The Sunday Times February 13, 2022 21
Sport
NFL pundit Jason Bell
on Girls Aloud and
buckets of ice cream
YOUR NEXT
DOWNLOAD
NEYMAR: THE PERFECT
CHAOS
NETFLIX“He’s an idiot,” says one
disgruntled Paris Saint-
Germain fan of Neymar
da Silva Santos Junior,
the club’s best-ever
player but too often its
most disappointing.
The fan
unquestionably has a
point, but as the rest of
this three-part
documentary explains,it’s more complicated
than that. Neymar’s
journey from the back
streets of Praia Grande
to universal
recognition as one of
the great players of his
era, should be the
proverbial fairy tale.
But the man-child
emerges as petulant,
immature and unable
to function without his
gurning entourage.
He’s managed by his
parents.In best clichéd
fashion the peculiar,
Neymar-brand-
obsessed Neymar Snr
lives his dreams
through his son, butThe ageing Sheffield fighter takes on
fellow Brit Amir Khan in a 'grudge
match' on Saturday in Manchester
by Declan Warrington
LEAN, AND... MEAN?
Brook's muscular frame meant
he was struggling to reach the
welterweight limit of 147lb as far
back as 2012. This time he must
come in at the agreed limit of
149lb to fight Khan — either will
incur a six-figure fine if they do
not. Boxing wisdom, and lessons
learned from far better fighters
than Brook, dictates how
ill-advised it is for those past
their best to move down in
weight — if he does not perfect
doing so ahead of Saturday, he
risks ensuring defeat before he
even enters the ring.TRAINING THE BRAIN
Brook is again preparing with his
long-term trainer Dominic Ingle, and in
the heat of Fuerteventura, where he is
even avoiding his phone to hone his
focus. Relaxation, mental imagery —
visualising the event and his
performance — breathing techniques
and cue words have long been a
consistent feature of his preparations,
and contribute to the composed figure
so often seen.HALF-MAN, HALF-MACHINE
Having suffered a broken right eye
socket when he lost to the fearsome
Gennady Golovkin, Brook’s surgeon had
to move his eye and, via his mouth,
screw a titanium plate into place. In his
next fight, his defeat by America’s Errol
Spence Jr, his left eye socket was
broken and required the same
procedure.ESCAPING DEATH
It was while on holiday with
his family in Tenerife in 2014
that Brook was the victim in
an unprovoked attack with a
machete at a low-key
afterparty that almost cost
him his life. “There was so
much blood spurting out,”
he once recalled of the
wound to his left thigh. “I
could see death.” After
scrambling to his
escape and then a
45-minute journey in
an ambulance, two
cut muscles were
discovered amid
wider damage
that was
treated with
two hours of
surgery and
32 staples.FACTFILE
ANATOMY OF
... KELL BROOK
Age 35
Professional record 39-3-0 (27 KOs)
Rounds boxed 220
Knockout percentage 64.29
Height 5ft 9ins
Reach 69ins
Weight 10st 9lb
Stance Orthodox
'HE DOESN'T EAT RABBIT FOOD'
In advance of Brook's 2017 fight against
Errol Spence Jr, nutrition expert Greg
Marriott explained that he had been on a
low-carbohydrate, high-protein diet to
ensure he came in below the
welterweight level but retained his
strength. "I can see when Kell is tired as
his carbohydrates drop — you need to
realise when that is, because otherwise
it might take days to recover. Then
training won't be as good, and he might
burn muscle," explained Marriott.
"If he spars in the morning, he'll wake
up at 7am and eat slow-release
carbohydrates like a bowl of simple
oats. An hour before he spars at 10am
he has a fast-release carbohydrate
like white bread with jam or honey.
That gives him the boost that he
needs. After sparring he'll have a
recovery shake.
“Two hours later we feed him
again — lean beef, or chicken
with loads of beef. In the evening
he'll have a low-glycaemic
carbohydrate like sweet potato
with lean fish. Salmon is very
calorie dense — you can't
just cut, cut, cut weight. He
doesn't eat rabbit food.”
the relationship is at
best chilly, even before
the stand-up
argument.
Meanwhile, mother
Nadine resides in a
faux-spiritual cloud
cuckooland. As the
player unsuccessfully
schemes to leave PSG,
he’s booed by the
entire Parc des Princes.
His response? “F***
their feelings.”
Fantastic.
John AizlewoodEAT
DRINK
LOVE
EAT
MY FAVOURITE MEAL
I’m the guy who asks the
restaurant professionals. If
they understand you’re open,
you’ll always eat something
you don’t expect which you’re
going to enjoy. You’re usually
led in the right direction. Both
starter and dessert: it’s been
scientifically proven that
humans can grow an extra
stomach to accommodate
dessert.MY FAVOURITE RESTAURANT
Le Baratin, a French
restaurant in New York’s West
Village: I spend so much time
there. In London, the Clove
Club in Shoreditch: an
amazing experience.MY DINNER PARTY
My grandmother Molly Ryles.
She’s no longer with us, but I’d
love her to see how the
sacrifices she made turned
out. My daughter Anaiya, so
she can meet her
grandmother. My mother,
Geri Bell. Nadine Coyle, my
daughter’s mother, who
might cook. Sharrief ‘Doc’
Metoyer, my best friend.
They’d interact: I’d just sit
back and watch.MY GUILTY PLEASURE
Ice cream. I knock out a
whole bucket, but as I’ve
gotten older I’ve become
lactose intolerant. I can’t keep
it in the house. It’s so bad for
me.DRINK
MY FAVOURITE
DRINK
An amazingly large
amount of red wine.
Washington State is my
region, especially the very
reasonably priced 14
Hands. I prefer it to the
expensive ones.MY WORST HANGOVER
After a night in New York with
my football buddies. The one
where, after detailed
investigation, I discovered I’m
allergic to vodka.LOVE
MY FAVOURITE FILM
Return of the Jedi. It really got
to me as a child. It still
completely distracts me. I
have things to do in life, butsometimes it’s just ‘I’ll just
watch the Star Wars films
again’. What am I doing?MY FAVOURITE TV SERIES
- Back in the day, I was
running around like Jack
Bauer and the 24 clock was
my ringtone. How stupid was
that? I really should apologise
to myself.
MY FAVOURITE POP STAR
Do you think I would dare go
in any other direction than
Nadine Coyle’s Girls Aloud?
The first of so many times I
went to one of their concerts, I
was ‘what is this greatness?’.
Once, I brought my football
player buddies from LA to the
O2: they were jumping,
dancing and one of them
sweated through his whole
suit and had to buy a tour T-
shirt at the concession stand.MY FAVOURITE ALBUM
Maxwell’s Urban Hang Suite.
He’s close to one of my friends
and we met on a New York
street. Maxwell had cut his
hair, so I didn’t recognise him.
When my friend told me, I
chased after him shouting
“Max! Max! Max!” and
explained what a huge fan I
was.MY FAVOURITE BOOK
Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste: The
Origins Of Our Discontents.
It’s about the caste hierarchy
in different societies.
Understanding the history of
these structures is the only
way you can dismantle them.Watch Jason Bell on BBC One’s
Super Bowl coverage tonight,
starting at 11:30pm.John Aizlewood
Mark Hamill
starred in
Bell’s favourite
film, Return of
the Jedi