Round 13: Becoming a Father ft Scotty Cardle

Former British lightweight champion Scotty Cardle spent most of his life preparing for fights - the discipline, the training camps, the walkouts, the pressure, the lights.

But when the final bell rang on his boxing career, a very different fight began.

In this episode of Dadversity, Scotty opens up about life after boxing, the depression that followed retirement, becoming a dad during lockdown, supporting his wife through postnatal depression, selling the family home, travelling with his daughter, separation, co-parenting, and the lessons he hopes his daughter Darcy carries with her.

This is not just a conversation about boxing.

It is a conversation about identity, regret, love, fatherhood, and what happens when the life you planned starts to change.

00:00 — What is harder: boxing or fatherhood? Scotty compares the hidden work behind fight night with the unseen work of being a dad.

01:38 — Boxing teaches control. Fatherhood takes it away. Scotty reflects on frustration, patience and why parenting is nothing like a one-man sport.

03:28 — Growing up in Blackpool and finding boxing How Scotty’s dad first took him to the boxing gym and why the sport captured him.

04:39 — Losing his first fight Scotty remembers his first defeat and why love for boxing kept him going.

07:32 — The final walkout: “One More Time” Why Scotty walked out to Daft Punk before the Ricky Burns fight and felt it could be his last dance.

11:27 — Life after boxing The transition from elite professional fighter to life after retirement.

12:07 — The dark hole after retirement Scotty opens up about depression, isolation and losing his sense of self after boxing.

13:35 — The doctor’s diagnosis Why Scotty feared the damage may have been physical - and the moment he realised he was depressed.

17:00 — Becoming a dad in lockdown Darcy’s birth, no support, FaceTime midwives and first-time fatherhood during the pandemic.

17:40 — Postnatal depression and supporting his wife Scotty talks about his wife’s postnatal depression and how difficult that period became.

18:40 — The walks that built a bond How walking miles with Darcy helped create their father-daughter connection.

19:27 — Selling the family home The emotional weight of leaving the house he bought as British champion.

22:10 — Travelling through Asia as a family World-schooling, memories, freedom and the tension that followed.

23:30 — Separation and regret Scotty reflects on what he would have done differently to keep his family together.

25:00 — “I was a yes man” The cost of saying yes to things he did not truly agree with.

27:00 — The fear of divorce Why did separation become the most challenging chapter of his life?

28:30 — Disneyland with Darcy A beautiful father-daughter moment after separation.

29:50 — Learning to co-parent Scotty talks about missing Darcy, wanting more time and reaching a 50/50 arrangement.

31:20 — What he wants Darcy to know Why Scotty tells his daughter he still loves her mum — and why that matters.