“I have the blood of many nations on my gloves. Fought and beat on the world stage. You have a pint in your hand and a Celtic jersey in your local. F**k you and the Queen.”

There are no more interesting people in sport than those in the fight game. None. Consider their minds and bodies for a minute. What they do, how they do it, why they do it. The difference between winning and losing, the risk versus reward that makes up the psychology as well as the physiology.

It’s why you’ve always jumped at the opportunity to chat with fighters and it’s why, when in April 2013, the sports editor of the Examiner mentioned that you should talk to a name you’d never