[Diego Lara]

Wed 6/18: Yesterday was the 17th, dumbass. Anyway, watched a nice long fight today, between Alexis Arguello and Mr. Olivares again. Arguello was one tough mofo, but Olivares was no punk and gave Arguello some trouble with his fast, bowl you over style. Still, he was no right for Arguello's devastating right, and Arguello put Olivares away with it in the 13th. Great fight, definitely one of my all time faves.
1.8m run at the park. There's always bums sleeping in our park, but now there's some bums who have a big, crazy mutt that damn near breaks his neck on his chain if you get within 20 feet of him. I love my neighborhood, it's one of the only real ones in Vegas.

Gym Time:
1 round ringjacks.
2 rounds shadowboxing.
Couple bag rounds and shadowboxing to stay warm till Mike arrives.
Liu and Jr went 2 rounds, and then I also went two with Jr.
Things I Did Well:
-Footwork. My main objective was to make sure my footing was spot on the whole time. I was changing elevation, cutting off the ring, moving very well.
-Getting him on the ropes and keeping him there. Jr's been working with me a lot on fighting on the ropes, and breaking thru guards and such.
-Catching and countering. Gettin way better at that.
-Rolling the hooks. I finally started doing it.

Things I Didn't Do So Well:
-Need to throw more combos. I got some going, but I need to diversify my punch output more, and not focus on almost always leading with a 1-2 or 1-uppercut. (My rear upper is surprisingly effective, especially in close)
Gee, other than that I don't think there was anything else I did especialy bad. Granted, this session was really short, and I wanted to do more work, but Mike said to take it easy today. He says there's not always a need to do hard work. I say I wanna whoop some ass for money already...

2 rounds speedbag.
2 rounds double end
2 rounds skip rope.

Conditioning:
3 sets pushup circuit.
That's it for today. Nothing too big or fancy. Can't wait to see Liu spar Donwan today. They're both slick southpaw counterpunchers, so this is either gonna be a fast-pace dance or a slow, calculating chess match. This is gonna be fun. Firefox out.

[5acrossYOeye]

What part of Olivares game can you bring in to your own?

[viel cazzo]

DIEGGGGGOOOOO... Hola Home skillet! Keep up the work man and keep the chin down. These guys aren't ready for you buddy. They way Liu talks you up I'm eagerly anticipating your fights. I'm going to be Jumping up and down screaming when your opponent hits the canvas and you get lifted high above the crowd man. Good luck and keep at it.

[Liu Jin]

"You're looking skinny man, like a younger boy." - Richie Sandoval

[Diego Lara]

Tanks for all the support guy, it means a lot. I'm gettin close, I can feel it, and I know Mike does too. My goal is to have a fight by summer's end, so it's my job to prove to Mike that I'm ready.

As for the parts of Olivares' game, there is first the better defense he has, the rolling and ducking and use of elevation and angles that I've started to incorporate into my game. Second, there is the pace that I can set, I have great stamina that's getting better all the time, and I can throw volume like a mofo. Olivares had a similar style, which allowed him to control the pace of many fights, even if he wasn't the fastest guy. Third, Olivares had the ability to throw consistently, and with a metronome-like rhtyhm that is grinding and punishing. He could keep it up round after round, and wear down seemingly slicker opposition with sheer unrelenting workrate. Not fast, not flashy, but constant and strong until the very end. I have a similar pace and workrate that only needs time and effort to be perfected. So those are the ways that I will mirror Olivares, and hopefully in there will be some variations that will one day be trademarked Diego Lara.

[Diego Lara]

Thu 6/19: Watched the slugfest that was Hagler/ Mugabi. This was the first time I'd seen the fight, and it definitely went down as one of my all time faves, a picturesque display of brutality and exceptional boxing.
1.6m run.

Gym Time:
Liu was sparring Don Juan (correction from Donwan, which was how I thought it was spelled). So I took it easy again, per Mike's orders, who seems to be resting me up for something big.
1 round ringjacks.
2 rounds shadowboxing.
4 rounds heavybag.
2 rounds double end.
2 rounds speed bag.
2 rounds skip rope.
Watched Liu spar Don in the middle of this. Now, Don is a bona fide prospect, gearing up for a fight next week that will clear the way for him to challenge Andre Berto, ranked number 7 in the welterweight division if memory serves. So this was probably the toughest opposition Liu has faced in the gym. He stood up to the test well.
I watched most of the 3 rounds, and yes, it was clear that Don was leading the way most of the time. But Liu hung with him step for step, despite taking a number of hard left hooks. Don is also a skilled counter puncher, so he caught Liu and interrupted his rhythm more than once. But Liu did counter and catch Don more than once, and he stayed in the fight for 3 min of every round. I was impressed.

Conditioning;
Had an ab conditioning day w. my good friend Cisse the heavyweight.
2 sets of med ball impact exercises, focusing on the abs, basically he slammed the ball into my abs and obliques on each side for 2 minute long sets.
2x25 med ball situps, catching the ball over my head on the down move and throwing it back on the up move.
3x10 sets ab machine pyramid.
3x10 leg lifts.
That was it for the day. Figured I'd do more conditioning since I didn't do much work today. Ow. Firefox out.

[Diego Lara]

Fri 6/20: Watched Vince Phillips vs Ike Quartey. Vince had a nice look in the entrance, all vacant stare like a sociopath. He kept that look through most of the fight, until Quartey's killer jabs started taking apart his face before stopping Phillips in the 4th.
1.8m run

Gym Time:
Mike got there earlier than usual today.
1 round ringjacks.
2 rounds shadowboxing.
Mike asked us how we felt. We were like, "Good." He said, "Ok, we gonna box you each ten rounds." I was hoping we would, cuz I hadn't done much work this week, but it turns out he was just fucking with me. Guess he's resting me up for a lot of sparring next week, hopefully with Sharif on Tuesday.
4 rounds heavybag.
2 rounds speedbag.
2 rounds double end.
2 rounds skip rope.

12 min stairmaster to cool down. Mike says we gotta go easy sometimes.

Went to Friday Night Fights, got to see our gymmates Clarence Tillman's pro debut. He lost a decision in his rounder, but he did good for himself in the fight. The same could not be said for Randy Couture's wife, Kim, who got her ass repeatedly handed to her in her pro debut. At the very start of the first round her opponent, Kim Rose, bodyslammed Couture headfirst into the canvas, spilling blood from her ear, and it only got worse from there. Rose was throwing hands as well, and kept backing Couture up and forcing her to the ground. So Couture also lost her pro debut, but it was one of the most exciting fights of the night.

Sat 6/21: Watched the lovefest between Andrew Golota and Samson Po'uha way back in 90 something. Po'uha was strong as hell, but out of shape, and he gassed out against Golota. He still hurt Golota more than once, and in true Golota style, he bit Po'uha in the neck. Still, Golota did carry the day on account of his better conditioning.
1.6m run.

No gym, touch and run day at home.
Of course, it was already 90 degrees by the time we got going, and under sauna suits and sweats it was more like 115. We managed to make it through 4 rounds before we were on the verge of heatstroke. Sweated out all the Jack I drank the night before. Till next week, Firefox out.

[Diego Lara]

Tue 6/24: Watched Arthur Abraham vs Edison Miranda II. If you saw the first one, you know that Abraham and Miranda are some tough mofo's and Abraham fought to victory with a jaw broken in the second round. This time Abraham got him out in the 4th round. No broken jaw this time. But one thing I can say about Miranda, he's a very good sport. He can admit when he's been beat, and he had to hand it to Arthur Abraham for his incredible strength and will. Amazing fighters these two.
2m run.

Gym Time:
Mike switched the routine on us today. Sparring!
1 round ringjacks.
2 rounds shadowboxing.
4 rounds sparring with Liu. It was great work, we had a lot of energy and we were really dancing around in there. It was fun until Liu hit the top of my head with his left thumb as I rolled a hook. That was a few seconds before the end of the 4th, so that was all we did for the day.
Things I Did Well:
-Throw smart, not just volume. I thought a little more about what I was putting out there, including throwing the jab on the back foot, catching and countering, and looking for openings and throwing when I see them. So I may not have thrown as much as I normally do, but I felt like I landed more and got hit less.
-Footwork and defense. I was even rolling with the hooks today! Till Liu landed his thumb on my skull, that is.
-Cutting off the ring. I was able to stay in front of Liu most of the time, and though I still got lured into following a few times, I was able to snap out of it.

Things I Did Not So Well:
-Not get hit with left. Especially the left hook. Kept catching it thru the rounds. Even though I was rolling with the hooks, Liu was able to drop his arms to hit me more than once anyway. So I've gotta adapt a new style to dodge or duck hooks.
-Gotta keep my arms tucked in close more. I took more than one body shot, and with Liu that's not a smart thing to do.
-Probably should have thrown more combos. We'll work on that next time.
Good hard work. See what I mean about my head though? It's a damn cinder block, you'd need a jackhammer to knock me out.....

2 rounds speedbag.
2 rounds skip rope.

Conditioning:
3 sets ab machine pyramid.
3x10 leg lifts.
That was all for today. So ya, little change in routine, but Tuesdays are my days off so I wouldn't mind sparring and doing hard work on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Hopefully next week I'll work with Sharif. Lotta shit going on in and out of the gym. Still, life is good, Liu is making and wooing more contacts, in hopes that we'll be fighting, if not next month, then by summer's end. It'll come, I just gotta keep working, and I know I'll get there. Firefox out.

[Diego Lara]

Wed 6/25: Watched Amir Khan vs Miguel Gomez. Gomez is an aging veteran, but veterans can always teach a young buck a thing or 2 (see my sparring sesh with Bill a week ago). He took quite an assault from Khan, got knocked down, returned the favor, before being put down by the younger and faster Khan. But Gomez went out with a bang , and if this turns out to be his last fight, he goes out on a high note.
1.8m run.

Gym Time:
1 round ringjacks.
2 rounds shadowboxing.
4 rounds heavybag.
3 rounds bodysnatcher.
2 rounds speedbag.
2 rounds skip rope.

Conditioning:
3x10 dips.
3x5 pullups. Been a while since I've done these.
3x10 pushup circuit.
Not an intense day, kinda took it easy. Missed Thu. workout to take my lil sis to some docs appt. Be back tomorrow to finish the week strong. Hopefully, in light of some recent business and promotional developments, I may be fighting sooner than even I thought. Nothing's set in stone, but the balls starting to roll, and with God's help El Infierno will unleash fury and fire on the boxing world by the time school gets back in. Wish me luck on getting fights guys. Firefox out.

[Diego Lara]

Oh shit didn't post Thu or Fri workout. We honestly didn't do much those days except bag work and the usual workout stuff. This week it was back to grind, with a few pleasant surprises to boot.