[Diego Lara]

Wed 7/9: Cotto vs. Ricardo Torres. This was Cotto's toughest test to date, and in some rounds Torres rocked the hell out of Cotto, and I was certain he'd get knocked out. Cotto was able to recover himself in time to take out Torres with those hooks to the body. Violent good fun.
1.8m run.

Gym Time:
Sparring day!! Today the plan was to do 2, 2 and 2, Liu, Jr, and me. First Liu and Jr went, then Jr and I, then Liu and I. It was jolly good fun, and we whooped the hell out of each other.
1 round ringjacks.
2 rounds shadowboxing.
4 rounds with Jr and Liu.
Things I Did Well:
-Go to the body and head. Especially with Jr, I worked on mixing up the combos to the body and head.
-Changing angles on the ropes. When I had Liu or Jr on the ropes, I focused on keeping myself moving side to side to find new angles and not make myself a stationary target.
-The jab-upper-right combo was further distilled in these rounds. I like it, think I'll make it a trademark.
-Catching and countering. Gotta take my openings where I can get em.

Things I Did Not So Well:
-Not get backed up (against Liu). He really turned on the pressure in our last round, and I was finding myself shelling up against barrages of punches and him leaning on me. Guess I need to work on more defense.
-Head movement. It's there at times, but it's still something that I need to work on, that and my foot movement to improve my defense and my coming in.
-Got lured into headhunting more than once, and it's something I'm not very good at. I need to focus more on switching back and forth from head to body.
Great work, I was fighting back the heaves by the end of it. Damn hot ass sweaty gym.
2 rounds double end.
2 rounds speedbag.
2 rounds skip rope.

Conditioning:
-3 sets pushup circuit.
-3x10 dips.
That was it, too tired and queasy to do more dammit. Firefox out.

[Diego Lara]

Thu 7/10:Watched the legendary Salvador Sanchez vs. Wilfredo Gomez, complete with dueling salsa/ mariachi bands! This was a crazy ass fight, with both fighter showing their obvious contempt for each other. Sanchez finished off Gomez in stunning fashion, so it was mariachi music to end the night.
1.25m run.

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

Conditioning:
Very little today. Good lord am i sore.
-2x10 ab machine cicuit
-2x10 twistups.
And that did it for Thurs. This has been one of the hardest weeks of training, but I feel badass for all the work I've put in. Now to take a nap.

[Diego Lara]

Fri 7/11: Watched Ricardo Torres take on Kendall Holt, the first of their 2 meetings. Torres is a slow pressure fighter, and Holt is more of a tactician, so there were parts of this fight that had little action, but in the end Torres turned out a surprising TKO of Holt.
1.25m run.

Gym Time:
Sore as we were, Liu and I agreed to do light work today, with me focusing more on my defense. The plan was to work at a light pace so we'd be able to go 6 rounds in the sweltering gym.
1 round ringjacks.
2 rounds shadowboxing.
10 min. warmup, shadowboxing and light bagwork.
6 rounds sparring with Liu. Started off slow, and Mike showed up in the middle of the first. He kept yelling at us to keep our hands up, and for Liu to throw more and me counter more.
Things I Did Well:
-Catching and countering, though it took me 2 rounds to find my rhythm.
-Head movement. Yes, I still got caught a few times, but I was markedly harder to catch today.
-Going to the body. I focused a lot more on that today, as well as switching it up, which is harder to do with Liu than with Jr.
-Standing my ground. Liu's been putting a lot more pressure these days, and we spent a good part of the last 2 rounds in the middle of the ring, banging away and circling each other.
-Cutting off the ring, I've been a lot better at it lately.

Things I Did Not So Well:
-Rolling with the hooks. Another defensive skill that needs work.
-Throw more combos. I've got 1-2s and 3 punch combos down, but I need to incorporate more complex combos.
-Walk with my punches. I tend to stand still when I start throwing hard, and I'm usually just a sitting duck for counters. Oi vey.
-Save my stamina. I need to be more conservative in the summer heat, to make sure I can make it thru 4 rounds or more without puking.
Alas, at the end of the 6th, I walked over to the bucket and started heaving. I think Liu threw up in his mouth during the 6th. The gym is a giant sauna, and it just forces everything out of your body. Great way to make weight.....

2 rounds speed bag.
2 rounds double end.
2 rounds skip rope.

Conditioning:
Wanted to finish the week with a little more abwork.
-3 sets ab machine pyramid.
-3x10 leg lifts.
That was our training weeks. This morning we watched some good rap videos, check out Hot Stylez video for "Lookin Boy" for a great 3 1/2 min of snaps. Also played handball behind the Baptist Church for an hour. Hit it on the roof a bunch of time, so I was climbing all over the fences and roof like a monkey. Hows that for training. Firefox out.

[Diego Lara]

Tue 7/15: Watched two fights from some lesser known, but very talented & skilled fighters. The first was a fight of Michael Gallegos, a guy Liu n I met at Top Rank last week who was in town for sparring. On his first day in the gym, he got to spar Zab Judah! So his trip went well, to say the least. He's an amateur for now, but given his strength n skill, it looks like he's ripe for a pro debut. The other fight was a smoker featuring good ol mschazz of Sherdog posting fame. He's an impressive fighter as well, especially like that jab to the body in there, hope we get to see more of you in action soon sir.
2m run.

Gym Time:
Stretching.
1 round ringjacks.
2 rounds shadowboxing.
3 rounds heavybag.
3 rounds mitts. This was the first time Mike put me on the mitts in a long time. I was a little apprehensive, thinking I would be a little rusty, but no, I was there, hitting the 1-2-hook-2s and so on and so forth. Even Eddie Mustafa was like "Ey man, don't be hittin them rights so damn close to me!!", as we had managed to maneuver till we were right behind him. ha.
2 rounds double end.
2 rounds speedbag.
2 rounds skip rope.

Conditioning:
Ab day
3 sets ab machine circuit.
3x10 leg lifts.
3x10 med ball twist ups.
Ya the mitts weren't as bad as I thought they'd be, even in the crushing heat of the gym. It was good to be back on them, it helps me work on my slipping more, and the other elements of defense I need to improve. Firefox out.

[mschatz]

*jabs to Diego's body*

[Diego Lara]

*sucks in breath*
gotta work on guarding that body.... Liu is teaching me this in sparring

[Diego Lara]

Wed 7/16: Watched the first fight between the late Diego Corrales n Joel Casamayor. It was a hell of a fight, with Casamayor doing his usual dance, and outboxing Corrales rather well. Diego still held his own well though, till the fight was stopped on account of two severe cuts on his lips. A heartbreaking way to lose a fight, can't imagine what that must be like.
1.6m run.

Gym Time:
It's sparring day!!!
Stretching.
1 round ringjacks.
2 rounds shadowboxing.
2 rounds with Jr, then 2 more with Liu. It was a good day of hard work.
Things I Did Well:
-Catch punches. I sure did a lot of that.
-Throw volume. Moreso with Jr than with Liu.
-Slipping and ducking is coming along, but definitely needs more work.
-Throwing more hooks and uppercuts.

Things I Did Not So Well:
-Chasing. I was following Jr alot, looking to land that perfect right hand, and it just didn't work.
-Guard the body. Liu got with a few good body shots.
-Cut off the ring. Another problem that arose from chasing too much.
-Shoulder movement. Another defensive skill i need to incorporate to keep from getting hit to the face so much.

I was a little more defensive with Liu today than I would've liked to be. Still, I wanna work alot more on my defense, and also on breaking the waste and using more angles to go to the body. All things to focus on for next sesh.

2 rounds speedbag.
2 rounds skip rope.

Conditioning:
Arms n chest.
-3 sets pushup circuit.
-3x10 dips
And that was it. Not too much conditioning this week, for next week I should start mixing up the exercises n try some new ones out. Firefox out.

[Diego Lara]

Thu 7/17: Watched Corrales vs Casamayor II, to see Diego's redemption against El Brush. The announcer was obviously Biased towards Casamayor, and pretty much only talked about what he did during the whole fight. So he must have felt pretty dumb when the split decision went to Corrales after he incorporated more boxing into this fight.
1.8m run.

Gym Time:
Stretching 5 min.
1 round ringjacks.
2 rounds shadowbox.
4 rounds heavybag.
3 rounds bodysnatcher. Gotta get my body twisting and driving more for my hooks n uppers.
2 rounds double end.
2 rounds speedbag.
2 rounds skip rope.

Conditioning:
Abs
-3x10 balance ball v-ups.
-3 sets pushup circuit.
-3x10 med ball twistups.
Holy shih tsu I am dead tired. Spent most of the rest of the day in bed, to prepare for sparring day....

[Diego Lara]

Fri 7/18: Watched Marco Antonio Barrera take on Junior Jones, for the first loss of his career. This was one of the reasons Barrera became more of a boxer later in his career. Up until this point, Barrera was more of a pressure fighter, a good one, but Jones showed that he needed to be more technical n less of a brawler.
1.25m run.

Gym Time:
Spar day! Today it was just me n Liu, workin till the heat n nausea got the better of us, which was 4 rounds today.
Things I Did Well:
-Shoulder movement and footwork improved, not all the way there yet, but better.
-Catching, though not the countering, that still needs work.
-Saving my stamina. I'm learning to control my speed, rhythm, and exertion to not run out of gas or get sloppy.

THings I Did Not So Well:
-Need to remember to move my head more.
-Need to break the waist, to start throwing more from angles.
-Gotta twist my waist n shoulders more with my punches, to provide setup n leverage for hooks n crosses.
-Need to throw more than one jab @ a time. Need to come up with some better defense for Liu's incredible invisible hooks. Ya.

A fun way to end the training week. I think my defense is coming along well, there are still some very big gaps in my skill, but as long as I keep working on these moves, they'll become instinct, and I will be a force to be reckoned with.

2 rounds heavybag.
2 rounds skip rope.

Conditioning:
Upper body.
-3 sets pushup circuit.
-3x10 dips.
That's it, no more, dammit, I need a nap. I sleep alot more these days, a luxury I have to reserve time for. Can't wait for the day when that's the only thing on my to do list for a day. Firefox out.

[Diego Lara]

Tue 7/22: Witnessed the fight between Chico Corrales and Popo Freitas, who as Liu said before, makes a fashion statement out of quitting in the ring. Freitas is quite the fighter, but it seems when he realizes he can't knock u out and you can to him, he gives up. Which is pretty much what happened here. Corrales was in great form though.
2 m run.

Gym Time:
It was a weird week at the gym. With Judah having his training at TR and Eddie Mustafa's whole stable there for press workouts, there wasn't much room for us unknowns to train or spar.
Stretch.
1 round ringjacks.
2 rounds shadowboxing.
3 rounds heavybag.
3 rounds bodysnatcher.
2 rounds speedbag.
2 rounds double end bag.
2 rounds skip rope.

Conditioning:
3 sets ab machine pyramid.
3x10 med ball twist ups.
So ya, there was press n photographers for Eddie's stable, and there to cover Judah's training for his Aug 2 bout with Josh Clottey. That should be an interesting fight....