From mingling at the Mobos to quizzing the Queen
THIS week I've been speaking to the rich and famous but my inquisitive nature got me in a little bit of trouble when I went to Buckingham Palace.
On Wednesday Team GB's Olympic and Paralympic teams went on a parade through London to celebrate our success in the Beijing Games, followed by a reception at Buckingham Palace that evening.
Going on the parade was a wonderful experience, I didn't expect it to be so big. There were thousands and thousands of people who turned out to cheer and clap us, it was brilliant. It just made you realise how big the Olympics was and how big it will be in London in 2012. It made me think how I'd love to go to London and win a medal. Whether I stay amateur until then or go professional is a decision I'll have to make soon so I've been getting some advice from some of the biggest names in boxing about it.
I think there were about 12 different floats on the parade. On mine there was my friend James DeGale, the boxing gold medalist from China, and six Paralympic archers. Meeting the Paralympians was really impressive. Some of them are the real heroes of Beijing. When you hear what they went through it makes you feel really humble. I was chatting to them on the float and there were a few more wanting to get pictures with me afterwards. I've been tagged a few times on some of their Facebook pages already.
After the parade most of the athletes went back to their hotel but I was staying at James' house. We were a bit late for the evening reception so nobody told me we weren't allowed to ask the Queen any questions when we met her.
Most of the other athletes were dead posh so I stood out a bit. When she asked me what sport I did I joked, 'Can't you tell with this nose?' Then I asked if she'd seen any of the Olympics, what sports she liked the best and if she watched any of the boxing. In the end she just moved on. She seemed a bit scared of me!
Buckingham Palace was amazing. I couldn't believe the size of the place. Looking from the outside it looks pretty quite small but it's like the Tardis. it's so much bigger on the inside. The chandeliers were bigger than my house!
Someone interviewed me afterwards and asked me if I'd nicked anything like an ashtray. Of course I hadn't, but we kept our eyes on some of the others!
That wasn't my only big night of the week. The previous evening I was a guest at the Mobo Awards, where James was presenting the award for best album. We had a really good seat and it was unbelievable to see the big stars singing and performing.
I've been invited to a lot of functions recently and it's been good to speak to other top sportsmen and learn things from them. On October 30, for example, I'm on the top table at a dinner for Sir Bobby Robson's Cancer Foundation along with Sir Bobby, Sir Alex Ferguson and Sir Bobby Charlton. Last week I was on the top table for a question and answer session with the former boxing promoter Terry Marsh and five ex-world champions including Alan Minter and I got asked as many questions as they did. But they were the Ricky Hattons and Floyd Mayweathers of their day so I was keen to ask them plenty of questions myself. Interestingly, all of them said I should turn professional.
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