\n Over coffee \u2013 \u201cthe one thing I can enjoy\u201d in the weight-cut period of fight week, Nolan says \u2013 the Botcherby man unpeels the many layers beneath his bare-knuckle bow. At the forefront of his life today is Be The Example: a mindset, fitness and community movement rooted in Nolan\u2019s eventful past.\n<\/p>\n
\n Nolan hopes his bare-knuckle escapades can bring further publicity to Be The Example, which he has grown from an online initiative into a wider scheme that will soon include a new gym. People from disadvantaged backgrounds, and indeed anyone who needs the benefit of new structure, discipline and support, are the target audience as Nolan seeks to \u201cgive something back\u201d.\n<\/p>\n
\n First, he prepares for battle in the ring. Nolan has plenty of experience in boxing and coaching but fighting with unprotected fists under the lights is a new venture. \u201cWhenever I\u2019ve boxed or coached, I just say to people, \u2018Play the game\u2019. But bare-knuckle fighting is absolutely not a game,\u201d he says.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThere\u2019s two men there willing and wanting to seriously hurt each other. I\u2019m expecting to be nervous. I\u2019m expecting to be worried. I\u2019m expecting to feel uncomfortable. But I\u2019m going to win. I\u2019ve lived a high-pressure life and I\u2019ve coped well with it. There are five rounds but I have no interest in going that far. I\u2019m going to stop him.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Nolan says he respects Ferguson, a tough Newcastle native who is experienced in these circles, with dozens of gloved fights without being stopped, as well as several bare-knuckle bouts. But he says he approaches the show in top condition thanks to his nutrition plan and training with Iain Martin at Strength Shack.\n<\/p>\n
\n Win or lose, he feels stepping into BKFC will bring benefits beyond fight night. \u201cWhen I got offered the fight, I thought I would take it because of the growth it would give Be The Example \u2013 the chance to grow my socials and the recognition of the movement I\u2019m trying to create, tenfold. As it becomes closer, the fear-slash-excitement grows, of the fact you\u2019re going to stand up to another man with nothing to protect yourself but your bare hands.\n<\/p>\n
\n Nolan says: (Image: News & Star)\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI may come out of it and say I\u2019m never doing it again. I might come out and go, \u2018Wow, let\u2019s do that again\u2019. I think they [BKFC] have put me in there just to make up the numbers. But I\u2019m ready to cause an upset.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Nolan says he is not averse to the unforgiving nature of bare-knuckle and this begins to touch on his past. \u201cI wasn\u2019t a bad kid, but I lived in Botcherby back in the late-90s and early-2000s when, if you had an argument with a kid in the park, it wasn\u2019t on the phone. So I\u2019m not foreign to getting punched in the face, or punching someone in the face, as bad as that may sound. I\u2019ve accepted that you can\u2019t go swimming without getting wet.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Nolan takes a sip of his coffee as we go deeper into this. His tale is very much rooted in a difficult childhood, which shaped him. \u201cOur household was a bit crazy. Anger was the answer. If you didn\u2019t get something correct, get angry. If you\u2019re embarrassed, or want to cry, get angry.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Family circumstances, he says, led him to \u201cunknowingly take on the role of trying to be the man of the family\u201d, helping his younger brothers. \u201cI started boxing at the age of ten because I was an insecure, scared young boy that wanted a way to protect myself,\u201d he adds.\n<\/p>\n
\n Nolan says he found structure in boxing at Currock House, and peers to look up to, which were not always present in other areas of his life. Work also offered discipline. He says he barely attended school yet a teenage work placement with Graeme Howe Fencing changed him. \u201cI was tiny when I went there, and they watched me grow from a scrawny 14-year-old with not a hair on his face into a man. I got treated with respect. I learned how to work, learned my own value and learned I could actually do stuff that people said I couldn\u2019t.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n The Botcherby man, right, hopes his BKFC debut can help him grow his Be The Example movement (Image: Studio Tu i Tam Photography – Grzegorz Banbula)\n<\/p>\n
\n A college course followed as Nolan qualified as a joiner and, along the way, continued to dabble in boxing, training at Currock House yet also dropping out of the sport for a while, in his words, \u201cbeing a bit of a loser\u201d. He later returned to the sport elsewhere and boxed in unlicensed fights, amassing a good winning record. Coaching followed, at Border City, as he looked to nurture his son and others in boxing, before a severe injury changed his path.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe were busy at work one day, me and my business partner, and it was nice weather, so I suggested going paddle boarding in the Lakes. He was like, \u2018Micky, we\u2019re too busy\u2019.\u201d They decided to settle the decision with a bench-press contest in the gym \u2013 but Nolan ripped his pectoral muscle so thoroughly that a spell in A&E, and then a lengthy stint in hospital, was needed.\n<\/p>\n
\n During this time he contracted sepsis, and multiple operations were needed. \u201cBefore the final operation, to cut all the dead tissue and stuff out, I pleaded with the surgeon in the anaesthetist room not to debride it \u2013 which would mean it would be completely detached again. They said they would try their best \u2013 but when they woke me up they said they\u2019d done a full debridal. And they said I would lose 60 per cent usage of my arm. I wouldn\u2019t coach again. I wouldn\u2019t box.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI was heartbroken. When my wife rang to ask how the operation had gone, I cried my eyes out.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Yet from there a \u201cstubbornness\u201d took hold. Nolan says he did his rehab in the gym so that he could stay active and fall into a helpful routine, to keep mind and body stable. As his body repaired, he began tentatively moving towards boxing again. \u201cI was weak as anything. But I wanted to make the best of whatever I could do.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Having toyed with the thought of returning boxing for years, a new resolve took hold \u2013 and, during his time of reflection, the idea for Be The Example had also rooted. \u201cWhen I woke up, I thought I\u2019d taken for granted being a capable human being, being fit and healthy. I felt I\u2019d wasted that part of life. As time went on I felt I wanted people to see how small, simple, daily disciplines can open your eyes to what we\u2019re capable of as people.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWhen I was younger, everyone was out on bikes, playing tiggy, football \u2013 the streets were full of kids who were physically capable, physically active. Now they\u2019re not. They\u2019re on computers or electric bikes, electric scooters. When was the last time you saw a kid climbing a tree?\n<\/p>\n
\n Nolan recovered from an injury that risked removing 60 per cent of the use of his arm in order to earn a chance with the BKFC (Image: Studio Tu i Tam Photography – Grzegorz Banbula)\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI thought I wanted to bring it back to people. I\u2019m not going to change the world, but I want them to realise that through boxing, through physical education, we can understand what we\u2019re capable of.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Nolan says he had also helped his young nephew \u2013 \u201ca very naughty kid\u201d \u2013 find discipline through work and boxing. \u201cHe\u2019d been kicked out of school\u2026so we got him working. As he got more confident, it became very apparent that this bad young lad \u2013 bad mannered, disrespectful, misbehaving \u2013 was just a very under-confident kid. Once his confidence built, his manners grew, he stood taller, shook people\u2019s hands.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n This experience also informed Be The Example. Nolan began posting daily disciplines online, such as taking cold plunges, and invited others to participate. He says a \u201chuge group of men\u201d duly got involved and this soon mushroomed into a community of people who needed something to belong to, who craved the discipline.\n<\/p>\n
\n The next stage will be a gym that is soon set to open. \u201cI want to create classes for adults, be that deprived adults, or adults who just want to be better. I want to affiliate with England Boxing so that children have a pathway to progress. I also want to be involved with the probation services and places like the Gillford Centre [the pupil referral unit in Carlisle], and give a structured plan towards getting some physical education.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI hope it can help people or families who are struggling. When someone comes out of jail, for example, they might be judged straight away by a probation officer holding a piece of paper. We\u2019ve got to overstep that judgement and build a relationship. One of the massive things I\u2019ve learned from coaching is the look on someone\u2019s face when they realise they can do something for the first time.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWhen I was a kid, and someone said, \u2018Good sparring today, Mickey\u2019, I went home the best I\u2019d ever felt. For some kids that might be the first pat on the back they\u2019ve had. When it comes to men, I don\u2019t want to cause any offence to other charities, because they are incredible, but this \u2018It\u2019s ok to talk\u2019 thing should only be part of it. Yes, it\u2019s very important to talk, but there\u2019s a lot to be said for physical stuff as well. You can relate without even realising.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe\u2019re all a bit knackered as people \u2013 that\u2019s what I said in one of our tough sessions. I said next time you see someone struggling, and they look across for a second, just give them a nod and get back to doing it. Sometimes as men that\u2019s all we need \u2013 that little moment of recognition. Not just, \u2018Are you ok?\u2019 That comes when you\u2019ve got that rapport.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Nolan says the initiative of Be The Example has helped his own state of mind too, while he has been struck by how many men have told him it has helped them, including some who have been suicidal. It may help that they can relate to someone who has had his own troubles and to this end Nolan is open about his own time in prison.\n<\/p>\n
\n Be The Example is Nolan’s movement which covers mindset, fitness and community (Image: Submitted)\n<\/p>\n
\n He served four weeks in jail following a conviction several years ago, and says the experience forced him to confront the consequences of his actions on his family, and the need for discipline. Inside, Nolan also says he realised how some inmates were \u201cgood lads who just don\u2019t have the discipline around them in the real world. Some were polite to staff, polite to others. Yet when they come out, they fall victim to the lack of structure again.\u201d He also read The Art of Resilience, a book by the ultra-marathon runner and extreme sportsman Ross Edgley \u2013 \u201cthe first book I\u2019ve read in my adult life\u201d \u2013 and learned more about the benefits of challenging oneself and pushing through hard times.\n<\/p>\n
\n Nolan believes that his desire to grow from this, and spread a positive message, led to the unexpected offer from the BKFC. And so, alongside his philosophies \u2013 \u201cNothing in your life is finite\u2026don\u2019t allow life to live you\u2026you can always make it better\u201d \u2013 now comes the more urgent business of a middleweight bare-knuckle fight in a big city. He heads to Newcastle with the support of sponsors including Strength Shack, Tap a Taxi, Top Boys Designer Basements and C&M Motors, and with a realistic outlook on what awaits him.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIn the ring, I usually like to create a bit of space and thinking time,\u201d Nolan says. \u201cBut if I get caught, and end up having a fight, so be it. It\u2019s two pretty heavy men with bare hands. If you just start giving it to each other, someone\u2019s going down. I truly believe it can\u2019t be me. It can\u2019t be me.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Images via https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/studiotuitam.photography\/<\/a>\n<\/p>\n \n For more information on BKFC Fight Night Newcastle, visit the BKFC website HERE<\/a>\n<\/p>\n