What's goin' down at Tocco's (video):

[a guy]

Oh is he still in Vegas? I think I misunderstood your post. I thought when you said he left the country that he left to work in another country.

 

[Sinister]

He did, but then he came back and went back to Richard Steele's gym here in Vegas.

 

[Sinister]

J-Flash (he prefers that to "Flash" I guess) and trainer John made the local news last night:

http://www.fox5vegas.com/clip/11226007/local-fighters-weigh-in-on-mayweather-pacquiao

 

[Sinister]

Some new footage. On J.R.'s off-days from being at Floyd's he's still occasionally sparring here. Last week and the week before Billy Briscoe had his 154lb'er Sammy Vargas here. These two worked really well together, not since Anthony Lenk was still here have I seen J.R. pushed like this:



And, since you guys have seen the video of Daijon doing what he did at the Golden Gloves. This one shows what he does on one of his more "on" days. This is against a kid named Rahim Gonzalez, who right this second is at the Oly box-offs, and has something like 170 fights. Rahim almost always gets the over-all better of it, but considering he's been boxing for around 6 years to Daijon's just over 2, and the difference in experience, I was pretty pleased:

 

[Cyclone Mike]

Some new footage. On J.R.'s off-days from being at Floyd's he's still occasionally sparring here. Last week and the week before Billy Briscoe had his 154lb'er Sammy Vargas here. These two worked really well together, not since Anthony Lenk was still here have I seen J.R. pushed like this:



And, since you guys have seen the video of Daijon doing what he did at the Golden Gloves. This one shows what he does on one of his more "on" days. This is against a kid named Rahim Gonzalez, who right this second is at the Oly box-offs, and has something like 170 fights. Rahim almost always gets the over-all better of it, but considering he's been boxing for around 6 years to Daijon's just over 2, and the difference in experience, I was pretty pleased:

thought the sparring with flash was interesting... Seems like a guy who isn't exceptionally fast but getting all of his punches to make their mark. Always knew when to pull and when to pressure... I suppose based on experience. I also think confidence was a factor, seemed like sammy had more than enough and flash didn't look like the boxer i've seen him be.

 

[a guy]

Joseph did better. But his fight set a tone in the whole damn tournament. I'll touch on that later. The thing that sucked about him is he missed his weight division by 2lbs. This is because in the second week out before the tournament he went a bit overboard, then had to cut too much too fast the week of. Some of these kids get happy when their cutting is going smoothly, and fuck it up with a single day. But, it didn't effect his performance. One thing about that kid is he can defend himself with anyone up to middleweights. Here's that bout (I didn't get Bleu's because I was so busy warming he and Joseph up back-to-back because they fought one right after the other, I didn't have time to find someone to record it):



I felt Joseph got the better of the last 2 rounds. His opponent wasn't landing anything clean, was getting hit with clean counters, and wasn't controlling the pace. Joseph was told by a lot of people they felt he should have gotten the nod.

You know what sucks about that fight? It's really easy to score it for the other guy...if you're not paying attention. To the untrained or unfocused eye, it looks like one guy is going forward, the other guy keeps getting pushed back every time they exchange, keeps getting put on the ropes and is getting hit more. So, the first guy wins. But when you look closely, Joseph was slipping, rolling under and going inside shots. He was catching ones that looked like they landed well on his elbows, forearms, shoulder and sometimes even back (there were a couple punches I saw that sounded like they hit, but it was just the guy's forearm slapping Joseph's back). His defense is probably very hard to see for people who aren't really educated viewers, so the other guy probably got a lot more credit than he deserved. And because Joseph always stepped away even after landing a good shot that knocked the other guy back a bit, it's understandable how someone could think he was being bullied.

Then there was Daijon. This was probably the low-point of the entire day, though in retrospect, it worked out for the better. I'm not sure I'd have realized what I did had it gone well. But he was in a very highly-anticipated first bout. It was being talked about in a couple of Gyms. Now as most of you know Daijon has been an in-depth project of human repair and refinement. I mean, truthfully they all are, but he had a lot of particular mental and emotional vulnerabilities that showed-up in the ring, where a kid like Joseph is good at hiding his. For some reason in his fight, he mentally came apart and had LONG spells of just not throwing. When he did attack or counter, it was CLEAR he was the better man:



Yeah, it just looked like he woke up that morning thinking: "Welp, gonna let this guy win today!" It occurred to me that he often does the same thing sparring with Flash. In retrospect, I know what it is. At the event he told me after the first round he "wasn't feelin' it"...to which this week in the Gym I told them all if I ever hear that between a round again, I'm stopping the bout. In any other Sport you say some shit like that you get benched. I won't have a guy half-fighting beyond making that sort of statement. But what hit me was that he was frustrated, and that in the face of frustration he shuts down. What frustrated him was Vargas' (yes, THAT Vargas, Fernando Jr.) in-ring behavior...mainly the holding and hitting, and the fact that the ref kept warning Daijon for things verbally. It's hard to detect his level of frustration in the middle of a fight because he never says anything. Like in life, he doesn't talk about his problems a lot. But in reviewing the fight it jumped out, and I thought about every instance it's happened. Arguing with refs in other fights (almost cost him that title in Cali). He has a TKO loss on his record because 20 seconds into a fight his opponent tapped him while standing on his foot and he went down. But the trip was obvious. The ref counted him anyway and he made an exasperated gesture...so the ref stopped the fight. I'd never yelled in a competition until that day. Then the same ref threatened Flash in the next fight for no reason. In the Gym he gets frustrated easily by feeling things are unfair, or when a fighter tries to make a fight messy instead of just "boxing with him"...and acts like refusing to participate should make things fall into place. That's what needs to be fixed, him waiting on that shit to happen instead of being assertive.

Man, Daijon looked off from the start. I mean, when he got hit right after that first clinch break like that it looked like he forgot where he was. A couple times I saw him trying to look pretty and show off instead of beat the other kid, like in the first round where he blocked 5-6 punches in a row without moving his feet or head just to prove that he could. It looked like he came out better at the start of the second, til he tried to fucking suplex Vargas haha. At his best he showed slick head movement, tight pivots, great positioning and control of distance and crisp punches, but he was so inconsistent. I really got the impression that he didn't want to win, he wanted to make the other guy know he was a better boxer.

The frustration makes a lot of sense. When looking specifically for it I could see it in his body language, and I could see him shutting down as you said at times.

So we're pushing forward, working on these things. Daijon and Joseph are fighting again next Saturday. They chose to. Initially I wanted both Bleu and Daijon to take a week off. But they all requested not to and only took a couple of days.

How did that go?

Merqui's 108lb'er also lost to a kid who used to train here, who also won his division. And we had another very talented Amateur Dustin Somera who got DQ'd on the scale. Couldn't drop .4lbs after 3 tries. But he did the same thing Joseph did, with about a week out indulged in stuff he wasn't supposed to, then had to lose too much too fast the week of. He made the weight the first day and won his bout handily, but couldn't make it the next day.

The one saving grace was our little Brazilian Vini. Brought us home a title and will be going to regionals next month:

However, earlier I spoke of that trend Joseph's fight set. Well, Vini is the ONLY guy in the whole tournament who won going backwards. Every other fighter that went backwards lost, despite if they out-threw and out-landed the opponent. And a couple of the decisions were REALLY bad. Here in Vegas people tend to blame the Gym that runs the commission, but I realized that's not always the case because one of the robberies went to a guy they don't like. I realized it's incompetent judging. Scoring punches blocked, and scoring walking forward regardless of if it means the aggressor is GETTING hit. This is something I'm going to be speaking to a lot of people about, because while I understand these people are volunteers and do it out of the kindness of their hearts, they don't know how to WATCH boxing.

That's cool about Vini. He was the one in the catch jab drill right?

That really sucks too because I don't think a lot of fans are even all that good at scoring fights when those things are considered. It takes a lot of studying to be able to see what's happening in a fight like Joseph's, and a volunteer just isn't that likely to train his eyes to that extent.

Ah well, let's end with a smile here's another video of my kid:

That got a smile out of me. Reminds me of a time I was training with a couple friends in the summer in one friend's garage. His nephew who was around the same age as your son was watching, and after the workout we sat in a circle letting him walk around and punch our hands. When his uncle wasn't looking at one point, he walked straight up and cracked him in the jaw. My friend pretended to get knocked out, so we all let the kid ko us. After we all went down, he walked back up to his uncle to start some ground and pound haha.

 

[a guy]

I have a new acquisition, another former student of Alvaro Morales. The one who I really felt fully understood the style of boxing that made Alvaro himself #1 in the U.S. and #3 in the World as an Amateur, and allowed him to fight as a journeyman heavyweight while being basically an overweight super-middleweight. I always said about this kid that when he shadowboxes he actually looks like he's doing a Martial Art:

Wow, he looks very well trained. Great pivots on both the back and front foot, great posture, tight punches, good use of the hips, some interesting combinations and set ups. I see the comparison to a martial art very clearly, it reminds me of a little more fluid version of Arni's shadowboxing. What are you gonna be working on with him?

 

[a guy]

Yeah, he kinda pushes his cross. And his posture not being where I want limits his rotational ability. So it's a slow-fix problem.

I think that's the most articulately anyone has stated what I do, because that's pretty much exactly right. And Dadi and I both hope efforts like ours kind of sway boxing back to that. No distinction between Amateur and Pro boxing that makes one only viable at one or the other.

Speaking of Dadi and I, Bjorn stopped by for a few days:



The clock was accidentally set on 2 minutes for that round. Here's the rest. Sorry for the weird view but my phone had to stay plugged in to the wall:

That was some nice sparring. The thing that stood out to me the most was Bjorn's deep step with his lead foot, specifically when he steps it forward without his head getting closer. I recently started working on that kind of step. I can use it with a level change to jab to the body safely, then I can make the same movement and jab upstairs. If I make those a threat, then I can just stomp that foot to make an effective feint, where I'm ready to pull back and counter if they attempt a counter. I can build off that feint by taking that deep step and extending the left hand slightly, then shifting my weight forward as I step the right foot into position while throwing my right hand like Bjorn. If they start worrying about the right hand, I can take the same step again, but this time as my weight comes forward I roll instead of punching and set up a hop step left hook or left to the body depending on range. Depending on how they counter, I can start making that step smaller and moving my weight forward sooner, putting me in position to change levels and roll the other way while taking an angle to their left. Or I can immediately slip left and go from there. And while doing all that, it allows me to walk forward without just walking into their range. I haven't gotten the chance to put that all together fully, but I'm looking forward to integrating it into my game.

 

[Sinister]

thought the sparring with flash was interesting... Seems like a guy who isn't exceptionally fast but getting all of his punches to make their mark. Always knew when to pull and when to pressure... I suppose based on experience. I also think confidence was a factor, seemed like sammy had more than enough and flash didn't look like the boxer i've seen him be.

Well, at 21-1 as a Pro I'd hope Sammy would have enough to trouble a guy just turning Pro like J.R., despite not being quite as physically gifted with things like speed and strength. And he was, his knowledge of how to control distance, and how to time J.R. was very good. He's also very well-educated with a guy like Briscoe.

You know what sucks about that fight? It's really easy to score it for the other guy...if you're not paying attention. To the untrained or unfocused eye, it looks like one guy is going forward, the other guy keeps getting pushed back every time they exchange, keeps getting put on the ropes and is getting hit more. So, the first guy wins. But when you look closely, Joseph was slipping, rolling under and going inside shots. He was catching ones that looked like they landed well on his elbows, forearms, shoulder and sometimes even back (there were a couple punches I saw that sounded like they hit, but it was just the guy's forearm slapping Joseph's back). His defense is probably very hard to see for people who aren't really educated viewers, so the other guy probably got a lot more credit than he deserved. And because Joseph always stepped away even after landing a good shot that knocked the other guy back a bit, it's understandable how someone could think he was being bullied.

Man, Daijon looked off from the start. I mean, when he got hit right after that first clinch break like that it looked like he forgot where he was. A couple times I saw him trying to look pretty and show off instead of beat the other kid, like in the first round where he blocked 5-6 punches in a row without moving his feet or head just to prove that he could. It looked like he came out better at the start of the second, til he tried to fucking suplex Vargas haha. At his best he showed slick head movement, tight pivots, great positioning and control of distance and crisp punches, but he was so inconsistent. I really got the impression that he didn't want to win, he wanted to make the other guy know he was a better boxer.

The frustration makes a lot of sense. When looking specifically for it I could see it in his body language, and I could see him shutting down as you said at times.

How did that go?

That's cool about Vini. He was the one in the catch jab drill right?

That really sucks too because I don't think a lot of fans are even all that good at scoring fights when those things are considered. It takes a lot of studying to be able to see what's happening in a fight like Joseph's, and a volunteer just isn't that likely to train his eyes to that extent.

That got a smile out of me. Reminds me of a time I was training with a couple friends in the summer in one friend's garage. His nephew who was around the same age as your son was watching, and after the workout we sat in a circle letting him walk around and punch our hands. When his uncle wasn't looking at one point, he walked straight up and cracked him in the jaw. My friend pretended to get knocked out, so we all let the kid ko us. After we all went down, he walked back up to his uncle to start some ground and pound haha.

I'll answer by statement.

1) Yeah, that's what I was saying about uneducated judges. People who don't know how to watch fights. Who don't really SEE what they're looking at, and score on loosely defined notions.

2) Yes, that's been a lingering problem with Daijon. Wanting to prove himself in every way EXCEPT actually winning the fight. He's done it before.

3) They didn't actually get to fight. Their matches fell-out. Daijon is fighting in two days, though and it's a re-match from the fight where he got fucked the hardest. Where the ref stopped the fight out of HIS frustration.

4) Yes Vini was the one in the jab drill from years ago. He's become a good little fighter, though also has trouble with mental issues. He fought in the regionals and made it to the finals, but lost to a kid from Arizona. He did REALLY well the first day, and petered-out the second day. I don't think he was properly prepared to fight two days in a row.

5) Yeah, everyone loves my Son when he's at the Gym. The trainers say he already works harder than most of the fighters because he won't stop. Even when he's tired and cranky, he goes and finds something to punch. When I was brushing his teeth this morning he was running body shots on me.

 

[Sinister]

Wow, he looks very well trained. Great pivots on both the back and front foot, great posture, tight punches, good use of the hips, some interesting combinations and set ups. I see the comparison to a martial art very clearly, it reminds me of a little more fluid version of Arni's shadowboxing. What are you gonna be working on with him?

Well, first things first I actually don't like his footwork in this video. Too much "skateboarding" as I call it. Both feet pointed completely sideways while the upper-body sort of faces forward, but it also sideways. We've been straightening that out. He was favoring that left hip fiercely. Since I put him on the right more he likes it much better. He also does a bit too much work for certain punchers, I'm making the movements smaller.

Just refinements. As he himself put it, Alvaro forged the blade, I'm just sharpening it and polishing it. Putting it's strength to the most effective use.

That was some nice sparring. The thing that stood out to me the most was Bjorn's deep step with his lead foot, specifically when he steps it forward without his head getting closer. I recently started working on that kind of step. I can use it with a level change to jab to the body safely, then I can make the same movement and jab upstairs. If I make those a threat, then I can just stomp that foot to make an effective feint, where I'm ready to pull back and counter if they attempt a counter. I can build off that feint by taking that deep step and extending the left hand slightly, then shifting my weight forward as I step the right foot into position while throwing my right hand like Bjorn. If they start worrying about the right hand, I can take the same step again, but this time as my weight comes forward I roll instead of punching and set up a hop step left hook or left to the body depending on range. Depending on how they counter, I can start making that step smaller and moving my weight forward sooner, putting me in position to change levels and roll the other way while taking an angle to their left. Or I can immediately slip left and go from there. And while doing all that, it allows me to walk forward without just walking into their range. I haven't gotten the chance to put that all together fully, but I'm looking forward to integrating it into my game.

Yeah, that's Bjorn's favorite way to take away distance from a guy while staying safe himself. He's worked A LOT on doing what he does without having to be right on top of a guy, as that's how he was when last he was here.

 

[Sinister]

Here's an interview J.R. just did from over at MBC:



Well it finally happened yesterday. He went two six-minute rounds with Floyd and it went well. He held his own better than John was expecting, and it's pretty safe to say he's become solidified as chief sparring partner.

 

[Reyesnuthugr]

^^^ That's awesome. What a thing to tell your (his) kids someday. Good attitude and demeanor with that interview. Handled it like a pro!

----

As for Daijon, have you maybe considered having him read some sports psychology or self-help type books to help his self-perspective? I wonder what would just make it "click" to where tentative emotions would cease to get in the way of performance. It'd be crazy to see that kid after a movie-cliche magician's hypnotism seminar, lose his needless inhibitions and just go all out after that in the ring. Good luck to him as well

 

[DoctorTaco]

Here's an interview J.R. just did from over at MBC:



Well it finally happened yesterday. He went two six-minute rounds with Floyd and it went well. He held his own better than John was expecting, and it's pretty safe to say he's become solidified as chief sparring partner.

That's really exciting. It'll be interesting to see how JR and Floyd adjust to each other's style and game plans as the camp goes on. People always talk about mayweather's ability to adjust to his opponents as fights go on, I imagine his sparring partners have the same trouble with him.

 

[ssullivan80]

As for Daijon, have you maybe considered having him read some sports psychology or self-help type books to help his self-perspective? I wonder what would just make it "click" to where tentative emotions would cease to get in the way of performance. It'd be crazy to see that kid after a movie-cliche magician's hypnotism seminar, lose his needless inhibitions and just go all out after that in the ring. Good luck to him as well

Funny thing, from what Sin has said and from watching his tape....... It almost seems like overconfidence is more what vexes him than the otherwise. Either way, he has those moments of genius i've seen in his sparring and others where he just seems like he's somewhere else.

Another thing i've noticed with him...... for a guy who's best weapon is his straight left hand, he seems to have more trouble when his opponent is circling into it (to their right). He appears to want to "chase that left hand" vs setting it up when his opponent is circling into it vs. away from it.

 

[Sinister]

^^^ That's awesome. What a thing to tell your (his) kids someday. Good attitude and demeanor with that interview. Handled it like a pro!

----

As for Daijon, have you maybe considered having him read some sports psychology or self-help type books to help his self-perspective? I wonder what would just make it "click" to where tentative emotions would cease to get in the way of performance. It'd be crazy to see that kid after a movie-cliche magician's hypnotism seminar, lose his needless inhibitions and just go all out after that in the ring. Good luck to him as well

Ask kids these days to read? Come now.

I'm not too worried about Daijon, he's actually maturing very well. The experience is doing wonders because he's a doer. The more he does, the more comfortable he is. Get too cerebral with him and he just gets confused.

He got hit with a really good solar-plexus shot last week that forced him to a knee by Merqui's brother. It was their last round and Merqui called the rest off. The first thing Daijon said after I took the headgear off was: "I'm gonna get that n*gga back next time we go." And they're pals.

It's coming, just slowly. He's NEVER said anything like that before. He's normally self-critical.

That's really exciting. It'll be interesting to see how JR and Floyd adjust to each other's style and game plans as the camp goes on. People always talk about mayweather's ability to adjust to his opponents as fights go on, I imagine his sparring partners have the same trouble with him.

Well, that's the thing. I won't reveal too much but I know what Floyd wants to be able to land on J.R., so we've adjusted his game a bit here to try and not allow Floyd to get it, which he'll appreciate. He WILL get it, because he's Floyd. But he'll appreciate us making it difficult.

Funny thing, from what Sin has said and from watching his tape....... It almost seems like overconfidence is more what vexes him than the otherwise. Either way, he has those moments of genius i've seen in his sparring and others where he just seems like he's somewhere else.

Another thing i've noticed with him...... for a guy who's best weapon is his straight left hand, he seems to have more trouble when his opponent is circling into it (to their right). He appears to want to "chase that left hand" vs setting it up when his opponent is circling into it vs. away from it.

Nah, it's not over-confidence. Daijon's overcompensation is easy to mistake for that. Unless you mean when he's in there with people who are over-confident. In that case, yes. He can't STAND people with a whole lot of ego, because he never had any.

His best weapon is actually his hook. Externally rotated. Even his slapping hook is stupidly hard. He has a nice left by design, and he can land it consistently. But once I build confidence in his hook (which is happening), that'll be his most destructive punch.

 

[DoctorTaco]

Well, that's the thing. I won't reveal too much but I know what Floyd wants to be able to land on J.R., so we've adjusted his game a bit here to try and not allow Floyd to get it, which he'll appreciate. He WILL get it, because he's Floyd. But he'll appreciate us making it difficult.


His best weapon is actually his hook. Externally rotated. Even his slapping hook is stupidly hard. He has a nice left by design, and he can land it consistently. But once I build confidence in his hook (which is happening), that'll be his most destructive punch.

I've always liked the stunning power in his left, in his footage when it lands flush it seems to reset the rhythm and game plan of his opponent, albeit momentarily.

 

[Sinister]

Yes, so we're working on putting a highly destructive hook behind that stunning power.

 

[DoctorTaco]

Makes perfect sense

 

[Sinister]

Bam:

 

[a guy]

That's a great interview. I wonder how his future opponents are gonna feel about fighting the dude who's helping Mayweather get ready for Pacquiao.