Meet the Champions

Chapter I
The Mayweather Method

Floyd Mayweather is one of the greatest

boxers ever to step foot in a boxing ring, and
some people even place him in the top spot. As
much as he is a divisive figure outside the ring,
once the bell rings, Floyd becomes a relentless
master of his craft with hardly any visible flaws.
Mayweather is brash, loud, and outspoken, but
his moniker "the best ever" is backed up by his
flawless 50-0 record and accolades that even die-
hard haters cannot argue against.
Ultimately, Boxing is not about behavior but
winning, and there's no bigger winner than Floyd
"Money" Mayweather. His incredible career was
built upon an immovable block of disciplined
training, encapsulated in the motto he repeats
countless times: "hard work and dedication."
This simple formula is something any aspiring or
established boxer should follow: hard work,
dedication, hard work—a one-person army.
 Mayweather was trained by both his father,
Floyd Senior, and his uncle, Roger, which caused
tensions within the camp due to Floyd Senior's
time in prison and potentially some jealousy due
to Roger's success with Floyd. But despite these
family tensions, it was nice to see Floyd take up
his dad again once Roger's health started to
decline. But they, as trainers, really helped Floyd
become the fighter he became. Many of the
training methods and drills they used are the
staple of boxing training, but some other
methods may come as a surprise and make
Floyd stand out from other champions. Now, let's
look at Floyd Mayweather's training and what
made him one of the best defensive boxers of his
era and the king of money-making in the sport.
A simple fact is that Mayweather never
gasped. He seemed to have unending cardio that
allowed him to use all his skills in the ring without
worrying about his gas tank. An essential aspect
of his outstanding cardio is his road work, which
is a constant companion in every boxer's life.
However, Floyd took this a bit further and ran
five to ten miles every single day or, in fact, at
night. Many stories recall Floyd getting out of a
club late and running back to his house. He
became famous for running and training at
whatever hours he pleased, not following a
specific time regime. If you need some more
proof of how seriously Mayweather treated his
road work, here's what Zab Judah, whom Floyd
beat in 2006 but later took on as a sparring
partner in his preparation for the mega-fight
against Manny Pacquiao, had to say:
"I had a chance to work with him for the Pacquiao
fight, and I got to train with him and see how he
is working. We would pull off four or five-hour
gym sessions, right from the gym session, run,
leave there, and run 10 miles. Yeah, I'm like, this
motherfucker's crazy, like, you know? And then
we go home and go and lay down, and he'll call
you again at two o'clock in the morning like, yo,
what up, let's go running. Are you, are you crazy,
dude? Like, he just more cardio and
conditioning."
Running may be essential, but more is
needed to reach the conditioning levels he
reached. Another staple of Floyd's training was
skipping rope, another tried and tested exercise
from the old days. Floyd turned this simple
exercise into a thing of beauty.
He often used the rope as a warm-up and
would burst out for 10 to 15 minutes, sometimes
with ankle weights, where he would do double
under, triple under, cross jumps, and other
advanced skipping techniques that made his
routine a pleasure to watch. And judging by the
expression in which he did it, you can tell he
enjoyed the jump rope even with the five-pound
ankle weights; he looked like he was floating
above the ground at times. Aside from the
specific training, Mayweather also liked to do
things like basketball and has even been seen
participating in charity basketball games over the
years.
Most viral training videos around the internet
were taken after Floyd became "Money"
Mayweather, but judging by the footage from his
"Pretty Boy" years, it's easy to see his training
remained essentially unchanged throughout his
career; he just found what worked and took it to
perfection.
 After Floyd became a superstar, it became
even clearer that he thrived under the spotlight.
On open workouts, a crowd of 50 to 60 people
always watched him perfecting the craft,
especially when the camera pointed at him. Most
exercises were done in an extended, non-stop
fashion; even the breaks he took were spent
talking and dancing.
What made Floyd special compared to other
fighters was not extraordinary punching power
blinding speed or any other huge physical
attribute, which we often get caught up in. It was
how Mayweather remained undefeated because
of his otherworldly skills and boxing IQ.
He was a defensive mastermind and used
this within his defensive counter-punching style
that got him to get hit as little as possible. He took
the old motto of "hit and not get hit" to the
highest level, which is why he no doubt
maintained his level until he was 40. But let's
have a deeper breakdown of how he sharpened
these boxing skills over the years.
 Shadowboxing is primarily used to help
master your punching technique and
combination skill set. It's also used to use your
imagination to visualize yourself facing an
opponent. We can simulate punches, head, and
defensive movements as if you're in an actual
fight. For Floyd, shadowboxing was a vital part of
his routine, just like any world-class boxer.
However, he would switch between
weightless and weightless shadow boxing and
would often do this for 15 minutes without any
rest. Many coaches today advise against
punching with weights, but Mayweather did it
frequently to help with his shoulder endurance
conditioning to keep on punching for the full 12
rounds.
The heavy bag is the best friend of any boxer
and is indispensable in building power and
endurance in your punches. Floyd, of course, is
frequently trained in it throughout his whole
career, but from what I've seen, he has a slightly
different approach than most. He often did very
long rounds without any rest, but he didn't
completely blast the bag full of force all the time;
he would flow from strike to strike endlessly.
Another great exercise you'll often see in
boxing gyms for building endurance is altering
your cadence between light shots and heavy
shots. This was something you would see Floyd
often do and is a great way to confuse the enemy
as opposed to hitting with the same tempo and
force in every strike. So, this is great for both
technique training and stamina building.
Having a heavy bag in front of you can be
quite a hard thing to visualize an opponent; it's a
blank canvas. Many famous boxers and trainers
strongly recommend everyone to learn this
technique. While I haven't encountered an
instance where Floyd says it, we've seen him on
the heavy bag before where he's been throwing
perfect jabs on the heavy bag as if he has an
opponent in front of him, using rhythm and
adjusting himself after each punch. The heavy
bag is great, but it can develop bad habits,
watching Floyd on the back is a good reminder
that we should try and focus more on our
technique than just using it to land huge shots.
 While crowds in the gym viewed some
sparring sessions, the prime of his fight
preparation was heavily guarded behind closed
doors. There are many stories and, may I say,
myths surrounding his sparring sessions. Floyd
sparred and humiliated world-class boxers and
rising prospects while simultaneously talking
smack to them. After all, humility is one of the
last qualities you'd associate with Mayweather in
the ring. But most of his sessions were cut from
the public eye, with restrictions on filming
whenever camera crews were in the gym.
However, some of Mayweather's former
training partners, including Dmitry Salita, said at
times Floyd sparred four-minute rounds with just
15 seconds rest, which is just brutal.
Dennis Douglin recalled 20 to 30-minute
sparring sessions without any clock running.
There's also an interesting older clip of Floyd
facing Omar Henry in sparring as he was
preparing for his fight with Cotto, a very similar
style, which you can see resembles the sparring
Floyd was doing.
 Everything Floyd does is calculated and
serves a purpose; even his open workouts garner
a lot of attention, but his closed-door sessions
are even more interesting because they add to
the intrigue and rumors, exaggerating his legend
even more.
The constant trash-talking during sparring
sessions is not only safe for the cameras; all his
sparring partners testify that he does not stop
talking during sparring. Former opponent and
friend Zab Judah even once said, "When he
trains, he lines up 15 to 20 sparring partners at a
time. I've known him since we were amateurs.
He's always done over and beyond what the job
consists of. You can't beat someone who's not
going to get tired," and that is something you can
only expect from someone who calls himself "the
best ever" in the ring.
If there is one thing that sets Floyd
Mayweather's training aside from other boxers,
it's his flowing pad work with his uncle Roger
Mayweather, who sadly passed away in 2020. It
resembled a choreographed sequence and was
more in line with karate or even a dance. The two
flowed in an endless combination of punches
without uttering a word to each other. They had
such synchrony that it may seem like they were
using telepathy.
The work of Roger, who sadly passed away
in 2020, is sometimes more impressive than that
of his nephew. Many have debated the actual
merit of using this method of pads. In my
opinion, it doesn't bring much value to other
boxers or trainers unless you're trying to work on
things such as punch combinations,
conditioning, catching shots, and speed and
reactions to certain movements in front of you,
which no doubt helped Floyd in his overall
defense and punching skill set.
Regarding strength and conditioning, I
haven't seen Floyd do anything too fancy, just like
with the rest of his training except maybe the
flashy pad work. He uses classic bodyweight
exercises to build up his body, but just an
otherworldly amount of them.
He was known to do about 5,000 sit-ups in a
day in a few different ways, followed by medicine
balls to the stomach, and the ab roller was a
constant companion of this ab work too. He'd
also do countless push-ups, dips, and squats, and
kept his muscles in prime condition. In today's
fitness world of endless possibilities of machines,
exercises, and methods, Floyd more or less
chose the most basic exercises that prove
themselves in time.
And, of course, he would always make sure
to work on those neck muscles to give himself
enough punch resistance. Some even claim
Floyd chewing gum during training was also
another way for him to strengthen his jaw and
resistance.
While Mayweather may not be the most
physically imposing, I've never seen even bigger
men being able to really handle him and throw
him around the ring too much.
Most boxers follow a strict dieting regime
even when at camp. Floyd found a way to cheat
the system—or at least, that's what he says.
Mayweather said he does not cut weight before
weighing in and maintains a weight of three to
four pounds of his division limit. Because of that,
he's often been seen eating Big Macs or drinking
Coca-Cola. I have a very serious doubt this was
the reality of his pre-fight diet. No athlete can
maintain the elite form Floyd has over the years
and is still in his retirement by eating junk every
day.
This is more of a show, like many of his other
antics. The reason I say this is Floyd had his own
personal chef over the years who prepared
special meals with only organic products,
including the likes of meat, seafood, broccoli,
fruit juices, and many other things.
A good nutritious diet is essential for every
boxer, and this surely helped Mayweather keep
his body fresh and agile into his 40s. But no
doubt, deciding to fight closer to his natural
weight, Floyd had the freedom to get away with
eating a hot dog or two. Aside from all the other
standard recovery protocols later in his career,
we've seen Floyd use cryotherapy.
This procedure is done by exposing the body
to temperatures of minus 220 degrees via liquid
nitrogen in a special chamber. The CRYO
sessions last 90 seconds to three minutes and
help enrich the blood, expel toxins, and thus
quicken muscle recovery. After we first saw
Floyd use this back in 2015, we started to see
more of the top boxers of today use it in other
major sports.
Love him or hate him, Floyd Mayweather is
without a doubt one of the greatest boxers in
history. His brash persona and out-of-ring antics
may come across as arrogant, but make no
mistake about it, he lived and breathed by his
motto "hard work and dedication." Even now in
his 40s, he still lives a very active lifestyle and has
that same championship mentality as we've seen
in his recent retirement exhibition bouts in Japan
and obviously against Logan Paul.
While the ethics of these bouts are very
debatable, Mayweather still showcased a world-
class level of preparation and skill. For me, he's a
reminder that if you want to make it to the top of
the sport, you need to have hard work and
dedication.
 Chapter II
The Canelo Method

Canelo Alvarez is without a doubt pound for

pound one of the best boxers in the world just
now and just like any of the greatest fighters their
training preparation and routine is a key part of
their development as much as fight night is. In
this chapter, we’ll be looking at the Mexican's
training routines including his boxing drills,
strength and conditioning strategy, and nutrition.
Now, before getting into the details of some
of the things Alvarez likes to work on, it's
important to identify his actual training routine.
I've got this information through looking at
multiple publications and videos online including
Boxing News, GQ, and World Boxing News.
The training routine I'm about to reveal to
you was made to Boxing News in the lead-up to
his fight with Golovkin. I'm sure this has changed
over the years and depends on what fight comes
up. Now, remember, Canelo is a full-time fighter,
so if you're looking to implement some of this
within your routine, you can take some of this.
But Canelo lives the boxer lifestyle.
So, in the morning, Canelo will get up first
thing and go for his morning run between 6 am
and 6:30. Except on Sundays, between 6:30 and
1 pm, he'll have his breakfast, rest, and prepare
for the gym. Between 2 and 5, Monday,
Wednesday, and Friday, he'll be doing strength
and conditioning, obviously, boxing skill drills,
skipping rope, and networking with Eddy
Reynoso.
And then on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and
Saturdays, he'll be mainly focused on sparring
with the occasional boxing drills on the side. And
then in the evenings, at 6:30, he'll have his post-
workout meal recovery strategy with Eddy
Reynoso and sleep. And just like any great
champion, they need the rest days, and that
comes on a Sunday.
As you can tell from all this, the Mexican is
truly dedicated to his craft. Canelo likes to keep
a strict routine while in the middle of his training
camps. I imagine that his sparring sessions will
drop off towards the end of his camp to help
reduce the chance of injury or even fatigue.
Now as I mentioned, Canelo will usually go
on an early morning run, and like any of the great
champions, running is a fundamental part of that
routine to help with overall cardio and burn fat
loss in the mornings. By getting up at 6 am,
Canelo starts the day on a positive front, helping
him to maintain or lose weight and improve his
stamina. Alvarez will not just run in the morning
for cardio work, he'll also mix this up sometimes
by combining it with explosive interval sprints.
When you consider Canelo's boxing style, it
makes sense that he combines this with his
running routine to imitate the same burst of
energy he would use when he throws those
powerful punch combinations. You will also see
Canelo sometimes skipping just before his
boxing session as a warm-up or when he's trying
to cut weight on the exercise bike to keep himself
moving.
Now, I don't know if you're like me, but
watching Canelo doing boxing drills is one of the
most satisfying things to watch. The way he uses
punch combinations and defensive movement,
it's no wonder he's perfect when it comes to fight
night. Now, Canelo has certainly perfected these
skills over the years with his lead trainer Eddy
Reynoso who has been key in his growth as a
fighter.
From looking at clips online over the years,
Canelo will do many drills involving head and
waist movement and working on power punches.
By watching the footage of Canelo's training
sessions, it's clear Reynoso likes to get Alvarez to
work on using creative combinations through
repetition and finishing power shots to the head
or body. As I mentioned, these drills are
repetitive for Canelo, so it's embroiled in his
boxing style.
Additionally, he won't have to think too much
and will create that muscle memory with his
movement when the situation arises in the ring
to use it—for example, reaction drills. You'll often
see Canelo use the cobra bag slipping punches
which we've also seen in the ring.
 This also includes things like mitt working on
counter punches as well as even using the double
M bag which will help work on things like his
reflexes and punch timing. In terms of the power
shots, we'll often see Canelo use this on the
heavy bag including double left hooks or even
the uppercut bag which you'll often see Canelo
use to create openings for that left lever shot.
Reynoso also likes to use the punch shield as well
to create head movement for Canelo while also
focusing on punch power.
We've seen this over the years on so many
occasions where Canelo uses head movement
and finishes off with a power shot, always making
sure he's one step ahead. That is what I like about
Canelo's boxing training. He's always thinking
one step ahead after he punches, which all the
great champions will do.
Now, like with any fighter, sparring is an
essential part of their regime to give them the
most authentic experience before the fight night.
This is no different for Canelo Alvarez, who spars
at least three times a week in camp. This
obviously may vary depending on the upcoming
opponent and the fighter's physical state. But
sparring a lot, helps Canelo to be a lot more
comfortable on fight night.
Canelo's boxing style is also quite evasive for
the most part. Even when he's pressure fighting,
he takes a lot of shots in the gloves and arms and
is also using head and waist movement.
Furthermore, he also uses his defensive skills to
slip, roll, and even use footwork to dodge
punches. Eddy Reynoso also helps Canelo spar
with guys from different weights and styles
making him able to adapt to whatever upcoming
opponent he has.
In an interview with World Boxing News, he
confirms that he adapts his sparring partners
depending on who he is facing. Alvarez said,
"With sparring, we usually go based on someone
similar to the fighter to have the same style,
height, and weight. That's usually what we focus
on to get somebody like that." Here's some
footage of Canelo sparring with heavyweight
Frank Sanchez before he faced Callum Smith,
who was a similar size and stood at six foot three.
 Canelo is always in fantastic shape when it
comes to weigh-in day. Now, as much as all the
boxing skill drills and sparring will help him
prepare, Canelo's strength and conditioning are
a huge part of his overall conditioning to get him
in the best shape possible. Having jumped
around the weight divisions from light
middleweight up to light heavyweight, Canelo
has had to adapt to each weight category he is
in.
The exercises Alvarez will do will mainly
involve exercises that require explosiveness for
his whole body. So here are some of the things
he'll use: medicine ball exercises to help the
explosiveness of punches, press-ups to help with
the upper body strength and punch power,
squats to increase the explosiveness and overall
body strength, neck strength exercises to help
reduce the chance from knockouts, and even
shadow Boxing with weights to help increase his
punch power and hand speed.
As you can see from those points, Canelo
puts a huge amount of work into conditioning
himself to get in the best shape possible. I've
noticed when Canelo does a lot of these
exercises, he does it as part of a circuit. This
imitates what it's like in the ring, where you
constantly have to work for those three minutes
with no rest.
As a lot of people will know, sometimes it's
outside the gym that is just as important. So
having a protein-high diet is key for your overall
recovery so you can continually perform in the
gym. In an interview with GQ, Alvarez's typical
day will look like this: for breakfast, he'll have egg
whites with ham and orange juice after his
morning run.
For lunch, he'll have something like a protein
dish with some very nutrient vegetables
including carrots, squash, broccoli, and
cauliflower, and then obviously they'll have
snacks in between things like apples, cucumbers,
grapes, or jicama.
And then for dinner, apparently, he'll have a
protein shake with no carbs. Now, I am trying to
figure out how much to make of all that. As
Canelo has moved around his weights, his intake
has probably changed, especially when he's
moved up to things like being super
middleweight and even being light heavyweight.
I'm sure he's taking more calories as he's
moved around the weights, but I got this
information just before his second fight with
Golovkin. This was when he was down to
middleweight, probably trying to reduce weight
at that stage in his career. In terms of other
recovery methods Alvarez will use, he's been
seen using ice baths quite often after his training.
This helps reduce inflammation and increase
how blood and other fluids like lactic acid flow
through the body.
Therefore, Canelo can recover quickly from
each training session. Additionally, the Mexican
has also been seen to use expensive cryotherapy
as a way for an even quicker muscle recovery
strategy.
Now when it comes to Boxing, the mental
aspect of the sport is just as important as the
physical. And when you think of Canelo, he has
to be one of the smartest fighters in the ring in
terms of how he approaches it and sets up traps
while in the ring.
Quite often Canelo will sit down with Eddy
Reynoso and his other coaches to strategize
around how they will defeat the opposition. One
of the great things about Alvarez is that he's
continually developed his boxing style
throughout the years, one being that quick
combination counterpuncher to know that
intense pressure fighter we've seen more
recently.
Undoubtedly, this is down to the fact he and
his team like to adapt to each upcoming
opponent. In fact, in an interview with World
Boxing News and leading up to his fight with
Golovkin, he stated, "Usually training is almost
always the same, but the strategy is different
because every fighter is different. The strategy
depends on the fight.
While you're preparing for a fight you don't
know what happens once, you're in the ring." In
the second fight with Golovkin, Canelo changed
from that counter-punching boxing style to a
more aggressive, typical Mexican pressure
fighter style. Ironically, Golovkin even said to
World Boxing News before the rematch, "I will
not change my style. Canelo is the one who
needs to change if he wants to win." And well, we
know the history of that one.
Canelo is a brilliant example to follow for
anyone who wants to become a better boxer or
live that fighter lifestyle. I think he uses defensive
drills combined with those power shot drills to
tremendous effect and it's what makes him one
of the most dangerous fighters out there.
I love the fact Reynoso adds so much
repetition and discipline to these training
sessions. If you're looking for an example to
follow, take up some of Canelo's training regime.
Equally, if you're a boxing coach, some of these
drills will really help develop fighters to be more
proactive with their defense while being more
dangerous in their offense.
 Chapter III
The Gervonta Method

Everybody expects knockouts when the

heavyweights are on show, but there's always
something extra special and fascinating about
seeing a smaller man knock out all the
opponents and wreak devastation in the ring.
With a knockout-to-win ratio of over 90 percent,
Davis is one of the hardest hitters in Boxing
today, despite being in the lower weight
divisions.
The undefeated southpaw powerhouse,
suitably nicknamed "Tank," has evolved to
become one of the best 135 to 140 pounders on
the planet, in arguably the most competitive
divisions in sport today. Even though Davis has
proven he is at an elite level by winning world
titles, there is still much more potential to be
uncovered. The training methods have made
Davis one of the most explosive punchers and
exciting fighters to watch in the sport today.
 Let's get right into it. But it is important to
look at his boxing beginnings to see where this
talent came from. Like so many great champions
before him, Davis had to become tough very
early in life. As he grew up around drugs and
crime in the inner city of Baltimore, he had two
choices: crime or Boxing. Luckily, Davis took the
route of Boxing and entered the gym at a very
young age. His knack for fighting was evident
from the very beginning, and Davis had a very
successful amateur career, winning the 2012
National Golden Gloves Championship.
Davis finished this illustrious amateur career
with an impressive record of 206-15. Instead of
going to the Olympics, he immediately turned his
attention to professional Boxing. It was in these
younger years that he was able to develop that
talent into a brilliant boxer-puncher as he entered
the pro game, meeting the right mentors and
trainers.
Davis, born into a family life that was not
normal, compensated by putting the young
"Tank" in the front of the eyes of lifelong coach
Calvin Ford. Later, Floyd Mayweather would
come into the picture and would be the main
architect behind Davis's rise from obscurity to
stardom.
With his father in prison and his mother a
drug addict, young Gervonta bounced between
foster care homes until he found the father figure
he needed at the Upton Boxing Center. This man,
of course, was Calvin Ford, a former drug dealer
turned boxing trainer, who provided all the
support and motivation he needed. In Gervonta’s
words, they saved each other from the streets
that had claimed so many other promising
boxers from the gym. Interestingly, Ford's story
was actually an inspiration behind the character
Dennis "Cutty" Wise from the HBO series "The
Wire."
After scoring six KO victories in his first six
pro fights, Davis would go to the Mayweather
gym in Vegas and, at the time, would spar with
Devin Haney. From this one sparring session,
Floyd saw something special in Gervonta, and
the young boxer signed with Mayweather
Promotions in 2015.
 Mayweather was never shy of promoting his
young star, and this proved instrumental in his
initial mainstream success, along with his electric
fighting style. Outside of the promotion, his
mentoring is obviously a dream come true for
many boxers, and you can still see traces of
Floyd's "Pretty Boy" years inside Davis's boxing
style as well. While Gervonta has also worked
with other trainers, including Barry Hunter and
Patrice "Boogie" Harris, they've also played a
part in Davis's development.
Now, I've been unable to find the exact set
timetable routines through my research, but from
what I've found, on a typical day, it may look like
the following: In the morning, he would go out on
a morning run, whether that be three to six miles.
He would then have an afternoon session such as
boxing training, which would include things like
sparring or using different pieces of boxing
equipment or boxing drills with the pads, or it
could be a strength and conditioning circuit
depending on the day.
He's also been seen doing night sessions,
including going for late-night runs or doing more
technical boxing drills or even sprints, and
sometimes he has been seen playing basketball
with his entourage and just chilling and focusing
on his recovery.
A championship-caliber fighter must be able
to box for 12 rounds without losing too much
spring in his step. Usually, power punchers have
faster twitch musculature, which is responsible
for their explosive and devastating power.
Like with anything in life, the huge benefit
also comes at a cost, which is usually endurance.
Those fast muscles burn more energy and can be
less efficient as a knockout artist himself. Tank
fights in a style that does not require too much
energy expenditure; he's a very good
counterpuncher until his opponent is hurt or
tired before he sticks to them.
This cardio training lets him preserve the
energy and keep his greatest asset to have his
power fully loaded throughout the fight. The fact
very few have managed to go the distance with
Tank means he usually only boxes a few runs. But
the times we have seen him boxing to the later
rounds, he has seemed only to tire out a little.
This is probably part of his energy-efficient style,
but also due to his elite level of cardio.
Obviously, Tank idolizes his mentor
Mayweather and follows some similar routines to
him, which of course include running and
jumping rope. But where Floyd trains more like
an old-school fighter, Davis uses more modern
principles. For example, Tank will usually do
sprint work to improve further that explosiveness
and anaerobic capacity to deliver and simulate
power punches.
There are some very impressive videos of
him doing things like hill sprints worthy of any
track athlete. Still, he also does those slow miles
outside and on the treadmill. From what we see
online, Gervonta frequently does grueling
conditioning circuits as well that both improve
his cardio and help shed pounds.
For example, he's often training in a boxer or
sauna suit to help him lose weight. The benefit of
these long circuits is the wide variety of exercises
that help him develop other attributes alongside
the cardio as it helps to train his aerobic
performance at a very high intensity to push him
to his max, this helps
Tank to be prepared to simulate that high
level of energy such as putting pressure on an
opponent to get the finish. At the same time,
they've also been done for 30-minute periods
that are long enough to improve this area.
Now as much as physical fitness is important
for a boxer, his main attribute should always be
his boxing skills, and Tank Davis is a testament
to that. However, what makes him so dangerous
is not just his sheer power, but the fact he boxes
the way the game was intended to be played, by
hitting and not getting hit.
The fact that knockout power is generated
from the ground up through the legs and the hips
has been known by old-school boxers and
various martial artists, which has been
reconfirmed by modern sports science. The
most powerful strikes can be delivered with only
proper muscle activation and body mechanics.
 While Tyne Davis surely has that natural
sting in his punch, his perfect technique and
ability to torque his body into punches is what
makes him such a powerhouse. That technique
can only be acquired through years of diligent
focused practice. But Tank refines and works on
these fundamentals through your typical boxing
training.
Every modern boxer can afford to skip
training on the mitts with his coaches. In fact, this
is the main method of trying out offensive and
defensive scenarios and sequences.
From watching Tank use these with his
trainers, they look to add variety and utilize the
whole array of pad work. You will train in the
flowing style Floyd Mayweather was famous for
by doing his non-stop sequences at lightning-fast
speed, which are obviously not too realistic but
will help work on his speed reactions and
conditioning.
On the standard pad drills, he does more
classic realistic combinations and sequences that
you would see in his face which greatly aids in
developing things like his accuracy and tactics in
the ring, also helping him work on his upper body
and footwork.
Sometimes his trainers will also add in the
body shield, which is a great way for Tank to
work on body shots while also having to react to
his trainer using the pads up top. Calvin Ford will
even sometimes stick on his headgear and gloves
and make Tank fight on the inside to make it a
much more realistic drill and to help him prepare
to fight in the inside.
Finally, Gervonta also likes to let punches rip
on every boxer's new best friend, the punch
shield, where the heavy bag remains unrivaled as
a power-building tool. The shield allows for full
power strikes but also requires accuracy and
punch variation with different upper body
movements, which really does help Tank as he's
then able to apply this in the ring come fight
night.
The sight of Tank Davis in front of the Money
Team heavy bag is an echo of Floyd Mayweather
at times. Tank loves drilling on the bag the same
way his mentor famously does. He flows with his
continuous light shots before breaking his
rhythm and going with a few power shots and
then immediately going back into that flow.
This can obviously help with your muscle
endurance and also work on your punch rhythm
when working on a heavy bag like this. You'll also
use uppercut bags as they are a great way to
improve your angled punches and uppercuts
which Tank is so good at.
Reaction bags, you also see Tank using the
double end bag which is a great tool in terms of
developing your punch timing anticipation and
reactions. This is a brilliant tool for a big
counterpuncher like Gervonta to develop that
punch timing as it forces you to react to what's in
front of you. By the time you get in the ring, he
also uses the speed bag mainly to help with
shoulder muscle endurance while helping his
hand-eye coordination timing and rhythm. Like
all fighters, Tank will of course shadowbox
mainly to warm up before his full-blown boxing
session. This helps him loosen up and refine his
technique and movement.
 What I do like about shadow boxing is just
the way he incorporates footwork and upper
body movement while he will also start to throw
some punches with some mean intentions as if
there's an opponent which I believe really does
help to improve your technique.
Now, as much as the other areas of
equipment are great at improving your skills,
sparring really is the only way to sharpen the ax
to know that you're at the next level. When Tank
spars, he always seems to be the smaller
opponent, never shying away from sparring guys
there are even a couple of weight divisions above
him.
Just like in the rest of the training, we can see
Floyd or Ford encouraging and witnessing Tank
busting up training partners in the gym. In all the
videos we have, Davis doesn't hold back in spars,
going with full power. But usually, you can tell
they bring in partners that are game too, and
want to compete with them. Evidently, this is a
way top boxers prepare for fights by simulating
them in the gym, so they are already come fight
night. There's a great clip of them sparring with
a younger Teo female Lopez which I recommend
you check out.
You can even tell back then how cool and
collected Tank is, and he shows he can box on
the back foot or fight on the inside. He even has
a cheeky response to Teofimo's Dad at one point.
Because Tank usually gives up height and
reach advantage, he must compensate with his
explosiveness and counter-punching. This is why
strength and conditioning can play a very
important role in his training.
Davis fully utilizes modern science strength
and conditioning, whereas some of the older
boxers relied solely on traditional exercises.
Here are some of the things Tank works on:
Davis has become best friends with medicine
balls where he will do a lot of conditioning work
with them by doing throws, slams, and twists.
Obviously, the movement of pushing a ball or
twisting is like the muscles used when throwing
a punch and helps with things like that explosive
power.
 This does not mean, of course, she doesn't
do things like pull-ups or push-ups; they are part
of his routines but are more part of his full-body
circuit as I discussed before. You will quite often
see him add resistance bands when doing push-
ups which help add isometric tension to help
Davis improve his muscular endurance and
strength.
Davis also hits the weight room occasionally
with more traditional strength exercises like
bench presses, deadlifting with a trap bar,
landmine presses, and even floor dumbbell
presses which are all great at developing
foundational strength. Tank will also do a lot of
core work in those circuits which help fire up all
the muscles needed to deliver a powerful punch
and also withstand one. You'll see him do lots of
different core exercises such as twists,
alternative planks, and medicine ball core hits.
As a world champion, Tank Davis, in more
recent years, has taken his craft a lot more
seriously and has now hired a personal chef and
nutritionist who will take care of his diet.
 Tank revealed to Muscle and Fitness that he
follows a strict diet now including lean proteins,
vegetables, and healthy fats which are eaten
every few hours during camp. So here's what a
typical training day may look like For breakfast,
he often eats turkey bacon with eggs and mixed
peppers. For lunch, he would eat tuna with
spinach along with a light snack that would vary.
And for dinner, he would have another protein
like salmon along with potatoes and either
broccoli or asparagus.
While this sounds exactly how you would
imagine a lead boxer should eat, it was only
sometimes the case with Davis around 2019.
Tank would eat everything he liked, which of
course included a lot of junk food like fries and
slushies. He even mentioned how he had to drop
weight before he could even start training first.
As mentioned, this all appears behind him
now, and despite occasionally enjoying some
Skittles at unexpected times, he seems to have
got this together now.
 From everything I've seen with Tank and
even with his personality, he is a guy who
absorbs the information given to him. He's
maybe not as outspoken as many other fighters,
which gives him that sense of mystery behind
him sometimes.
Is he a guy who gets hyped up because of the
people around him, or is he a man who truly
listens and applies what is being relayed to him?
Personally, I think it is a bit of both. You need to
watch any of his training, and you see the likes of
Ford shouting instructions at him all the time
trying to motivate him.
Interestingly, Ford said the following about
keeping Tank on point: "When I see Tank not
paying attention, that's when I get on him. People
don't know this, but fighters get lackadaisical
sometimes in a fight. It's like a part of you gets
bored a little bit, so you start letting your guard
down.
The main thing I work on as far as a situation
like that is that he's paying attention. If you got
hit with a good shot, look at me to make sure that
you understand I'm saying something to you. If I
see that you aren’t paying attention to me when
I say something to you, that means something
seriously wrong." The likes of Ford and
Mayweather are men with high boxing IQ and
knowledge, and it's clear to date Tank takes on
their advice when in the ring.
You just need to see him being able to change
the game plan suddenly before he gets a
knockout out of nowhere. It's clear to me,
however, that Ford puts in the work in terms of
studying the opponents so Tank can concentrate
on the training part and implement what has
been taught to him.
He likes to play those mental games with him
by putting up pictures of his opponent in and
around the gym, which is proven to give mental
rehearsal and motivation before a fight. It gives
you the ability to mentally be there before you're
even in the ring.
Tank's training is a combination of working
extremely hard in all areas but with a slight focus
on being able to generate knockout power at any
moment. Being the smaller man in most
instances, he's had to look for ways to
compensate for his lack of height and reach by
instead looking to use explosive power he can
utilize at any moment.
Many still don't play Gervonta due to his
undisciplined younger years when he relied
more on his incredible talent. But since maturing
and absorbing the information from the likes of
Floyd and Ford, watching any of his training
sessions, you can tell he works his ass off now.
And if he can keep up the discipline, I wouldn't
be surprised if we see Tank continue to knock
out and steal the show for many years to come in
some potential super fights from 135 to 140
pounds.
 Chapter IV
The Pacquiao Method

Manny Pacquiao is without a doubt one of

the most talented and exciting fighters since he
made his mark in the sport of Boxing. The
Filipino has always been known for his blistering
speed and thrilling style, which made everyone
want to watch him. But as much as he was
talented, Pacquiao worked extremely hard
behind the scenes to get in the best shape
possible.
With over 70 bouts throughout his career,
winning 12 major world titles, and the fact he
fought into his 40s, it required a lot of sacrifice
and hard work in the gym. In this video today, I'll
be breaking down some of Manny Pacquiao's
training methods which got him in top physical
condition, helping develop his blistering speed
and power.
But first up, let's go over Pacquiao's actual
training routine. During the peak of his camps, he
trains six days a week with three double sessions
morning and afternoon. No doubt, he did more
double sessions when he was a lot younger. Also,
considering when he was older, he also had to
keep up senator duties while on training camps.
For a double session day, it would look
something like this:
He would get up at sunrise between 6 and 7
am and go on his morning run, which would also
include some sprints along with some strength
and conditioning exercises to finish off and some
stretching. He would then head back and
between 8 and 12 pm have his breakfast, a
morning nap, or just rest.
At 1 pm, he'd be down at the Wild Card
Boxing Gym to start his boxing training. He
would do around 10 rounds of sparring, 15
rounds on boxing equipment, and other drills
such as skipping or shadowboxing. On top of
that, he would do additional strength and
conditioning exercises that would include things
like press-ups, box jumps, etc.
Then, after this, he and his team would go for
a post-workout meal. Between 6 and 10 pm,
they'd head back to their camp home, relax,
recover, have dinner, and he'd be in bed before
10 p.m.
To start off, one of the first things Manny
Pacquiao does before heading to the boxing gym
is morning runs. It's been said he aimed to do
about 10 miles every morning four to five days a
week during his training camps. However, this
would reduce in distance as more sparring
happened and as it got closer to the fight. As Pac-
Man usually trained in L.A., he tended to run up
a lot of rolling hills for added resistance.
He, of course, did the same in the Philippines
as well. It's no wonder he has such huge calves.
We'd often see Pacquiao running with a massive
entourages, inspiring people who would love to
just get a glimpse of him, which just shows how
much of a people's champ he was. Pacquiao was
also seen to do hill sprints, which in turn would
have helped contribute to his explosive power
and speed.
This is because it helps increase the pool of
muscle fibers available to you while adding more
muscle tension, which will help you become
faster. The other aspect, of course, is stamina,
which is vital at the elite level of Boxing,
especially if you're going to fight 12 rounds.
This is a crucial principle for many of the top
champions, as they need to be able to sustain
prolonged physical and mental strength
throughout the fight. At the end of his runs,
Pacquiao was often seen doing shadow boxing,
ab exercises, and just stretching.
Believe it or not, the majority of Manny
Pacquiao's training is, of course, old school in
nature. The Filipino will use all the traditional
boxing equipment you will often see in any gym.
However, the one main difference for me is that
he's always thinking about speed, movement,
and power.
This included shadow boxing, which is
excellent for warming up and getting into his
bouncing rhythm. He would also sometimes use
this as a warm-down exercise and even use light
dumbbells or egg weights from time to time.
Pacquiao was also a very competent
combination puncher, which most speedy boxers
are known for.
The work played a crucial part in his training
in helping to develop his punch variation, speed,
and power. The heavy bag helped the Filipino
work on his power shots, combinationsold, but
watching him using it, he was very proactive,
making sure he was always moving just like what
he did in sparring or in the ring.
Using the double end bag, would help keep
Manny sharp in terms of his reflexes, punch
timing, and hand-eye coordination, especially
when his focus is on speed. The speed bag, which
is like the double-end bag in terms of helping the
speed and timing, it also helps to condition the
Filipino's shoulder muscles. We'd always see him
continuing to bounce while he does this,
continually working on the fast twitches and
cardio for his legs. Finally, just a bit of jump rope
before the main workout was worn down.
So, as you can tell from what I've just
mentioned, it's all very traditional boxing training
and equipment he uses. It just shows you how
sticking to the typical practices can be very
beneficial in your development.
Now, as much as all I've just mentioned
would have helped Manny Pacquiao get in
excellent condition to fight, the real work
happened when he was sparring, when training
under Freddie Roach. This is where he was able
to apply the strategy and tactics for an upcoming
fight.
The fact Manny Pacquiao trained at the Wild
Card Boxing Gym in L.A for most of his career,
meaning he was able to get some of the top picks
of some of the most hungry and talented fighters
in California. This then required Pacquiao to be
at the top of his game, which is ideal for
preparation by the time it comes to fight under
the lights.
Another aspect of his strategy is that they
worked to cater to each opponent. Pacquiao's
coach said this when facing Mayweather: "With
Floyd Mayweather, it was a lot more leg work
because we think we're going to be chasing him
using a bunch of angles, so Manny needs to be
super explosive off his legs. Legs are where your
power comes from." I think this is always
refreshing to hear from a coach trying to change
the training in accordance with who you will be
fighting. It's no wonder the eight-weight world
champion has been able to perform and compete
against fighters so efficiently.
Now the other important aspect of Manny
Pacquiao's training was of course his strength
and conditioning. For the most part, he really
used any weight training, and it was believed
Freddie Roach thought this would slow him
down. However, Pacquiao's former strength and
conditioning coach had some interesting things
to say in this area. When talking to Boxing News,
he said: "Boxing's pretty boring, it's the same
stuff, bag work, network. We do a lot of lower
body and upper body plyometric work because
they're explosive exercises and they'll use fast
twitch fibers. We do jumps, floor ladder work,
and a lot of ball work for upper body and
basically speed pushing work."
Another big part of Pacquiao's strength
conditioning routine is of course his core
strength. A lot of the power he generated was
through having a solid core, and it's been said he
did up to two thousand ab reps in one day. Here's
a list of some of the ab exercises I've seen him
do in his training sessions. Why don't you give
500 reps to try in your next training session?
Now another thing Pacquiao was seen to use
was tie sticks, which was a technique Freddie
Roach picked up from one of his fellow coaches
when he was in Thailand. The smacking of the
stick helps to numb the nerves in your core and
arms so it's basically an excellent method to use
before a fight night as by the time it comes, you'll
be getting hit in the arms in the body and his pain
resistance would have been much higher.
After his intense training session throughout
the week, Pacquiao's diet and recovery was vital
if he wanted to perform at the highest level.
However, the eight-weight division world
champion had very old-school methods. As far
as I've seen, he did not take up things like an ice
bath or cryotherapy, which has been proven to
help with muscle recovery. Instead, Pacquiao
opted for a warm bath with salt instead or even
just a massage.
As Pacquiao is very old-school in his
recovery methods, his diet and nutrition are, in
fact, vital in his overall recovery and
performance in his training camps. Pacquiao has
been said to be able to burn up to 2500 calories
in one day's training. He needs to be able to eat
a lot to withstand that type of training. Now,
there's a rumor that he can eat up to 7000
calories in one day, which is just ridiculous if that
was true.
Even his strength and conditioning coach
has said he is a freak because of this. The reason
apparently is that his metabolism was so
naturally good but instead it was any additional
fat he'd built up.
Unlike with most boxers who are having to
drain themselves for weight, which is the vast
majority, however, for Pacquiao, he faces the
opposite problem because he is a more
diminutive guy coming up for the weight and he
finished off his career obviously as a
welterweight, so he actually had to try and put
on weight throughout the majority of his career.
When you look at Manny Pacquiao's training
throughout his career, it's no wonder he had such
incredible success over the years as top world
boxing champion.
The thing I liked about Pacquiao's training for
the most part is that it was just ancient school in
terms of the boxing training, which is always how
I think it should be. The other reason I think he
does so well is that he focused intently on being
assertive and quick and speedy regardless of the
training he was doing. You'd always see him
bouncing, jumping, and using speed no matter
his situation.
His discipline was also up there with being
one of the best I've ever seen, and it's no surprise
he continued fighting into his 40s.
 Chapter V
What is Flow?

Flow is a state of consciousness that makes

work feel effortless. You've experienced flow
perhaps when you were riding a bike, surfing a
wave, making music, singing, dancing, or maybe
working on a big project. Many of Humanity's
most significant accomplishments have
happened in this state of flow.
In the movie "Free Solo" Alex Honnold was
in a flow State when he summited El Capitan
with no gear. Sam Altman and his team at
OpenAI, when they were coding ChatGPT which
has already changed the world, were deep in
flow while doing it. When Marie Curie did her
pioneering research and Einstein finally figured
out the theory of relativity, they were harnessing
the power of flow to pull off these superhuman
feats that drove humanity forward.
And flow isn't just a metaphor. In fact, over
ten thousand research papers on Flow have
found that the neurophysiological shifts that
occur while in flow increase the exact skills that
research has shown are most critical to thriving
in the 21st century, like learning, creativity,
productivity, and more.
Alex, Sam, Marie, and Einstein were able to
accomplish such feats because of what happens
in the body and brain when flow kicks in. From
the neurochemical cascade of dopamine,
norepinephrine, anandamide, serotonin,
endorphins, to the alpha Theta brain waves, and
the performance-enhancing alteration to the
neuroanatomical changes in the brain in flow.
Now, all this sounds great. Flow sounds like
a panacea that will solve all of your productivity
and peak performance problems in a heartbeat.
And that would be true if you could access a flow
State on demand. But the problem is most of us
can't.
So, until you train yourself in the four pillars
of flow, flow will remain elusive. And nowhere is
less conducive to accessing flow with
consistency and reliability than the 21st-century
workplace and the 21st-century way of working
where distractions are rapid across the nation,
plague us. Chronic stress is just considered the
norm.
You know that horrible feeling of being over-
caffeinated and riddled with productivity guilt
from delaying doing what you should have been
doing and then hitting lunchtime with barely any
work done even though half the day is done? If
this has ever happened to you, it's due to the flow
blockers.
If you were to run a marathon, first off, you'd
have to ensure that you don't have some
foundational injury or health condition that
simply blocks you from doing it. And it's kind of
similar when it comes to Flow State because
research shows we're evolutionarily wired for
flow. Your brain and body want to kick you into a
flow State when the condition is necessitated.
Most of the time, our 21st-century work style
blocks flow at every turn.
Think about it. When you get up in the
morning, what's the first thing you look at? Well,
if you're like 80 percent of people, you check it
within 15 minutes of waking up. And it's packed
with flow blockers: distraction, uncertainty, task
persistence deficit, attention deficit trait. And
this one thing is the source of over a dozen other
blockers for flow like a dam blocking a river from
naturally moving forward. Now, this thing is your
phone.
So, what's one tool to remove the most
common source of flow blockers? Well, it's
simple. We call it flow before phone. The golden
rule is to get two to three hours of productive
flow on your highest priority task in the morning
before you turn on or touch that device. Now, this
is easier said than done. It's hard to change
ingrained habits, especially when the habit itself
is linked to a device that's designed to be
addictive. But once you try this and once you
experience deeper and deeper states of flow, the
flow states that you can access become more
compelling and overrule the addiction
 Chapter VI
Flow Proneness

Next up, we have flow proneness. So, let's say

you have removed all the blockers and still can't
get into flow because this happens to many
people. It's because they missed the second
thing, flow proneness. So, using the marathon
analogy, consider this your overall fitness level
because flow proneness is simply your tendency
to access flow and the likelihood of getting into
flow at any given moment. We need to make our
physiology, body, psychology up here, and
environment conducive to flow proneness to
maximize our likelihood of accessing a flow
State.
The easiest way is to wake up and get to work
within 90 seconds of opening your eyes. You're
probably like, "What? This sounds like some kind
of a weird workaholic thing to do." But it's the
opposite. Getting your most important work
done within the first two to three hours of the day
in a flow state will amplify productivity
dramatically. You can relax a lot more the rest of
the day. The neuroscientific reason to do this is
that your flow proneness is highest first thing in
the morning. This works for a few reasons. One
being that the brain waves of sleep Theta or
Delta are similar to the alpha Theta brain waves
of flow. As a bonus, the first 90 seconds of the
morning are also before the rest of the world can
impose its will upon you, which makes it easier
to focus.
So, you've removed the primary source of
flow blockers and increased your flow
proneness. So, how do you trigger flow directly?
Well, this is where the flow triggers come in.
 Chapter VII
Flow Triggers

Back in the 1960s, psychologist Mihaly

Csikszentmihalyi, the godfather of flow, who
coined the term flow, identified several of these
triggers. And since then, Stephen Cutler and
other researchers have identified even more.
While Mihaly pioneered psychological
research on flow, Cutler has pioneered
neurobiological research on the state and is
commonly regarded as the world's leading
expert on flow. Now, the more triggers you have
present in an activity at any one time, the faster
you'll enter flow, the deeper the flow state will be,
and the longer you'll be able to hold and sustain
that flow State.
Certain activities are naturally rich in flow
triggers like surfing, music, video gaming. Mihaly
Csikszentmihalyi identified three first triggers for
flow: clear goals, immediate feedback, and
challenge-skills balance. So, here's an example of
each of these in action.
 Let's say you're surfing. You spot the wave,
you catch it, you ride it. These are the explicit
goals that are going to pop you into flow. Then,
you feel the balance on the board and the wave's
power. This is immediate feedback. You're acting
in response to the information you're receiving
from the wave. And as you continue surfing, you
ride waves of varying sizes, varying difficulty,
and if you're a surfer, varying weight, matching
your skill level to keep engaged, which is the
challenge-skills balance at play.
That's all good for surfing, but what about
your work? Well, the trick is to add these triggers
to activities that don't necessarily appear within.
So, to apply this right away, you can tune the
challenge-skills balance by engaging in tasks that
are about 4% more difficult than your current
skill level.
As Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's book title
suggests, our constant goal is to move beyond
boredom and anxiety. That's the sweet spot that
leads to flow.
 Chapter VII
The Flow Cycle

The fourth pillar, flow, is seldom discussed,

but it's the reason behind the world's most
productive people and how they operate, and it's
called the flow cycle.
Herb Benson was a Harvard cardiologist,
and he wrote about this for the first time in his
book called The Breakout Principle, and then
Stephen Cutler mapped it further directly to flow
in his book The Rise of Superman. The flow cycle
tells us that flow states are more like dimmer
switches than light switches.
Now, first, there's a struggle. This is a loading
phase. That's when you first start a task, and the
neurochemistry involved, cortisol and
norepinephrine, kind of makes you squirm. The
discomfort causes us to want to avoid the task,
relieve ourselves of the pain, and distract
ourselves.
 Sadly, most people spend their entire careers
dropping in and out of the first few minutes of
the struggle phase. They never persist long
enough to get into the flow. They're an inch deep
into work forever. So, start by getting great at
persisting through the struggle phase. This
comes down to task persistence.
You can do this with something that we call
attention span stretching. So, if you had a bar that
you were hanging from every day, research
shows that you would grow by an inch in height
if you did that. Similarly, if you stretch your
attention, your attention span becomes longer.
So, for example, read a book all the way through,
even if it's uncomfortable, even if you retain less,
you gain more sustained attention. You're
training your intentional capacity. If you do an
extended meditation, just try adding another
minute and another minute. Same with intensely
focused work. Add another minute, then another.
Treat it like a muscle. Max out the reps.
Then release happens once you reach the
edge of wrestling with the task or problem,
sustaining focus and attention as you persist.
Your brain increases dopamine, enhancing focus
and motivation, finally popping you out of
struggle through release and into the flow state.
Next up, we have flow, the state we've been
discussing this whole time. The prefrontal cortex
deactivates during flow to allow efficient,
intuitive, rapid decision-making.
After the flow state, we have the recovery
phase on the backside of flow where we're
replenishing the expanse of neurochemistry
involved in flow or recuperating after expending
so much energy. And we're integrating the
knowledge or skills acquired during flow.
So, there you have it, the four pillars of flow,
which underscore elite productivity, extreme
accomplishment, and hyper-focus. By
understanding and applying these pillars of flow,
you can become consistently productive and
achieve incredible results.
 Chapter IX
Enter Flow State

Now, the best way I've personally found to do

this in my own training sessions is to approach
them with as little to no expectations as humanly
possible and just kind of feel it out as you go.
What I like to do is start super light listening to
some music and then just start playing around
pressing myself through the movement.
I found on multiple occasions that if I do try
and go too hard too soon like straight away for
instance then it hinders my fluidity in the
delivery of my movements for the whole session
and causes a kind of subconscious tension within
the body. In that way, the muscles get activated
too soon and don't get the chance to express the
full potential.
The great thing that I've found about using
this approach is that as I kind of just like go into
the session and start moving around getting
really into it, I kind of instinctively know when
my body begins to kind of open up and become
more free. I kind of know instinctively when to
strike harder and put more intensity into my
movements.
The caveat to this as well is that when I do
begin to execute those more powerful and more
intense strikes, they actually come out much
better and much less restricted than if I'd gone
heavy from the start. And that is when I
personally will enter into that flow state within
my training session.
Flows generally defined as when you're
working to the right amount of difficulty to where
it's challenging for you but it's not so difficult that
you go into a level of stress and it's not so easy
that it's just boring but it's that sweet spot right
in the middle. So, I recommend that you
approach your own sessions and adjust them
based on that knowledge and you'll intuitively
know obviously when it's too difficult or too
boring for you as well.
For example, if you're doing some
movement drills or something with a partner if
you're just going through the motions and it's
getting boring then challenge yourself to get a
rally going where you and your partner perform
say five consecutive drills one for one without
either of you making a mistake. And there's just
so many different things you can add on from this
point as well like upping the speed of the drills,
upping the intensity, adding more techniques
and so on. And this goes across all different
training modalities so get creative.
This also goes for the people that you're
training with as well. If your pad holder is
wanting you to go to such a level where you're
getting into that kind of stress zone where you're
not really enjoying yourself then again you're not
going to want to do it anymore. It's obviously
good to exert yourself periodically and exert a
greater amount of energy but just not as a
constant and this is why I'm not really a fan of
only training in martial arts classes if you're
doing no other training outside of that because
really it all comes down to like a game of chance.
Sometimes you'll go to the classes and you'll
look out and it'll be amazing but then other times
you know know because of that group dynamic
sometimes you'll go and it's like you have to keep
up with the kind of lowest ability member and
often up into them and you know it can you just
end up verging on that boredom side of the
graph. When I go training I'm having loads of fun
and if you fell in love with her she was at the club
and I made her take a smoke so I got a drum on
the street gang was in the I can't put my tongue
on that sheet you were talking crazy to that how
long it is little how do you see it we got out of
powers in the book in the field I might be a
rapper but it's that and it's a don't see clear
around this pig yellow tape white chocolate
multitask screaming no I left behind you know
check in my rap ain't no crap you could tell it
when I rap ain't no cut this ship rap cut them off
if you talking to the quiet till he hit you when the
job track they wanna spend a spend the
choppers up spinning again see my dog he not
eat so why he from Atlanta not Vegas but I still
seeing a chain like a yo-yo I mean like a Pogo
they really downtown right tail hanging in the
hood while ohh ohh my bad focused on my
money I didn't have somebody there I didn't
have some sunny just think they had hey yellow
my play won't even pull inside my dog could have
passed me the ball buddy put it got my turn did
a pit ohh wow wow wow tough loose lips sink
ships yellow tape white chocolate multitask with
the pistol in a power screaming no I left behind
not a we gonna kill him out and no child in my
rap and pop you could tell it when I rap and I'll
cut this ship rock cut them out they'd be talking
to the mouse over draco causing quiet till he hits
screaming no I've left behind you multitask
screaming no I left behind we don't tell them in
my rap ain't no prop you could tell it when I rap
you know cut this ship rock cut them off if you
talk to the over draco a wise man knows not to
have a lot of enemies conflict is a distraction in
life and left unchecked can end up being what
subtraction from lack should be here yeah rest in
peace and love 26/19/92 July 8th 2009 where's
the pizza love I gave up a long time ago long time
ago as everybody loves underline you counted
on I showed it took a lot of tears with the sword
was found them happy crying on the air
satisfying when the cameras on would have
never went and get you up to even try to make
the grass it's not worth a couple fellas still treat
you like a virgin because I know you better than
what she sucking take my soul she a hoe devil by
the wagon and I covered it with rose petal script
she think I was romantic because I'm so ghetto
gotta pedic in a Birkin it was fundamental in this
situation took a new turn fire foundation
crumbled in the roof buyers I ain't perfect I was
sliding like a earthworm local but I never ever
probably dirt home and we both played each
other you was worse though I was blaming me
because I did it first though when you started
sleeping with your phone in your purse though
when you had that ***** fragrance on your skirt
just a piece of love I gave up a long time ago long
time ago as everybody loves the one you counted
on took a lot of tears water happy crying on the
cameras on I had your back you put a knife in my
now scar if you would spend a lose your life I
would have gave you mine ohh God I sit back and
reminiscing time I used to track my serve while
you drink your wine ohh wait I believe what we
can to you won't believe what the fine do we
aren't together any problems after trying through
put his hands on you that was lying through you
got my first taste of love and I thank you never
let another woman take you to my feelings to get
revenge on every ohh Christian peace to love I
gave up along time ago UC and you would be
hard times everybody love my shoulder took a
lot of tears when the cameras on brown on the
inside laugh with the flash on truly genuine love
never really dies but last investigation and
unrevealed attraction are all things that over time
rather survivefind training partners with which
you can share this one it's even better. Training
should be addictive because that's what keeps
you wanting to come back again and again.
It didn't always used to be this way for me
though. Like for a certain period of time I was
going to train and I'd place these kind of like
unconscious conditions that I wasn't really aware
of in which I felt I had to have this absolutely
killer session every time and it had to live up to
everything I expected. And over time I noticed
that I was beginning to sort of develop this slight
resentment towards going training or almost like
a maybe the word feeling of dread is a little bit
too heavy but it kind of expressed itself in that
way. I would start to go to the gym and kind of
think oh it's going to be like it was last time.
You've got to be really careful with this because
like I said it can sell this negative feedback loop
in the opposite direction of where you want to go
because you start building up a negative
association and then they become a self-fulfilling
prophecy that can be really difficult to overcome
once it's become established.
And this is why you get people that they'll
lose a load of weight for like an occasion like a
wedding or they're going on vacation or
something but then as soon as that occasion has
passed they basically pile all the pounds back on
again and the reason for this is because their
mindset was essentially broken from the start.
They weren't enjoying it and so it wasn't
something that they could repeat and keep up
consistently. And that's why I think those trainers
that just shout at their clients and berate them to
do more have no real idea what they're doing
because if the person being trained has to
constantly motivate themselves to do it again and
again because they don't perceive it as
pleasurable it's not fun for them and they're not
going to be able to keep it up as a lifestyle
afterwards. You shouldn't need to have to have
somebody shouting at you constantly in order to
get yourself to go and train.
When people initially hear this they may
disagree with it and say something like yeah but
you're not pushing yourself how are you going to
improve but that's not what I'm saying at all. In
fact, far from it. What happens when you take the
approach that I'm talking about is your Baseline
intensity level builds over time until your new
normal is now what was once a very difficult
workout for you and you've essentially leveled
up. Work until the training you're doing drops out
of its regular intensity bracket and then that's
when you should think about changing the
intensity.
There are certain things that can pull you out
of flow and there can be really subtle almost to
the point where you don't realize they're actually
happening. Oftentimes the things that actually
keep us in flow appear to be counter-intuitive so
knowing about the things that pull you out is
incredibly beneficial and most of these things
exist on a polarity scale rather than in duality.
So, for instance, focus versus distraction,
they may express themselves as individual
opposites but really they exist on different poles
of the same scale where there are almost infinite
different expressions of each. For example, being
mildly distracted or semi-focused or even totally
forgetting your objective altogether. The reason I
mention this is that the actions that knock you
out of flows such as trying too hard for instance
tend to also be the opposite of the actions that
get you there in the first place. With that being
said, I think it's vital to speak about relaxation.
For me, relaxation is one of the major keys to
remaining in that flow state when I'm training.
It's natural when we begin to add a greater
degree of intensity into our movements to
become somewhat excited and when this
happens we can subconsciously begin to tense
up more as those muscles become activated. I've
learned that the more this happens the worse my
movements tend to become and that's where
frustration begins. At this time, you're beginning
to slip out of that flow state. It causes you to feel
more tired because you're over-expending
energy and then this results in your movements
becoming worse. That creates frustration which
is an expression of expectations not being met so
you can quickly see how this becomes a vicious
cycle.
It's natural when we want to hit harder to
recruit greater muscular force but while
muscular force is an essential element of a
powerful movement, it needs to be balanced with
fluidity and relaxation to avoid becoming stiff
and mechanical. So, I'd recommend whenever
you're training to consciously practice relaxation.
The way you do this is by mindfully checking in
with yourself while you're moving. If I identify
that I'm starting to become too tense I'll
consciously relax my body again and this is
something that can happen multiple times during
my training. This is especially important in
sparring for instance where the threat of attack
naturally promotes tension in the body as a
protection mechanism but paradoxically this
only acts to stifle reactions which actually makes
it more likely for you to get hit.
Whenever you train for predominantly skill
acquisition like in martial art never train just to
do specific strength and conditioning. By all
means, this will improve you but it's certainly not
the most effective method. Muhammad Ali didn't
do this and neither do most high-level athletes
either. Anything like that should be done as an
afterthought or after the sport-specific practice
and not too exhaustive levels either. This might
look for instance like me training on bags,
sparring, etc. Then the conditioning may be
some core work at the end or some pull-ups or
something like that. The work you do in that
conditioning portion should also be done to
stimulate certain muscle groups outside of your
activity but that are also essential to it.
In boxing for instance, the legs are the
primary muscles where all of the striking
prowess comes from. However, in boxing alone
they really get the kind of stimulation to grow.
However, with, it certainly doesn't mean doing
massive heavy weighted squats with the aim of
improving your punching power. For me, body
weight exercises using the legs work amazingly
and have massively contributed to my own speed
and mobility. Low-impact plyometrics work
amazingly for this purpose and don't overly
fatigue the muscles. This is a really unique and
different way of thinking because the vast
majority of workout plans and exercise regimes
are fatigue-seeking and they're not actually
building any skill. And the way those workouts
work is by exerting as much as possible and
working out the body to where you can't really
do anymore.
Now that might work if your goal isn't skill
acquisition and it's just to grow big muscles so if
that's what it takes for you in order to get yourself
to go training then fair enough it's better than
doing nothing but it doesn't make any sense to
take that approach if you're trying to improve in
a skill. The repercussions that come as a result of
all of that exhaustive constant training take more
away from you than they actually give. By its very
nature, fatigue-seeking training leaves you in a
sub-optimal state to approach your North Star
goal afterwards which would be your martial arts
or whatever skill that you're pursuing.
 Chapter X
Nutrition Tips

A key thing when it comes to Performance is

fueling properly so you don't fatigue quickly. If
you're not eating the right Foods or the right
amount of foods for your sport, in this case
boxing, then you won't properly recover and this
will hinder your performance in and out of the
gym. Here are my nutritional tips especially for
boxing.
Hydration, our bodies are roughly 60% water
by weight and proper hydration is a must for
Optimal Performance. Water is responsible for
transporting nutrients, serves as cushioning, it
regulates our temperature. For example, when
we sweat, that's a cooling mechanism.
To put it simply, no water means no life. So,
how does dehydration affect our performance?
When you're dehydrated, there's a reduction of
blood flow to your working muscles, your core
temperature rises because you're not able to
sweat as much, your perception of effort
increases which means your training feels harder
than it is, there's a reduction in cognitive function
because you're probably thinking of water or
you're too thirsty, you may even have a
headache. All of this will negatively affect your
performance.
Alright, so what can you do? Before you start
training, make sure you're properly hydrated. A
couple of ways to determine this is by paying
attention to your thirst signals and looking at
your urine color. You can also use a scale weight
but I'm not going to go over that in this video. As
you can see on the screen, there's a chart with
different urine colors.
So, colors 1 to 2 signify hydration which
means you're not dehydrated or overly hydrated.
3 to 4 means you're mildly dehydrated. Colors 5
and 6 mean you're dehydrated, and anything as
dark as 7 or 8 you're extremely dehydrated. If
your urine color is 1 or 2, don't overconsume
water thinking you're going to have some sort of
benefit. Drinking too much water can lead to
hyponatremia, which is a low sodium
concentration in the blood, and this can lead to
headaches, nausea, dizziness, and so many other
symptoms.
So, this is what I like to do: I train in the
morning so usually when I wake up I like to have
12 to 16 ounces of water then a little bit after that
I'll have some coffee to add to my fluid intake and
then when I have my breakfast I like to add a little
Himalayan salt to add some sodium and other
electrolytes with my breakfast.
And that's before training. As I'm driving to
the gym, I like to sip on water with some Liquid
IV to add more electrolytes and that'll last me
throughout training so I'm replacing the Lost
minerals through sweat. Shameless plug: if you
use my code "Georgia Coast 562" at liquid
ivy.com you'll get a discount.
I genuinely believe in this product, and I
drink it before and during training. So, that's tip
number one: make sure you're properly hydrated
before and after training, that way you can put in
maximum effort and reap the benefits of your
hard work.
 Protein is one of three important
macronutrients alongside fat and carbohydrates.
Protein serves critical and diverse functions like
immune function, hormonal function, it's used in
bones and muscles, enzymes, it provides
structure, it transports other nutrients. It's one of
the most important nutrients to consume for
performance.
So, how can we use protein to boost our
training? Firstly, protein is found in food in
different quantities. Some food sources will be
known as complete protein or incomplete
protein. For example, a chicken breast versus
rice.
They both contain protein but their profile of
amino acids are different. A chicken breast will
contain all essential amino acids whereas rice
will lack or be low in other essential amino acids.
Some complete protein sources are beef,
chicken, fish, eggs, milk, quinoa, and other
fortified Foods. If you're vegetarian, it's good to
mix a variety of different foods to make an
incomplete protein complete and that is known
as complementary proteins. For example, eating
rice and beans together, whole wheat bread with
nut butter, quinoa and black beans, pita and
hummus, lentils and rice.
These are all vegetarian and vegan options
that can be eaten together to make a protein
complete.
Eating protein in the context of sports is
necessary for recovery and to preserve lean
muscle mass. Okay, so how much protein should
we eat? It's best to pace your protein throughout
the day so instead of having one or two big
boluses of protein, spread them out evenly
throughout the day.
The recommended dietary intake for protein
is anywhere from 1.6 to 2.2 grams per kilogram
of body weight which is about 0.7 to 1 gram per
pound of body weight. For example, I eat four
meals a day from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Each
meal is roughly 4 hours apart and I aim for about
30 grams of protein, sometimes a little bit more,
a little bit less, but on average it's about four
doses of 30 to 35 grams of protein per meal.
Protein requirements will be different for
everyone based on their age, their sport, their
body composition, their activity level outside of
their sport if you're injured or sick, but for the
most part, aim to have 20 to 40 grams of protein
per meal.
Alright, so what are some food sources with
20 to 40 grams of protein so you can eat four to
six ounces of turkey, chicken breast, one or two
scoops of whey protein, one or two cups of rice
and beans, one cup of plain Greek yogurt, you
can add some powdered peanut butter for some
flavor, that's what I like to do, a cup of oatmeal
with some fruit and skim milk. There's a variety
of ways to get 20 to 40 grams of protein in.
Plus, a great thing about protein is that it's the
most satiating macronutrient which means it'll
keep you fuller for longer and it also has the
highest thermic effect so that means your body
expands energy trying to break down and digest
and absorb this protein. So, adding a bit more
protein when you're in a calorie deficit is a great
tool to combat hunger, increase satiety, and
preserve lean muscle mass.
 Carbohydrates, as I mentioned earlier,
carbohydrates are one of the three
macronutrients we consume in addition to
protein and fat. Now, carbohydrates are king
when it comes to anaerobic and glycolytic
activities and in this case, boxing. A boxing
match is not a full-on sprint but it's also not an
endurance event, it's somewhere in the middle.
There's times when you're recovering, moving
around the ring not exchanging punches, also
when you have a minute break in between
rounds, when it's time to throw a flurry of
punches with speed and power then
carbohydrates become their primary fuel source
at that moment.
But wait, don't carbs make you fat? No, carbs
don't inherently make you fat. Your overall diet,
food choices, and being in a consistent calorie
Surplus for a length of time will cause fat gain. A
calorie Surplus is eating more calories day in and
day out than you burn or expend in a day. So, let's
say you're a boxer with maintenance calories of
2500, this means if you eat 2500 calories you will
not gain or lose weight. Whether you decide to
eat 200 calories from carbohydrates or 1200
calories from carbohydrates, if you're still eating
2500 calories day in and day out you're still at
maintenance and you're not going to gain or lose
weight over time. Of course, because you will see
a spike in weight if you consume high amounts
of carbohydrates but that's only water and
glycogen and it's not fat weight.
Okay, so what are carbs? Carbohydrates are
sugars and starches. Whenever we eat
carbohydrates, regardless of the type of food we
eat, it's going to get broken down into a sugar or
a monosaccharide. So, whether you're eating
sweet potato, fruit, brown rice, cookies, bread,
vegetables, whatever the carbohydrate in that
food will eventually break down into the smallest
unit. Once I understood this, I was able to look
at food and not judge it saying oh this is good or
this is bad food but rather what's best for me at
this moment and sometimes the best option will
be a plate of vegetables and other times some
toasted bagel with some jelly.
When it comes to boxing, carbohydrates will
provide most energy needed during training and
fighting. You can store roughly 100 grams of
carbohydrates in your liver and anywhere from
three to six hundred grams of carbohydrates in
your muscles in the form of glycogen. As
intensity and duration of the exercise increases,
your stored carbohydrates will decrease because
you're using them for energy. You ever heard of
runners hitting the wall during a marathon?
That's because they have depleted their
carbohydrate stores and they can't keep up with
that same work rate so their body's forcing them
to slow down.
Okay, so how many carbohydrates should we
eat? The amount of carbohydrate one is to
depending on their age, their sport, body
composition, their activity outside of the sport.
There's a broad range of carbohydrate intake.
The latest position stand of the Academy of
Nutrition, Dietetics, and the American College of
Sports Medicine is three grams per kilogram of
body weight or 1.3 grams per pound of body
weight all the way up to 12 grams per kilogram
of body weight or 5.4 grams per pound of body
weight. Of course, this range is based on low
intensity activity all the way to high intensity and
long duration endurance activities. For example,
if you're a boxer that weighs 150 pounds, the
range for carbohydrate is anywhere from 206
grams all the way up to 816 grams. Again, boxing
will fall somewhere in the middle.
Even myself as a professional boxer with
specific training sessions throughout the week,
my carbohydrate intake will vary per day.
Another thing to keep in mind is that boxing is a
weight category sport so we can be consuming
the higher end of this range because that will
most likely put us in a calorie Surplus which
again will lead to weight gain.
Alright, so where did we start, that was a lot
of information so if you're out of training camp
and you're not worried about your weight then
aim for two to three grams of carbohydrates per
pound of body weight. This means if you weigh
150 pounds or 68 kilograms, eat 300 to 450
grams of carbohydrates per day. If you're in
training camp and you're needing to lose weight
you'd have to scale the carbohydrate intake back
a little bit in this case 1.5 to 2 grams per pound
of body weight using the same example
150pound fighter will consume 225 to 300 grams
of carbohydrates.
Now, these are not exact numbers but if it's a
good place to start. Again, everyone's nutritional
needs are different. What I like to do is have my
majority of carbohydrates early on throughout
the day because most of my training is in the
mornings or afternoons. For example, I eat four
meals a day 7:30 a.m. and the last one 7:30 p.m.
spread about four hours apart. So, 7:30 a.m.,
11:30 a.m., 3:30 a.m. or 3:30 p.m., and 7:30 p.m.
I typically have two training sessions 9 to 11 A.M
give or take and my second session is from 2 to
3 P.M. If I'm eating 300 grams of carbs for this
day, I would break it up like this: 70 grams of
carbohydrates per meal one, 30 grams of
carbohydrates intro workout, 80 grams of
carbohydrates for meal number two, 80 grams of
carbohydrates per meal number three, and 40
grams of carbohydrates per meal number four
which would be the last meal of the day. I also
have the bulk of my fat and fiber at the end of the
day when it's furthest away from my training.
Remember, everyone's nutrition needs are a little
different, what works for one fighter may not
work well for another fighter.
 Chapter XI
Building Confidence

Are you afraid to spar? Does the idea of being

in a real fight cause you fear? If the idea of
sparring or being in a real fight makes you
nervous, well, I think I can help.
Let’s talk about real fights first. For me, the
secret to controlling your fear in a real fight is to
make sure you’re only fighting for a worthy
cause. A cause you’re willing to die for. If I see
two dudes jump on my mother or my wife, fear is
not an issue.
I will fight anybody to the death. Preferably,
theirs. Now, that doesn’t make me special. I'm
sure you would do the same thing. So, the big
question is—if you’re not afraid to fight for other
people, then why are you afraid to fight for
yourself ? Don’t you believe you’re a cause worth
fighting for? If you don’t believe that your life is
worth defending, then we need to talk, my friend.
 Let’s meet up for some coffee and pie. But if
you do believe your life is worth defending, then
there’s nothing to worry about. If you have to
fight, you’ll fight. It’s only when we don’t have to
fight, or we’re not sure why we’re fighting, or
we’re fighting for the wrong reasons, that fear
and confusion get in the way. So, get your
priorities straight. The greater the cause, the
sharper the claws.
Okay. Now let’s talk about sparring. The
general tip to reduce your fear of sparring is to
just keep sparring. Get in there. The more you
spar, the less you’ll be afraid of it. But let’s be
honest--that tip sucks.
You want a tip that's going to help you out
today, right now, not a year from now. Well, good
news--I’ve got one for you. When we start
sparring, the main reason we get scared is
because we're overwhelmed. We have no control
over anything.
I’m taking hits, I can’t see what’s going on,
and I have no idea how to stop the attack. Wait!
Time out! Time out! Look—running and hiding
are completely natural reactions. So, if you find
yourself curling up like a baby when you spar, it’s
okay. There’s nothing wrong with you. Of course,
curling up like a baby is nothing to be proud of,
either so let’s fix that.
The trick is to give your brain something to
think about. For example, when you’re about to
spar, tell yourself to control your breathing. Don’t
worry about punches or kicks. Just focus on
breathing no matter what. Got that? Good. The
next time you spar, tell yourself to keep your eyes
open.
No matter what. No flinching. Try to see
everything that’s happening. Once you get that,
the next time you spar, tell yourself to keep your
hands up and always protect your head, no
matter what. Those would be the first three
projects I'd recommend. Make sure you're
breathing, seeing, and protecting your head.
Here’s the big idea—you can’t improve
everything at the same time. There are just too
many skills to work on. Your brain is terrible at
multitasking, but it's incredibly powerful when
you focus it on one skill at a time. If you don’t do
that, if you don’t keep the reins tight, then your
brain is free to just run wild and react to anything
that gets thrown at it.
That'll get you killed. So, approach your
sparring like a meditation. The kind of
meditation where you stare at a candle, or you
just listen to a bell. Put your full attention on one
skill at a time.
Remember this—the more you control
something, the less you’ll fear everything. Once
you can breathe, see, and protect yourself, then
you can add any technique and tactic you want.
One at a time.
Maybe you spend the whole class just
working on your jab. Or maybe you work on your
footwork to stay away from your partner’s power
hand. Or maybe you want to set up a fancy
combination that makes you happy. Whatever.
The moves are up to you, but the principle stays
the same—give your brain one thing to think
about. If you do that, that’s the fastest way to
build good habits and true confidence.
 Chapter XII
Inside & Outside the Ring

I made my professional debut back in 2015

at the Hangar in Costa Mesa, California, and off
the bat, these last five years as a professional
fighter have gone quickly. Now, five years is not
a long time, but keep in mind boxing is a short
career. At least, I believe it should be a short
career. 10, 12, maybe 15 years.
Yes, you'll see some fighters like Mayweather
or Pacquiao with over 20 years as a professional,
but those are few. I've said it many times before,
boxing is a dangerous sport, and some fighters
stay in the game for too long. There's no need to
take more punishment if you had a nice long
career.
This is how fighters get hurt. Boxing is
unforgiving. Get in the game, work your ass off,
strive for a world title, be a professional, and
know when it's time to go. We all know boxing is
a dangerous sport. I’d like to share these
essential tips for professional fighters or for those
looking to turn pro.
Always be a student. Look, it doesn't matter
if you're a 10-time National Champion,
International Champion, Olympian, or whatever.
Always be a student of boxing. Being a student
means having the ability to listen and knowing
there's always room for improvement.
A big mistake fighters make is thinking they
know more than what they do. Boxing is
constantly adapting. Yes, you have the
fundamentals that will carry you throughout your
career, and in fact, they're the most important
thing, but still be open to new techniques.
Everyone teaches differently. Now, I'm not
saying go coach hopping. I'm telling you can
learn something from anyone. You can learn
from coaches, you can learn from other boxers,
and you can learn by watching old videos and old
fights. The bottom line is to keep an open mind,
be receptive to new tricks, and always be a
student.
 Keep easy days easy and hard days hard. This
is something I started doing over the last couple
of training camps. Early on, I would run myself
to the ground every day. Now, this built my
mental resilience, but it hurt me physically
because I would always be fatigued and never
fully recovered.
By that time fight night would arrive, I
wouldn't feel as sharp as I thought I should have.
It was a combination of continuous hard work,
underweight, and being under-recovered.
Recently, I've adopted a more polarized
approach where I have more easy sessions than
hard ones.
Training provides the stimulus and resting,
and recovery is where you adapt. So, you
become better, stronger, and faster when you
rest and recover. Everyone has their training
routine. I suggest you find one that works for you.
What works for one fighter may not work for
another. So, use yourself as a case study to find
out which best training method you can use and
grow from.
 Keeping your easy days accessible and your
hard days hard will allow you to recover from the
hard days and not be so fatigued for weeks on
end.
The Boxing Business. Now, I still don't know
the ins and outs of the entire boxing business
model, but I am a lot more aware, I'm familiar
with it than I was five years ago.
Expect to fight at your local club show unless
you're an Olympian signing under a huge
promotional company. And many times, I'm
confident over ninety percent of fighters, ninety
percent of all fighters, start and end their career
at a local club show.
I won't go into great detail in this video, but
here are some key points a fighter needs to
understand. Boxing is a business. If you're not
marketable or if you're not helpful to a promoter,
they're not going to want you on their show.
The only reason they would wish to you is so
they can elevate another fighter. It sucks.
Promoters shouldn't put people's lives at risk just
to make a couple of bucks, but that's the reality
of this game. Now, I'm not bashing on promoters
because they allow the fighters to showcase their
talent and if demand grows for that fighter,
bigger opportunities will come. Another thing to
remember is that fighters are not employees of
promoters, they are partners. The fighter must
make the contracted weight and show up on fight
night. The promoter's job is to make sure the
event happens. As you make your professional
debut, make sure to market yourself as much as
possible. This will, in return, allow you to sell
more tickets and set you up for bigger
opportunities later.
Open a ROTH IRA. This is a little different,
probably not what you expected to hear, but this
is important. I'm not a financial advisor, but over
70 percent of professional athletes fall under
some financial hardship after they retire. A Roth
IRA is an after-tax retirement account. Think of
it as a glorified savings account.
Being a professional boxer is not a regular
nine-to-five. You won't get a W-2 at the end of the
year. As I mentioned in tip number three, you're
not an employee of the promoter, you're a
contractor, which means you're only there for
one job.
This also means you don't have a company
401K or retirement account. However, there is a
boxer pension plan under the California State
Athletic Commission which I'll link in the
description box below. Here's what I wish I had
done when I made my professional debut: open
up a Roth IRA through any company. I use M1
Finance because that's just what I've been using
for many years, and I think it's easy to use. And
every time you get a paycheck from a fight, put a
little bit into that Roth IRA account. And once
you do, forget about that money.
Imagine it never existed. Invest that money
into a reputable low-cost index fund and just let
your money compound over time. Another tip is
don't spend the entire paycheck you get from a
fight because that money is not taxed yet.
When tax season comes, you'll receive
multiple 1099 forms from different promotional
companies on which you still have to pay self-
employment tax. So, keep that in mind. So that's
a fourth tip: open a Roth IRA. Trust me, you
won't regret it
Treat Every Last Fight Like It’s Your Last Fight.
This is the most important tip because any fight
can be your last fight. I'll say it again, boxing is a
dangerous sport. Every year, many boxers pass
away due to head trauma and complications
from a fight or even training.
I can't emphasize this enough, there are no
easy fights in the professional fight game. Even if
you're facing someone with two wins and 10
losses, there's still a chance of you getting hurt.
It's happened time and time again, the punch you
don't see coming is the one that causes the most
damage.
Train like every fight is your last fight. Treat
every opponent with the respect they deserve
because anyone stepping in the ring with those
small eight-ounce gloves can hurt you. Don't
half-ass you’re training because you think you
have an easy upcoming fight.
 Always treat your next fight like it's your last
fight and hey, when you win, have the same
mindset for the following fight and repeat over
and over again.
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