“I couldn’t see out of my right eye because of the blood,” Luke Bibby tells the room.
“It must have been about a gallon of blood that I lost.
“I had to improvise.”
The Perth boxing champion is recalling the moment he took a brutal blow to the head in a match against Artem Pugach at the Caledonia Gladiators arena in East Kilbride on February 8 – just three days ago.
Why pro boxer Luke Bibby is at Perth Prison
We are at HMP Perth where 24-year-old Luke is regaling 40 prisoners (and myself) with tales of his successful boxing career thus far.
He joined the pro scene last January after rising up the ranks as an amateur.
It is part of the prison’s push to raise awareness of the benefits of sports rehabilitation for prisoners.
Last year, Luke was the UK’s busiest pro boxer, competing in eight fights.
He won them all.
Back to the aforementioned “head clash”.
“Did you feel any fear when that happened?” an inmate asks.
It is one of dozens of questions being fired at Luke, who is still black and blue from his most recent fight.
“A lot of people would have downed their tools then,” he responds thoughtfully. “But I knew I had to adapt.”
He adds: “I enjoyed it though.”
The same can’t be said for his family, who were watching from the sidelines.
‘My family were freaking out big time’
Luke says: “I was thinking at the time, ‘I wonder how they’re coping’
“Muy mum and dad hate it.
“My sister was greeting her eyes out.
“They were all freaking out big time.
“But once they knew I was alright, they were alright”.
Luke held onto his “unbeaten” record when he won the fight.
Another question from the attentive group: “How did you celebrate afterwards?”
“McDonald’s. Then bed. I was knackered,” Luke says.
“Let me see your stitches,” a prisoner says.
Luke obliges.
“F***ing hell mate,” comes to the response.
Perth Railway Boxing Club promotes ‘positive’ impact of boxing in city
This is the second time Luke has delivered a presentation about his boxing career to inmates at HMP Perth.
He is joined by Alan Stewart, secretary of Perth Railway Boxing Club.
The club, where Luke’s fighting career began at age 15, has long worked with disadvantaged groups in the city to share the “positive influence” of boxing.
The pair bounce off one another as Luke discusses the highlights of what has been “full on” 12 months.
It has seen him train in LA and rub shoulders with many of his fighting heroes, including Terence Crawford, Roberto Duran, Marco Antonio Barrera, Prince Naseem Hamad and Andre ward.
Many of the inmates here tonight are part of the prison’s Box Fit training programme – one of several rehabilitation initiatives on offer – and follow Luke’s fights closely.
The session was organised by Tom Martin, head of offender outcomes at HMP Perth, with a view to inspiring the prisoners.
He tells me: “Luke is a great example of what hard work, commitment and personal discipline can achieve.
“Boxing is a sport that encourages respect.
“Luke’s values inspire people to become better.
“It is great to work with him to do that in HMP Perth.”
The men – who appear to be mostly in their 20s, 30s and 40s – are certainly interested.
‘Whirlwind’ six-day trip to Saudi Arabia to fight
Particularly when it comes to Luke’s last-minute trip to Saudi Arabia to be part of the build-up to Tyson Fury’s rematch with Oleksandr Usyk last December.
The lightweight fighter tells the room about the surprise call he took from his trainer Billy Nelson telling him he’d been invited to Riyadh to fight Englishman Kirk Stevens.
He says: “I got the call on a Thursday and had to fly on the Sunday.
“I was there for six days. It was a bit of a whirlwind. It was over in a flash.
“It just shows the importance of being in shape. If I hadn’t been in shape then I wouldn’t have been able to take the opportunity.”
Then come the questions: What was Saudi like? How did it come about? How did you cope with the heat?
Luke answers them all with warmth and humour.
Then highlights from the fight are played on a TV screen.
It shows Luke swaggering into the ring as the dramatic tones of a commentator introduce him as a “Perthsire protege”.
“Looking good mate,” says one prisoner encouragingly.
“We should start getting your matches live in here”, another says, which gets a round of laughter.
What did inmates think of Luke Bibby’s visit?
The presentation seems to have struck a chord with the inmates.
When it ends, with Luke sharing his hopes of competing for a Scottish title later this year, an audience member tells him: “HMP Perth will be cheering for you”.
As prisoners file out of the room, I speak to Craig, who has been an inmate at Perth HMP for three years.
What did he think of the talk?
He says: “Things like this inspire a lot of the younger guys coming in that have not got a lot of hope.”
He adds: “I am very interested in boxing.
“I used to do a wee bit when I was younger.
“So I’m very interested in Scottish boxers coming through.”
Another offender, Peter, who has been at the institution since last January, tells me he has always been passionate about sports.
“I wish I had done something about it at an earlier stage,” he says.
“But yeah, I got involved in the other side of life.
“[Luke] is a very promising fighter.
“I took on the pads with him the last time he was in.
“I watch his games [fights].”
Craig and Peter, who both enjoy the Box Fit training sessions, say that staying active on a daily basis has helped them with their mental health.
Peter adds: “Another [rehabilitation programme] I’m in is called construction, where we actually get to build a house.
“I’m about to start an engineering programme as well.
“It’s good – it gets you out of the cell, puts something into you.”
Why boxing ‘doesn’t make you more violent’
When Box Fit training sessions were first introduced at the HMP Perth – the oldest prison in Scotland – there were grumbles that it was a bad idea to encourage “violence” among inmates.
But Luke and Alan stress that the sport has the opposite effect.
Luke tells me: “When you get involved in boxing, you don’t want to be violent outside the gym.
“It gives you a sense of respect and discipline, that you can take into the rest of your life.
“Every boxing club has a story of a person who said if it wasn’t for boxing they would be in jail.
“It saves a lot of lives.”
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