Well, it's weird because Mike was TRYING to teach this kind of stuff. So was Merqui Sosa in the year and a half I spent with him. Mike's first trainer was Cuban, and the Dominican Republic's National Boxing program is modeled after the Cuban system. So both of them learned similar stuff. But neither of them were VERY effective at communicating what they were trying to say. I got a lot out of Mike because I hounded him for details, and I have a gift of mimicry (I even do good verbal impressions of people). So I could copy what I see.
But it was Dadi who really helped me connect all the dots and explained WHY the Cubans and Russians developed their boxing programs as they did. They stumbled upon a lot of great stuff without realizing the full significance of it because their primary focus was "Olympic glory" over the U.S. and U.K., which they duly achieved. With the two months Dadi and I spent together, all the dots I learned connected, and then I was able to expound much more from not only observation, but having Cuban trainers around me and the occasional fighters from the Eastern Bloc who were aware of what they were doing.
But once upon a time American and U.K. trainers knew similar stuff, but we became enamored with athleticism, or power. What we became very good at, was finding the golden geese. Then our entire Amateur programs became built on two things: 1) speed (or as I sometimes put it, LARGELY the athleticism of black people), and 2) the toughness of white kids and Latinos. Right now, most of our high-level U.S. Amateurs look hauntingly similar to each other. That's been the problem through the last few years. We always reward the same things, and send the same types of fighters to the Olympics each time, just to come back with very little.
I really liked Nico Hernandez, but in his final match against an Uzbek, he was just out-classed and did well when he just waded through shots to score:
I thought Gary Antwun Russel was robbed, but I don't think he'd have won the Gold at 141. Then there's Shakur Stevenson, who has crazy good reflexes, hand-eye coordination, and overall speed. But it wasn't enough to beat the reigning Champ Ramirez:
But you see I'm not TOO stingy about what I know. I think trainers nowadays are too secretive, especially the ones who DON'T actually know shit. But if we were open to learning, to using what our rivals do against them, and if our chief interest was the quality of our boxing over the quality of our lifestyles, then the students themselves would benefit most.
