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Jake Peacock: ‘People can’t believe I have one hand and I’m whooping fighters’

“When you actually think about it,” Jake Peacock begins, “I’m fighting at the highest level, on the biggest martial arts platform in the world, whooping people the majority of the time, and I’ve got one hand.”

Is that to say Peacock, ONE Championship’s limb-different Muay Thai phenom, doesn’t think about it?

“People can’t believe it, but I never think about it,” insists the 31-year-old Briton, who was born without a right forearm. “I’ve never even thought: ‘I wish I had two hands, what would it be like?’ But I know it inspires people. I want to leave a legacy of inspiring others to never give up, to pursue their dreams.”

That is because Peacock has never encountered a challenge he could not overcome, he says. The son of former Chelsea footballer Gavin Peacock, and grandson of ex-Charlton coach Keith Peacock, Jake was always encouraged by his family to “just get on with things”. That included karate, from the age of seven.

“I do think my upbringing helped – my parents never babied me,” says the Muay Thai fighter (imagine kickboxing, but with knees and elbows allowed), who holds a 13-1 professional record with 11 stoppages. “Obviously you develop a strong character through trials and tribulations, and that has definitely developed my attitude in never giving up. But I think a little bit is innate for sure. I’ll always just assume I can do something, and I’ll make it happen. Other than the obvious, like I can’t write with my right hand because I don’t have one, I’ve just figured out a way to do anything.”

The upbringing to which Peacock refers was not a typical one, he admits, though he is not referencing his limb difference now.

Rather, he is referring to his father’s time playing for Chelsea and Newcastle (more than 100 times each) and for Queens Park Rangers (nearly 200 times). There was also the family’s move to Canada, when Peacock was a teenager, as his dad decided to study theology and become a Christian minister.

“I knew there was a difference,” Peacock says. “When we’d go out in public, people would stop my dad. But I never really appreciated him playing at the highest level, because I was so young – and because I didn’t really have a love for football like my friends did.

“My dad would take me down to the Chelsea training ground, I’d be hanging out with John Terry when he was getting his massages, Jose Mourinho used to give me a slap on the cheek before a game. When my grandad was managing Charlton, he’d bring me along all the time, I’d be kicking balls around with the players.

“It was cool and I was thankful for it, but if I was that age now, I’d be so much more appreciative. And there’s a kind of a parallel with my life and my son’s life. We had Saenchai come down for a Muay Thai masterclass in town, he’s considered one of the greatest of all time. I ended up involved in the seminar, so I was hanging in the back, and [my son] Charlie was sat on Saenchai’s lap.”

Perhaps Charlie will follow in his father’s footsteps; there was no chance of Jake following in his own father’s, however.

“It’s embarrassing really, I’m terrible at football,” he laughs. “Well, I shouldn’t say I’m terrible. Out here, people consider me Pele; at home, I’m your average Joe! I played all throughout my childhood and in high school. I just always took a liking to combat sports. That was my passion, what I was more gifted at.”

Peacock’s fighting techniques appear surprisingly unaffected by his limb difference; that is to say: his approach to combinations and use of balance and momentum resemble any other fighter’s.

“It’s less the technique [that I have to adapt], it’s more the strategy,” Peacock explains. “Positioning, distancing, very subtle things. My techniques look the same, more or less, it’s just when I’m throwing them and how I’m setting them up. Sometimes I see people in the comments [on social media]: ‘I didn’t even notice he had one hand until I watched the video five times!’”

Not every comment is so positive, however. Some prefer to criticise Peacocks’s opponents, rather than praise the Briton. “That’s why they’re not in the sport, that’s why they won’t be doing anything in life!” Peacock laughs. “That’s why they’re behind the computer screen, and that’s where they’ll stay!

“Those kinds of comments would’ve really got to me when I was younger. Before, I was insecure about my arm; now, I don’t even care. When I realised who I am in God, my confidence grew.”

Now, it is Peacock’s profile that is growing, and on 20 February, it will grow further as he fights Shinji Suzuki. In Qatar, Peacock sets out to “whoop” another foe. Believe it.