He quibbles a little bit, knowing the cliché nature of that statement, but Aspinall really hasn’t ever felt this good. Part of that is having two healthy legs underneath him for the first time in five years. Beyond that, Aspinall can’t help but gush about the way he feels. The only thing that’s a bit of a buzzkill is the amount of media obligations he has on this particular day. He can’t help but bemoan the basic questions he is getting asked on more mainstream sports channels in England.
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Such is life for the UK’s top heavyweight, though, and so Aspinall said he is happy to smile through an explanation about what it’s like to get punched in the face for a living.
Jokes aside, life is good for Aspinall. He is nearing a return to action nearly a year to the day of his last fight, which ended with him grasping his right knee and beginning a year-long recovery process. While that memory is tied to pain both physical and mental, enough time passed to where the always-thoughtful Aspinall sees the bright side of it all.
Aspinall felt a wave of guilt come over him. He wanted to put on a show for everyone who paid a lot of money to support him. Instead, they would leave on the sourest of notes, and Aspinall still cannot shake that sense of shame.
“When you’re from where I’m from, London might as well be freakin’ Mars,” he said. “Going to watch an event at the O2 in London as someone from the northwest of England, where not a lot goes on, is a big deal and very expensive. There were a lot of people form my area — and I’m talking thousands of people, not like a couple of people, thousands of people — who made the trip down and saved up for months, and I mean months, in advance. They’re from the northwest of England, where the average pay-rate is not very high, and it’s a massive trip for people to go to London and watch and support someone in the O2.
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“(The injury) couldn’t have been helped, but I still take that massive guilt on. I’ve got to show up on the 22nd of July and show everybody this is why you stuck with me, and this is why you were there, and it’s all part of the journey, and it’s going to come good.”
When we visited him in September 2022 as he started his recovery process, he took us to his favorite fish and chips joint in Atherton to get a “proper chippy.” While standing in line, Aspinall explained that when he was in school, he and his friends hopped a fence to come to this same shop during lunchtime to grab a cone of chips. Before we go up to order, someone in line recognizes Aspinall — who, at 6-foot-5 and 250-pounds, is hard to miss — and lights up when Aspinall obliges his request for a picture.
After ordering from a stern man whom Aspinall said is the same from his own childhood, we step outside the shop to keep talking. Every few minutes or so, a car passes by and honks its horn, and Aspinall turns and waves in acknowledgement. This is home.
Although any professional athlete is mindful of nutrition, heavyweights can often get away with a looser eating plan without worrying about an eventual weight cut. When Aspinall suffered his injury, his physio and surgeon emphasized the impact proper nutrition and rest would have on his recovery process, and he took that advice to heart. Now, Aspinall says he lives like “a proper athlete,” which also means simplifying one’s lifestyle a bit, as well.
“I just really became obsessed with (recovery),” Aspinall said. “I feel like I realized that to be the highest level in anything, you need to be incredibly selfish and also be a bit of a boring bastard as well in terms of there’s not a lot else you can really do in your life apart from this, and that’s what I’ve really been focused on.”
As Aspinall’s father and coach, Andy, tactfully put it, he is “away from all the sh*t now.”
The elder Aspinall recalls a handful of conversations with his son where the two laid it all out. If Tom wanted to achieve the goals he had the chance to accomplish, he needed to make a few lifestyle changes.
“(Tom) went away and came back and said, ‘I’ve gotta do everything perfectly,’” Andy said. “I said, ‘You got five to 10 years to give it your best go, and you’ll look back and sit in a chair like I did and think, “Well, I probably could have done it, but I didn’t do it properly.” You got to give yourself the best chance and get the best of everything. You’ve made a bit of money out of doing it. You can afford the time to do it. Don’t sit back when you’re old and say, “I wish I had done it some other way.”’”
Before Tom could make those lifestyle changes, he needed to recover from surgery. Those first few days were admittedly tough. He remembers sitting in the London hospital during a historically warm summer just wanting to go home to his wife and kids.
When he did return up north, the first week was a bit challenging as his mobility was hampered, which limited how much he could play with his kids. After that, he was just happy to have the ability to sit outside in tolerable-to-nice weather instead of the grey, rainy winter months while he waited for his knee to heel.
“If that (injury) was in the winter, mate, when it’s freezing cold and raining all day, that would’ve been extra tough,” he said. “I’m so thankful that it at least happened when I could sit in the garden and get out of the house a little bit and stuff like that. People were doing stuff like having barbecues, and you don’t need to have two legs for stuff like that, so I’m just really glad and appreciative of the people around me that tried to pick me up. It was a really tough time for me, so I’m really appreciative of the people who were there for me in that time.”
Whether it was a message from a family member, friend, fellow fighter or someone random online, they all helped keep the energy as positive as it could be during those early days of the rehab process.
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Even though a major injury and surgery would put some doubts into anyone’s mind, Andy remained steadfast, seeing his son on the mend as just a bump on the road.
“You’re doing sport, and you’re going to get knee injuries, so get on with it,” he said. “That’s just the way (Tom) took it. You know, he was bad for a few weeks when he didn’t know the extent of the damage, and surgeons are always the err on the side of caution all the time. Well, he’s a huge fit, super healthy guy and it’s just a knee injury. He’s going to get back from the knee all right.”
That all said, as I begin to dig into my order of fish, chips and gravy — the gravy is crucial and non-negotiable, according to Tom — I catch the Top 5 heavyweight eyeing my food with envy.
“I wish I could have that for the first time, again,” Aspinall says laughing, his words dripping with envy.
The discipline is paying off, though. Aspinall isn’t shy about his physique these days, joking in February that “Jacked Up Tommy” is coming soon. Instagram posts confirm as much.
A new Tom Aspinall was, as they say, loading.
Truly Better Than Ever
Aspinall always meant to get surgery on his right knee.
He actually felt “instability” in it about five years ago. Occasionally, when he would kneel, his knee would lock up for a moment before returning to some sort of normal. But other than some swelling and stiffness, it was manageable enough. He kept winning fights, getting fights, and staying in camp, so fixing his knee kept getting knocked down the priority list until it finally went.
A torn MCL and ACL later, he actually feels better than he has in some years.
“It’s such a luxury,” he said. “I didn’t even realize what a luxury it is to be able to train with two legs.”
A more mobile Aspinall is a scary prospect. He already looked like one of the quickest heavyweights on the roster with footwork and reflexes sharp enough to take advantage of that speed. Andy says the repaired wheel has unlocked a few skills for Aspinall, such as kicking off both legs and a left hook his son couldn’t sit down on until now.
On top of that, Tom has more heavyweight training partners than ever before.
