That is (or was) JR's trainer, right? I saw another interview with him but he wasn't really saying nothing of substance or even informative, just rambling about what is old school and what isn't...
I remember it kinda surprised me, because I was under the impression you two worked well with each other lol... But I may be just making a big mess in my head, my memory sucks.
By the way, I just have the nicest feelings when I heard of Daijon. You've put so much work in developing him. It's been some time since you started sharing his journey with us, and I thank you for that. Learned a lot
Yeah, we DID get along well. That is until my crew got bigger, I got better, and then changed the way I did things. Then he started to get very critical and would make snide comments about WHAT I was doing, but not me or mentioning me. It all culminated when JR asked me to help him with conditioning only for his most recent fight. I told him ONLY if John said it was ok, and only AFTER he finished everything John asked of him. About a week and a half in John was getting very agitated about the things JR was doing (for whatever fuckin' reason) and then one night he weighed JR soaking wet after a workout on a scale that was 10lbs off and blew a gasket saying I was "making him too buff." Which is absurd because JR was cutting. Really he just couldn't stand to not be in control of everything and it crushed his little ego to accept any help (he blew a similar gasket tonight and lost Alex Thiel, 8 National Titles).
He went off on a bunch of things but what set me off was he said my fighters never win anything. Mike and Joseph were standing right there. At the time Joseph was higher ranked than Alex, and Mike had just fought 3 days in a row, knocked a guy out the first day, almost knocked a guy out the second day, and dropped a close decision the 3rd day. I don't give a fuck what trainers say about me but if you insult guys who bleed in that ring and you've never done that anywhere near that level, I'm gonna tell you to go fuck yourself. Then John refused to apologize for getting out of line, his assistant told him he should and he said: "I know I owe him an apology but I'll apologize whenever the fuck I want." So I told his assistant he should just keep it, because I don't need it. Since then we've become cordial, but he sells himself in the gym by insulting anything anyone does that isn't what he thinks it should be, especially me. He also tries to muscle his fighters in on sparring every time I arrange it. Like a guest comes from another gym to work with my fighter, he tries to shoehorn his fighters in on it. A guy came in with his daughter on a referral from another guy I know, they specifically said they were looking for me and he did his whole sales pitch on how he's a "real trainer" and doesn't do "any of that other kinda bullshit" right in front of me. lol But if I paid that shit any mind he'd figure any reaction means he could bother me, so I didn't, they signed up with me anyway.
Dude thinks I sit up at night thinking about how to be "better" than him, when the truth is he's not even on my radar to compete with. There's another trainer in town who I have the utmost respect for, and my fighters are 0-4 against his (with what I felt was one bad decision). Now THAT guy, I think about. Not a motherfucker who tells people to watch Errol Spence and Vasyl Lomanchenko and then says: "You gotta learn how to do all that" while never showing them what the fuck he's actually talking about.
And yes, Daijon is finally starting to come into his own. He went through a rough year and half or so, but is back on track now and has the right attitude most of the time. He's a fine student despite his faults, which he's quite aware of and has a genuine desire to improve on. But ironically all the other guys are coming into their own well also, maturing well. Jonny Loco had his BEST fight with me the weekend before last, Cyclone Mike had a rough last couple of fights, but has grown quite a bit as a man as a result of that. And my JV squad are even tighter and more tribal than the Varsity squad. My 110lb'er had that ref stoppage and my 141lb 17 year-old who also fought that day took it upon himself to go to his house and make sure he was ok when he didn't come to the gym the next week.
Dropped in sparring bad... I've always felt that it's time to pull the plug. Now that depends how "bad"... My first concern is neurological health.. but there are things to weigh up here and I'm sure Luis is careful in making his judgements. The confidence of the fighter can be compromised if he isn't given the chance to continue and survive under real duress. Developing psychological resilience. That being said I've seen far too many trainers who don't pull the plug on fighters who haven't just been dropped... But are concussed and can barely recall the couple of rounds that they managed to get through after getting dropped.
Despite how Cesar looked in that video, he was never unconscious at any point. There's only been one time I've ever had a guy fully lights out, and he didn't spar again for around 4 weeks.
