"About 90% of boxers in this country in my opinion, lead unprofessional lifestyles."

[atberry]

However, a bigger muscle is a stronger muscle, and a stronger muscle is a faster muscle because it contracts harder and you have to contract muscles to throw a punch. Kerry Kayes had the right idea with Hatton.

[Taylor2010]

Originally Posted by ero-sennin

While this is true, sometimes you get the opposite extreme. I talked about nutrition in that thread where Nipple felt that a professional fighter should not be eating at Nandos.

David Haye is someone who doesn't seem restricted by the old ways. Didn't do long runs, and got up late, as opposed to setting the alarm for 4am like a lot of boxers do. People can point to his conditioning and say it was a mistake for him not to go on long runs but I think his conditioning is a result of genetics, and not the wrong type of training. I think it was Jim Watt who once said that David Haye is just not built for stamina. Even if he trains for it, he's unlikely to be that type of guy. And I'm not saying that modern training methods are superior to the old methods either. I'm just saying that in boxing there is still this stubbornness, and certain exercises and drills are done just because it's always been done that way.

Yeah, in Hayes biography it says that part of his regime was a 10k of 100m sprints, 30 seconds rest between each sprint. Worked for him. I was also told that in the camp for the Wlad fight he was sparring 12 rounds then wrestling 3 rounds right after, while singing along to soul music. I dont know if the music bit is relevant.

[ero-sennin]

Originally Posted by Taylor2010

6. Amir Khan on 24/7 getting into a war in sparring. Roach was away from the wildcard and Khan was sparring some guy in preparation for Garcia. He was sparring like he was Nigel Benn. Like it was some brutal war he was going to get into. When he was told to box, he said it was boring. Beyond retarded. Hard to believe a professional would do something like that.

Really good read thanks for posting. I have highlighted the above as it is something that shocked me when I saw it. Looked like he was sparring a MW a couple weeks out from the Garcia fight, and he was getting hit with some big shots. Also, im sure after he left Roach, Khan said that he had never had a coach work on his defense before.

I think the main reason Khan gets drawn into a tear up is just instinct. It's who he is, but there could also be another reason. Maybe taking those big shots in sparring while wearing headgear has given him a false sense of security and made him think his punch resistance is better than it actually is.

Originally Posted by atberry

The issue with training the central nervous system (weights) is that you need to use weights in excess of 85% 1RM to do so - making the risk of injury highly likely, and the last thing a boxer needs is to be injured and not able to hit the pads, bags and spar.

I believe this is a myth. Injuries during lifting occur because people don't respect the weight and use sloppy technique. With good technique, I don't see any reason why someone should get injured lifting above 85% of 1rm. Pavel Tsatsouline addressed this very point in one of his strength training books.

[JukeboxTimebomb]

Hayes stamina would have been better if he boxed more imo. I'd have thought that the best way to gain and conserve your stamina in boxing is by boxing. You could do (probably should) all the hill sprints, long runs, weights, whatever else and do them brilliantly and be incredibly fit but unless you can fight for 12 rounds it probably needs cutting back and that time spent boxing.

I remember reading about (or maybe I saw it on Sky Sports News) Ricky Hatton and Micha Richards having a little spar. Richards was exhausted after 2 minutes and Hatton was just laughing, Richards would probably beat Hatton on most fitness tests but boxing is also about functioning under extreme pressure and the best way of coping with that is to get familiar with it and have your whole bodies muscle memory geared towards that task. Being at home in the ring would do wonders for stamina (being a natural or having a very good teacher here probably plays a massive role), I don't think Haye looked relaxed in the ring very often, his decision making could go to shit, his balance would too and he stopped trying to win against Wlad until his token effort in the 12th despite having the talent and power to beat Wlad. That's what getting up at 4 a.m is about according to Teddy Atlas. You make these difficult decisions because when it comes down to making a difficult decision in the fight your prepared for it because you have already been making them every time you get up early to go for a bastard run with nothing to do but think about the fight.

If Haye fought more often instead of having less than half the number of fights that Wlad had he might have been able to put up a more consistent effort and not be limited to the odd predictable big right hand/fall over. Wlads time boxing has been filled with much more lessons than Hayes and it showed in the fight. Wlad was in against a fast allusive knockout puncher and he was fine with that, 6 years earlier and he would have been a mess, exhausted, not knowing what to do and getting knocked out. Just imagine if Brewster could slip a punch like Haye!

James Tony had a great trainer, was a student of the older greats and fought often so he could put his gym lessons into practice and then would have plenty of fight lessons to work on in the gym. He became the poster child of living an unprofessional lifestyle but he was still able to go 12 rounds with much bigger men because he was at home in the ring.

[Primadonna Kool]

Originally Posted by JukeboxTimebomb

Hayes stamina would have been better if he boxed more imo. I'd have thought that the best way to gain and conserve your stamina in boxing is by boxing. You could do (probably should) all the hill sprints, long runs, weights, whatever else and do them brilliantly and be incredibly fit but unless you can fight for 12 rounds it probably needs cutting back and that time spent boxing.

I remember reading about (or maybe I saw it on Sky Sports News) Ricky Hatton and Micha Richards having a little spar. Richards was exhausted after 2 minutes and Hatton was just laughing, Richards would probably beat Hatton on most fitness tests but boxing is also about functioning under extreme pressure and the best way of coping with that is to get familiar with it and have your whole bodies muscle memory geared towards that task. Being at home in the ring would do wonders for stamina (being a natural or having a very good teacher here probably plays a massive role), I don't think Haye looked relaxed in the ring very often, his decision making could go to shit, his balance would too and he stopped trying to win against Wlad until his token effort in the 12th despite having the talent and power to beat Wlad. That's what getting up at 4 a.m is about according to Teddy Atlas. You make these difficult decisions because when it comes down to making a difficult decision in the fight your prepared for it because you have already been making them every time you get up early to go for a bastard run with nothing to do but think about the fight.

If Haye fought more often instead of having less than half the number of fights that Wlad had he might have been able to put up a more consistent effort and not be limited to the odd predictable big right hand/fall over. Wlads time boxing has been filled with much more lessons than Hayes and it showed in the fight. Wlad was in against a fast allusive knockout puncher and he was fine with that, 6 years earlier and he would have been a mess, exhausted, not knowing what to do and getting knocked out. Just imagine if Brewster could slip a punch like Haye!

James Tony had a great trainer, was a student of the older greats and fought often so he could put his gym lessons into practice and then would have plenty of fight lessons to work on in the gym. He became the poster child of living an unprofessional lifestyle but he was still able to go 12 rounds with much bigger men because he was at home in the ring.

So sparring everyday, and taking shots is the way to go...? David Haye is a old school heavyweight fighting guys 2-3 stone heavier than him on average, his style is more taxing on the body than most other heavyweights, its based on movement and creating gaps, with explosive bursts. David Haye is always in condition and always in "GOOD HEALTH", a large majority of boxers are in bad health in my opinion.

Note: Remember when i said its ingrained in boxing for people to be retards, this post up above is showing signs of that retarded mentality.

Joe Calzaghe was never big on sparring and neither was Evander Holyfield.

In my opinion no fighter should be sparring all year round, on a weekly basis.

Note: I cannot be bother involving myself in this thread anymore, its already annoying me.

[atberry]

Originally Posted by ero-sennin

I believe this is a myth. Injuries during lifting occur because people don't respect the weight and use sloppy technique. With good technique, I don't see any reason why someone should get injured lifting above 85% of 1rm. Pavel Tsatsouline addressed this very point in one of his strength training books.

It takes years to nail technique on the powerlifts, and years and years on the Olympic lifts.. (And even then it's still a risk). Boxers don't have time like that to kill.

[atberry]

Chris Eubank is huge on sparring hard and fighting regularly, (and is against lifting weights or focussing on diet).

[GazOC]

IMHO Ero number 1 (Khan) is the correct way to do it. No athlete can be in top condition all year round, they train to peak at specific times while still staying in reasonable shape between those peaks. Conditioning and technical work isn't either/ or, both can be worked on at the same time during a 12 week training camp.

[Vidic]

Not all of these things are unprofessional

Christ Arreola, Odlanier Solis getting close to 300lbs is unprofessional

A lot of the other stuff is just stupid

[GazOC]

Ignore that Ero!! I didn't read the last bit correctly, if at all! Sorry!

[DavetheSlave]

Originally Posted by Matt Ldn

Trainers in general are incredibly backward. The number of young amateurs who are eating terribly is ridiculous. Frankie gavin for example just eating beans on toast etc. You hear some terrible advice in gyms.

Beans are high in protein, high in iron, low in saturated fat.

[GazOC]

..and very nice.

[ero-sennin]

Originally Posted by GazOC

IMHO Ero number 1 (Khan) is the correct way to do it. No athlete can be in top condition all year round, they train to peak at specific times while still staying in reasonable shape between those peaks. Conditioning and technical work isn't either/ or, both can be worked on at the same time during a 12 week training camp.

I agree with that, but when a fighter is not in training camp if he's not doing some very light, technical training, then he's not making the most of his time IMO. Nothing heavy, just a bit of light shadow boxing, a bit of footwork, working on floor to ceiling bag to keep the hand-eye co-ordination sharp etc. I don't think this kind of stuff would take a lot out of them physically to cause burnout or anything, and when they start training camp they can start off sharp and get in the groove easier.

[ero-sennin]

Originally Posted by GazOC

Ignore that Ero!! I didn't read the last bit correctly, if at all! Sorry!

just saw this after replying.

[GazOC]

Originally Posted by ero-sennin

I agree with that, but when a fighter is not in training camp if he's not doing some very light, technical training, then he's not making the most of his time IMO. Nothing heavy, just a bit of light shadow boxing, a bit of footwork, working on floor to ceiling bag to keep the hand-eye co-ordination sharp etc. I don't think this kind of stuff would take a lot out of them physically to cause burnout or anything, and when they start training camp they can start off sharp and get in the groove easier.

Totally agree mate. A bit of running, a couple of hours in the gym doing light work etc. wouldn't wear them out and would make the start of each training camp a lot easier.