"Know when good advice is being given and listen to it" – Danny Green

Yesterday the year 10 – 12 Sport & Recreation Students were lucky enough to be invited to the Byford Recreation Centre for a special presentation from professional boxer, Danny Green.

Danny was born and raised in Perth. He is a father of 2, the only Australian boxer to win four professional boxing world titles and is an active community spokesman.

Danny expressed that from a young age he always wanted to be a boxer. As a youth, he looked up to the likes of Sugar Ray Leonard, Tommy Hearns and of course, Muhammad Ali, who were his hero's.

Danny's class is second to none. This was evident through expressing the fact that boxing is not about hurting your opponent – it is about competing with your opponent. To the point where, during the fight, you actually gain a great deal of respect and their effort of ducking your shots and returning them becomes endearing.

In Year 11 he left school to pursue a carpentry apprenticeship. Even though he put everything into becoming a world-class boxer, he stressed the importance of having a profession to fall back on.

Because he was so set on becoming a great boxer, he had to sacrifice a lot of things; no parties, eat right and train hard; pushing through physical discomfort and earning his titles. He was so focussed on his goal that in his words "I would have eaten bricks if that's what they (his trainers) told me".

Even when he lost against Russian Nikolai "The Beast" Valuev in the 1998 Commonwealth Games, he was proud to represent the country and learnt from the experience.

In regards to setting goals, he expressed the sentiment that "no one's going to give you anything, you've got to take it". A firm vision, determination, passion and commitment is what will get you there.