Johnny Fisher has revealed the role Eddie Hall has played in his dad’s remarkable transformation after ‘Big John’ shed around six to seven stone (42KG).
John Fisher has become a hugely recognisable figure alongside his heavyweight boxer son, but his appearance has changed dramatically after overhauling some of his everyday habits.
And according to Johnny, there has been no complicated secret behind the transformation.
Instead, his dad has made a series of smaller lifestyle changes, from walking more and eating sensibly to significantly reducing his alcohol intake.
“He’s lost six stone, six, seven stone now,” Fisher told Sun Sport.
“He’s changed small habits. He was telling me the other night, he was doing the final tickets at twelve o’clock at night, and he just walked the dog after that.
“Before, he’d be doing the tickets with the bag of crisps there and the chocolates there.
“But just changing them little habits, walking a bit more, eating a little bit more sensibly, cutting out a lot of alcohol.”
Fisher, who does not drink himself, believes reducing alcohol has been another important part of his dad’s progress.
“That’s another thing as well, and I don’t drink either,” he said.
“I just think a lot of the time people make bad decisions through the alcohol that they drink, and I think that’s really helped him grow quite an amount.”
But while Fisher and his mum had previously attempted to encourage Big John to change his habits, their advice did not necessarily carry the required weight.
Enter former World’s Strongest Man Eddie Hall.
Hall had an honest conversation with Big John about his lifestyle, and Fisher joked that sometimes it takes somebody with the imposing presence of the strongman legend to make the message stick.
“I tried to, my mum’s tried to, but when your mum and your son are nagging you, you just go like, ‘Oh, shut up.’ You know what I mean?” Fisher said.
“You need the world’s strongest man to do it.
“Eddie Hall is a menacing figure. Friendly, but he’s got that aura and you don’t mess about with him.
“He’s like a bit of a school teacher aura, and I think you needed someone like that to tell my dad what to do, because my dad’s a big personality himself.”
And Hall’s involvement has gone beyond simply offering Big John a few words of advice.
Fisher revealed that Hall has effectively taken on a mentoring role, even getting his dad into the swimming pool and monitoring him after exercise.
“He’s been having him swimming,” Fisher said.
“He’d be on that Paramount Plus documentary we do, to make him swim lengths, and he’d taken his pulse afterwards.
“It was so funny to see, it’s like Big John’s a little fish in the sea, and he’s got him on his neck, and he’d taken his pulse, and take him in the sauna, and basically mentoring Big John.”
For Fisher, there could hardly be a more qualified person to have in his dad’s corner.
Hall is one of the biggest names in strongman, and Fisher pointed towards one of his most famous feats of strength when discussing the unlikely partnership between the pair.
“So what better mentor to have than world’s strongest man, the first man to lift 500 kilos off the floor.”
Big John’s transformation may have required some encouragement from an imposing outside voice, but Fisher’s account suggests the progress itself has been built around straightforward changes maintained over time.
Where there were once crisps and chocolates late at night, there are now walks with the dog.
And after attempts from his own family failed to have quite the same impact, it appears a little encouragement from Eddie Hall proved considerably harder to ignore.
Featured image credit: Eddie Hall / Sun Sport / Jack Figg Boxing / Instagram
