Development of "Crazy" (per your request WillW):

[Sinister]

Here's a look at another of my guys, and particularly one who likes to move forward. You've likely seen him getting roughed up by Cyclone Mike in the thread about him. But he's hit another gear since then. The back-story is that one of our resident trainers (and journeymen) Alvaro Morales, left the Gym. When he did, he recommended me to a few of his fighters. Jonathan was the one that really stuck. I'd seen potential early, but I wasn't sure how much initially. Jonathan liked to move forward like 85% of Mexican fighters do, but he also liked to bait his opponents into making mistakes to attempt to capitalize on them being out of position. What's strange about him is that he's athletic enough, but with no real defining characteristics. No blinding speed, no big power, no exceptional agility/balance, no exceptional physical strength. I stumbled upon the one intangible he was good at with the Reballdo, guys has EXCELLENT hand-eye coordination, a good sense of timing, and when he hits a pace, he can go unlimited rounds. Good endurance. This is how he looked back at the beginning with me. Fortunately, we were able to just kind of refine Alvaro's teaching, which I have a lot of respect for:



The Reballdo footage you can view here.

We had our first bout together, and I kinda thought he got hosed in it:



Then the second bout together was a nail-biter. It's tough to see but he landed cleaner punches, it's incredibly difficult to win an Amateur fight off the ropes, though, and of course...I don't like a pressure fighter acquiescing to being backed-up:



In his 4th bout, he was ahead of a Russian opponent when he caught a clean right to the nose, and it turned into a faucet. It was stopped immediately. But that and the subsequent Doctor recommendations gave us a lot of time back at the drawing board. He's another one I had to do some mental/emotional conditioning with. He's an incredibly nice guy, which is no damn good when he'd be nice at the wrong moments. He'd also second-guess himself quite a bit. So it would take him longer to initiate engagements than it should if he's going right at the opponent. The first time I saw him REALLY tap into his inner-Mexican was against Joey, who likes to stand and bang, but can be very smart about pacing:



For a long while I had a good trio of people to work with him. Mike, in the above thread, would kind of run him over with his own truck. Joey had a less ruthless pace, so there was a lot less anxiety and more fun. Then I'd occasionally put him in with Bleu because they're both thinkers:



Cont'd

 

[Sinister]

Jonathan developed quickly but still retained the habits of second-guessing, and being too nice in general. This is a kid who got hit in the cup 3 times during a sparring session and didn't retaliate. Now, it was another of my guys who did it and it definitely was accidental, but still I took him aside and said: "I know you don't want to hit anyone back in the balls, but you AT LEAST need to threaten it just so people know you won't stand for it." It was the work with Mike that eventually broke that mold, being put in positions where he HAD to fight back, or go down. But without malice, Jonathan always understood that Mike was just doing his job. Outside the ring, pals. Inside the ring, it's you or me. I think that finally clicked in those sessions. Once Mike left, it just worked out to where we had a lot of time off from sparring for him. Doctor appointments and such. But then one day at random I put him in with a VERY good Amateur at our Gym, and another former pupil of Alvaro's who now trains with our resident Cuban (from Cuba, Cuban) Garcia. This is what happened:



Everything just clicked. Christian used to use him as a punching bag. This time it was tit-for-tat, and Garcia felt that Loco got the better of it. First sparring session in months, and it fell into place. My immediate thought was: "this kid needs to fight, RIGHT NOW." After beginning with a string of losses, this was the time to reset everything. So we signed up for an Amateur fight. I didn't know this at the time, but this was who his opponent was to be:





Then matters got even more complicated. The Gym the bout was at always has somewhat disorganized shows. The show before this one started 2 hours late, and when the officials got there, they refused to give out bout sheets. So we had to beg and plea to know when our fighters were fighting, and warm them up on the fly. This is also where Bleu and Daijon got hosed last. So we were wary. Then we get there and they tell us Jonathan is bout #1. This is nuts because normally the little kids go, then the big guys to keep the crowd there. This time it was backwards. So basically...no warm-up, barely-wrapped hands, we gear-up. Initially I was going to stall for mitt-time, but I decided against it. I told him: "Just shadowbox until we walk. I ain't gonna have you hit anything, you're gonna hit this mufucka." Welp, here's how that worked out:



Needless to say he was very elated about his first win. Especially against a guy like this who came with high advertisement. Things are likely to be very different for him now that he knows what works for him.

**BONUS SCENES!!

Tocco's had 3 other victories that night. All 3 of them trained by John Maynard Roberts and Chris Harris Sr. Some of you may remember John as he was one of the trainers I understudied before starting myself. Here's all 3 of their fights including the man we call "Flash," who fought a Nationally ranked fighter out of Mayweather Boxing Club and won:



But Flash wasn't the most impressive out of that set. The last fighter, Gary, what you're seeing in that fight is a kid discover his style in the middle of a fight. That was the first time I've ever seen it happen like that, and like Jonathan he snapped a losing streak and got his first win impressively.

P.S. - There were videographers at this event shooting both Fes's and Kevin (of Mayweather Boxing Club)'s fights. Both of them lost to Tocco's fighters that day. You can also see victory photos at the Gym's FB page in my sig if you like.

 

[Cyclone Mike]

Sucks to miss all the action. I always thought he moved well, but seriously lacked killer instinct. The last sparring session we had was a lot of fun. I used to feel him crumple in a firefight and that session we got in the pocket and he basically said "fuck you" and I was like, alright motherfucker, lets rock n roll.

Good times!

 

[Sinister]

That's what I think surprised Christian, he expected Jonathan to back down and it didnt happen. From there he was trying too hard. Could have out-boxed Jonathan by a mile like Daijon is capable of doing, but stood with him instead.

 

[WillW]

Good shit. It looks like you cleaned him up a lot, if he is the guy I remember watching before.

Always love the aggressive guys

It would be cool to see you take some of these guys you train to the pros. Not an easy decision to make, we all know how tuff the pros are. but your system seems very pro friendly, and it will be interesting to see the changes you add to their game once they fight under different rules and conditions.

It probably feels extra good to get a W over a mayweather guy. Doin it big.

 

[Sinister]

Well, Im on good relations with both of those guys' respective trainers. Flash's opponent Ive assisted for in the corner when his trainer was out there alone. It's not about that, its really about the hype-machine. You dont see any youtube channels dedicated to Tocco's and we're the oldest and most famous Gym in the City...not just a Gym attached to a famous name. But we fell off over the years, so now we have to literally fight our way into some notoriety with the current audiences. I like that the videos of those fights could only be used to promote Tocco's.

As for going Pro, Loco definitely wants to. Most of my guys do, but I've been around this long enough to know its entirely up to them. Taino is already a Pro, and I've given the greenlight for another fight against the right kind of opponent.

 

[WillW]

Yes mayweathers has the name that makes it a draw instantly.

Keep us posted on ur guys.

also do you have any of Arni's pro fights?

 

[Sinister]

Just the one against Martin Murray that he had after the camp here. That's where he got an interim title I think. Then he lost to Ali Arish wAgo out-wrestled him. The Murray one is on YouTube.

 

[Sinister]

Here's a different look at Flash's fight from that card:

 

[Babba]

direct repost:

yeah i have a problem discerning latin people no racist. i think thats common. i remember watching the loco thread but im sure people dont want to comment if they dont feel they can contribute anything.

about him loco though, he is a bit flat footed, but one thing i think is interesting is the pawing/distance meassuring as a southpaw with his lead hand all the time. im seeing it costing him being jabbed at times but great tool to set up and distance that left straight.

seen a similar style to your guy although a bit more centered -just- around that concept, a guy called freddie evans. a bit of teh same concept in regards to the hand position and focus on the left cross.

im just thinking a guard of this type is very alluring. you have the right hand and if you get good at it you can constantly threaten and de-escalate with a right hook/right uppercut and constant pressure with your left cross

 

[Sinister]

Yeah, when I got him he was even a worse plodder than he is now. We're working on his weight transferring ability right now in the Gym. But it's difficult, Loco has the problem of that almost none of his gifts that make him a viable fighter are athletic in nature. They're more specialized, so it's difficult to pull them together into a good package, and add physicality.

Your thoughts on how his guard works are correct. Though now I'm teaching him to tighten it the closer he gets to the opponent.

 

[Babba]

ok i just watched that 5th fight and he looked infinitely much better. a lot of the stuff he was lacking is coming along. giving a more tricky look with his hip/upper body positions and more sat down and slightly wider footing. you think youd want him even more sat down? to draw them closer to him and also make use of his physical tools better, or taking away his opponents a bit more?

and it still looks like that front arm is his weakness, all the shots he ate were basically as a result of single punches going through when he was close enough, or thought he was too far away to get hit..


you wouldn't want to make it so he would constantly move the front arm, or try to touch the other guy with it? something ive been thinking about lately as a southpaw, and i see some eastern euros making it very uncomfortable for their oppoent, some people get totally put off rhytm by it too.

 

[Sinister]

I don't want to widen his base anymore, it would become a balance liability. He's internally rotated, so his feet tend to point forward, which means when he gets hit with that wide base like that the weight goes towards his heels, which isn't good. Taino had the same problem and was often knocked off-balance due to that and straightening his legs too much.

He has a habit of laziness with that lead hand, and I'm having a bitch of a time tightening his hook up. He often throws the "lady swinging her purse" hook. Sometimes it works because it's wacky, but there's no power on it and it's not fast enough to make up ground for his general lack of hand-speed. This is a more recent session, and he's improved even since this one:

 

[Sinister]

Gonna bump a couple of old threads since you guys seem to like seeing progression. Right now the subject of this thread, Jonathan, is training for a bout in a little over 2 weeks. This was taken yesterday, and he's sparring a guy who used to beat the fuck out of him when I first met him. The orthodox fighter had I think 8 or 9 Pro fights, Jonathan has 13 Amateur fights. I figured to update on him because he's a departure from Daijon and Joseph. He's aggressive, kinda guy who hates taking a backwards step:



And here's one from First Friday. You'll keep hearing a "WHAT!?" in the background. That's Mike (as in McCallum) remarking on Loco's newfound defense:

 

[Sano]

It's cool watching how someone can develop like that over time. It's awesome. It must be a great feeling working with these guys and seeing them improve and get better.

Lol at McCallum going "what, what?" in the background! That was pretty funny. Not to mention the fact that he's Mike McCallum, which makes it even more cool haha. Seems like Loco has good defense when he's actively applying it. It looked to me like he still became a little contend with eating a few shots and got stuck a little a few times during the session. Like he has to reset a little, Is that right? In the earlier videos he seemed a little mechanical in some parts, like he's thinking a lot.

Anyway, vast improvements. I wish I had a coach that understood the game like that and knew how to apply it to different people.

How old are most of your fighters btw?

 

[Sinister]

Yes that's why we call him "Loco"...he won't actually try hard UNLESS you hit him a few good times. But he's probably my single most underrated fighter to this day. People think he's there to be hit, until they get in there and try to hit him and they find out it's a lot more work than they thought initially. But yes, he's got a duality about him. He's a pressure fighter, but he thinks and likes his space. I've tried to add a "Bramble" mode to him, where he replicates Livingstone Bramble, who if he felt you were picking him off too much, would just close his guard, march forward, and throw hard. When I met him he was getting by on volume and attrition. But that was also getting him punched like 75% more.

They vary in age, Daijon and Joseph are younger. Loco is turning 26. Cyclone Mike is a bit older than that. I've also got 3 9-year olds I'm going to debut early next year.

 

[n.diazismylife1999]

I like how all of your fighters have different styles, yet there's something very similar about them. It's almost as if they had the same trainer...

They're all a pleasure to watch -- boxing at its finest, with plenty of subtleties. Nothing's random, their fundamentals are solid, and they very clearly know what they're doing instead of just plodding forward and hoping for the best.

Defense has always interested me more so than offense, which is why I particularly enjoy seeing your guys fight. No chaos because their system's got a logical answer to everything. As opposed to a lot of boxers whose defense seems to be an afterthought and picked up by trial-and-error.

Just sayin', since you mentioned in another thread how no one's replied here - even if people aren't saying anything, I think it's safe to say it's not because no one's interested.

 

[DoctorTaco]

I like how all of your fighters have different styles, yet there's something very similar about them. It's almost as if they had the same trainer...

They're all a pleasure to watch -- boxing at its finest, with plenty of subtleties. Nothing's random, their fundamentals are solid, and they very clearly know what they're doing instead of just plodding forward and hoping for the best.

Defense has always interested me more so than offense, which is why I particularly enjoy seeing your guys fight. No chaos because their system's got a logical answer to everything. As opposed to a lot of boxers whose defense seems to be an afterthought and picked up by trial-and-error.

Just sayin', since you mentioned in another thread how no one's replied here - even if people aren't saying anything, I think it's safe to say it's not because no one's interested.

i enjoy watching Lu's guys train and fight because their fundamentals are the same as ive been taught and shown over the years, but their style and application of those fundamentals is completely different.

 

[n.diazismylife1999]

i enjoy watching Lu's guys train and fight because their fundamentals are the same as ive been taught and shown over the years, but their style and application of those fundamentals is completely different.

I disagree that their application of the fundamentals is "completely different." Like I said, they've got different styles, yeah, but I think it'd be strange to find ANY two boxers who know what they're doing who are applying fundamentals COMPLETELY different, much less two good boxers trained by the same coach.

 

[DoctorTaco]

I disagree that their application of the fundamentals is "completely different." Like I said, they've got different styles, yeah, but I think it'd be strange to find ANY two boxers who know what they're doing who are applying fundamentals COMPLETELY different, much less two good boxers trained by the same coach.

how we apply fundamentals is the basis of our style