Interesting Heavyweight clash this past weekend for the English Heavyweight Title saw David Price up against John McDermott.

To be fair, I saw Price winning the fight but thought the seasoned & tough McDermott would give him some work to do.

I was very impressed with the demolition job Price did on McDermott in knocking him out after just 1.43 of the first round. In fact I like Price a lot. I think he is the pick of the current crop of heavyweights we have at the mo. He has technical ability, hits very hard with both hands & is improving with every fight. It just remains to be seen what happens when he gets hurt, or things don’t go his own way.

I look forward to the inevitable Price / Fury showdown.

Paul

Muhammad Ali….. the Greatest

Paul

Quick video for you this morning.

When training for your chosen combat sport remember to think & move fast. You want to train your central nervous system just like anything else & it responds best to highly explosive movements, helping you ultimately get stronger & more powerful.

Train fast

Paul

Happy New Year to you all…

To get things started in the right way here is a very brief snapshot of 3 squad members (Claire, Abbas & James) ‘enjoying’ a bit of rope climbing in their first conditioning session of the new year.

Much, much more to come…

Paul

As we approach the end of 2011 I thought I’d have a bit of fun & name my fighters of the year.

World Fighter of the Year….. Andre Ward

With him ending the year as WBA, WBC & Super Six Champion for me it’s a no-brainer for fighter of the year.

Ward impressed me no end in schooling the tough Carl Froch and immediately found himself inserted at no.3 in the mythical pound for pound ranks. During the super six tournament he has also outpointed Allen Green, Arthur Abraham & stopped Mikkel Kessler & ends the year as the dominant force in the Super Middleweight division.

Domestic Fighter of the Year….Lee Selby

Lee first caught my eye as a potential candidate in September when he put on a polished, mature display in knocking out previously unbeaten Stephen Smith for the British & Commonwealth Featherweight titles.

For me, he topped this display on December 14th with a 5th round stoppage of rugged Scot John Simpson.

By no means is he the finished article, Simpson had success early in the fight, but the Welshman continues to improve with every outing.

So there you go…. Agree? Disagree? Let me know, and may we all take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy new year.

Paul

So we finally have our Super Six Champion & (as I predicted 2 years ago) Andre Ward has been crowned the top Super Middleweight in the world.

What I have to admit surprise to though is the apparent ease at which he stamped his class on this fight.

For me, he looked faster, stronger, slicker, & the more likely to land a big KO. I think it’s a testament to the Froch chin & will that he went the distance. In fact I only gave him 2 rounds so don’t know what the 2 judges who gave it to Ward 115 – 113 were doing.

After following Froch for a number of years I was amazed he kept his hands so low & went looking for the one big payoff shot, but massive props to Ward. He looked all the next pound for pound contender he undoubtably is.

What’s next for both?

Ward will no doubt fight Lucian Bute for the undisputed title and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Froch compete at light heavyweight, targeting Nathan Cleveley.

Paul

With another great weekend’s action coming up I’d thought I’d gaze into the complete crystal ball and give you my predicitons…

Now come on…….

How many of us pay as much attention to our warm up, cool down and stretching programme as we do to our main workout?

To be honest, in the past, me neither.

But no more!!

As I age (43 almost!!) I have noticed that recovery is a much bigger issue than it used to be and as I want to train and perform for as long as possible (plus spar with much younger guys) I HAVE to make sure that I am diligent about all aspects of my training programme.

So here is a video of me using the foam roller and I’ll follow this with a video of one of our dynamic warm ups, and if you’re not using any of these or other such warm up & cool down protocols you’re not going to be anywhere near the athlete you could be…

Paul

we can all do with a slice of inspiration from time to time. Check this out…

The video is absolutely correct.

You cannot teach courage, it comes from within. Remember though, we all possess it. From somewhere deep inside something will trigger reserves of courage that will astound all who witness it.

Through diligent work in the gym and out on the road we not only hone our skills, we hone our courage, and when the time is right we dig deep into that well and find it full.

Never give up, never give in!

Paul

Just to show you that it’s not just the girls, here’s disrespectful leftie, I mean southpaw, Mike on the pads with Grant, Hollywood like camera work by yours truly…

Paul