Between Two Beers podcast: The most feared man in the NRL

Monty Betham during the NRL match against the West Tigers at Jade Stadium in 2004. Photo / Photosport.co.nz

Monty Betham played 101 games for the Warriors and nine tests for the Kiwis before retiring from rugby league at the age of 28 to become a professional boxer like his father.

He won eight of his nine fights, including a bout with Shane Cameron at The Fight for Life, before retiring from the fight game in 2016 after a health scare caused by a brain bleed.

In this episode we talk about life after sport, Monty's success in the business world and his transition to punditry, his relationship with his father and reflections on a difficult childhood, why the NRL voted him the scariest player in the early 2000s, why he took the Shane Cameron fight at Fight For LIfe - when no rugby player wanted to fight him and why he walked away from rugby league.

Show notes | Monty Betham

1.38: Winning the morning, losing touch, good comms, 26 years of marriage

5.18: Warriors and Team Talks on Instagram and the obligatory Emma Twigg mention, plus Steve's white gloves memory

7.02: The relationship with Monty Betham Snr: growing up around violence and abuse, life lessons, bullying, and redemption

17.30: A leader of men as the youngest ever Warriors captain

21.12: "Putting on the ugly head": Monty on his role as the enforcer

29.37: Highs and lows at the Warriors

32.11: Walking away from rugby league and the transition to boxing

36.00: Fighting Shane Cameron at the Fight for Life

39.51: Rugby league v boxing

40.52: Looking back at the boxing career and eventually retiring from boxing

48.14: Continuous improvement, a comeback of sorts at The Fight for Life, and training Jimmy Spittle

55.37: Punditry, interviewing, and the art of asking good questions

1.01.18: Last words from Steven, Seamus and Monty