“You got to keep telling yourself you’re the best in the world”

As local fighter Charlie Bubb and I sat in his newly acquired sponsor vehicle parked along Byng Street with two hot takeaway coffees in hand, yarning about all things while surveying the overcast day beyond the windshield. The WKBF K-1 World Champion admitting the new wheels, an international brand utility kindly sponsored by Orange Motor Group, has arrived just in time as his previous ute has met its unfortunate end due to various mechanical reasons. The humble tradie by day explaining, “I can build you a house. I’m all over that. But when it comes to cars, I know very little. I’m no mechanic,” Charlie says with an honest grin.

As we moved on in subject matter, our conversation felt more of a friendly catch up than simply an interview, as Charlie and I were classmates once upon a time ago. The first 10 minutes or so, we talked about what we had been doing of late and our plans for this year. Which quite naturally segued into Charlie’s fighting goals for 2021 where in the tenth year of his sporting career has come to be known as The Smiling Assassin.

2020 was set to be Charlie’s breakout year, planned to start off in London after being called out by UK fighter Daniel Bonner during his last Muay Thai fight which Charlie explains, “when I was called out. I said, ‘Sweet he wants to fight me, I’ve never been to London before, so let’s go. I will come and fight Bonner.’” To follow his fight in the UK, Charlie had an Australian fight lined up for March which was subsequently “canned” when the pandemic came knocking on that fateful month last year.

As the world came to a standstill, Charlie and trainer Danny Maksacheff wanted to do something that kept them busy outside of the fights as one after the other were understandably cancelled. Being an advocate for mental health awareness and suicide prevention by reinforcing the message ‘You Are Worth Fighting For’, that Charlie would always promote at the end of each fight with a speech. Wanting to maintain the message through times of COVID-19, Charlie and Danny conceived the idea to make a series of mental health videos that were distributed across social media to great effect.

Once restrictions eased last year, Charlie had the opportunity to train with UFC fighter Robert Whittaker in Sydney. “That was one of my goals in 2020, to keep doing down there and helping Rob train for one of his upcoming stand-up fights,” Charlie stated. Certainly, vice versa for the local fighter as the idea of transitioning completely into Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) occupies Charlie’s mind, “The connection is there through Rob, and MMA is something I want to get fully into eventually.”

But the pandemic year for The Smiling Assassin wasn’t over for him yet in kicking goals. Charlie was offered in the fall of 2020 to fight in Melbourne at the 8-Man K1 Eliminator, three fights in a single night for the prize winnings of $20,000.  Taking place in March 2021, Charlie says, “I got the offer, took that opportunity. The calendar ticked over to March and everything still had the greenlight to go for it. We put our foot down that night, fought three fights and won the prize money.” Charlie jokes about the perfect timing of his new sponsor ute, alluding that the prize money would had gone into fixing his previous vehicle.

After his victory of the 8-Man K1 Eliminator, it’s the next fight for Charlie that will be the most defining – the WBC Light Heavyweight World Title. To be held in Perth on June 5th, “It’s the fight that everyone wants. It’s all or nothing. It’s a high risk, high reward fight,” The Smiling Assassin says. His opponent, the formidable ONE Championship signed Scotsman George Mann. “He’s young but experienced and a southpaw. He’d lived in Thailand for ages, fighting over there before tearing it up here in Australia. I don’t think he’s lost yet while fighting Down Under,” Charlie explains.

Despite the challenging competition awaiting him in Perth, Charlie is undoubtedly equal, if not more than, to the abilities of the Scotsman he’ll be fighting. With a calculated approach in mind, The Smiling Assassin expressed, “It’s going to be tricky, but Danny and I are working hard, thinking tactically, making sure to not be drawn into a brawl during the fight. George’s too smart for that.”

Charlie’s mindset leading into any fight always comes back to this undeniable pragmatic thought process as he explains to me, “You got to keep telling yourself you’re the best in the world. I’m really head strong when it comes to the mental side of it. I don’t like to talk about it too much, because you sound a bit dickie when you describe it but it’s at that career point.”

“My alarm goes off in the morning, I’ve got the option to sleep in or get up and go run. It’s getting cold, it’s dark, you don’t want to get out of bed and train as hard as you can before work every day. But you have to do it. So mentally, you leave nothing to chance. That’s the edge you’ll have over your opponent. With that knowledge of I’ve trained the hardest I can, so in a way, no one has the right to beat me. I put myself into that head space, knowing I have done everything I’ve possibly can to be prepared. Then, if someone does beat me... I know they’re one of the best fighters in the world,” Charlie concludes.

In response to the above, I expressed to Charlie, “It’s going to be a good fight.” A grin emerges across his face before agreeing, “Yes it’s going to be a good one – it’s been a long time coming this fight. 10 years in the making that’s led to this point. Hopefully, we’ll get to come home with the World Title.” Which if this is achieved, Charlie would like to defend the title for a few years to help legitimised his position further as many fighters retire when they earn the World Title to avoid being defected in future fights – but this possibility doesn’t intimidate The Smiling Assassin.