Classic fighters with odd/different training methods

Foreman toting jeeps and trucks around.....That was an awesome sight to behold.

 

Eubank sure did everything his own oddball sort of way. And Davies did little more than hold the spit bucket.

Monzon was an exception to the rule of sorts and didn't believe in sparring.

 

Speaking of Monzon, his training method of smoking 3 packs a day was rather unconventional too. Although I believe he reduced it to 1 or 2 packs a day in the runup to a bit bout. Iron discipline there Carlos

 

tell that to smokin' joe

 

I thought Robbo did that before one fight to "psych" somebody out, sorry cant recall who

 

Archie Moore just you so chew on the meat and fat for the juices but not eat the meat when he was trying to make weight.

 

Ann Wolfe had some strange training methods for James Kirkland, routines that helped his strength, and great conditioning.

 

What kind of odd things did Eubank do?

 

Bob Fitzsimmons used to try to improve his speed and reflex time by imagining he was drowning and he had to reach out as quickly as possible to grab a piece of rope.

 

I was watching a Harry Greb training video. At the end he was playing handball.

 

On his way up he did a lot of martial arts training to help with his footwork.

I found this extract from his book, it's weird because I've read other places that he didn't believe in sparring but here he makes it out to be the most important thing:

(Jan '88 through Apr '89):

I would train first thing in the morning, about 5.30am, finish at about 7.30am and then start gym work at 2pm or 4pm depending on how I felt.
--


(Apr '89 through Sept '95):

Brighton was ideal for the early morning road work before the gym. I used to sometimes run up the very steep steps at the cliff tops which was pretty easy. Hill running, though, I didn't like it at all. There is a place called Bear Road which was just the longest uphill slog you've ever seen! Usually I'd run, but sometimes cycle. Beach running sessions were also a real test. The large pebbles on Brighton Beach sucked the stamina out of your legs within 50 yards, you could almost instantly feel the lactic acid building up.

The late morning or early afternoon was gym time (often at Barry's Matchroom gym in Romford, latterly at my own gym at home). I would start by warming up, which consisted of 15 minutes of stretching, then 15 minutes of shadow boxing, but not just using fists, using my feet and body to develop agility. Much of this would be done in front of mirrors, what I like to call more fanciful boxing. Then, I'd do between three and six rounds (of three minutes each) on the heavy bag, moving around it, playing with it. Then three rounds on the pads - Ronnie rarely directed the pad work, I told him where I wanted him to place the pads, because I had certain shots in mind that I needed to perfect. The pads were great for target practice, accuracy and power. My need was to train for power, because I naturally had the accuracy. What I needed to achieve was landing a punch which would have a long-term effect, namely it would manifest itself three or four rounds later. If you keep hitting someone with good shots to the body, maybe only twice a round, four rounds later it will catch up with them and break them down.

Then I would do six rounds of skipping, but without rest, I would skip straight through the four-minute clock on the wall. Then it was sit-ups. Although I cannot deny sit-ups are very important for the abdomen (compulsory infact), I would only do 50 or 60 repititions, twice a day. My experience taught me that there was nothing more effective than taking actual body shots. Just as I learned in New York, you would leave your body exposed and tell your sparring partner to work on it with full-blooded punches to really harden your stomach. It was not about having hard abdominals, it was about immunity. You could do 1000 sit-ups a day, but if a fighter hits you correctly, you'd crumble. The only way to gain immunity was by taking hundreds of shots to the body.

This was where sparring came in. Throughout my career, I probably sparred more than any other fighter I know. I would start to spar about two weeks into the training schedule. The training would change slightly to half an hour of shadow boxing, between three and 12 rounds of sparring, then skipping, speedball and sit-ups. For a championship fight, I would spar usually 125 rounds. Nothing was more important than sparring. When you haven't sparred for a month or two, you go in there, the guy throws a punch and you instinctively squint. Within a week of intense sparring, he throws the same punch and you don't even blink, you stop flinching and move.



Other things that I've read are just stuff like eating when he wanted and doing some gymnast work to improve his reflexes.

 

Sugar Ray Leonard used to play Pac Man during his training camps to keep his hand eye coordination sharp.

 

Oh nooooooo...that b.s. boxing urban legend rears it's head again!!!!!atsch