In my corner: IBF world middleweight champion Daniel Geale is a nice guy with a killer edge

DANIEL Geale tells Grantlee Kieza how he balances watching TV cartoons alongside his kids with slugging it out against the world's toughest men

Daniel Geale

DANIEL Geale defends his IBF world middleweight boxing title against slick Englishman Darren Barker in New Jersey next month.

The mild-mannered giant-killer tells how he balances watching TV cartoons alongside his kids with slugging it out against the world's toughest men.

Sugar Ray Robinson always called boxing a "hurt business." It's brutal and bloody. You punch people for a living and risk your life against vicious men. How can you slug it out one minute then become suburban dad the next?

Coming down from the adrenalin rush of sparring and fighting can be tricky. But I've been a boxer for more than 20 years now. I started in Launceston when I was nine years old and I'm 32 now. Boxing is brutal but I still regard it as a sport. To me it's never personal. I don't go out there to hurt someone. Even when I'm going for the knockout, my idea is just to land more punches than the opponent. Some fighters talk tough and get very edgy before a fight having to make weight and with the nerves of the big occasion. But my wife and three kids calm me down rather than fire me up.

You always come across as mild-mannered but do you ever lose your temper at home?

Sometimes I get cranky, for sure. If the kids need to be told off, I'll do that. But normally I'm pretty relaxed. When a fight gets closer and things get edgier, my wife Sheena knows not to bother me too much with things. The kids are terrific at keeping me level-headed. They make sure I'm always down to earth. When I unified the world title in Germany (against Felix Sturm) they said they wanted to watch cartoons instead of my fight. My eldest boy (Bailey, 8) said to me the other day he wouldn't mind watching one of my fights now. I said "OK mate, I'll put one of them on the TV for you" and he said "No, not today Dad, not today." He still hasn't got back to me about it.

You've been called the nicest guy in boxing. But let's be honest to be a prizefighter, especially a world champion, you have to have plenty of mongrel?

Of course you need a hard edge inside. I've been through that problem early on in my career when I thought I didn't have enough of that killer instinct to make it as a pro. People said I was too nice. But I worked out where I needed to be and over the years I've been able to develop that focus on winning at all costs. Early on in my career there were fights when I should have gone harder but I don't make that mistake anymore.

Do you wish you had more of that killer instinct in your rematch with Anthony Mundine in January? He said some very hurtful things. You and Sheena are both Indigenous Australians but he attacked you for not being as 'Aboriginal' as him.

I don't hold a grudge but I don't have a lot of respect for Anthony because of things he's said over the years, including the things he said about me and my family. As soon as he started attacking me personally and saying things about my wife and kids, I knew he was a beaten man. He was resorting to whatever desperate tactics he could to try to rattle me. I was angry at the time but I didn't fall into his trap. It didn't faze me. A lot of people were surprised by the way he went on but I half expected him to say outrageous things. I just didn't think he'd stoop that low.

You virtually won every round but after the fight he said he was ripped off by the judges. That must have upset you?

Even if I'd knocked him cold, he would have still carried on about something and created some controversy. He always has an excuse. I was determined just to win the fight and not make any mistakes. I caught him very early and hurt him but Anthony is very experienced and cagey. He knows how to survive and I felt early in the fight that he was in survival mode. He wasn't fighting to win, he was doing everything he could to last the distance and he wouldn't engage.

The score between you is 1-1, although your win in the rematch was emphatic. Would you fight him again to finish the argument?

I think I've moved on. None of the world boxing bodies have Anthony rated in their top 10. Anthony keeps saying he's aiming to fight a top American to qualify for another world title shot. He's talking about fighting Shane Mosley next. Shane was a great fighter once but he's 41 now and only had one win from his last five fights. If Anthony was to beat one of the top five middleweights in the world instead, it would go a long way to securing a third fight between us.

What are the chances of him beating one of the top five middleweights in the world?

About zero-point-zero.

You're fighting Englishman Darren Barker in Atlantic City, New Jersey on August 17. You've been on a collision course for a long time.

He and I both won gold at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester and we were in the same draw at the 2003 world amateur titles in Bangkok. I've seen some of his pro fights and he seems very confident about beating me. He's a smart boxer, a real thinker. He's nice and rangy and he likes to pick people off; use his speed, skills, footwork and frustrate people. He fought the WBC champ Sergio Martinez and was able to out-think him for much of the fight until he made a couple of bad errors and was stopped late. Barker has a lot of ability. He has a similar style to me.

If he's that good, how can you beat him?

Barker probably doesn't have my workrate he likes to dictate and control, move and jab and keep long but he doesn't throw the volume of punches that I do. It's going to be a bit of a chess match. It will come down to who wants it the most and I'm sure I want the title more.

You have a deadly rival at the moment in WBA middleweight champ Gennady Golovkin of Kazakhstan who has 27 fights, 27 wins, 24 by knockout. Many are saying he's the best in the world.

I fought Golovkin as an amateur at the East Asia Games in Osaka in 2001. I fought terribly and he beat me on points. He's dangerous but there are chinks in his armour. He just knocked out another British fighter named Matthew Macklin. I thought it would be a close fight but Golovkin knocked him out in three rounds. At the moment he has everyone bluffed. But he can't bluff me. I know exactly what he's got and I would love to fight him again. To beat Golovkin you have to show that you're not scared of him and that you're willing to go with him if he wants to throw bombs. You need good footwork and you have to be able to bang him back. I know I have good feet and I also know that he hasn't been tested by someone who can drag him into the late rounds. I felt his power, the guy is strong definitely and he can punch hard. But I've been in there with some pretty decent punchers.

What's the worst you've been hurt in boxing?

I've been lucky. The worst injuries I've had are damaged hands, ligament and tendon damage. They heal over time. Touch wood I haven't had any breaks but I've also had damaged ankles, knees, shoulders. Nothing major. I've had plenty of black eyes and bleeding noses but that's not too bad considering for every fight I'll spar up to 150 rounds. My style is to be elusive and the way that I box, I try to keep injury at bay. I'm not the type of fighter who walks in and gets hit with two punches to land one. I regard myself as an intelligent boxer.

Your first job was frying chicken at KFC in Launceston. Now you're the star attraction in multi-million dollar fights being beamed around the world. Do you ever pinch yourself?

Sometimes. The family finances have definitely improved. When Sheena and I moved to Sydney from Tassie we struggled to pay the rent on a one-bedroom unit at Redfern. I did some labouring and some personal training and we lived off my credit card, hoping to get a fight to pay it off each month. We struggled our butts off for years. It's such a relief that all the hard work has turned things around. I'm lucky to have had good people with me and I'm so proud about what I've been able to do for my family. We've been able to buy a house and live much more comfortably.

You're facing the biggest fight of your life against a guy who wants to ruin your career and take your world title. Millions of people will be watching. How do you relax?

I've been invited to a few charity golf days and they're always fun. But mostly I spend whatever free time I have with my wife and kids.

For the latest boxing news, check out Grantlee Kieza's In My Corner at foxsports.com.au