N8GainTrain
Gearchurch sponsored athlete
Well boys, another one in the books and this one was pretty special.
Sorry I kept you all waiting a couple days, I needed to rest up a bit and spend some time with the family. Just hanging around the house today so I figured it would be a good time to fill all of you in.
After being out of action for 13 months and coming off my first professional loss last February which was a split decision loss on some very suspect scorecards I guaranteed myself and everyone around me I would not leave this one in the judges hands and I did just that.
I set a personal goal for myself going into training camp that I would actually make the 135lb Lightweight limit even though the fight was scheduled at a catch weight of 137.5; a stipulation put into the contract by my team since I was coming down in weight to fight him. The reason I set this goal for myself was simple. So my opponent or anyone else didn’t have any built in excuses or could say that I had the deck or any odds stacked in my favor. Which by the way I did in fact hit the scale Friday afternoon weighing in at 135.0 on the nose with my compression shorts still on.
Getting into the fight itself; my opponent was a tall, long, rangy Mexican fighter who unlike most Mexicans doesn’t come forward a whole lot. So the gameplan was to use my height disadvantage to my advantage.
The first round was more or less a feel out round to see how he would react to me moving around and staying on the outside to make him think I was going to make it a typical boxer vs boxer match.
He doesn’t carry any kind of crazy power and I knew this going in with his record of 17-3 with only 6 KO’s spoke to that.
In the second round he did catch me with a couple of good shots that got my attention and let me know he could in fact put some heat behind his shots, but I was just getting into my groove and settling into the fight.
The 3rd round is when I began to implement the gameplan, turned up the pressure and started to come forward. I fought most of the fight in a high gaurd (gloves directly in front of my face) and other times switched to a “Philly Shell” type of defensive posture. Which honestly were the best ways I could have fought this particular fighter and this particular fight.
From this point on I did exactly what we worked on in camp which was getting right up in his chest and staying low and in close and working the body or “putting water in the basement” as my trainer calls it.
Staying in close and being the naturally shorter fighter I was able to nullify his reach and kept him from establishing his jab at all and basically kept him from being able to get into any kind of rythm.
Throughout the remainder of the fight I was able to walk him down and kept pushing him back into the corner or against the ropes and letting off 3-4 punch combinations. He began to get so tentative and cautious about the body shots he was dropping his hands to cover up and leaving big openings for huge right hands and left hooks to the head. The spots and moments he did have in the fight and big shots he was getting off on me were mostly being deflected by my gloves, or my shoulder. The few times he did land flush I was able to roll with the shot which took alot of steam off the punches.
Not to say I left the ring with a pretty face and totally unscathed. He did put some bruising and a little swelling on my face but I never once got flashed or rocked throughout the fight. Honestly my left arm and shoulder are what took the most damage and my arm still feels like jello today.
In the last 10-15 seconds of the 5th round I caught him with a nasty left hook and followed it with a right uppercut that buckled his legs. I can say one thing that the son of a bitch had a chin and could take some punishment, I remember thinking in that moment “What the fuck?” I couldn’t believe he didn’t go down. I attempted to pounce on him to finish him off but the bell sounded and he made it out of the round.
Before the 6th, while listening to my trainer tell me “Don’t rush anything but this was the round and he’s ready to go. But stay calm.” I looked across the ring and could see his coach pouring water on his face and yelling at him. He was speaking Spanish but it sounded like he was pretty pissed. I knew I had him.
The 6th round started and he surprised me by coming out with much more aggression than he had shown throughout the fight. That aggressive nature ended up playing right into my hands. We got into two straight exchanges with both of them ending with us trading and landing overhand rights on each other and then holding and tied up resulting in the ref breaking us and resetting. After the second break he came marching straight in and in that moment I timed him as he threw his overhand right again I leaned back and out of range and hit him with what’s called a “Pull Counter” right hand that landed flush, I dipped to my left and followed with a perfectly placed body shot to the liver that sounded like a loud clap. It took a second to set in because he attempted to take a step backwards before going down to a knee and then sitting down on his legs folded over in excruciating pain. The ref waived his hands and I’m now 15-1. This being my 6th knockout by a body shot of my 12 KO’s.
I have to give my opponent credit I thought he was going to come in, move around alot, stay on the outside and try to box and fight the whole fight that way but he didn’t. He came to fight and gave a good showing of himself and in doing so together we put on a great fight. I believe my quickness and footwork was more than he anticipated and the work we put into the gameplan in camp and working his body throughout the fight was the difference. I know he plans to move up to Super Lightweight next and I think that’s a good move for him because he was big in there for a Lightweight. Maybe it was his height at 5’11" but he seemed bigger than most Super Lightweights I’ve faced. I’m almost certain he drained himself for this fight and most likely has been for awhile.
As for me it’s on to the next one. Really the only fight and fighter I have on my radar right now is getting the rematch I was supposed to get before the whole pandemic thing happened last year. Obviously if something bigger comes along I’ll go that route but I really want the opportunity to run that one back and avenge my loss. Either way I’m going to enjoy this one for a week or two, spend some much needed time with my family and then looking to get back in the gym quickly and have another fight before the end if the summer.
Again, I really want to thank all of you for all the love, support, and respect you have all always shown and given me. I’m super happy to be a long time member and a part of this community and for being treated as just a regular guy trying to learn and educate myself just like everyone else.
I also want to thank my new sponsor @GearChurch
I couldn’t be happier or more proud to have such a reputable and badass brand behind me! I look forward to the rest of this year and going forward with the GC Team!
Sorry I kept you all waiting a couple days, I needed to rest up a bit and spend some time with the family. Just hanging around the house today so I figured it would be a good time to fill all of you in.
After being out of action for 13 months and coming off my first professional loss last February which was a split decision loss on some very suspect scorecards I guaranteed myself and everyone around me I would not leave this one in the judges hands and I did just that.
I set a personal goal for myself going into training camp that I would actually make the 135lb Lightweight limit even though the fight was scheduled at a catch weight of 137.5; a stipulation put into the contract by my team since I was coming down in weight to fight him. The reason I set this goal for myself was simple. So my opponent or anyone else didn’t have any built in excuses or could say that I had the deck or any odds stacked in my favor. Which by the way I did in fact hit the scale Friday afternoon weighing in at 135.0 on the nose with my compression shorts still on.
Getting into the fight itself; my opponent was a tall, long, rangy Mexican fighter who unlike most Mexicans doesn’t come forward a whole lot. So the gameplan was to use my height disadvantage to my advantage.
The first round was more or less a feel out round to see how he would react to me moving around and staying on the outside to make him think I was going to make it a typical boxer vs boxer match.
He doesn’t carry any kind of crazy power and I knew this going in with his record of 17-3 with only 6 KO’s spoke to that.
In the second round he did catch me with a couple of good shots that got my attention and let me know he could in fact put some heat behind his shots, but I was just getting into my groove and settling into the fight.
The 3rd round is when I began to implement the gameplan, turned up the pressure and started to come forward. I fought most of the fight in a high gaurd (gloves directly in front of my face) and other times switched to a “Philly Shell” type of defensive posture. Which honestly were the best ways I could have fought this particular fighter and this particular fight.
From this point on I did exactly what we worked on in camp which was getting right up in his chest and staying low and in close and working the body or “putting water in the basement” as my trainer calls it.
Staying in close and being the naturally shorter fighter I was able to nullify his reach and kept him from establishing his jab at all and basically kept him from being able to get into any kind of rythm.
Throughout the remainder of the fight I was able to walk him down and kept pushing him back into the corner or against the ropes and letting off 3-4 punch combinations. He began to get so tentative and cautious about the body shots he was dropping his hands to cover up and leaving big openings for huge right hands and left hooks to the head. The spots and moments he did have in the fight and big shots he was getting off on me were mostly being deflected by my gloves, or my shoulder. The few times he did land flush I was able to roll with the shot which took alot of steam off the punches.
Not to say I left the ring with a pretty face and totally unscathed. He did put some bruising and a little swelling on my face but I never once got flashed or rocked throughout the fight. Honestly my left arm and shoulder are what took the most damage and my arm still feels like jello today.
In the last 10-15 seconds of the 5th round I caught him with a nasty left hook and followed it with a right uppercut that buckled his legs. I can say one thing that the son of a bitch had a chin and could take some punishment, I remember thinking in that moment “What the fuck?” I couldn’t believe he didn’t go down. I attempted to pounce on him to finish him off but the bell sounded and he made it out of the round.
Before the 6th, while listening to my trainer tell me “Don’t rush anything but this was the round and he’s ready to go. But stay calm.” I looked across the ring and could see his coach pouring water on his face and yelling at him. He was speaking Spanish but it sounded like he was pretty pissed. I knew I had him.
The 6th round started and he surprised me by coming out with much more aggression than he had shown throughout the fight. That aggressive nature ended up playing right into my hands. We got into two straight exchanges with both of them ending with us trading and landing overhand rights on each other and then holding and tied up resulting in the ref breaking us and resetting. After the second break he came marching straight in and in that moment I timed him as he threw his overhand right again I leaned back and out of range and hit him with what’s called a “Pull Counter” right hand that landed flush, I dipped to my left and followed with a perfectly placed body shot to the liver that sounded like a loud clap. It took a second to set in because he attempted to take a step backwards before going down to a knee and then sitting down on his legs folded over in excruciating pain. The ref waived his hands and I’m now 15-1. This being my 6th knockout by a body shot of my 12 KO’s.
I have to give my opponent credit I thought he was going to come in, move around alot, stay on the outside and try to box and fight the whole fight that way but he didn’t. He came to fight and gave a good showing of himself and in doing so together we put on a great fight. I believe my quickness and footwork was more than he anticipated and the work we put into the gameplan in camp and working his body throughout the fight was the difference. I know he plans to move up to Super Lightweight next and I think that’s a good move for him because he was big in there for a Lightweight. Maybe it was his height at 5’11" but he seemed bigger than most Super Lightweights I’ve faced. I’m almost certain he drained himself for this fight and most likely has been for awhile.
As for me it’s on to the next one. Really the only fight and fighter I have on my radar right now is getting the rematch I was supposed to get before the whole pandemic thing happened last year. Obviously if something bigger comes along I’ll go that route but I really want the opportunity to run that one back and avenge my loss. Either way I’m going to enjoy this one for a week or two, spend some much needed time with my family and then looking to get back in the gym quickly and have another fight before the end if the summer.
Again, I really want to thank all of you for all the love, support, and respect you have all always shown and given me. I’m super happy to be a long time member and a part of this community and for being treated as just a regular guy trying to learn and educate myself just like everyone else.
I also want to thank my new sponsor @GearChurch
I couldn’t be happier or more proud to have such a reputable and badass brand behind me! I look forward to the rest of this year and going forward with the GC Team!
