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One glance at Kody 'Big Mo' Mommaerts and you could easily mistake him for a heavyweight boxer.
Shoulders back, his long legs planted into the ground like an NFL field goal, and a quiff that reaches up towards the heavens, Mommaerts, more affectionately known as ‘Big Mo,’ stands tall in the ring like the Statue of Liberty. Liam Smith and Chris Eubank Jr will be the main event at the AO Arena on Saturday night, but 'Big Mo' will be the one who controls the crowd.
One of the biggest fights in British boxing will be hyped up by a man who may have the biggest voice in Britain and, perhaps, the world. His 6ft 7in frame is complimented with a pair of shoulders as wide as the Grand Canyon itself and a reach which would likely extend further than most heavyweights.
Yet, there was a time when he seemed destined for big things in the American Football world – Daily Star Sport introduces you to Boxxer’s very own Kody ‘Big Mo’ Mommaerts.
READ MORE: Chris Eubank Jr says he 'lost a part of himself' after brother's heart attack while in sea
At the age of 27-years-old, it is fitting Big Mo has already established himself as a major thoroughbred in the boxing world. After all, his first show took place at a venue more accustomed to hosting horse parades and shows.
“The first show I ever announced, fully start to finish, was a small hall boxing show at the Arapahoe County Fairground outside Denver Colorado,” he said in an exclusive interview with us. “The max capacity, in terms of seats, was probably 200 people. Around 150 people were there at the main event.
“It was an event centre for horse shows so it was a dirt ground they would put padding on and stuff like that. That was the first show I ever did. Looking back, it’s difficult to look back and watch the old shows.”
Which fighter do you think Kody 'Big Mo' Mommaerts will announce as the victor? Let us know in the comments section below
Big Mo remembers the event, the location, and the performance well. Except, if you were to push him on the exact surroundings, he may struggle to recall. Every show was a new opportunity to build and to perfect, whether it was his voice or his attire. Physically, he was holding a crackling microphone, attached to a dodgy speaker, in a room that may have smelt of horses.
In his mind, he was the main man at Madison Square Garden.
“I wore sunglasses in the ring because I wanted a visual aesthetic of what I was doing,” he said. “I started using social media, I was gaining notoriety, then I built up a following. Lots of other ring announcers, it doesn’t come natural for them for me.”
When pushed on his initial technique in the ring, he added: “I've always announced the same way, but sometimes, in the old days, I would take the level of energy that I have to a hall of 150 people. I definitely can understand why people may cringe at that because it's like this over the top, animated for not a big crowd.
After their first encounter saw Liam Smith knock out Eubank Jr in a major upset, Eubank Jr is now out for revenge. Following months of controversy and bad blood, the two fighters are set to meet once again in a highly anticipated clash and you can watch all the action live this weekend on Sky Box Office.
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“But, I was imagining being somewhere else and it worked, because what it did is make me comfortable announcing in front of a big crowd. It’s easier than announcing like that in front of a small crowd, because I could see everyone in the small crowd, when some of them are looking at me weird for how I announced.”
No one is looking at him weird now.
Big Mo may physically be the biggest in his industry, but he is also becoming the fastest growing announcer in the sport. He first asserted his enormous presence in mainstream boxing as the announcer of the World’s Strongest boxing clash between Eddie Hall and Hafthor Bjornnson. “Basically, it was, if you're gonna have the biggest fight, let's have the biggest announcer, right,” he said with a smile. “That was my pitch to them basically. And it worked.”
However, his original path did not seem to be taking him from the possibly hay-ridden floors of small boxing halls, to the walkway of the AO Arena. Initially, Big Mo looked set to stamp his huge footprint into the NFL.
At college, he was a feared offensive lineman nobody would have wanted to come across. “Big Mo was a nickname I had in college. I used to be way bigger than I was now,” he laughed. “I’ve lost about 105lbs. I was an offensive lineman in college so I was about 310. I used to be ‘Bigger Mo!’ Now I’m slightly slender Mo.”
Bigger Mo was quite the colossus. Unfortunately, the hefty demands of juggling any NFL ambitions with his academic studies was a huge challenge. When asked if the NFL was ever within reach of his ginormous wing span, he quickly replied: “it was definitely the goal, like most other college players.
“It’s not that the NFL wasn’t achievable, I just think the chances of me reaching the NFL were not that high. When I was done, I was done. I was burnt out by the end, I got injured, blew my shoulder out one year, and it was just a lot. Playing five years at a division one level. The tricky thing about my career was that I was a very committed student. I graduated early with my bachelors’ degree in business.
“I took summer classes every year, when I was done, I wanted to pursue an MBA. My university told me and my friend they didn’t have an opportunity to do a full-time MBA, it was just a part-time program for professionals who came back. We partitioned the university and designed an MBA program where we could make it fit and we became the first full-time MBA graduates to graduate from the university. A lot of it was because we helped start the company that I helped start at college.
“I had football practice at 5am, we would get out at around nine or ten o’clock. I would work a full-time job doing the social media during the day, then I would take MBA classes at night.
"I loved football, but I was working on so many different things that getting burned out at football was just bound to happen. I rode the football train for as long as I could, I have no regrets about my career. It ended perfectly fine, onto the next stage of life.”
His next stage is quite something. Big Mo has already re-signed with Boxxer, Ben Shalom’s new boxing boys on the promotion block, who are further encroaching on the boxing world. The 27-year-old introduced history at the O2 Arena when he called out the names of Savannah Marshall and Claressa Shields at the first ever all women’s fight card in the UK.
He will be back in Manchester for Smith vs Eubank 2 in what may be the final chapter of the resentful feud. Normally, it would be fitting to say, ‘keep an eye out for Big Mo when Smith and Eubank stroll to the ring’. Except, you do not need to.
Big Mo is impossible to miss and even harder to ignore. If the sound system at the AO Arena is half decent, those all the way in Arapahoe may even be able to hear him announce the winner.
Kody 'Big Mo' Mommaerts will announce Liam Smith vs Chris Eubank II this Saturday 2nd September live on Sky Sports Box Office.
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