This is going to be brilliant.
Irish boxing hero, Paddy Barnes, is SportsJOE’s latest columnist and we just can’t wait until he gets going.
The Belfast-born fighter is set to record a series of video blogs for us on his bid to make the 2016 Olympics in Rio.
Now, the light flyweight sets us up with a witty and fascinating question and answer series where he talks about his training, the upcoming national championships, what he’d change about boxing and just what exactly he has really failed at in life…
We’ll say this, he has set the bar high for our columnists.
Paddy, you’re going to be treating SportsJOE.ie to a Road to Rio video series. What can we expect along that journey?
You’ll see what training goes into being a high performance boxer. What it takes and what a boxer goes through to qualify for the Olympics and how tough it is. You’ll see bits of the downtime as well, what I do in my spare time and how I relax.
You’ve been down this road before. Are you doing anything differently in the build-up to these Olympics?
It’s more or less the same stuff. Obviously we have different techniques, different moves we work on. You’re always evolving as a boxer, you can’t stay the same because, if you’re the same, everybody will just work you out and beat you so you have to keep on improving.
That must be particularly relevant coming into the Nationals in January going for your eighth title. These boys must be really familiar with you by now.
Yeah, they all know the way I box so obviously they’re going to try to work their tactics around to beat me. But hopefully it never happens.
You’re coming off the back of another Commonwealth title, you must be flying at the moment heading into a big year in 2015.
Yeah, my confidence is sky high, too. Especially getting to the qualifiers for Rio, I’m in a good place at the minute. Next year, you could say that the World Championships in Qatar is one of my main targets. I’ve got the European Games in the summer and you have to qualify for the World Championships through them. But I have another thing, the World Series of Boxing and I could possibly qualify for the Olympics by April through that so that’s another one I’m aiming for next year. That starts in January.
This Road to Rio video blog is really going to take us around the world with you then?
More or less. When I’m fighting in the WSB, I think my first fight is in Kazakhstan. I have a fight in Algeria, Italy and probably Poland, I’m not sure. So I will be everywhere really.
You’ve won two bronze medals at two different Olympics. What’s the aim for Rio 2016?
Gold. It has to be gold. There’s no point in doing all this training for nothing. I was so close the last time so I don’t see why I couldn’t get gold.
Young boxers can really look at the journey from where you’ve started to where you are now as a good learning curve, can’t they?
I started boxing when I was 11. I lost my first 12 fights but I just kept going on, I kept training. When I lost the first 12, I didn’t get beat up, they were close but, eventually, I started winning a few fights here and there and I just stuck at it. I started to improve a bit and then I won the All-Ireland title and my confidence just grew from there and I started winning different titles then and it was good. I just stuck at it.
What’s the last movie you watched?
Iron Man 3.
Beards, yes or no?
Not for me, no.
If you were to be reincarnated as an animal, what would you be?
An eagle.
If you had to get a sporting tattoo, what would you get?
I have one already, the Olympic rings.
One sporting rule you’d change?
That you’d be allowed to put people in a headlock in boxing.
Who’s your sporting hero?
Tony McCoy.
If you weren’t a boxer what would you be?
A footballer.
Favourite cartoon character?
Mickey Mouse
What’s the one life skill you have failed to master?
Just life in general.
