[Liu Jin]

Liu feels like his old self again, but is getting tired of little mufuckas hitting him in the neck...

7am - Watched the Legendary Jose "Mantequilla" Napoles, whom you can see here:

Napoles/Charles.

Easy to see why they called him "butter"...only in Spanish. I've never seen a guy that smooth both offensively and defensively in the ring.

Then watched the Legendary Mantequilla take on the Legendary Monster that was Carlos Monzon, which you can see here:

Monzon/Napoles Pt. 1

Just follow the links for the rest. Monzon wasn't a pretty technician, but if he hit you with that right hand he'd kill you.

7:30am - 2.15mile run.

10:30am - Gym Time:

David is back.

1 round ring-jacks.

2 rounds Shadowboxing.

3 rounds sparring with David. I focused more on defense and counter-punching this time, with both of us very fresh.

Things I did right:
- Made him come forward and walk into my jab.
- Landed the cross to the body at will.
- Got hit significantly less.
- Walked through it when I did get hit.

Things I didn't do right:
- Throw more combinations.
- Come forward behind the double-jab enough.
- Throw the check-hook (didn't see an opening).

Altogether good work from both of us.

2 rounds body-snatcher.

2 rounds speed-bag with over/under rope between the rounds.

2 rounds skip-rope.

Condition:

Ab-machine circuit x 2.

40 medicine ball impact sit-ups.

40 medicine ball twists.

Gym Moments:

Just before the sparring when Jesse asked Mike if he wanted to work Mike said "how much you payin' us?" Jesse said "how much are YOU payin'? You got the heavier guy, your guy has my guy by about 15 lbs." Ahh, David's TRUE weight comes out. Jesse knows I'm a Welter. I have to admit I kinda liked being referred to as if I'm a race car, and Jesse was asking Mike if he wants to race his car versus Jesse's.

Eddie was getting all riled up when for about 10 seconds David and I just exchanged flurries. When I got out of the ring I said "I'm not a Legend yet, but I'm on my way." He said "You on your way, you a footnote." Mike the promptly told ME to leave EDDIE alone.

Nick Casal complimented my work also. He said "hey man you're lookin' good in sparring." I think Nick and I might end up working together at some point. I also think David enjoys sparring me because of the style difference, and it seems to entertain everyone. The Jesse's were even full of compliments.

Jesse also has a new kid who is a bit taller than me, a lot younger, and is apparently an MMA Fighter. I want to spar him SO bad. lol But it looks like it'll be murder, kid can't Box his way out of a wet paper bag with a butcher knife in his hand. Mike said "we gonna beat bof dem up." Talking about that kid and David.

Mike says I need to stop worrying about looking good. He said I look fine, what I need to focus on is staying loose and doing what he says. Refining and polishing my game. He also said he's aware that if I had to fight for money, the other Liu would come out. The killer. But I'm too used to fighting backward, and he said that. He said we need to make me as good going forward as I am going backward, but with the right methods and punches. He even showed me a new nifty way to block a hook and counter it in the blink of an eye. Very Gung Fu of him.

"The King" Arthur Williams was back in the Gym, talking to Aaron about his fight with Danny Batchelder, where Arthur said he whooped Danny's ass, but the Promoter had the fight fixed because he was trying to get Danny working for him. Arthur was going on about "man you know white people, white dude in a white town, white judges"...it was funny shit.

[mschatz]

Nice writeup. Glad youre getting a lot of sparring work in.

[Mr. Sinister]

With Diego out of commission, some of the smaller guys want to work with me. But as of now there's a couple guys around my size as well. So it should pick up.

[Liu Jin]

Today was Old School day at Top Rank...

7am - Watched Arguello/Escalara II. Alfredo was a lot tougher than Alexis thought he would be. He really went after Alexis and fought like the brave former Champion he was. Even hurt Arguello, and this was the 130lb bone cracking monster that was Arguello. But Alexis inevitably ended it with as perfect a left hook as I've ever seen.

7:45am - 2.25mile run.

10:30am - Gym Time:

No David or Jesse's (until about Noon) today. Mike thought that was pretty funny.

1 round ring-jacks.

2 rounds Shadowboxing.

4 rounds body-snatcher.

15 minutes mitt-work.

2 rounds double-end bag.

2 rounds speed-bag.

10 minutes on the stairmaster, 79 floors, 108 calories burned, difficulty level 9 out of 12.

Gym Moments:

First and foremost, Cassius Greene was in the Gym putting in a workout today. Now, if you look at his record it isn't impressive, but look at his date of birth. Yes. He's 62. He's also a Legendary cut-man, worked for Ali, and has also trained some Fighters such as Vince Phillips who if you remember beat the shit out of a young Kostya Tszyu, when Vince was considered over the hill. Cassius and Kenny Adams worked Vince's corner for that. Cash did a good workout, 6 rounds Shadowboxing, 5 or 6 on the Heavybag, and he was on the speed-bag when I left. He also had this interesting exercise where he'd switch stances. Double left-hook (low then high) from Orthodox, then he'd switch his feet and throw the same from Southpaw. He did this fast, and repeatedly for about a whole round.

He appears to be made of concrete, and I promised Richie that'd be me at his age. I feel bad for anyone who tries to rob that old man, they're gonna get put into a coma.

Leo put in a Sam Cooke CD, which began with this song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBTxb6hkJbg

We were all groovin', and some guys started actually dancing in their training (myself included, during Cha-Cha-Cha). Cassius even instructed Leo to leave the CD in.

Oh and just for y'all's entertainment purposes. Until Mr. Schatz posted this clip in the Boxing forum I had never seen the staredown from Mike's fight with Donald Curry. So here's Mike, TRYING to look intimidating at about 1:19 in:

[mschatz]

Brutal left hook...

[Mr. Sinister]

I've never seen Mike pull a face like that.

[Mr. Sinister]

Oh yeah, and here's how you know you've made it. When you have your own line of Benz:



That's Mr. Mustafa Muhammad's ride.

[Liu Jin]

Today was another bona-fide attempt to make Liu puke day...

6:45am - Watched Alexis Arguello and Cornelius Boza-Edwards. Which you can see here:

Arguello/Boza-Edwards.

Odd to watch the young Boza, when I've met the current Boza who trains Sam Peter. He developed into quite the Fighter after this, as Alexis was his first real brush with the upper-echelon. And what a brush, one with more of a right-hand and left-hook than Boza could handle at the time.

7:20am - 2.6mile run.

10:30am - Gym Time:

No David again today.

1 round ring-jacks.

2 rounds Shadowboxing. During this Mike tried to build a little ring rivalry between Diego and I, promising that Diego's right-hand is gonna lead to my inevitable ass-whoopin'. I said a Mexican chin and a right-hand ain't enough to take me out. He and Jesse had a laugh. Jesse said "Aw Mike you gonna make them go at it? They're like Brothers!" Diego and I nearly simultaneously said "yeah and we'd fight like Brothers, too."

So we made the agreement that the next time we dance, we're gonna do a whole round Mexican style, fo'head to fo'head.

15 minutes pressure drills.

This is a new one where Mike grabbed a medicine ball and held it close to him, then proceeded to walk right at me while taunting me, yelling "Come on, PUNCH! Fuck wrong witchoo!? PUNCH!! YEAH!! YEAH!! COME ON PUNCH!!" It was murder, the bulk of the medicine ball and Mike's size made hitting it very labor intensive. I had to use all my power just to keep him off me. Then right when I'd be ready to cave he'd back off an let me put on the pressure. But he kept up the taunts. He'd side-step to avoid me, he'd circle, he'd back against the ring and let me swarm as if to finish a hurt opponent, then re-apply the pressure on me. Eddie Mustafa seemed pretty impressed and kept yelling when I'd do something different, like a 6-punch combination, or turn Mike as he came at me then throw a double-hook or uppercut-hook. In the last stanza Mike kept trying to piss me off, body-bumping, stepping on my foot, etc. So I just saw red and let loose. He stepped on my foot and in response I must have let off about a minute straight's worth of uppercuts, got some cheers from other Fighters for it. But then Eddie said "he can't get you off his fot"...at that point I just did the old school push-off and Eddie went "WHAAAAAT!?!?"

One thing is for certain, if I hurt you and then connect with a right-hook and my straight left, you're ass is toast. Made Mike stumble a few times with it.

1 round Heavybag before Mike stopped me and told me not to kill myself. I said "I can only be hurt, nothing can kill me."

2 rounds double-end bag, tried to stay at full pace.

2 rounds speed bag with over/under rope during the breaks.

2 rounds rope-skip.

Conditioning:

Ab-machine circuit x 2.

40 twist-ups.

20 ab-rollouts.

Fried.

Gym Moments:

Arthur overheard me telling Jimmy about some shit Mike went through, and then he related a bunch of stories of how his handlers had fucked him over and he lost out on shots because of it. Jimmy took it all to heart, as he feels he's nearing the end and says he just wants to fight for a Title before hanging up the gloves. Arthur's good people.

Richie came into the locker room to tell me that he feels I've come along well. He told both Arthur and Jimmy, "This guy, from the time I first saw him when he came in here, and what he is now...two different guys."

Felt good to hear that from one of the men who opened the door in the first place.

[Alex Bon-Miller]

So you are punching the medicine ball in the pressure drill? Sounds interesting

[Mr. Sinister]

Yeah, try it out sometime. It's loads of fun.