Check out our interview with German pro boxer and entrepreneur Christian Thun who held the IBO Continental heavyweight title until 2022.
Christian was introduced to boxing at the Peacock Gym in London and had his first fight at 15. After spending most of his career in England, Thun had the opportunity to box in Italy in 2013, where he secured a place on the Italian Olympic team. Alongside boxing, in which he compiled an amateur record of 49–6, Thun also obtained a Bachelor’s degree in International Business Management in London. He speaks five languages: English, Italian, German, Spanish, and Russian.
In another note, Christian is about to launch his Nootropics supplement brand at the end of this year.
Follow Christian @Christianthun_official
Hi Christian, tell us a little about your childhood and what drew you to boxing?
I was born on a drizzly Monday on the 24th of Feb 1992 in a small town in Western Germany, I was huge, I was nearly 12 pounds.. Everybody was shocked by my size and guessed I would one day become an athelte. My father is German and my mother is Italian. I ended up spending 5 years in Germany and then I relocated to northern Italy with my mother where I continued living for 8 years. When I was 13 we moved to London where I first started boxing at the world famous Peacock boxing club, now this gym has relocated and has turned into a private professional boxing stable, back in the day, when I first walked into the Peacock gym, it was the center of the comunity, much more than just a boxing gym. I quickly started to boxe as an amatuer and fought to an amateur record of 43 wins and 6 losses.
Who has been the biggest influence on your life?
I am not too sure how to answer this question, I did not live with my parents since I was 13, and just recently checked how many contacts I had on my phone and relaised that over the years I have ammased over 8000 phone numbers meaning that I have met so many people that have been, both great and bad influence in my life. To answer your question, there are too many to mention but of course my parents and grandmother (whom sadly just passed away yesterday) have been a massive influence on my life. I have read many autobiographies and sometimes these books actually ended up playing a massive role in my development, to mention some, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Lee, the late and great Italian prime minister and media Mogul Silvio Berlusconi and many more.
Describe yourself in 3 words?
BIG, FUNNY, AMBITIOUS
Name one your strengths?
Charisma
What is the biggest highlight of your career so far?
Winning the IBO Continental belt in Germany, unfortunatly during COVID in an empty TV studio without a crowd. Unfortunatly I have had a few surgeries since August 22 on my hand but I am on my way and will return to the ring early next year.
What advice you can give to new woman who are looking to be into professional boxing?
Dont haha, jokes aside I would say to understand the importance of training right, listen to your body when it is tired or hurt, take the sport very serious but dont over do, sometimes less is more. I have had so many injuries just from over training and over training lead me to have bad sleeping problems significantly decreasing my performance and just really making me live a miserable exhausted life. If you treat boxing the right way it will change your life for the better.
Did you always wanted to be into boxing?
Since when I was about 14… I do not really like the sport of boxing, I just like to fight, I love the competition of hand to hand combat. Probably I am also lying because I do somewhat love the sport but I love it as a partecipant, I do not really like to watch boxing.
As you were coming up in your career, did you have any trainers that you think made a particular difference in your success as a boxer?
Every coach I have had has played a great role in my career. My current coach Michael Hobart from the UK has grown to become one of my best friends and he has played an important role in my career. Similar with my first pro coach Dave Godber and my first ever boxing coach Andre Olley.
Tell us about your training and diet for daily basis and for a fight preparation?
Also here I have made many mistakes, I guess you live and learn… I have not really been in fight camp since a while due to my surgeries but I still tain everyday and I have changed my diet. I used to eat too much, I absolutely love food! My Italian side comes out here as I also love to cook, I make a delicious Bolognese with the Cipriani recipt, I can cook great steak and chicken dishes, I am a well rounded cook.. But when it comes to a training diet I have started to eat a lot of beef, I know there are many Vegan atheltes out there that claim to do much better since being Vegan but for me that did not work, tbh I never managed to stay Vegan for more than 3 days. I eat 5 Ribeyes a week, plenty of minced beef (I can already hear my cardiologist complaining 🙂 ) and probably 10 chicken breats. I do not eat too many vegetables but I do not shy away from them, I prefer fruit in the form of berries, Living in hot Miami I have also learned the importance of drinking enouch water and being hydrated, I try to drink 2 gallons of water a day. Safe to say that alone I eat like a family of 4 🙂
Do you ever get nervous?
Yes I do, I used to have quite bad anxiety, caused by the lack of sleep caused by over training, I used to compensate this by drinking a lot of caffeine, I mean A LOT! Like 1200mg a day, 10 espressos… I am 280 pounds so I guess I could somewhat deal with them but that did not help my anxiety. I knew I needed to make some changes so I started to experiment with functional mushrooms and other nootropics seeking the perfect supplement, I soon came to the realisation that this supplement did not exist so I decided to create it myself… More to come.
When you look back, what are your most memorable moments in the ring?
My most memorable moment was my first and only loss in my last fight, where I broke my hand, the broken hand was not the main problem, nor were the other things going on in my life. The main issue was the lack of sleep. Throught this training camp I averaged 5 hours of sleep a night… On the night before that fight I drowned myslef in sleeping pills and only slept 2 hours… I fought terribe, I was like a zombie… I knew I needed help and that I had to change things to find a way that I could sleep and therefore perform. After the fight, I sat there with a broken hand that needed surgery and a screw to fix, with my first loss extremly exhausted from not sleeping and being defeated and I said: “ok, now we need to change things and you have to get your life back” A life with insomnia is terrible!
What do you think is the difference from you to other rivals?
I love to fight, I actually do love to have a proper good old fashioned scrap, I always carry a mouth guard in my pocket as you never know when it may kick off 🙂 I am joking about the mouth guard 🙂
Who’s your favorite boxer?
Tyson Fury. I have had the luck to spend a lot of time training and sparring with him for the Deontay Wilder fights.
For you, who is the GOAT in boxing?
I’d struggle to name one but here some: Canelo, Tyson, Tyson Fury, Ali, Foreman, AJ… All in their own way.. And many more…
Now tell us about your new entrepreneurial venture and your new products?
After my loss I knew I needed to change something, I started by changing my diet, I tried all the top diets, Keto, Vegan etc… They all had their benefits but I found the sweet spot with a meat and fruit based diet, do I eat pasta, bread and everything else? Yes but just much less and focus on meat and fruit. This change in diet was a start but I still had to figure out the real reason for my lack of sleep. I then figured that a good nights sleep starts with the morning, if you try to sleep right 1 hour before going to sleep it is already too late, you may get lucky and fall asleep but most likely you are strating to develop a circle of bad sleep. Circle of bad sleep = sleep bad, compensate with caffeine (or similar) and naps, sleep bad again etc etc until you dig yourself into a deep insomnia hole and truly suffer. Now having agreed with the fact that a good night sleep starts from the morning I wanted to create the perfect supplement for the morning so you could kick start your day and feel great. Another reason for this was that experimenting with all these different supplements I ended up taking 20 pills a day and that was way too much (btw, as an athelte I was never a big supplement taker, only coffee and Whey protein). I then decided to find the key supplemets that worked and put them in one pill, well now its three pills for a daily reccomended dose however it is not 20 and 6,7 different supplements. I also travel a lot and I hated the idea of needing so many supplements in my suitcase.
After 8 sample rounds and around 280 eaten pills, I have now created the, in my opinion, perfect all in one supplemet which energizes you (yes, also through a small dose of caffein), drastically increases your ability to focus for hours though functional mushrooms and a special blend which I have created which include a strong Vitamine blend (so you dont need to take your multivatamine) and a great dose of electrolytes supporting hydration and muscle function. The prouduct is ready, the website etc is beeing build and we are working on creating all the media material, I am launchin the product on the second week of December, just before the holidays and will have a special first time buyer discount. This product has helped me to change my life and I want everybody else to try it also. Soon after I will also launch a bed time supplement which will help the busy minds relax. More on this soon.
Can you tell us what is different from to other products in the market?
This is an all in one formula developed by me in a crisis situation to help me get my life back together. I have personally tested most of the supplements and I have hand picked the best from every one of them and created a state of the art formula that worked wonders for me.
Where we can buy them?
The launch will be on the second week of December, and initially I will sell them on the products webpage which is beeing build and I would love to get the product on the shelves of supermarkets, fitness stores, etc also.
What advice would you give to someone just starting their own business?
I cant stress this enough, work to perfection. Everything you do must be GREAT, create a great product that works, create a great website, social media, everything just has to look perfect. I have recruited a state of the art marketing agency creating the entire website, online store, content vision etc. Do not aim to save on the product and brand developement. When I started I said I want this to look like ALO (the sports clothing line) or like Rolex the watch brand, there is no room for error and I only strive for excellence, both in product development and in branding. Id rather pay $100,000 and get a great branding then have someone pay me $100,000 and do a decent job! Perfect>Decent 24/7 365. And I mean it! Remember that great things cost money so dont be shy trying to get funding and if the investor or even the company you are trying to work with sees your passion they will make it happen for you. This leads me to my next point: PASSION. This is the number 1 thing for me, without passion dont even bother with anything in life. Find something you love, an industry you love and just get in there and make it happen. Do not forget to calculate your overheads and leave around 25% room for unexpected costs as these will always be there, in German we say “sure thing as the word Amen during mass” 🙂
If you are a book, what would be the title of the book and why?
Either a 10 or a 3, nothing in between or welcome to the Thuniverse 🙂
How would you describe your fashion style?
I love designer clothes, expensive suits, cars and watches, I am not going to lie, I love them all, however, beeing very big not too many brands fit me well so I have really found my spot with certain designers brands that portrait a more classic yet young look. I spend way too much on clothes and shoes and probably have 30 designer shoes flying around my wardrobe somewhere 🙂 However, I take good care of my clothes, I like things that last and I justify buying nice clothes by believing that your appearence espetially the way you dress and the way you take care of yourself is a great way to leave an often so crucial first good impression. In the ideal world we dont judge people by their appearence but rather to what they have inside, but we as humans are not ideal, actually far from it, we are not descendants from angels, we descend from apes, I am a realist when it comes to things like that. Keep up your appearances and fit in the tribe.
What advice would you give to your younger self and why?
Tomorrow is another day, and that there are seasons in life, these seasons are not of any specific duration but more like phases that you have to go through to get to the next chapter. Embrass them all and most importantly admit your mistakes and learn from them!
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
I am planning my injury fee boxing comeback for 2024 and the launch of my supplement line and in 5 years time I would like to have succesfully exited both, boxing and the supplement line, and live a healthy second phase of my adult life. I would like to start a political career and campaign for a more honest leadership that truly cares for its people and not all the crap that is currently being cared about by most of our golbal politicians. To directly answer your questions I see myslef with a record of 20-1, a succesfull business that has just been bought by an Emirati hedgefund living in the Aqualina builidng in Sunny Isle Miami with ambitions to embark a political career. 🙂
If you could meet someone living or dead, who would it be and why?
There are countless interesting and fascinating people that I would love to meet, I will select 5 and it really took me some time to debate the list:
1) Jesus, 2) Leonardo Da Vinci 3) Cleopatra (also the name of one of my cats) 4) Gandhi 5) Chiniz Khan (also the name of one of my cats). BONUS: Queen Elisabeth.
How would your best friend describe you?
Absolute lunatic 🙂
What is your favorite healthy food?
Ribeye, here we could debate if its healthy or not, I just believe it is and if you believe something it is already half way true 🙂
And your favorite cheat food?
It always is a hard choice in between Shake Shak and 5 Guys burgers…
3 things you can’t leave home without?
Car key, Wallet and Iphone
What is you favorite song to belt out in the car/for karaoke?
Oh God, I love karaoke and I sing like there is no tomorrow in the car and in the shower, my absolute fav must be Believe by Cher.
What’s next for Christian Thun in the last months of 2023 and for 2024?
Get back into boxing shape, launch my supplement line and get back to breaking necks and cashing checks…
Idea of a perfect Sunday?
Sleep until 11:00, absolute carnage at a high end buffet with a couple of glasses of Champagne then lay by the pool with great friends and have a laugh.
Do you support any charity?
I do support my local stray car charity, I have adopted 3 cats that needed help and I will one day and up with hundred of animals that got abandoned and abused, I just feel so sorry for them as they are so helpless.. I wish I could do more and I promise that I will do more for animals and humans alike.
What do you think of Social Media?
Social Media is great. I have so many international friends and Instagram is a great way to keep in touch, I also think that IG is your face to the world and you must make great use of it.
Where our readers can follow you?
@Christianthun_official on IG.
Song: Mr Brightside – The Killers
Movie/Tv Series: Pulp Fiction
Book: Mastery by Robert Greene
Travel Destination: I have visited 38 countries and next on the list are Japan, Jamaica, Cuba or Iceland.
Drink: Spritz Aperol, Champagne, blonde lager.
