The first of a five-part series. We reached out to lifelong boxing insiders who have various skills and experience in the industry. In this installment: What is the most overlooked aspect of professional boxing? And what is a piece of advice you’d pass on to someone about this?
Meet the panel:
Aaron Navarro, a cutman who has worked for more than 20 years at the highest level of the sport. He is the cutman for WBC junior lightweight titleholder O’Shaquie Foster and former titleholder Regis Prograis, among many other fighters.
Mike Rodriguez, a cutman who has worked with 29 world titleholders, including Manny Pacquiao, Katie Taylor, Julian Williams, Dmitry Bivol and Vergil Ortiz Jnr.
AJ Jafari is one half of 3pt Management along with David Suh. Jafari’s company manages the careers of Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez, John “Scrappy” Ramirez, Oleksandr Gvozdyk and Darius Fulghum.
Roberto Diaz is the president of Sheer Sports and the former matchmaker for Golden Boy Promotions.
John Pullman is a boxing coach who currently trains women’s lightweight Stephanie Simon and flyweight Enkhmandakh Kharkhuu.
Rudy Hernandez is a boxing coach from Los Angeles, California, who currently trains two world titleholders: unified bantamweight titleholder Junto Nakatani and flyweight titleholder Anthony Olascuaga.
Pepe Reilly is a 1992 US Olympian, a former professional fighter, and a trainer at Wild Card Boxing in Los Angeles.
Mark DeLuca is a former professional boxer who now trains fighters in Massachusetts, working with Abraham Nova, Thomas O’Toole, Francis Hogan and other up-and-coming fighters.
Eddie Croft is a former professional boxer and is currently a trainer at his gym, B. St Boxing, in San Mateo, California.
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Aaron Navarro: Across the board, for anyone getting into the business of boxing, you need to enter with realistic expectations about what it is and what it isn’t going to be. A lot of people have unrealistic expectations about what to expect when you get in it. If someone is first landing in the business, I would tell them to sit back and watch. A lot of times, the guys who are the most important in this game stay off the radar pretty well.
The sport is hard, but the business is even harder. Everyone looks at the fighting and the training part, and we know that part is tough. To be a pro fighter, getting into the business is even harder than being in the ring.
Mike Rodriguez: The preparation that goes into a fighter preparing for a fight. The money that it costs fighters to conduct a camp. For example, proper food, strength and conditioning, traveling, housing, training, and paying sparring partners are expensive. Most fighters are not making big money, so they sacrifice a lot to pursue their dream. They often go months without themselves or their team getting paid.
If you’re going to do it, make sure that you have a great support system around you, because others around you have to sacrifice as well. And listen to the professionals that you have entrusted with your training and career, and reduce outside distractions and people giving advice that are not qualified to give it.
AJ Jafari: The understanding or appreciation of what fighters truly go through during a training camp from the fans’ perspective. The fighters’ team understands it, but the general fan base, I feel, isn't truly aware of what goes on. It's a grueling regimen between the physical and mental aspects, the discipline, the weight cutting, and staying clear of any distractions. There's no athlete from any sport who goes through a tougher training schedule than what boxers go through.
The fans just want to be entertained, and I get it, but don’t just write off a fighter after a loss. This is the one thing I like about the UFC compared to boxing, is the fans stay behind fighters more after losses instead of discarding them so quickly. It’s not just about wins and losses. You can have a fighter in the UFC with a mediocre record and still be a fan favorite with a successful career. It's rare for a boxer to have an average record and have what would be considered a successful career.
Roberto Diaz: Too much emphasis on an undefeated record. In the past, all-time greats have lost bouts. At the top levels and to build a legacy, challenges must be met, and the only way to accomplish this is the best fighting the best. The true champions will be remembered for exciting fights and for fighting the best, not for an undefeated record. [“Sugar” Ray] Leonard, [Thomas] Hearns, [Marvelous Marvin] Hagler, and [Roberto] Duran all lost, but we will always remember them.
John Pullman: I would say that the most overlooked aspect of professional boxing is patience and consistency. Being consistent every day with the way you want to conduct yourself and live your life. When you work hard, you will get an opportunity.
Pepe Reilly: The most overlooked aspect of professional boxing might be the need to be a professional and/or a businessman at all times, all across the board. A modern professional boxer should be educated on all aspects of his career, from getting up to run to making sure he has an organized training schedule with qualified trainers and a manager, to knowing what is in his fight contracts, and understanding sponsorships.
I wish I had known all this stuff back when I was a professional. It would have certainly helped me make smarter moves to get further faster and safer. I would advise a young fighter to care enough about the whole spectrum of his/her career, and educate himself to seek good people who can help. Try to surround yourself with people who share the same goals as you do.
Rudy Hernandez: That is hard to answer, because fighters today don’t fight as hard and compete as hard as they once did. What I tell my fighters is to be consistent and work hard. You are performing, and as a performer, you have to win the public over. So get in that ring and fight. I think fighters should be more active and give the public a reason why they should want to watch some fights.
Mark DeLuca: I believe “timing” is most overlooked and unpredictable. Timing in one’s career. Which fights arise, which situations come to fruition? It’s something impossible to predict. The best way to time the best opportunities is to have a solid team in place, an experienced team that has seen these patterns before, as you stay in the gym.
Eddie Croft: It is the intelligence that it takes to be a top-level fighter. You have to learn how to be completely focused and block out anything going on outside of the ring except your trainer’s voice. Then, let’s say you’re standing at mid-range and leaning on your back leg, you have to know what combination your opponent likes to throw. You have to remember where their hands are, how they are distributing their weight, and whether they use a feint to close the distance.
You have to do that in fractions of a second, while you are under extreme distress and someone is trying to rip your fucking head off. I laugh when people tell me it is chess. It is not chess, because you could sit there and look at the board for hours. It is speed chess, like those dudes in the park with a clock. That is more of what boxing is.
