six.
00:43 My dad's friend, he had a gym.
00:46 It wasn't really a boxing gym,
00:47 just sort of had a ring there.
00:49 So I've done some training there.
00:52 I was absolutely useless to start off with.
00:54 There's a few older boys there I started sparring.
00:58 And I just sort of sparred once or twice.
01:00 And within two, three weeks,
01:02 I was getting the better of them,
01:04 giving them a bit of a basting.
01:05 That's what usually happens when you're starting up.
01:08 So then I went to a proper boxing gym,
01:10 Brooklyn Boxing Club.
01:12 I think I was around seven, six or seven.
01:14 And just went from there, just loved it.
01:16 Sparring all the time, fighting all the time.
01:19 I had loads of skill bouts, they call them,
01:22 or gym shows, they call them.
01:23 I probably nearly had about a hundred of them,
01:25 which is where you just travel around
01:27 and spar in other gyms.
01:29 And I just loved it from there,
01:30 and I've never looked back, and here I am today.
01:32 - What was it like at school being a kid,
01:35 or maybe the only kid who boxed?
01:37 Do you think that at all sort of informed
01:39 how the other kids looked at you?
01:41 - Yeah, definitely.
01:43 It was always, if anything in school happened,
01:45 like there was a bit of a fight or scuffle or something,
01:47 I was always called, 'cause I was like a known boxer.
01:50 Do you know what I mean?
01:51 I was meant to be, like knock everyone out,
01:53 I sparred in a spa.
01:55 But I was actually quite a small kid.
01:57 I weren't massive for my age.
01:59 I think I was just under height.
02:02 So yeah, I weren't really fighting a lot,
02:04 but I had a couple of fights at school,
02:06 but nothing too major.
02:07 - And you weren't causing--
02:08 - I wasn't causing them, no.
02:09 - I was gonna say that.
02:10 - Yeah, I wasn't causing them, yeah, yeah.
02:12 - I've seen some footage of some of your amateur fights,
02:14 and there's one knockdown, and it looks at least,
02:18 like after you knock the guy down,
02:19 you give him a bit of stick.
02:20 I don't know if this was like a one-off,
02:21 if you can remember this,
02:22 or is that something that just is an edge
02:25 that can come out when you box?
02:27 - It can come out,
02:28 but there's a bit of a backstory behind that.
02:30 Just because, I don't wanna go into too much,
02:32 but just him, the boy and his coach
02:35 were talking behind my back,
02:38 giving me a lot of stick behind my back,
02:40 saying they was gonna knock me out,
02:40 saying they was gonna do this,
02:41 saying they was gonna beat me,
02:43 saying I pulled out of fights, which I haven't.
02:46 Yeah, so it was a bit talk 10, everyone.
02:48 And boxing's a small world,
02:49 so you tell one person, they're gonna tell 10 people,
02:52 and it eventually gets back to you.
02:54 So I found out, and then there was a bit of needle
02:57 between us and the coach,
03:00 just because I've got respect for everyone
03:02 who gets in the ring, do you know what I mean?
03:02 I don't wanna be slagging people off,
03:04 especially behind their back.
03:06 Yeah, so I told him to get up.
03:08 Which, looking back, I probably shouldn't have done,
03:11 but I just got a bit of the adrenaline going.
03:13 - Yeah, yeah.
03:14 Is it hard, like when you said, you know,
03:16 you went in knowing that he and his coach
03:18 had said these things, but then also, like,
03:20 saying that you've developed as a boxer
03:22 to the point where you don't wanna get into a firefight
03:24 when you don't need to.
03:25 Is there a bit of conflict in you in that moment?
03:28 Like, you wanna sort of, obviously you wanna get
03:30 the knockout more so in a situation like that,
03:32 but remembering not to get carried away.
03:34 - Yeah, definitely.
03:35 That was what my coach, Steve Waters,
03:36 was telling me in the corner as well.
03:37 He said, "Make sure you keep to your boxing,
03:39 "and let him come, and don't get involved."
03:42 That's one of the things that probably helped me
03:45 get the knockout as well, yeah.
03:46 - You had a, as I said, we'll get onto your pro debut
03:48 shortly, you had a really promising, you know,
03:50 amateur career and record.
03:52 You'd have a couple of defeats along the way.
03:53 What did those teach you, and maybe how did they
03:56 affect you in the moment?
03:58 - Definitely, I think when I was younger,
04:00 I think I was about 14, 13, 14, I had about four or five
04:03 losses on the bouts, and I had a bit of time off
04:06 just over the summer.
04:07 I had a bit of time off just to reflect.
04:09 I just didn't do any boxing for probably four or five months,
04:13 just completely stopped over the summer,
04:16 got a bit chubby, as kids usually do.
04:19 And really, I missed the boxing so much
04:23 that really when I got back into it again,
04:26 I just made sure I didn't have that feeling
04:28 of losing four or five times in a row.
04:30 Yeah, so it really motivated me to get back in there.
04:34 - And then as I said, you know, a very successful
04:35 pro debut in September.
04:38 It was on the undercard of a world title fight
04:40 at Wembley Arena in London.
04:42 Can you talk about what your thoughts and feelings were
04:45 in the moment when you're walking out
04:47 in front of that crowd?
04:47 And then also like their reaction when your name was called,
04:50 'cause you know, you can hear like a lot of support
04:52 in the arena.
04:53 - Yeah, well, when in the amateur,
04:55 there's nothing like you just get in the ring,
04:57 do you know what I mean?
04:58 Whenever the bout's finished before, you just get in there.
05:00 There's no really walk out.
05:03 Summer of the national finals, there is,
05:05 but it's completely different, do you know what I mean?
05:08 Usually I've just got my dad there clapping in the corner
05:10 on his own, saying, "What, like, come on."
05:12 But I said this earlier to someone else actually,
05:16 just before I was going out to my walk out,
05:19 I sort of went one way, and all my coaches, Tony,
05:22 the cut men team went the other way, getting to the ring.
05:25 And I was there on my own for about two, three minutes.
05:27 And it sort of like fight or flight kicked in.
05:30 I was like, well, I've got to step up now,
05:32 or like hit myself in the face at least.
05:34 Yeah, so I got a bit nervous then.
05:37 I was like, right, this is time.
05:39 And then to be honest, when I was walking out,
05:41 I didn't know what to expect.
05:43 But as soon as I walked out, there was a few people,
05:45 I bought tickets, loads of people come,
05:47 like right to the front, it was at the barrier.
05:49 So which I thought was quite good.
05:52 Yeah, but I really enjoyed the ring walk,
05:54 and I love watching the video back.
05:55 I've watched it back a few times.
05:56 - I bet, yeah.
05:57 And you know, you got the stoppage in the third round,
05:59 four were scheduled.
06:01 Did you feel any pressure at all,
06:03 whether it came from yourself or, you know,
06:05 for any reason to get a finish, to make a statement,
06:09 you know, in your first?
06:10 - Yeah, definitely.
06:11 There was a bit, just because I sold quite a lot of tickets,
06:14 wanted to make sure, make it worthwhile
06:17 for everyone coming out, spending their money on me.
06:20 But there is a bit of a thing with everyone
06:22 getting the knockout in their first fight.
06:24 But to be honest, I won't fuss
06:25 whether I got the knockout or not.
06:26 Just as long as I boxed well and got the win,
06:29 that was the main thing for me.
06:30 - Yeah, well, you did box well,
06:31 but also what is that moment like when the ref steps in?
06:34 Like that immediate moment when you realise that-
06:36 - I won.
06:37 - Yeah, yeah.
06:38 - Yeah, it was a good buzz to be honest.
06:39 When I got on top of the ref,
06:40 I didn't really know what to do with myself.
06:41 It's just like how I ended up here,
06:43 do you know what I mean?
06:44 But yeah, it was a great experience.
06:46 - Yeah, and November, second week in November,
06:48 you're going to be fighting in Newcastle.
06:50 How are you feeling about that?
06:51 And then what about after that?
06:53 How active do you plan on being?
06:56 - I want to take one fight at a time, to be honest.
06:58 Me and Tony have watched and looked back on my first fight.
07:02 We've picked out a few little things that I need to work on.
07:05 And that's what I want to make sure.
07:06 I don't want to be just fighting
07:07 and then month later, fight again.
07:09 And then not learning anything from the fights.
07:11 I want to be watching the fights
07:12 and picking up small things,
07:13 what I need to be working on,
07:15 which I feel like we've done this camp with Tony.
07:17 Tony is a great coach
07:19 and he knows what little things I need to work on.
07:22 So I want to be doing that learning along the way.
07:24 - Nice one.
07:25 Well, everyone here wishes you the best of luck
07:27 in the next fight.
07:28 Hope the training goes well until then.
07:29 Thank you again for joining us.
07:30 - Thank you. Thanks for having me on.
07:32 - Thanks everyone for watching.
07:33 We'll see you next time.
07:34 [BLANK_AUDIO]