Canelo Predicts Tyson vs. Paul! Who Will Win? | Boxing Legends Reveal ALL!

Hey everyone, welcome back to the School of Greatness. Today we have a very special collection of episodes. And one of the biggest things people struggle with today in life is mindset. It's understanding their own mindset and how to go from a weak mindset that keeps people struggling in their career, their life, their relationships into a strong, powerful, foundational mindset that allows you to overcome the obstacles that are thrown your way. And a great famous quote is that everyone's got a plan until you get punched in the face. That is from the iconic Mike Tyson who we have an amazing excerpt from one of our interviews on the School of Greatness with Mike Tyson in this episode. But in this interview series, we've got three powerful boxing experts and also business leaders. First we have Canelo. Canelo is arguably one of the greatest boxers of all time, specifically in this generation. I had the opportunity of interviewing him while he was preparing for a fight, and we talk about how he's learned to develop a mindset, a sustaining mindset of success for so many years. He's been in the game for a long time, and we go over really a little bit about his mindset, and also we ask him a big question. Who do you think would beat you in the boxing ring? Mike Tyson or Jake Paul? And his answer and response was pretty interesting. I'm excited for you to see what he says based on that question and a big thing happening with both of those individuals fighting each other. Then we hear a clip from Jake Paul who we had on seven years ago before he got into boxing. Before he became one of the most popular people on the internet, but also one of the most hated people on the internet, he was a Disney star. He left high school, he came to Los Angeles. I met him in those early years when he came to LA and I got to know him behind the scenes. I got to see a little bit about who he was, his character, his heart, his mindset. We played pickup basketball together. I went to his house when he had a whole house of creators that he was living with. I got to see him before all this stuff happened. I got to watch him practice boxing in the early days, and I watched his evolution over many years. We talk about the mindset he had and really how he went from a high school kid making content to building a network of influencers and creating expansive content, to how he's learned how to persevere over challenges, developing self-belief in himself, and overcoming all the different things that he had to do. Now, love him or hate him, it's hard to deny what he's created for himself. And he's constantly reinventing himself. And he talked about this idea of how can I continue to innovate and have continuous improvement on my content creation? That's what he talked about in part of this interview. And you see that through his evolution, how he spoke it into existence, and then he went and created it and is creating it now. It's pretty powerful to watch what he's created, whether you love him or hate him. It's interesting to see what he's created, his creativity, his dedication, and how he's taken his boxing career this seriously. He also talked about how he believes that by helping others, you eventually set up yourself for rewards down the line. So just note that when you're listening to the segment with Jake Paul. and he also talks about his mindset and how it's at the center of everything he does. Then we do a clip from an interview that I did on the School of Greatness with the iconic Mike Tyson. Mike shared some powerful insights about the mindset required to be a true champion. And here's a kid who struggled immensely as a young adult, who had huge success in fame, And then it all came crashing down, who's had to reinvent himself over and over. And he talks about the mindset of a champion in this segment as well. Powerful stuff. I'm excited to see what you think, and I would love your comments and feedback below on what you think about each one of them with Canelo, Jake Paul, and Mike Tyson.

I had Mike Tyson on twice on my show. and I had Jake Paul on. I know they're fighting. I'm sure everyone's asking about it. I'm curious, who do you think would be a harder fight for you right now? Mike Tyson or Jake Paul? In a hypothetical scenario, who do you think would be tougher for you?

I think if you put them together, the in the ring with me. Maybe he's gonna, maybe both together. Maybe it's gonna be a little complicated.

But one or the other, they're, they're about the same. They're the same. You think for you. Who do you think would, would win between them?

It's, it's hard to say, but, you know, it's, it's risky for Mike Tyson.

Really?

Yeah. Because he's 57 and 58, I don't know. And, and. It's boxing is no, it's not a joke.

It's no joke.

It's, but, you know, I know, I get it. I get it. What they, why they, it's a business. It's a business.

Yeah, yeah.

They're gonna fight with 18 ounces with no gloves.

Bigger clubs, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a business. Speaking of business, you've been getting into business more and more over the years, which I'm excited to talk about as well. real estate, your own businesses, Canelo energy, you know, all these different brands that you're building. What excites you the most about business and Entrepreneurship? And is it, and is it a distraction?

No.

To do all that as well as fight ever.

No, no, no, no, it's a distraction because I have my correct people doing my team, everything, and, and. I do what I need to do for my business and I'm, I'm, I care about every business I have, but I like it. I enjoy doing real estate. I enjoy being my drinks and, and, and everything I do. I, I really enjoy it.

Yeah.

What is your vision for your.

You.

Got a lot going on. What is your vision for your for your future after boxing? Is it to be a business leader in the world or what is the main vision that you have for business?

Yeah, that's my goal is being one of the best businessmen in the world.

Really?

Yeah.

Why does that excite you so much after boxing?

I just, I love to be involved in these kind of things and.

And.

See how they go big and big and big and big, you know, starting with some and then growing up. I like it so much because when I was young, I saw my brother Ricardo, he put an ice cream store with $5,000.

And.

We build in five, six months, like bring people, bring people, bring people. And then he sell it for 30, $40,000. So, and I saw him and I just started learning. Started learning and I really enjoyed that kind of things.

That's beautiful, man. Is there a difference between how you trained early on when you were a nobody, the first few years in your teens versus how you train now. Mentally, physically, is there a difference? If so, what is that difference?

Mentally is, I think, is the same mentality, the same hungry, you know? For me, I train my mental, my mind is always trying to get more. try to get more history to my career. And it's never enough for me.

Really?

It's never enough for me. I always train so hard because, you know, I started like that, training so hard because in my mind always when I was a kid, I say, I wanna be a champion. And then I accomplish that champion and I say, it's something else more. It's something else there. So I always, my mind is always, is never enough for my mind. I always train so hard and I love boxing so much. I enjoy it. I enjoy it. I still enjoy it.

You still enjoy it. But it's almost been 20 years, right? 20 years.

19 professional.

19 professional. What is the three greatest lessons that boxing has taught you in almost 20 years of boxing.

It's gonna be very difficult to pick three lessons because I think the man I am right now, I learned from boxing because my whole life, I give my whole life to boxing. I think boxing teach me everything. Everything, bad and goods. and everything. I think boxing made me.

It made you, yeah. What is the lesson that you would say to your younger self with all the wisdom and experience you have now?

It's the only thing I can say to them. If I... You're 15 in front of me. I have my son and say, you can do whatever you want. You just need to be able to to have able to sacrifices, discipline and hard work.

Yes.

And have a good mentality because if you have that three things, discipline, sacrifices and hard work. Hard work. But if you don't have that mentality, it's gonna be very difficult.

How do you keep the hunger alive inside of you for so long though? Because you were starting out as a young man wanting to be a champion, you became a champion. But how do you continue year after year to stay hungry and love it so much?

I don't know. I don't know. I always say because I love what I do and I have that passion on me and I love what I do and I enjoy it and I'm that kind of man says I'm that kind of person say if I'm gonna do something, I'm gonna do 100%. No, in the middle, no, 90%, no, I'm 100% always. Try to do my best and try to do my everything. And I think because I love what I do.

How do you manage fear? Did you have a lot of fear growing up as you started fighting? And do you have any fear when you fight today?

I never feel fear, really, in boxing. I never feel how it's like to feel that fear. I always enjoy it. I just enjoy a lot. My favorite day, my favorite thing is sparring days and a fight day is I just enjoy it a lot. I enjoy it and I never.

Have.

That experience to feel the fear or something.

When you became a champion, world champion, did you feel fear to lose that ever?

No.

Really?

No, never, never feel that fear.

Why not? Did someone teach you how to overcome fear?

No.

Or is it...

I don't know. I always say because I really enjoy boxing. I really love boxing. I really love being in the ring fighting. I never thinking about if this happened or... I always go with that mentality to win and enjoy.

Do you ever when you're preparing for a fight? Do you ever think about what happens if I get knocked down or if I lose? Will I feel bad or?

I never think about lose. I never think about lose. I always think and train for the win.

Yes.

And yes, I do. I think about if I get knocked out, how I'm gonna reaction and we train about everything.

Train it when you'll fall down.

If I feel dizzy. what I'm gonna do. We always train about that. We prepare ourselves for everything, of course, but I never think about losing.

Wow.

What is the process like the day of a fight for you mentally and emotionally? How do you prepare for that fight?

For me, it's a normal day.

Just a nice... Grab a cup of coffee, relax, hang out.

Relax, obviously, very relaxed. But for me, in my mind, it's is. It's a normal day.

Really?

But the world is gonna watch you on this flight. I know there's so much money on the line that, you know, I don't.

Think about that for me. It's normal. I'm gonna do my thing, and that's it. Obviously, I think I I I I.

I.

I put everything together that day.

We.

We put. In the whole training camp, I put, okay, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do that, we train for this. But for me, it's a normal day. It's like a... You wake up, you see me in the locker room 20 minutes before the fight. I'm listening music, chilling with my team. So for me, it's normal day.

Are you not visualizing the fight?

Yeah, always.

You are.

I always visualize my fighting in the night. I know, okay, if this happened, I'm gonna do this, everything.

How much energy does it take from you to visualize? There's a lot of energy to train, to run every day, to spar, to lift, but how much energy to actually think at night about what you're gonna do in the ring?

I just think, I don't put so much energy to think because I just. I just. Okay, I'm gonna do this and this. I train for this, and that's it. Yeah.

I.

For me, like, my life routine.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's not like, I don't wanna do this, you know, to stress myself.

No, it's relaxing.

It's relaxing.

It's relaxing.

Wow.

That's beautiful. And what do you think about. after you win a fight, when you've prepared for months and you win a big fight and the whole world is watching, how does it make you feel?

It's the best feeling. It's the best feeling because you put your life there, you put everything in the training camp, you left your family, you left everything for that moment. For that moment, for that win, you prepare yourself for that win and it's the best feeling. Then it's when you realize everything. Everything you do, everything the sacrifices that discipline you put in the gym, there is the result.

It's worth it.

Yeah. Yeah.

Did you ever doubt yourself growing up? Like self-doubt insecurity?

Never in my life.

How did you learn that, though? So many people in the world are insecure about who they are, right? They doubt.

I never doubt about myself.

Was that your parents, your grandmother or.

I don't know.

Did they teach you how to.

I don't know. My mentality. 50 is always like, I don't care who is there, I'm gonna achieve my goals no matter what. So, and I started professional boxing when I was 15 years old. So, sometimes my trainer, my trainers saw the opponent and say, Hey, he's too strong and he's 30 years old and I don't care. I don't, I don't, I, I, I don't really care. And then two rounds in that and.

You knock them out.

Yeah.

Do you have, I mean, do you ever have any insecurities outside of boxing, like starting business or, and some other Ventures?

Are you.

No, no insecurities.

I think the, the, the first time.

I.

Jump in the, in the bus and try to sell ice creams and in the bus, I feel a little, I don't know, insecure or I feel a little shame because, you know, I'm red hair, freckles and everything and I, I feel like a little ashamed. I don't, maybe insecure.

But you're like five, six, seven years old.

Yeah. Yeah.

Five, six years old.

Selling popsicles.

And, and then I say, yeah. nothing happened. And then I start feeling good, but I think that moment I feel like a little insecure because the people saw me and say something about me. I don't know. But then I don't give up.

So 25 years ago was the last time you were insecure.

Yeah.

Like being on set and having that experience.

It's priceless.

Yeah, it's priceless. It was like so beneficial in the long run because you see how the acting classes then apply in real life because, you know, you're on set, you're kind of just chilling, then it's like makeup, wardrobe, hear your lines, stand here, go. And it's like that fast and before you know it, you're like, oh my God, like I'm in front of camera, like they're about to roll and then everything's on you, like 50 people and you have to like nail your lines and Nail your take. So how did you do?

Did you ever mess up a bunch when you were like when it was rolling on you or were you pretty prepared?

I was pretty yeah, no, I was pretty prepared because I was like yo, this is my first thing like I I gotta be ready. I was nervous so I can imagine.

I was really nervous. You got through a lot of takes.

Or did you kind of get your groove? How did that work? I kind of got the groove I think the first couple takes I was like nervous and it wasn't just like a solo scene or whatever so there was like other actors messing up I was like, that helped me. But then I would like mess up one and we found the rhythm. But after the first kind of scene, the nervousness went away and I got comfortable with the director and the crew.

And then you landed your own show, right? With Disney?

Yeah, so all those kind of like built up. Well, before Disney, my brother and I kind of had this attitude like, why? Why are we waiting for other people to cast us? When we know we're talented, we want to showcase our skills. Why not write a movie? And I don't know if you talked about this.

A little bit, but yeah.

So.

We sat down, we're like, okay, let's write a movie. And went into that process, learned a lot about writing from that. Finished the project and then went to go like raise funds for it and like we had no idea what we were doing, but we like paired with some some awesome people and eventually we had Ron Birkle and Jonathan Orenstein fund the movie and like we got to see like our vision come to life and now it's like fully shot and edited and should be coming out like this this year sometime. It's called like airplane mode and we have like all of our social media friends in it. But that was like the idea like yo we could we could do this on our own because we have the built-in audience and I think we'll see it we'll start to see like a lot more of that in the future. Yeah, and like I know we want to continue to do our own projects as well as be in these like traditional films but yeah, I actually could lead into your next one. I actually couldn't be in that movie because it's like rated R. Really? And I, yeah, and I booked the Disney show. You couldn't be in airplane mode. I couldn't be in it because it's.

Rated R because you're under 18 or what?

Because how's that work? Because I, I booked the Disney show before, like, right before they're about to start shooting. I was like, I can't pass up this opportunity.

So because you're on a Disney show.

You can't be in a rated R movie. Well, yeah, it's pretty. I mean, there's like a gray line, but the script was like, it was pretty vulgar and they were like, we can't really have you in this.

So you didn't want to pass up on Disney?

Of course, yeah. No, definitely not.

And.

That like whole process of, you know, auditioning to be on Disney was like a whole 'nother level of like competition because there's so many kids and like so many different rounds of auditioning.

How many kids were there? How many rounds?

I think at the start there was like 10, but that was like after it was like narrowed down.

Right.

So I don't know what the initial search was, but- Might have been hundreds.

In the beginning and then it got down to like 10 finalists and then you did a certain amount of rounds. Was it like a month of rounds or was it a couple weeks?

It was like two to three weeks. And they would have you test with the other actors and figure out who was vibing the best. And I remember just seeing the character and I immediately understood who he was. Um, and when I went to go do my first test with the girls who were already casted as like the two lead roles, I walk into this room and there was like a giant table and like just 15, like executive looking people, like just staring at me.

Suits, you're like.

Yeah, and I like walk in, I'm like, hey, like what's up guys? Like trying to like crack the, or like break the ice and, We went into the test.

Were you nervous?

Intimidated? It was very nervous. I was very nervous, but I was, I practiced so much. I had my lines, like, perfectly memorized. I knew exactly, like, you know, the arcs I was gonna take throughout the scene. And, like, halfway through the scene, I was, like, playing it so good that the girls that I was testing with started laughing. They, like, broke character because I was, like, making them laugh so hard.

You were too good.

And, and, yeah, the executives were laughing, too. and sort of after that one, like, I came home and my brother was like, how did it go? And I was like, yo, I know I got the role. I know I got the role. And I kind of just, like, had that. That mindset of, like, yo, like, I killed that one. I just gotta keep on killing it. And eventually got the role.

Wow.

But it was an awesome process. And that was probably, like, one of the. The biggest moments of my career, getting the call, like, hey, like, you booked this Disney Channel show. It was very, very. real. It's crazy.

That's like winning the state championship, national championship.

Exactly.

And.

And I knew that I had to, you know, break into traditional media somehow in. In some way. And if I was one of the first influencers to do so, then that would set me up for success in the future, just because, like, having that experience under my belt, which is like. The Disney, it's like a powerhouse and brand and their connections and they own Marvel and ABC. I was like, okay, this is the right place to be at. And the experience I gained from just the first season of being on Bizarre Foods was massive. Shooting 21 episodes, I could memorize pages of lines in minutes. Really? blocking and four cameras pointed at me and like I basically Throughout that process I lost like all the nervousness I had as an actor. I completely like broke out of my shell which takes sometimes it takes like a lot of actors a long time to get there and then once they get there they're like they're some of the best actors that we see today.

Wow.

But yeah, I mean it was it was such a huge moment to to be able to have like a series regular job, something steady as an actor. And again, you're differentiating yourself from all.

The other big social media influencers who have, maybe they have 10 million followers, but they don't have mainstream credibility. They don't have something consistent. They're schlepping like sweet tea or whatever it is. They're like, you know, like vitamins online to like continue to make money. Because they've got this audience, but they don't know how to build a business. They don't know how to build their own brand. some traditional media around it. Maybe they're getting a few press hits or some articles or features, but they're not doing something like this, like a show, a movie, you know, getting bigger brand deals the way you are, which is interesting.

Exactly. And, and one thing that I noticed after, like, we finished filming or after the show started airing, a demographic that never previously came up to me in public started coming up to me.

Really?

And it was an audience that was like, five six seven years old that didn't even have cell phones and so that was like five-year-olds come up to you yeah, and and this was what's.

Your name on the show? Dirk Dirk so they say you're they.

Don'T even know Jake yeah, they said Dirk. Oh my god. Like you're on Bizarro Vark and They don't even have cell phones and that's that and that moment I realized okay this decision to like Spend a ton of time on on making the show was so worth it because I'm building into that audience who eventually will have phones who can eventually follow me on social media and while I'm building out this social media demographic. And so to me it was all worth it when that started to happen.

Because you're probably not making as much money as you could be on other things from the show. I'm sure it's making good money but it's not like as big as a big brand deal could be for you just for one video.

Of course. Yeah, no you're right.

And so you're almost sacrificing a certain area of your finances and your business to have a huge upside later. You're delaying the gratification by reaching an audience again that really can't do much for you right now. But also tying yourself to Disney brand and saying you're an actor on Disney is massive.

Yeah.

And that was then that was like the thought around it. Like, I'm going to need to invest the time now and this is going to pay off later. And the hustle on everything else is going to have to increase because Like even now, I'm gonna have to vlog every day while on set every day. So, wow. It's gonna, it's a lot.

How do you organize, you know, when I was 19, I was, I couldn't even get to class, you know, and all I was doing was focusing on football and I don't know, like what I was gonna eat that day. Like how are you as a 19, you're 20 now, right? How are you as a 20 year old organizing your day, your finances, your life? thinking about acting, businesses that we haven't even talked about, building your content every day, like you're doing so much every day. How does someone at 20, when a lot of people are listening at 30, 40, 50, are struggling with organizing their day, how are you able to do that?

The number one thing towards time management.

And how are you like even thinking about that? And how have you learned how to do this?

So as like My day started to fill up to the point where I couldn't do anything else in the day. I had to just go to sleep. I was like, how do I prioritize this? And I studied a lot about time management and prioritizing the things that you need to get done on a day-to-day basis. What's more important, like you sitting on your phone and texting people back right away or getting your video done and to the editor? and being on set and memorizing your lines and taking this specific meeting. And I then invested money to hire employees to like an assistant who can basically do a lot of these like small tasks for me that I don't necessarily need to be doing unless I have to be there. I'm not gonna do it. And she's like, Scheduling my day and you know, breaking down things as much as possible.

And.

The biggest thing I can say is like habit, the power of like habit and like doing things consistently, you know, waking up at this time, starting your video at this time, having your weekly meeting on Monday at 10:00 with all of your employees so that you know you're gonna have to, you know, get a different piece of content for that day because you're not gonna have as much time to film and kind of just, like, knowing all of these things. But a lot goes into it, and you really, if, like, my saying is, you gotta want it. And I think that's, like, the number one thing is, like, you gotta want it. Like, there's so much time in a day when I, like, pause and stop all of these things, I'm, like, so bored and, like, the time, like, just. Yeah. So. I think I really started to realize, like, how much time there was in a day and you gotta want it and cut out all the non, the, the stuff that doesn't matter. Yeah. Even, like, a lot of influencers in particularly, like, they want to go out to eat for every single meal. Breakfast. Go to a breakfast spot. Lunch. Go to a lunch spot. Dinner. Go to a dinner spot. That right there is like, each of those activities is two hours. I'm like, yo, I'm just gonna like have, I'm just gonna get a personal chef and like have meal plans and microwave the stuff, cook it up, it's healthy, quick, done. So like little things like that you have to think about.

They are taking a lot of meetings, aren't they? Just like lunch and dinner meetings or.

Just hanging with friends during breakfast.

A lot of it is just like hanging out. Yeah, just hanging.

Yeah.

It is six hours a day of just like eating. Exactly. And going to somewhere.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Amazing man. Do you study anyone who does this? Are you reading books? How are you learning these things?

I forget the guy's name. Yeah, I was studying it. What's his name? Lee Clark? Lee something. I don't know. He has a program called Thrive15.

Oh, yeah.

Have you heard of that? So I watched a couple of videos on there that really talked about how.

Time management and all these things, setting up your day.

Exactly. And the way I think about it is like, yeah, I'm doing all of these things, but like, people are doing more. Yeah. Like, there's celebrities doing more. So how can I do more? There's business people who are doing more. Like, I just think about the CEO of Uber or Snapchat. Like, imagine how much stuff is on there. to-do list, and they have to prioritize it. And so I think about it in the same way as much as possible.

Five years ago, before you got into all this stuff, did you imagine you'd be here right now?

No.

What did you think you'd be doing? Like finishing school and going to college and, you know, have a girlfriend or what? What was your vision then?

My vision then, I was actually training. I was starting to train to become a Navy SEAL.

Really?

Yeah.

It's typical Ohio, you know?

It's like, of course. No, I was like, I didn't know what I wanted to do. My grades weren't that good, but I was athletic. I knew how to work hard and I was smart. I just didn't ever apply myself. And so started in the Navy SEALs, everything that I loved, like competition, mental toughness, brotherhood. Yeah, exactly. And so I was like fell in love with that and started putting a lot of effort into like figuring out how I was gonna do that and I mean it's still something I want to do, but yeah, but maybe you.

Can play Navy SEAL on a movie.

Exactly. That's the great thing about Hollywood is that you can do everything.

Yeah, so you're on that track and then these things kind of unfold when you started to get the traction. Did you realize like oh, I want to be like this influencer person and this is what I'm going to do now or did you think you'd be this big?

I don't think so. I think part of where we found success is not thinking too much. Which is like, I think a lot of people overthink like, okay, I need to do this, this and this. And it's super hard to become an actor, so I'm not even going to try. We didn't know how hard it was. But we just went for it. I think that's part of where we found success. We didn't know exactly the formulas for creating the best videos online at this point. We were still young and green, but we just went for it and posted content. I think as I started to progress, I was learning a lot and then started to see where this could go. But definitely from the start I was like... There was kind of just like growing followers and like making money from it. I realized I needed to have like a vision.

Yeah, yeah. And what is the vision now?

Vision now. I like to think of myself as like a young Ashton Kutcher, like the modern young Ashton Kutcher. where he takes his acting presence and grows that, becomes a huge star, but is also on the business side of things and the tech side of things and is an investor. If Ashton doesn't want to act, he doesn't have to. I think a lot of actors are trying to take that route now, but they don't know how to do it. They're maybe just good at acting. But the spin on it is like now there's a social media element involved and the acting space is a little bit different and like the going getting to the top is no one's really done it in like today's space now so there's not like a paved set path. But yeah, like I want to have this big presence in the world and be able to you know, launch different businesses and products and and Charities and give back to the fans and.

Just.

Have fun along the way. I think one of my like very specific goals is I'd like to be like a superhero or super villain in like a huge action movie like Marvel. Yeah, sweet.

Yeah, the Green Goblin.

I like I want to play like a like the Joker or something like a hard role. That's really Yeah, I could see that. That's cool, man.

I'd see as the young Ashton Kutcher for sure. I mean, that guy's really paved out an incredible career for himself, great brand, and he's, you know, invested in multiple, you know, companies as well. I'm an investor in one of the companies he's an investor in, and it's been incredible to see what he's done. I don't know him personally, but he's.

Always impressed me, so.

Yeah, no same. And that, you could do that. I mean, hey, that's a great vision, man.

Thank you.

That'S awesome. And so you're, it's, what's fascinating now is you're 20 years old and you've got, you started a couple of companies already and you have this thing called team 10, is that correct?

Yeah.

And what is team 10 and what was the vision for creating this?

So, sort of right when I, backtracking, like before the acting stuff, like that's one side of me, social media sides, one side, the business side is like, I was sitting here in LA, I was like, how do I become bigger than just myself? Or how do I create like an empire? And I asked myself and like a lot, a couple of my mentors were like, think of how you can create money while you're sleeping, like mailbox money where like you're just getting checks for not doing anything necessarily. And I started to think of how this would be applicable. And I was like studying the entertainment space and I saw what Dr. Dre did where he was a big artist himself. He had a skill set and he would find people with the potential to be like him. He would teach them that skill set, help them like cultivate it, and then put them in front of his audience. And from that they would blow up. Outcomes, Eminem, 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg, Tupac, and he starts to create this network and Dr. Dre becomes bigger than himself. but then what he did that was special was like takes that network of influential people that he's very close with and puts a pair of headphones on them. And then that's his billion dollar exit. And so I was like, okay, is this same model applicable in social media? Can I find someone else who has potential, small following and make them massive online. Um, and so I put it to the test and it immediately worked. I found these kids, they had like 30,000 followers at the time and, Like brothers or what? Their brothers, they're twins, yeah. And, and brought them out to Los Angeles for like a month, started making videos with them, taught them like, you know, little tips and tricks to add to their content, taught them like how to post across the different platforms, like all the little things that go into it. And I put them in front of my audience. And they were young, good looking and good at making videos. And so they immediately went from like 30,000 followers to like 500,000 in a matter of weeks.

Wow.

And so I was like, okay, this worked.

What are they at now?

Now they're at like 15 million.

What?

On one channel or on all channels?

Just all their channels combined.

Wow.

Yeah. But at the time it was kind of just like a test and.

I.

Was seeing if it would work. So, and I was still 17 at the time.

It's crazy.

It sounds cliche, but what I found in growing out the network that I had with other influencers is like at the start I was just always giving and giving and giving and seeing nothing in return. And then later on that's when the rewards come. And so I think as much as you can give to people without expecting anything in return, Whether that's giving to charities, whether that's giving people advice, whether that's giving people promotion in a video or, you know, giving back to your fans and thanking them. I think that always comes full circle and what goes around comes around. I think life will then give back to you. Because at the start of like growing Team 10 alone, it was just like a lot of giving and nothing in return until like very recently actually. And so I found out that if you can give in relationships or in business or in life or to charities that I really think that whatever the higher power is, I think there's something up there that then gives you that back in greater form.

That's great, man.

What does it take to be a true champion? To be the best in the world at something? You lived it for a long time. What does the mindset have to be like if someone wants to be the best at what they do?

It's just dedicating and sacrificing your life to be in a particular way you want to be. Like you want to conduct. Say you want to be like Tony Robbins. You get all the information you can about Tony Robbins. and you conduct your, this is how I want to live my life. This is almost like, what do we call these things? This is your manuscript.

Yeah.

You know what I mean?

Blueprint.

Yeah.

Yeah.

This is what I'm gonna do. Yeah. And I'm gonna live like Tony Robbins. I'm not gonna be Tony Robbins, but I'm gonna live it. I'm gonna conduct myself like Tony Robbins.

Yeah.

So you gotta live it, you gotta breathe it.

Yeah. And you have to be that before you actually become the person. You're not going to become the person over there. You think you prepared to be Tony Robbins right now? Tomorrow you're Tony Robbins. You didn't know. It's going to take time. So I'm gonna become this guy. You know, I'm gonna be this guy before. Because you're not ready. But when the time comes, you're going to be ready. You're going to be Tony Robbins. This is my life. I'm a custom.

This.

Of course I got this role. Of course I got this job.

Of course I got this. I prepared for it. You wouldn't even be surprised.

Before you became the champ the first time, were you visualizing and imagining. Yeah, since I was 14, this is who I am. This is who I'm gonna be. I'm gonna contact. This is the guy. You have to be the champ before you be the champion.

You understand?

That makes sense? Yeah. Does it really? Because it sounds like you have to be him before you can be him. You can't just pop. It's by training and doing push-ups and knocking people out. This is I'm the champ. No, you have to be the actual champ. Your conduct, your lifestyle, have to be the champ before you actually Wear the belt. Maybe that's better. You have to be the champ before you can even wear a belt. Wow.

So you were saying, I'm gonna be the champ.

You were living life that you wanted to live. That's what I did. I would read books about them. That's all I did. I read books about them, watch them fight. That's my life. I wasn't in school and wasn't training.

I was watching them and reading about them.

Watching the greats, yeah.

Yeah.

Wow.

What's the best advice you ever got.

From a champion before you? I don't know. Most of them, the vice days, they gave me about life and stuff. They said, you have to live your own life. You can't live your life like me. I can't live my life like you, you know? And we just all different. And some of them say, take care of your money, you know, they regret it.

Right?

I used to learn from afar. A lot of these guys, I just watched the way they conduct themselves. They were always dignified. Most of them, unless some of them had some mental issues where he had damage from boxing, they're a little bit outrageous. But other than that, most of them were very dignified and classy men.

Yeah.

What was your biggest weakness when you were the champ for so long? As you were knocking guys out in the first round, first few seconds, what was the biggest weakness in your game and also in your life.

I don't know. I think I was a glutton. I wanted everything.

Material things to win, women, this, everything.

Everything. Things wanted everything.

You wanted the world.

Right now, though, that's the only one that. Now I didn't want it yesterday. Tomorrow, I want it right now. This infant. Wow. And if you can't give it to me, I don't want it no more.

If I can't get it right now.

I don't want it. Yeah, anything I couldn't have, I despise and hate it.

Wow.

Yeah, if I couldn't have that girl, I hate her.

Wow.

'Cause I have that car, those cars, they might have driven that car.

Why do you think that was? If you couldn't have it right now, you didn't like it anymore.

'Cause I didn't need no distractions. Oh, wow. That make me feel anything that I'm less than immortal.

Wow.

Yeah.

So if you couldn't get it right now, it made you feel less than immortal?

Yeah.

So you were like, get it out of my life.

Exactly.

Wow. What's the craziest thing you wanted that you got right now? That you were like demanding everything and what did you, someone, I mean, what was something flew in from Dubai overnight and you got like a steak dinner from somewhere or?

I never thought about that. But I'm sure it was bizarre or something. Yeah.

I want a tiger right now.

Give me the mentalities. The way I was raised as a fighter, I think, because it would, if you couldn't get it, it would distract you. Why can't I possess that? If I'm so great, why can't I possess that? Wow. That'll distract you from your goals in life.

What do you think is your greatest weakness right now, this time of your life?

I don't know. My friends and my kids and stuff, family.

It's a weakness?

Yeah, because people, we're losing so many people. They think that he's dead. She's sick. My friend, mother just died yesterday. Everybody start dying, everybody's so sad and then wow, you know.

Yeah.

Instead of, you know, we should always look at death as something glorious, you know? Because listen, life is very interesting. Listen, we got it for nothing. Look at what we received. We have kids, we have grandkids, all this stuff. Your mother and father, they saw each other and they, hey, we in love. Me loving you, we're here. Look what we got. Look what you're doing. Let's just show. It's because these people were in love. You know what I mean? This is glorious.

Yeah.

For free. Free.

We don't have to pay anything to be here.

Nothing. We can't get mad when it's our time to go. It was free.

What do you think about with death?

Death is beautiful. You know, how could life be beautiful? Definitely not beautiful. They wouldn't be. It wouldn't be life if there wasn't death. Wow.

So death isn't something you're afraid of?

At one stage in my life, you know, and then you reach 52 and you say, well, I'm not gonna get another 52. Wow. And then you know, wow, what happened to that time? My whole perspective on life is different. My whole perspective is what I need and what I wanted. That was all about what I needed and what I'm needed for someone else that I love. When am I leaving, when I'm gone? It's really bizarre, right? When you have the actual confrontation and aspect of immortality and the longing, the existing. Huh.

What do you think is your biggest superpower right now? Like your biggest strength?

I think it's me, who I am. My essence, my existence. When I'm no longer here, it doesn't no longer exist. Mm-.

How do you want to be remembered now?

Just remember, it doesn't matter how. Yeah. You know how many thousands of years are gonna go by once I die? It's no longer England, it's no longer matter.

No one's gonna remember then. Yeah, a couple dozen years, yeah. So what's the biggest fear for you right now? You don't have any big fears right now?

Besides, you know, eventually, I would want my kids getting sick. I want them to have a life like I had.

Yeah.

And see the world like I've seen. Mm-. Other than that, no, I'm prepared to meet God, yeah. Wow.

What was the biggest mentor you had when you were in jail? Was there anyone in jail that taught you anything or no one?

No.

I was just radical in jail and my mentor, I need to run it all. Really?

Yeah.

You were like, I'm gonna run this whole place.

I wanted to be in control. I wanted to have my food brought to me. It's just, it's a mindset you get once you get put in that situation. I was making the mania in it. Wow.

What was the biggest thing you learned about yourself during that time?

I don't know. Back then I learned that I didn't want to be there. I was afraid to be there. No, I was afraid that I lost everything. That I had it once.

You lost all your.

You lost all your money at one point, right?

Yeah, but. No, no, no. Not that time. I wasn't. At that time, I still had money. When I was in prison, I still had money. It wasn't no bank robbery and stuff, but I couldn't do nothing. So I was called. I was called my account to send money to her. Somebody needs money. I would still take care of my friends and their bills and stuff. But.

You'Re afraid you lost everything else. Yeah, like the titles, like the respect or.

Well, yes. Things you could have done if you didn't have the, what do you call it? Garbage on ya. What is this garbage here? You didn't have this garbage, but you could have coughed off. There's a lot of things a lot of people you could have coughed off. Oh man.

What do you think you could have accomplished had you not gone to jail?

Really good stuff, but I've accomplished it when I came out. Right. And I still wasn't happy. It was just all in my mind. All the things I thought I could accomplish, and only if I didn't win the jail was just a hallucination in my mind. I went to jail, I still accomplished everything. If not more than I thought I was going to accomplish.

'Cause you came out and you still won the title. Yeah, it just so-- you- made a bunch of money.

It was just an illusion, you know, it was chasing an illusion. It was just, it never existed, but it was in my head. When I was in my head, I was getting revenge for who? I'm no one, no one got you in jail with you, who am I getting revenge on? It's my head was, you know.

What happened to your life when you started studying spirituality more?

I don't know, spirituality is pretty tricky. you know, it's pretty much just letting it wing. You see, it's like, imagine if it was like this. And then you realize I can make it like this.

Yeah.

You know, spirituality, I don't know. It wipes everything. This is what spirituality is. It wipes everything that I ever believed. It makes it a lie. You know?

What did you used to believe? that makes it a lie now.

I believe just what everybody else had in me. Yeah, I believe that. Yeah, that's what I believe, you know? I believed all that crap. Wow. And everything then. So that's the paradigm shift with everything you've been taught your whole life. And then it comes the time you realize was a lie. Now, how do we start from there? well, we live in our lie. Yeah. We have to make up our own lie and live in this lie. You know, it's going to take it to even find if you checked and try to figure out to the day you die, you will never figure it out. It's based thousands and thousands and how many millions of lives and years of lives. And some people just dedicated their whole life to trying to figure out the lie and what this about it. They found out nothing. They had this big encyclopedia mind about wonderful things in history of the world and stuff, but we don't have the answer still. It's just a beautiful ride.

Just enjoy the ride.

Yeah.

Don't try to figure everything out.

There's no way it's a beautiful ride. We don't do that. That's human beings. We don't do that. We don't enjoy it. Not right. We gotta figure this out. This is not right. This is nice. This is how we are.

Do you think if you had- I.

Have to spoil something.

Yeah, I know.

Do you think if you had more peace in your heart, more love in your heart, in your 20s, 30s, do you think you would have enjoyed the ride more? And do you think would have been able to be as successful in the boxing world if you had peace and.

Love in your heart?

I didn't know. All my life I read about the conqueror, Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, Charlemagne, all these crazy gods, clovis, and all that. I read about these guys. You know what I mean? They declared themselves gods. You know, it depends. You think of great prophets, think of Jesus, Prophet Muhammad, that's what this book was in the time of Alexander the Great, he would eliminate them. They wouldn't exist anymore. Everything is proper timing, you know? In certain worlds, in certain times, they would never have existed.

When do you think was the moment you started to feel more peace in your heart, like inner peace?

I don't know. When I had the responsibility of just taking care of my family.

That's when it shifted more?

Yeah, after I tried to destroy it, it didn't work. And I said, well, I have to take care of this stuff. I have to really confront what am I gonna do here? You know? And then I said, this is what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna dedicate my life. And that was a mess too. And then eventually we have 10 years. You know, it worked out. You know, we have a great deal of respect for one another.

Where do you think you'd be if you had no kids right now?

I wouldn't exist. Really? No way.

Where would you be?

I don't know. Probably dead with AIDS or something. Rare in here wouldn't exist. Or maybe somebody would kill me for with their wife or girlfriend. You never know. Unless I'd be a junkie.

Wow.

Without kids, that's something that stable me.

Wow.

That's something that gave me any kind of meaning. Let kids the world, I don't give a. Wow. Yeah, we had a talk. Do you wish you would have had.

Kids younger then or?

No, I wouldn't accomplish my goals.

Everything's proper timing. Proper timing, yeah. Listen, you think you're playing checkers, you think you're, you're navigating your life, but you're not. Yeah. You know, you think, I know you say, why don't I just go ahead and do some drugs and get my life up there and Mike don't think I'm now getting my life and miss, you're just not, you're not programmed to do that then. And if you were programmed to do that, you're programmed to come back and rebound.

Right.

Your life is not meant to go there. It's just not meant to be. Wow.

What do you think is the lesson you still want to learn for yourself? Like the challenge you want to overcome still to make you a better person?

I can't, I can't ever find that. You know, because that lesson, that thing I want to realize is why me? Why is this happening? I'm going to figure it out.

What's the question you wish you could have answered?

Why is this, who am I? Why is my purpose here? You know, but I can make sense. I can say my purpose is to be the best person I could possibly be before I die. You know what I mean? That could be my purpose in life. See how far we can go in life before we die. You know, but suppose people don't think in that perspective. That's what I look who they told me, 'cause I'm talking some, I think I'm talking some glamorous. I'm talking some fly. And he was telling me on Mike, you know, there's some people that live in the outskirts of Ohio, so way that they have simple lives and that's all they want to do. Mike.

Enjoy the rest of your life.

You talking about nothing. Nothing. They afraid to die, they may need God, taking care of the kids, the people they love, or may go on a vacation, may never go on a vacation or leave the town, but this is just a simple life. this is what makes them happy. Yeah. And I really can't, you know, I come in the place, if you're nothing, if you ain't something, you're nothing. You know, isn't that so? Shower, is it not something? You know, what's my definition of something? Somebody went, motherfucking water, money in their pocket. I have no concept of humanity is what life is. Does that mean I have a water? I should be able to violate that person that doesn't. Wow. I don't know.

Yeah.

I'm lost again. Wow. I should have started with the flow. Mm-. Wow.

How did you learn to finally start.

Forgiving yourself for-- oh, that man, that happened, excuse my language, that must have happened yesterday or something. That stuff, you just don't do that stuff over night. It doesn't work like that. At least for me, it doesn't work like that.

Took a long time to figure that out.

Yeah, I think, because I only.

I.

Know my demons, and I realize in life, everybody's gonna really find them out eventually. You think you're gonna hide that, it doesn't work that way.

So you just started to forgive yourself on things, or it's happening every day?

Pretty much.

We don't come around yet. Wow. I'm not gonna, hey Mike, you did cool, man. God I love you, that's cool. I don't function, I don't think that. I don't think God leaves you to figure it out yourself. Is it cool, is it cool? If it's not, it's not, you figure it out.

Yeah.

And what are you most proud of in your life that you've done?

I'm proud that I'm existing. Yeah. I love to be alive. I know that many times I was alive. I'm proud to be alive and existing.

So how did you start to shift to get the respect again? Because it was 40 years of conditioning.

It was so hard. You just had to be available, you had to come to work, you had to show up, you know, you had to have gratitude.