I do much less sparring and always with the purpose of working on something in particular.
At Grudge, we just push each other. Whether it's sparring five rounds or rolling and doing drills, I do most of my cardio at practice. As far as running outside or riding a bike? That's not fighting, so I only do things that are going to help me in the Octagon.
I always have my group of friends at the gym. We used to go hang out somewhere before. Now we're just hanging out at the gym. We have sparring parties where everyone beats each other up, but then we all eat my dad's cooking, and I hire a massage therapist, so everyone is just kicking back and having a good time. I just keep the environment great.
I'm a very good coach... because I see the way the kids react once they get in the ring and start actually sparring. I see that they are calm, relaxed, and they're working like we work in the gym, and they are doing what they've been taught.
I'm prepared for Amir Khan moving swiftly - or for whatever style he comes out using. I prepared with sparring, in the style similar to what he uses.
Sparring is not as tough as a fight.
Getting hit is part of the job. You don't want the first time you're getting punched to be in the fight because there's a lot of shock and awe and you won't react well. I like to get hit in sparring. I don't want to get concussed, or I don't want to be getting knocked out, but I want some shock treatment to prepare me for the fight.
I've trained hundreds of hundreds of rounds of sparring at American Top Team.
Not a lot of people or pros in this game know how to train correctly. That's why they don't have a long career. Their body gets banged up. They get into a rhythm of heavy sparring and heavy work, but through that, they're limiting movement.
People think hard sparring will get you sharp. And you do get sharp in the gym. But anytime I've trained that way, I've actually been a little bit flatter in the fight. And the knockout shot hasn't come. It's almost because my training has been too hard.
