Yeah possibly, the doctors told me it was inevitable that I would have some growth retardation due to the time that I found my tumor & realistically how long it had damaged my hormones due to its size. I remained relatively the same size from 17-21, but was always told my growth plates were still open. They told me I might hit a growth spurt when hormones return to normal but its unlikely because of my age (22). Maybe thats whats happening, nature is following its normal course and god wants me to be a full fledged welterweight now.
It was real difficult getting used to my size, especially because I had to spar the 150-170lb guys, I was worried my power wouldn't carry up and I was bout to be like Paulie Malignaggi lol, now there's nothing cool about knocking sparring partners out or hurting them, but my first sparring session back I boxed this 165lber with about 40 amateur fights. boxes with the marine boxing team, been in the marines for a few years all that, (mentioned him in the prince naseem/hand size thread. This was the guy who had big hands and when he fist bumped me he hit my hand kinda hard and it kinda hurt, I was offended honestly, but was thinking his hands are heavy so he probably got pop). I am not kidding, 20 seconds into the sparring I hit him with a left hook and that was it. Knocked him out and he was done after the first real shot I landed, so I am very happy to say my power has carried up fine, if not better than before. The guy walked up afterwards and was like "damn dude how many fights do u have?", I told him 3 and he said "get the fuck outta here. how long u been boxing", I told him on/off due to injuries but first started training 5 years ago. He's like "ahhh thats why , man I was bout give up the sport over that shit", cool dude tho. I then got my ass whooped by this sharp white boy who just won the 141 golden gloves in LA. It was good work but he abused the fuck out of the hole in my defense with the overhand right, I was tired also but really had to make an adjustment.
About getting used to the size tho - its so weird because I've always been a small guy. From day 1 I've accepted " I am smaller than most around me ", so when I'm boxing these dudes, in my mind im thinking "Ok be careful, this guy is a lot bigger than you, hes huge, don't take risks, box very smart", which causes me to be too cautious - but then I see photos after of us after sparring - and wtf, I'm the exact same size, and overall frame wise the biggest guy there, blows my mind.
So bad news guys, after replying to y'all yesterday, I broke my big toe stubbing it on my bed. I'm an idiot, probably going to be out for a few weeks, but thats nothing compared to the layoffs I've been accustomed to. I need to do my yearly hormonal panel testing anyway, which they want me to be off my medication for 3 weeks before getting to get a baseline of my natural values, so now is the perfect time to do it I guess. I was holding off because without my medication, my testosterone levels are going to tank, bones will become weak muscles weak, all that and don't want to risk injury as I was so close to fighting. Shit happens tho, but I'm out of training for at least a month.
BT21- I have sooo many stories about Big Floyd it would take months to write them out lol. I lived with him at one point for a few months so I was with him literally all the time. One thing I can tell you bout Sr., is that he is a no bullshit coach, has a very hard way of showing any kind of affection/like for anybody, and is tough as nails to live with. I know first hand was Floyd Jr., went through as a kid. I actually started to resent him at one point living with him because it was like a boot camp, it was torture, he controlled exactly what I ate, when I ate, how much I ate, all that. I began to resent it because it felt like he hated me, I was never good enough. Unless I stopped the guy I was sparring, I wasn't shit. if it was good work, I wasn't shit. If I did stop him, that was alright because that's what I'm supposed to be capable of and do, but isn't anything good. There was literally no way to be "good enough".
@Sinister knows I'm sure from seeing him through the years. Some of the speeches I would get after sparring/fights would haunt me in my dreams for days. He'd wake me up at 6 am sharp every single day to go run at mt Charleston 7000 feet elevation, he'd follow behind in the car playing music and tell me to throw certain combinations while running, and every day at the very end of a 4-5 mile run he would make me sprint damn near the last half mile, He would say "I'm going to drive at 10 mph, if this car beats you to that spot, were done training. You better beat this car" and obviously he won't literally stop training me, but I didn't want to fail him so I'd run my ass off lol. Oh, this was in 2lb Timbaland boots. Wouldn't let me run in anything else.
The thing was, I was able to compete with guys leagues ahead of me at an alarmingly fast rate, me boxing with 5 months of experience could hang with guys with weight advantages, hundreds of amateur fights and 10 years of experience. How much of that was my natural talent, and how much of it was due to the training regimen of Floyd Sr.,? I'm guessing a bit of both, but mainly because of the training regimen. Can't knock it, it was torturous but produced results.
But yeah, I was under the impression he didn't like me with how often I was treated with criticism, up until this happened: I was 17 at the time, my mom came down to visit for a few days and was staying in a hotel, so I told her I'd stay with her the 3 days she came down, then move back in with big Floyd. I didn't really communicate this to Sr., tho, wasn't really a big deal. So the day came that my mom came, and me and Sr., were getting ready to go to the gym, and I packed my suitcase. He looked confused, and said "what are u doing with that? why do u have that?" and I told him I was gonna stay with my mom for 3 days. He looked genuinely hurt, and was like "oh.. damn man... are you sure? I didn't know she was coming. Are you coming back?" and I assured him I'd be back in a few days, and he got happy again and said " Ok man, thats alright.", at that moment tho, I knew he cared about me (which should've been obvious to my immature 17 year old self, he was going up to the mountains with me every morning, that wasn't for him, that was for me).
Another time, this guy in the gym asked if he could hold mitts with me, kinda a strange dude, but just visiting from Canada I think and said it'd be an honor or something lol. Of course I said sure and worked mitts with him. Floyd Sr., came in a bit later and saw, and I said whats up to him but he acted a bit weird. I walked up and asked him if he's ready to work today and do pads, and he said "nah man not with you. you got a trainer. go work with him, u already got a trainer", and I was so mad about that. I tried to tell him that I was doing the guy a favor but he didn't want to hear it - and literally didn't train me that day. Later, Floyd Jr., was doing his training for Guerrero & me and Floyd Sr., were sitting on the ring together while he was coaching him on the bag. I asked him little questions bout the fight and how lil Floyds looking, and he just randomly said "look man, if I'm ur trainer, I'm ur trainer. Don't be working with nobody else. ur my fighter, I don't want to see u working with nobody else." which was another instance that showed he cared.
As for sparring vids - heres one if ur interested, with a now touted TMT knockout artist 4-0 (4kos), when I first started boxing, this is a few months into training, I think 2? About 2 months into training. I was 110 lbs lol, he was 130 lbs, so 20lb weight advantage. It was surprising to me that he got this reputation as a huge knockout puncher later on, because even with the weight advantage he never came close to hurting me - he was just strong and very aggressive. It's round 2-4, round 1 got messed up recording.
Enjoy it - He's much better now, as am I.
