A Cyclone developing:

Yeah, the other thing with Mike is he does damage better than he takes it. Loco is the opposite. He's got an iron chin, is difficult to hurt, doesn't MIND getting hit. But that's to his detriment. So to keep him safe, you'll see he uses his hands to catch, parry, block, and deflect a lot more. This is mainly because he hasn't settled into his power yet. Where mike understands he hits hard, and can hurt a person with a well-placed shot. So we want his hands free more to discourage you BY hitting you. For Mike, we're aiming more for this:

 
Bump.

As of right this second, Mike is still recovering from a severely broke thumb that happened in his last fight. It happened in the first round, and he still didn't lose a single round of the fight. Finished and won, but had to have surgery and is only just now able to hit somewhat with it again. But prior to that he had gone to Iceland and spent some time with Dadi. When he came back he had a whole different look, and Dadi specifically spent a lot of time on movement. With the philosophy of always moving to a more advantageous position:



And this was the last session with Alex Thiel, an amateur at our Gym who has like 4 or 5 National Titles now:



Wow great sparring, the last 30 seconds were intense.

His movement looked good, both head and foot. I really liked some of the angles he got on the inside and how he placed some of those body shots.

I have a question. When using a style of defense that involves a lot of hiding behind the lead shoulder, one of the most common ways I see guys get hit clean is slipping jabs to their right then getting hit by the opponent's right hand with a slightly downward arc. I've had it happen to me especially against taller opponents and I saw it happen to Mike here. How do you avoid something like that? It's tough because slipping the jab that way leaves you still in the path of the right hand, and the opponent can leave the jab out to blind you. I've tried to avoid it by weaving under to my left (which I saw Mike do) or ducking farther to my right and stepping into a clinch, but it doesn't always work out and I was wondering if you had any other thoughts.
 
It happens most when you don't offer a deterrent to the right. Slip the jab, but hit them when you do. If they're free to throw twice even if they miss once, a good fighter will. But yes, roll under. Slip back the other way if there's enough space. Or for fuck's sake pivot/side-step. It's interesting how few people consider getting out of the way as that option. But it is one. Last resort? Block.

I mean, there's only SO many ways to skin a cat. Gotta use one of them.

Here's a recent fun session where a slightly rusty Mike sparred my two lightweights. I personally always hated sparring smaller faster fuckers. It's a pain in the ass. But Mike attempted an almost comical amount of slick shit for him, and a lot of it worked. It's kind of long because the lightweights do 3 rounds with each other before Mike gets in with Joseph:

 
Yeah, the other thing with Mike is he does damage better than he takes it. Loco is the opposite. He's got an iron chin, is difficult to hurt, doesn't MIND getting hit. But that's to his detriment. So to keep him safe, you'll see he uses his hands to catch, parry, block, and deflect a lot more. This is mainly because he hasn't settled into his power yet. Where mike understands he hits hard, and can hurt a person with a well-placed shot. So we want his hands free more to discourage you BY hitting you. For Mike, we're aiming more for this:


Amazing vid. That is what defense should look like.
 
Funny part is Carter was NOT a defensive fighter.
 
Mike telling one of my favorite stories concerning his last fight:

 
Mike telling one of my favorite stories concerning his last fight

I fought twice with a broken rib, but with a broken hand... especially your best hand. For that you need a special kind of person.

If it was with me I would probably lose all hope of winning, maybe even having the other hand and two legs haha
 
Mike once stated he wanted to learn some "sweet ass boxing"...well, I think that idea culminated here against a bigger, more experienced fighter who happens to be trained by a former World Class fighter as well. Aside from the one-handed fight, this is probably Mike's best all-around skillful performance:

 
Mike once stated he wanted to learn some "sweet ass boxing"...well, I think that idea culminated here against a bigger, more experienced fighter who happens to be trained by a former World Class fighter as well. Aside from the one-handed fight, this is probably Mike's best all-around skillful performance:



Mike is coming along nicely, very good work to the body, no head hunting and good movement to avoid the bigger fighter from engaging.
 
Damn I box a lot like Mike. However that style is giving me troubles in kick box spars. I like his movement, but he looks a bit afraid to get hit in the head... just like I do.
 
Look back at the earlier vids. Getting hit in the head was one of the things Mike just did.

Not that he "liked" it, but that it happened a lot less. When you take a traditionally aggressive fighter and teach them to box more technically, it's not going to look as smooth as someone who just wants to do stuff like this by default.
 
It is hard to be smooth with that much movement in my own experience. I also like him go under a lot and do a lot of preemptive defensive movements. I for example love how after he trows a body right hand moves away to the left or to the right. Imo this is good boxing. You hit and you do not get hit. Excellent work there coaching, Sinister.
 
Thanks, I try. Mike also spent some time in Iceland with Dadi...he came back with an enhanced ability to exit, and use mutiple guards.
 
His jab looked really good, nice body work and some really nice weaves. It looked to me like he was trying to draw out certain punches at times but having trouble because his opponent was being really patient and waiting for Mike to move first.
 
It happens most when you don't offer a deterrent to the right. Slip the jab, but hit them when you do. If they're free to throw twice even if they miss once, a good fighter will. But yes, roll under. Slip back the other way if there's enough space. Or for fuck's sake pivot/side-step. It's interesting how few people consider getting out of the way as that option. But it is one. Last resort? Block.

I mean, there's only SO many ways to skin a cat. Gotta use one of them.

Here's a recent fun session where a slightly rusty Mike sparred my two lightweights. I personally always hated sparring smaller faster fuckers. It's a pain in the ass. But Mike attempted an almost comical amount of slick shit for him, and a lot of it worked. It's kind of long because the lightweights do 3 rounds with each other before Mike gets in with Joseph:



This is brilliant

I made a topic about thinking in the ring

This sparring is an excellent watch , nothing hard both guys just thinking and picking their shots.
 
Maybe its already been said but what is going on with Mike fight wise

Is he fighting amateur or pro or anything or just doing this for fun ?

If he is competitive could you tell me his record
 
He just fought last Saturday, the circumstances were kind of weird. He was matched with a guy from a gym who came in 13lbs too heavy (yes, 13lbs more than they said he would). So Mike was matched with another of MY fighters who was within weight, and on paper the match was doable because Mike only had like 3 fights and my other guy didn't have any. But the experience level was too much, Mike would have stopped my other guy quickly. If they were more even, I'd have let it happen. So then halfway through the show the organizer came up to me and said Fernando Vargas (yes THAT Fernando Vargas) was pulling one of his fighters who weighed what Mike weighed because they didn't want to fight a guy 8lbs heavier. 8 is within the rules, so they asked if Mike could fight. So I called Mike, who was out running errands, he got over to the show, sort of warmed-up after I wrapped his hands, and fought.

Officially I think his record is like 1-2, or 1-3. We had that first fight that he got robbed in, then the one-handed fight that he won, then this one which was a legit loss.

I don't focus much on their Amateur records, though. There's too much politicking and bullshit going on. I just focus on how they develop. We only worry about winning when it comes to tournaments, and they still get fucked in those. Otherwise we worry about being effective and hurting the other fella if we can.
 
Here's a treat, Mike sparring Joseph in prep for his most recent bout:



That kind of work along with Mike's development has made it possible to spar higher-level people more his size as well, as a recent development.

Here's the fight:

 
Good stuff, El ciclon's body work is looking nasty and that right hand he was throwing was nice. How was that a split decision??
 
Good stuff, El ciclon's body work is looking nasty and that right hand he was throwing was nice. How was that a split decision??

Everyone who saw his fight said the same thing. I had another guy that night who got robbed, I think just because they didn't want our Gym to have 4 straight victories. Shit be political like that.
 
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