JOEY ESSEX says boxing is bringing out a new side to him – and it’s the realest one of all.
The reality TV star shot to fame at the age of 20 when he became a regular on hit ITV show The Only Way is Essex.
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And Essex has featured on dozens of series in the past decade and a half – both in the UK and overseas.
But the 35-year-old – who worked at Billingsgate Fish Market as a boy – has always felt misunderstood on the small screen.
And after searching for the right gig to finally show his real self – it turns out the avenue has been right on his doorstep all along.
Because Essex is now joining the family business by turning to boxing – after his dad Donald competed as an amateur and his uncle Tony Sims remains a prominent trainer.
He makes his Misfits Boxing debut on Saturday in Manchester against Portuguese influencer Numeiro.
Essex invited SunSport down to his uncle Tony’s gym in Romford – and gave an unprecedented look into the man behind the TV character.
He has had such a transformation that even his name has changed.
Essex has adopted his dad’s name and his middle name when he enters the ring.
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He told us: “I’m adapting well, very well, and first of all, I wanna say it’s Joey Don Essex.
“I want people to understand the difference between the persona that people see on television to the real boxer.
“People, I feel like have got all different ways of looking at me and the way they, the way they see me and when people meet me they’re like, ‘Are you really stupid? I know you’re really smart, aren’t you?’
“They don’t really know how to take me, but with my boxing it’s very separate, it’s a big step for me, it’s something I’m doing very different and I’m bringing out a completely different side to me.
“So yeah. Joey Don Essex is about to show everyone on the 30th of August what I’m really made of.”
Essex has put aside any TV or appearance offers to focus on boxing – trading days on set for brutal rounds of sparring.
He said: “I think that’s what I’ve enjoyed about it. I’ve enjoyed the grit, pain, the discipline.
“I’ve enjoyed all the hard hard parts of the journey really, even the sparring. I mean, the sparring is the hardest part of when you’re actually in it, but it just becomes second nature.
“You just get used to getting hit and now three times a week, I’m getting smacked in the nose, it just becomes like nature.”
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Essex’s dad Don was a talented amateur boxer and was once lined up to fight British boxing legend Nigel Benn during his amateur days.
Don used to spar Sims – who now coaches Benn’s son Conor – and that is how he met his wife and Essex’s mum Tina.
But Tina – Sims’ sister – sadly passed away when Essex was 10.
Sims formerly coached Anthony Joshua and currently trains a busy stable of fighters including Benn’s son Conor.
So he only agreed to train his nephew Joey and daughter Demi – also making her Misfits debut over the weekend – if both the TV stars showed commitment.
And Sims revealed: “I said to him, if you wanna do it, I’ll help you because you’re my family, but if you’re gonna mess around I won’t help you.
“He wanted to do it seriously, so I’ll help him. Same as my daughter, like if they wanna do something seriously, you’ll always help them.
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“But if they’re gonna mess around and I ain’t got no time to do that. The way you take it seriously through your training.
“Training hard, and you can push yourself through the training. Not everyone can do this type of training.
“I’ve had good amateurs come in here, who won national titles and then they start training with the pros and they just can’t hack it and they just end up packing it in.”
Essex and cousin Demi train together six days a week – twice a day.
And Essex said: “Boxing’s always been there from day one, since the day I was born, really.
“It’s just always been at my doorstep, I could have always got myself involved in it and it’s weird that I never really did it as a child, to be honest.
“But yeah, I feel like it’s come around at a good time and I feel like everyone really, really, truly believes in me, everyone around me, they can see the hard work I’m putting in and the grit and all the hard work I’m putting in.
“I’m very confident, I’m a very confident person anyway, but in this, I just, I just feel like I’m just unstoppable.
“Listen, I honestly don’t even know what I’m gonna do in that ring on the 30th of August. I do not have a clue, but I will get the job done.”
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