DILLIAN WHYTE revealed that he had been through many hardships in his life before he decided to pursue combat sports.
As a teenager, the Brixton Body Snatcher was often in trouble on the streets of south London.
Dillian Whyte was a troublemaker when he was younger.
Trouble would often find Whyte, even when he wasn’t looking. He took up kickboxing early 2000s to channel his anger.
BT Sport asked him: "Kickboxing took me a while. After all the training and beating up, I was exhausted and ready to go to bed.
"I spent more time at home than I did on the streets. That saved my life.
"Because I was young, I made multiple attempts to save my life.
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"I had been shot and stabbed, and other things were happening."
Whyte was once afraid of being attacked and couldn't leave his home.
He said, "I had to stay in my neighborhood but couldn't travel outside.
"I had no choice but to duck and dive and do other things like that. People jumping from bins to try to shoot me when I went to my home.
Get a PS10 Bonus with 100s of Games to Play and No Deposit Required"Crazy stuff. It's stuff that, if people knew it was a movie.
It's almost like I have had some bad luck. People often say that they have had a hard life and had to sell their fruits to survive.
"I was like, "S**t, I wish that I had fruits to sale." I used to have to steal fruits in order to survive. I wish I could sell fruits.
"I want to thank everyone around me for believing in me. Sometimes it is easy to lose faith in yourself. These people believe in you.
"Even in the gym circuit, I think, "I can't, it can't."
"And my coach was like, Yes you can.'" Just small things. It's crazy, man. Crazy."
33-year-old Whyte believes that he would have been dead or in prison for his murder if he hadn't taken up combat sports.
He stated that he did kickboxing to prevent me from being killed on the roads or me killing people on the streets.
"I was out there doing work.
"I was just running around talking trash.
"Some of these guys will say that I grew tough up.
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"I couldn't choose, I had no choice but to be strong. To survive, I had to do everything.
"I had children early so I had responsibilities. I became accustomed to a certain lifestyle and was doing certain things.
"I was raised tough and I had no choice. Thank goodness I was able [and to say], "You know what?"
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"I must stop this and do something different." That's exactly what happened.
Whyte is currently preparing for a showdown against Tyson Fury (former sparring partner, WBC heavyweight champion), who he will face at Wembley Saturday night.
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