[Liu Jin]

Weekend was off, wasn't feeling well.

Couldn't fool Mike that I was alright, either. So today was a short workout.

7am - Watched the Countdown for Pac/Barrera. Marco looks good, looked like he had some of his hand-speed back.

7:30am - 2.15 mile run.

10:45am Gym time - We got there at 10:30 but Richie was late.

2 rounds ring-jacks.

3 rounds Shadowboxing with Mike giving pointers.

4 rounds Heavy-bag. Mike was working my 1-3-4-2-1-2 combination. And 1-3-4-2-1-1. He's increasing the speed at which I throw them. This is good news because he's teaching me to lead and bait people into my counter-punches. He says he doesn't want me ever getting out-hustled, which is good.

2 rounds speed-bag.

That was all Mike would let me do. But he said I could watch the sparring sessions.

Wes Ferguson sparred this Cuban kid by the name of Hernandez. Hernandez had a lot of speed and put his combos together well, took Wes two rounds to figure him out and I thought Wes was going to fall back because in the second round he was getting smacked around. Then we got to see a fighter come back through adversity. Wes got Hernandez's timing and proceeded to mess the kid up. Hernandez if Floyd Sr.'s Fighter.

Then Mike's Cruiser who is none other than Arthur Williams sparred Jimmy his Light Heavyweight. Jimmy fights a lot like LaMotta did. Comes in low, no jab (he has a good one, he just doesn't use it much), and hooks your face off. Jimmy is the same size as a Cruiser, so he was giving Arthur good work. Diego got to see guys that big move, they emanate power. Everything they do is hard. It's a wonder they created weight-divisions in Boxing.

Gym Moment:

Alright, so I've never been bashful about showering at the Gym. Especially when I have to go straight to work. What DOES creep me out is when mufuckas want to chit-chat with me when I'm naked. But what does one do when the Chatty Kathy in-question is none other than Arthur Williams ( http://www.boxrec.com/list_bouts.php...2109&cat=boxer )? Mike's training Arthur now, too.

Duncan was fuckin' with Mike because he asked me like 10 times in a row if this blue skip-rope was mine. I just kept saying "no Mike." Then Duncan bellows from under the speed bag "MIKE!! Da man already confirm it not his rope. Jesus Chrise leave da shit alone! Da man tole you like 10 time already, it not his fuckin' rope!"

Mike retaliated "Hey you leave me an my Fighta alone, we talkin'."

[juanlawnmower]

You dropped off the mod bandwagon?

[Mr. Sinister]

No.

[juanlawnmower]

You're fucking with my mind.

[Liu Jin]

7am - Watched our pseudo stable-mate Antwun Echols' fight against Bernard Hopkins. Their first fight. Echols was always underrated in those days. Gave 'Nard all he could handle and more. Sat him on his ass once, and almost did again in the final round when Antwun was fading.

7:45am - 2.1 mile run.

10:30am - Gym time:

2 rounds mixed ring-jacks and Shadowboxing.

2 rounds Heavybag.

5 rounds mitt-work with Mr. McCallum:

Three words to describe the experience...HO...LY...SHIT. Mike makes you sprint the whole time, no lulls, no slacking, and he wants crisp and hard shots. Some rounds he also didn't allow for the minute break. It was extraordinary. He pushes, and he was having me throw crazy combinations. 1-1-1-4-3-2-1-2, or 1-1-1-4-3-roll-3. Then he'd have me do sprint uppercuts, or sprint 1-2-1-2's. If any of you'se MMA guys who read this have never done mitt work with a guy of McCallum's caliber, find yourself a good Boxing gym and do it. It'll kill ya.

But he complimented me, I think I impressed him. And he said he's anxious to do more. Also, I'm his first Southpaw to do extensive mitt work with, so HE messed up a couple of times, too. lol Mike also got to see one of my best characteristics. I get better, hit harder, move better, and am faster when I'm tired.

Conditioning:

3 rounds speed-bag, my right arm was USELESS.

Ab-machine circuit x 2.

30 twist-ups.

Then I got to teach "King" Arthur Williams how to do ab-rollouts. He was fascinated with it when I was doing them and could barely do them himself. Of course he's a Cruiserweight so he had more weight to support, but his legs wobbled, too. lol I said "see Arthur, one thing about me is it's hard to knock me down, this exercise is one of the reasons why." He said "yeah I can see that."

Gym Moments:

Richie was beating the shit out of a vending machine. He's so hilarious, and has a much better disposition towards Diego and I now that we don't train under him.

Wes respects me to the degree where he asked me today how he looked in sparring. I was hugely complimenting his cross to the body. I've seen that kid knock the air out of much bigger guys with it, and land it at will. He said he learned it by watching Floyd Mayweather Jr. Showed me the mechanics of it. All I could think of was how I'd try to counter it. I'm thinking I'll have to eat a little of it and attempt a lead-uppercut as he flies in all low.

I also caused some strife between Mike and Arther when Arthur asked me to help him put on and ties his gloves, and was explaining it to me how he likes them tied. Conversation went:

Mike as he walks over: "What da Hell goin' on?"

Me: "Arther asked me to help with his gloves..."

Arthur: "And I'm showin' him how to do it proper."

Mike: "He gonna learn betta watchin' me do it."

Arthur: "Don't be startin' no shit nah."

Mike: "What? I jus sayin' he need ta see it done right..."

Arther: "And I'm sayin' I could just as easily show him whatchoo showin' him nah. Don't be comin' ova here startin' shit when you don't even know what the Hell goin' on."

Mike: "Man I jus..."

Arthur: "You heard me nah, don't make me have ta go a couple rounds witchoo."

I was almost in tears laughing. Only Duncan and Arthur fuck with Mike like that. But as I was going to get cleaned up I was making fun of Mike because he was all sweaty, said he finally looked like he's been workin' out. He told me he's coming back down to 147, for me. I said "I'll be there waitin'."

[Liu Jin]

Thursday - off.

Friday - 7am:

Watched Sherdog's own Jason Barnett on Youtube. Seems to have some pretty good pop. Hope he does well this month against Vinny Maddalone. Here's a plug for Jason's youtube page:

http://www.youtube.com/user/boxerj

Also watched Sam Peter starch Yanqui Diaz.

7:45am - 2.2 mile run.

10:30am - Gym time:

Surprisingly Rafael showed up early to open the gym on-time for Diego, myself, and Lee, the other resident Early Bird.

2 rounds mixed Shadowboxing and ring-jacks.

2 rounds skip-rope.

2 rounds body-snatcher.

4 rounds Heavybag:

Mike was liking my work today so much he gave me a helluva task. For the last round he had me throw this, and I'm not exaggerating...1-2-1-2-4-4-4-4-3-2-1-1-1. Each punch alternated hands starting with my right on the first jab, save for the last 3 jabs, which were cranked out while circling. Took me a bunch of times to get it right, but I did eventually.

3 rounds speed-bag.

Conditioning:

Push-up circuit.

30 dips.

Stopped a bit early to watch Wes spar Hernandez again. Wes has his number now, he was just playing with Hernandez today.

Gym moment:

I promised Mike that when he comes back down to 147, I won't duck him. He got a kick out of that.

[Liu Jin]

7am - Sprints.

Followed that up with some extensive mitt-work. Trying to get Diego acquainted with the speed and nuances of Professional level mitt-work. Establishing combinations and a faster moving pace. We did 4 rounds, and in the 4th round I let him do that 13 punch combination Mike had me doing yesterday. He caught onto it faster than he thought he would, and had a lot of energy, so we tacked on a cross at the very end after the triple-jab, making a 14 punch flurry.

Then I did 4 rounds, just the sprints for 3 rounds and then combinations in the final round, letting Diego get acquainted with being on the other end and getting better at catching punches for someone with my hand-speed and coordination.

[mschatz]

Looks like Mke ha you throwing lots of rear hand hooks. Never had much success with those myself.

[Brandon MacRea]

1-2-1-2-4-4-4-4-3-2-1-1-1 = no rear hand hooks, misses

[mschatz]

4's arent rear hooks?