View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Scott Dixon (@scottsuperdixon)

How did you get into boxing? And what happened in the early days?

Early days, I was always destined to be a prize fighter. My grandfather was a famous boxing trainer/coach and was a saviour of lost souls. He used to help take a lot of kids off of the streets and we lived in a rough area outside of Glasgow. There were lots of juvenile delinquents knocking around.

It was a rough place. My grandad use to help the ways and strays of society. The first time I put boxing gloves on I was five years old. My first amateur boxing fight was when I was seven. That’s unheard of nowadays. I fought without a head guard. I didn’t really have a choice, my grandfather drilled it into me that you had to be in the gym everyday, eat properly and do things correctly. I wanted to go out with friends on the weekend. I was never allowed to do so and I didn’t have a say in the matter. It was just box box box. God rest his soul he passed away five years ago and he made me the man I am today. I’m so grateful to have had that man in my life.

I was boxing from seven years old. I had thirty fights before I was twelve. I had 101 amateur fights before I turned 17. I was a baby when I turned pro – 54 kilos – I hadn’t even hit puberty yet. 

My grandad was an amateur boxer, he fought until he was 46 years old, he never turned pro and which ironically is the age I am today. So this will likely be my final year of boxing. I don’t want to surpass what he achieved. This might be my last fight and it’s the final destination. There will never be another man like him.

Toby Dixon. I’d be happy to get the same end result as my grandfather. If I could become 1% of the gentleman he was in life, then I’d be happy.

I was 19 pro fights undefeated under boxing coach, Alex Morrison. He was a big tough man from Glasgow – he was a kinda hard hard man. From Dennistoun. He guided me beautifully.

I wasn’t just fighting nobodies. I was fighting ex-British champions after four fights and I was producing the goods. Super stardom was en-route. I just had to stay on the ball.

The early days (continued)…

Back home is a crazy crazy place. Glasgow is a tough place to grow up. There’s not many ways to get out of that ghetto. There’s only a few ways to get out. One is dying, one is going to prison and one is ‘you make it in sports’. I fought for my first world title against a guy called Michael Caruth. He won a gold medal at the Barcelona 1992 Olympics. 

Anyway, the referee called a split decision. He won the fight 117-116 even though I battered him and took him out. The famous Freddie Tait had ripped me off. The paddies were disgusted with the outcome. You have to experience defeat to appreciate victory. I then spiralled after the defeat. I didn’t want to go out, I just wanted to sit in a dark room. I felt embarrassed that I hadn’t accomplished what I wanted to do. It was just a minor setback and looking back I shouldn’t have let it get to me.

After that I got back and my contract had expired with Alex Morrison after three years. I had an offer from the Peacock gym in Canning Town in London. Did my trial with them. It was a rough gym. And I ended up in there. I sparred one of their top guys, Shaka Zulu. I gave him a boxing lesson. I handed it to him.

Signed with them and they gave me a house on the docklands – absolute shithole back then – and a brand new Jaguar. At this point I’m thinking. Wow, this is what it’s all about. I got a sponsorship with Puma. Then I got a sponsor with Ford. 

I was only twenty years old at this point. I’m seasoned already and wanted to knock on the championship doors. Then I got a British title shot against Derek Roach – who was unbeaten in 29 fights. It won fight of the year. I ended up losing the fight by one point.

There was no love lost – I knew I could compete with the best domestic fighters in the UK. This guy had demolished everybody. Then for my Commonwealth title fight. I won it hands down. York Hall in Bethnal Green – where I had most of my title fights. They used to call me the “Jockney Kid”.

I had a beautiful career after that. 

So why did you move to Malta?

I was in Glasgow in 2004 and I used to work security on the door of a bar in Shawlands in Glasgow. Then these two Maltese girls came in for last orders. They came in for a drink and we then went to an afterparty. This Maltese girl was in Scotland for a month, we started seeing each other and then she fell pregnant with my baby. So I always knew that I had a kid here. So then in 2005, I decided to move over. It was grey and miserable in Scotland. 

First time I came across with my Mother, my mum liked it and she’d seen the baby. Then in 2005, I had a small problem with the law back in Glasgow. There was this bully who was causing problems and he’d hit a close, close friend of mine. I ended up fighting him, and I really did a job on the guy. I was then arrested for attempted murder but I still had my passport in hand. My lawyer said ‘why don’t you go away for a bit and recharge in a sunny place?’ My lawyer said they (the police) wanted to make an example of me being a prize fighter. 

The case was then thrown out in the UK. When I moved here I also worked security on the doors and tried to integrate into society. London and Glasgow are 100 miles per hour, it’s a rat race. Then I found myself in a place where everything goes slow and people are horizontal. But I was happier and in the sunshine.

I was arrested in 2009 – and I have to watch what I say about this, because I don’t want to incriminate myself. I’m an innocent man with regards to this. One of the guys that was caught said that he worked for me, which was preposterous. I’m a boxer, a life coach, a trainer. This guy trained in my gym and it was a question of wrong place, wrong time. 

Myself and my legal team had no doubt that we’d walk away from this. In Malta, they call it ‘mala fama’ – trying to destroy someone’s reputation as such. That case has been going twelve years, so I’ve been on bail for twelve years. Justice will prevail and I’m an innocent man. I’ll stand by that.

Who are your favourite boxers? What’s the local boxing talent like in Malta? And if not boxing, what sport would you have gotten into?

I like to go back to the old days. Sugar Ray Robinson used to fight 30-40 times a year. Doing proper fights. It’s totally changed now – it’s hard to compare fighters from any era. Boxing has become a business – there’s definitely the circus aspect with people like Jake Paul. Boxing is more business-oriented these days, and people have to move with the times.

I’d have loved to have fought Oscar De La Hoya. He was a seven or eight time world champion. He was class. I was number five in the world. He was number one. I’d have loved to have fought him. He actually wrote the introduction in my book.

My favourite current fighter is Tyson Fury – the gypsy king’ – who’s actually an ambassador of Wow Hydrate Maltam which myself and my business partner own here. We won best sports drink last year. Harry Maguire is an ambassador too. We sponsor some of the top fighters here in Malta. We’re flooding the island with the drink.

The Maltese talent is good. I’m training a half-Maltese, half-Tunisian kid called Haithem Laamouz – we also have a top fighter Malik Zinad – he’s Libyan by way of Malta. He can fight for sure. We have some good champions here. Most of the fighters in Malta have come through me at one point or another. 

If I hadn’t have gone into boxing it would’ve been football. I’m a big Glasgow Rangers fan. I’d have been a footballer. I played with Glasgow Rangers through the youth project but I was never really good enough. I don’t think my Grandpa would’ve let me play football. I’d have played as a striker. Right-handed and left-footed. I’m a bit back to front.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by WOW.HYDRATE.MT (@wow.hydrate.mt)

What do you like and dislike about Malta?

The sunshine and the climate. The people are really good. Don’t get me wrong you get the good the bad and the ugly. I don’t like Kinnie and cheesecakes. I know I’m going to get a bit of flack for that. I’ve been too blessed with Scottish cuisine that’s the problem.

Malta is a blank canvass. Malta reminds me of Marbella thirty years ago, a bit like the wild wild west.

What’s the strangest thing that has ever happened to you?

I remember in 2010/2011 I was dating a girl and her ex-husband was a political figure. I’m not going to mention any names. This was common knowledge though. People know this. What happened was, my friend called me one night. He said there’s a seven foot Polish fella looking for you, he’s got a photograph of you. I went to the bar – I asked where he was – and turns out he was in the toilet. So I went in, grabbed the guy and asked him why he was looking for me. 

The guy panicked. Turns out this political figure – here in Malta – had hired a hitman from Poland to come and dispose of me. So what we did, we took him back to my apartment and made him give us a video confession. He showed us the emails from the guy. 

The emails said stuff like ‘I’ll buy you a gun, nine millimetre with a silencer – I’ll pay you fifty thousand upfront, and fifty thousand once Dixon is disposed of.’

So I’ve been through the wars. We gave the video confession to my ex-girlfriend. She took it to homicide and like magic, it disappeared and was thrown out here in Malta in the courts. To this day I’ve never seen the guy that was causing me so many trials and tribulations. The guy was a jealous man with a lot of power. He was sacked from his post, and the case was thrown out. This place is crazy, anything can happen.

If there was a film to be made about you, who would you want to play Scott Dixon?

That’s a fantastic question – who could play me? It would have to be someone of a similar age to me. I train a lot of celebs too, back in March and April I was training Frank Grillo. He could play me, he’s got hair right enough, but he could shave it off. We’ve become good friends. He wanted me to go to LA and train him and look after him. But with this court case hanging over my head I can’t really go. I’d need special permission until this case is over. This is the one from 2009.

Once the case is over, I could see myself as a celebrity trainer, stunt man. Something in acting maybe.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Scott Dixon (@scottsuperdixon)

What’s the story behind your tattoos? 

I don’t know really. It started with a little set of boxing gloves with my grandad’s name above it. Then it was a snowball effect. Now I’ve got 35-40 tattoos. It’s a boxing thing – what statement am I trying to make? My tattoos have stories. So wherever I’m working or training, I’ll get a new one.

Some people might look at me and I’ve got a few on my face and my head. Some people might look at me and think, who’s this rough tough nasty individual? But I challenge them to converse with me for five minutes and they’ll realise I’m a gentleman like my grandad was.

How is your book ‘Super: The Road From Hell’ doing? Tell us about that…

I’ve got the book rights back to me finally. The publisher had ripped me off and they haven’t paid me one penny so I got my legal team to get in touch. They reverted all the rights back to me and they had made a bogus claim that a ghostwriter had come out the woodwork who claimed he wrote it all. This was bullshit, he was an opportunist. 

The guy actually passed away recently. You could say God dealt with him for his lies. It was americanised and the book has been selling in Walmart and everywhere. I’d like to revamp the book though and change it and rebrand it in a godly manner. I speak a lot about Jesus Christ in the book, so let’s do one for Jesus.

And finally, what’s next for Super Scotty Dixon?

I’ve done a few movies in the past. I did the fight scene in Gangster number one with Malcolm McDowell. It’s all been choreographed fight scenes. I was also the body double for Brad Pitt in Snatch by Guy Ritchie.

I was in the gym one day – I was always quite aggressive and I could feel this guy’s eyes on me – and it was Guy Ritchie. I said ‘an I help you mate?’, and he asked ‘what height are you?’

I said the same height as Jesus. He said, how tall was Jesus. 

I said, “six foot – accordingly’.

He told me he was shooting a film and its original name was ‘Diamonds’ but become ‘Snatch’. And he was looking for a body double. I said I’d love to try it – I went to the audition and got it first time. I trained Brad Pitt. And what a movie – it’s still a legendary film. I met Jennifer Aniston and Madonna at the film party. 

I really enjoyed it. I can see myself doing that. I’d love to have a career in acting. I’ve definitely got the looks, the charisma, the face to play one of the bad guys in the next James Bond movie. Holding a cat. Like something from pussy galore.

I remember training Jason Statham. He told me of how he was spotted by Guy Ritchie on a building site – eating a bacon roll on.

I can definitely see myself in that industry. Fight scenes, acting, personal training. To finish. I’d say: do as I say, not as I do and life will run smoothly.

Tag someone who needs to read this