After just three weeks 12 Rounds With Johnny Boxer is officially the number 1 downloaded feature on HEAVY so to celebrate we hit Bobo with a few extra questions this week and got some outrageous and sometimes heartfelt answers from the great man,
This week’s questions include cricket, Motorhead, bouncing, his beautiful partner, beaking (you have to listen to find out!) and a personal shout out from the boys in Kaosphere. From this week we will also be giving you a weekly chapter on the life and history of Australia’s most loved Pizza Chef so make sure you read the piece underneath the interview to get more in-depth with J.B.
Words by Louise Crothers
Stepping back onto the set of Fat Pizza shortly, the man behind ‘Bobo’ knows all too well about taking second steps…
Hammering it around the suburban streets of Campsie (circa 1975)cutting through Belmore oval and down under the railway bridge, a 17yr old Johnny B felt alive with the wind through his hair, heart accelerated by fury.
Minutes earlier he’d had a heated back and forth with his concerned father who’d threatened to go at his beloved 750 Honda with an axe. He wanted JB rid of it or else!
What did Johnny do? He slipped out the door and downstairs of their apartment block, kicked it over with reckless adrenaline fuelling his rebellious escape.
Burning it up a hill at 160km p/h he locked it up at an intersection to a car that’s gone through a Give Way not seeing him coming.
His last memory would be the loud screeching of burning rubber. There was no stopping the inevitable. This young all-round athlete (a state representative)smacked into the oncoming vehicle at full force. Johnny was thrown 70 metres from his bike and wouldn’t see the light of day again for 6 long months.
Fast forward 40+ years and a 59yr old Boxer waits in a pre-op room before being wheeled away for a six-hour surgery on his right leg in the hope it’ll rid him of the pain he’d silently suffered for so many years.
Little did he know that there’d be complications and far more surgeries ahead over the next 2 years taking it into late 2020.
He’s had to learn to slow down.
But you can’t stop this guy…
So fire away with your questions while he’s idling, as you never know when he’ll cut loose again. Good luck catching him then!
Wanna know a tale or two about his time bouncing in the Cross? Or about his time doing time? How he fell onto your tv screens? Each week you’ll go on a new ride…
