Just finished Johnny Lewis' book. Anybody had a read?

Mate, you have to consider a few things.
It was Johnny that coaxed KT here.
He was his trainer, not his manager.
You'ld have to rubbish Tommy Woodcock for staying with Phar Lap on that line of thought, I think.
It would have been considered dishonourable by some, no matter which way he went.
Having stayed with KT, why should he have to bicker & barter about his lousy 10%.
Geez, when you're making the sort of money KT was, there is always infrustructure that has to be maintained, not the least of which is ensuring he is focused & unconcerned about his safety & welfare.
Without it, things can go pretty bad pretty quickly

During the Mordey era he was known as a very shrewd but not entireley honourable man.
He could switch people off without the slightest regret. Johnny well knew what loyalty meant to Bill. Not much.

Regarding the hard spars.
It's a matter of opinion about who he should & shouldn't spar & they may well be miles apart from a fan & a trainer.
The pertinent point is though that Azumah Nelson was going to come into this fight a different man & Jeff would have to have been on the top of his game, so sparing someone like KT was probably the yardstick John needed to compare as a then & now indicator.
However. I think JL was wrong to think that a less then 100% Fenech would beat Nelson. At the time, Jeffs body language & his confidence was pretty shakey.

Cheers

 

Fenech was just robbed fighting for his fourth world title. He's training for the rematch and is getting worked over by a guy who is training for his first pro fight. It would have destroyed Fenech's confidence in himself. Lewis could've used other yardsticks to judge Fenech's preparedness.

Mordey and Lewis were part of the package in getting Tszyu over here. I think both were there at that meeting with the oysters and champagne trying to coax Tszyu, with Mordey slipping Tszyu $5k as he left.

I also think Lewis should wear some of the responsibility for the Hatton loss. Tszyu's training routine should've been altered to allow for the 2am fight time.

I'll probably buy a copy of the book so I can have a proper read of it before I start making too many judgments.

 

Crikey you done well Johnny boy....how long were you readin' the book in the bookshop for before they told you too either buy the book or ping off?

 

Tszyu claimed at the time that the AIS recommended his timezone training remain normal. I always thought it was a bad idea - he should have been doing as Hatton was - roadwork and sparring at 2am. Meanwhile, Zoo was tucked up in bed with his teddy and a fluffy doona.

 

I am just hoping he didn't take it into the toilet and it got red flagged, he sure got some reading done standing in the store

 

Just a little bit of trivia for you guys concerning percentages and such. If Johnny was getting 10% he was short changing himself to begin with, this would of been based on the contracted fight purse and would have zip to do with PPV unless a deal had been made prior. KT would of got the PPV sales from Oz but the overseas stuff he would of only got a percentage. Most trainers in the states recieve 12.5% of the purse and in some cases that purse would be PPV returns against a guarranteed purse. Managers get about 30-33 percent of total earnings (purse + PPV + merchandise), only in America Hey!! Sports agents get 5-10% of fights they bring to the table and a drink from the ones they don't. Corner men get a flat fee as do the cut guys. As you can see there is a lot of mouths to feed in good ol US of A and trust me they are all crocodiles over there.
In Oz the rates are slightly different but in most cases the trainers are the managers and in some cases the promoter as well. The usual percentage out here is 25% to the trainer/manager of a fighters purse and in some cases I've heard it being as much as 33%. I personally worked on 20% after the fighter reached a certain level of payment. The 4, 6 round guys usually got a pass on fees.

 

Giday Rod,I reckon the fact that Johnny was prepared just to take his 10% showed where his heart was....he was happy at the start for the fighter to get the lions share....abit dissapointing the Kostya didn't recognise this and still shafted him....as Rod has pointed out in his post Kostya is probaby extremely lucky Johnny never signed a contract.
cheerz

 

I went to Borders and settled in to one of their faux leather chairs with a couple of coffees. Was there for two hours or so. It was for sale for $19.95 so I'll head back for a copy sometime soon.

 

Read that to yourself again mate. "Jeff is getting worked over by a guy whose having first fight"

For starters, if a triple world champ is getting "Worked over" by a bloke having his first fight, what does that tell you?

Why do you think Johnny wanted to pull the pin on the rematch?

 

Nice work....try offerrin' 'em 15 bucks for the copy you were readin' as it's now 2nd hand....:tong

 

Yeah DeVoy, it was someone from the AIS who advised that the 2am time would not impact on Tszyu's performance. I thought it was Lewis who sought the advice and then passed it on to Tszyu.

I reckon if it was Tszyu who took the advice and made the decision Lewis would've included it in the book as well as those other things to deflect any criticism away from himself.

When Hatton switched to train at 2am he said that the time did affect his performance and that it took a few weeks for his body to start to perform back at its peak. I can't believe Tszyu and his team didn't think that the time of the fight would have an adverse effect. As the man responsible for getting Tszyu in peak shape for the fight, Lewis needs to bear some responsibility for this error. Tszyu's body clock was set to go to sleep at that time and not fight a 12 rounder. No wonder Tszyu had no strength and snap in his punches.

 

It would've been a problem if it was an ordinary novice, but he was getting worked over by Tszyu who was a reigning world amateur champ with over 270 fights and who was also naturally heavier. There is a reason Mordey et al chased after Tszyu - they saw that he was special, could stand as though on a handkerchief and not be hit and had just dispatched Vernon Forrest with ease.

Fenech wouldn't have been able to bully Tszyu and would've have been repeatedly caught at the end of Tszyu's punches. How that is meant to help Fenech train for Azumah has got me :huh

 

Pretty sure Johnny got 25% of fenechs money as trainer not sure why it changed with Zoo

 

Johnny boy, KT made most decisions with his father and Johnny was nothing but a pad holder in the end, KT wouldnt listen to him.

 

If that's the case, then why didn't Lewis simply walk away?

I guess five or ten percent isn't a bad earn for being a pad holder.