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The
Bay Area boxing beat gets better and better. On Wednesday, IBF welterweight
champion Shawn Porter, former world junior welterweight champion Amir Khan,
junior middleweight contender Alfredo Angulo and IBA super flyweight champ
Bruno Escalante met up at a Union City track to work with world-renowned sprint
coach Remi Korchemny as well as SNAC System founder Victor Conte. The goals for
the day were different for each man. For Escalante and Angulo, who fight February
28th and March 8th respectively, the goal is to continue
heading toward a training peak. For Porter, who has a short list of opponents
but no dance partner yet, the goal is similar to Khan’s (who’s rumored to be
fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr. on May 3rd but is currently without a
fight): get better by staying in shape and reaching for new heights.
“This
is what training is about,” Khan told Maxboxing.com following an intense
training session in which each man worked side by side throughout. “Boxing is a
sport. I respect that. I have trained with [Porter] at the Wild Card. We used
to be together.”
Khan
and Porter have been on nearly parallel paths. While Khan was contemplating
moving up to 147 pounds last year to fight then-titlist Devon Alexander, he
instead decided to hold out for a possible May date with Mayweather. Porter
ended up taking the fight with Alexander last December and lifted his IBF belt
in a 12-round unanimous decision victory.
“It
was going to be me fighting Alexander but I was told to leave that fight for a
bigger fight in the future. But it's a sport. We all get along with each other.
We have a good relationship. I think it’s good when you get two fighters,
especially two world-class fighters, training together. Because you kind of
push each other, motivate each other,” said Khan.
Porter
echoed the sentiment.
“Well,
you know, I've known [Khan] for awhile,” said Porter. “First and foremost, I
have to respect him. I have to respect what he's done in the ring. Aside from
that, we both know this is a business. As easy as I can smile, I can get down
and dirty and do my business. We're friendly out here but if the time comes,
we'll hit the switches.”
Angulo
was scheduled to begin training an hour after Porter, Khan and Escalante. “The
Aloha Kid” as Escalante is known, more than held his own in the drills, at
times setting the pace.
“It’s
great to work out with world class athletes like these three,” said Escalante.
“We push each other. I am happy to be working with them. Like Victor Conte
always says, ‘If it’s not fun don’t do it,’ so we push each other to have fun
even when it’s not fun to work hard.”
“I
feel really good, comfortable. When Remi say, ‘Here's the last lap,’ I get
really happy and you can run [faster],” Angulo said with a smile and laugh
after his session was over. “This is my third camp with Remi and this time, he
is more focused on my work. Every day when I come in for Remi, he follow my
work all the time.”
No
one pushes the fighters harder than the 81-year-old Korchemny. When he is not
explaining to them how to do an exercise, the octogenarian will do the drills
himself, including a leg lift that would convince anyone that making it to 81
is a possibility. He is clearly a general willing to work as hard as his
soldiers.
“[Remi]
does the same [drills] but also he brings me something different all the time,”
said Angulo. “One thing I appreciate about Remi? I don't care who you are. Remi
push you. I don't care what your name is or who you spar. I don't care. If you
aren't working good, Remi will tell you.”
Porter
lights up when I mention Remi. Getting that coach with all the right info and
the willingness to impart it is not easy. Watching Korchemny work with the
fighters through a series of drills from sprints in various arm positions to
hopping up the bleachers to elastic band work, the bond he has with his
athletes is palpable. And the love they have for him is even more so.
“It’s
a very special thing. The guy still drives here himself. He gives the wrong
directions sometimes…” laughed Porter. “All in all, he's a great person. He's a
great coach. I said, ‘Remi, man, this might've been the hardest session I've
had with you.’ And he just touches his belly and he laughs. He's got a good
heart. He's going strong. Hopefully, I can get some years out of him and take
all this information he has to offer.”
And
through it all, Conte is there offering advice to their various team members
who come to watch and absorb the knowledge being freely shared. It's a happy
group.
“Victor
here and Remi help us out by putting us through a program, which isn't easy,”
said Khan. “It’s always good to see new faces, new champions because that way,
when you are tired, they motivate you to go harder.”
“Everyone
is having fun and that's what you get when you get a group of guys who are used
to this type of training and are prepared for this type of training,” said
Porter. “You can always try and challenge each other and bring each other up and
that is the best thing about being out here. I've got some camaraderie out
here. Some guys that I grew up with [are] out here. And all in all, you got to
make what you are doing fun. If it ain't fun, why do it?”
Angulo
spoke about the work Khan has been giving him in the gym, this being his third
camp with Korchemny and fourth with trainer Virgil Hunter. By all accounts, he
looks great in sparring. On the track, he looked as good as he has ever, even
breaking a personal best on his final 400 time.
“I
am very happy,” Angulo said. “Virgil, he is very close to all his fighters. [Andre]
Berto, Falah, Stan [Martyniouk], all the fighters he has working together;
that's why it is a really good camp. The speed of Amir is very important for
me. I know [Saul] “Canelo” [Alvarez] has speed but I don’t think he is faster
than Amir. Amir has a lot of experience. He has fought tremendous fighters
before and I am really good shape.”
Part
of Korchemny's way of pushing the athletes he trains is to yell out the times
of each man as they do the same sprint drills. No athlete can stand someone
beating him.
“It’s
good to know what your numbers are. I remember doing this a couple months back
and I got 58 seconds and that was amazing,” said Khan, not so much bragging but
showing surprise at his own potential being realized. “Normally, when I start
doing this, I get like 65, 66 seconds - but coming back and doing it in 61
seconds. The first time I run since the last two or three months, hitting 61.5,
it shows all the work I am doing is working. All the strength work I am doing
with my strength-and-conditioner, Tony Brady, it’s only making me stronger
doing the sprints. My legs are strong. We've been doing a lot of lower body
exercises. It’s kind of given me the extra edge coming here because I know my
legs are going to be strong.”
Porter
said the mere presence of a fighter in his weight class increases his focus.
“Oh
yeah, definitely,” agreed Porter. “[Khan]’s in my weight class and I have to be
on top of my business day in and day out, so whenever we're on the track
together, whenever we're in the gym together, I got to one-up him in any and
everything we do. I try to beat him on a lot of stuff out here to try and tell
him I could do it but also, to tell myself that I can do it. That's the
competitor in me.”
Porter
also stressed that staying in shape and finding new levels within yourself is
essential to long-term success.
“Very
important. My dad has preached that to me my entire career,” said Porter, “and
I am finally getting to the point now where I understand it and I respect it.
This has to be your day in and day out. It has to be your everything. Your
every focus has to be boxing. That's not to say that I don't go to the movies
or anything like that but when I am in my training or in my off-season,
off-fight training, it’s all important. To stay at the top of my game, so I am
not from here [reaches below him] starting up. I'm here [reaching up above his
head], gradually climbing to the top.”
So
is there any possibility Khan and Porter could square off?
“In
the future, it could happen,” said Khan. “We have the same promotional team but
at the moment, nothing is being said. But we just respect each other and that
is what it is about. At the end of the day, we end up pushing each other.”
At
the end of the session, the fighters all posed for a photo, smiles on their faces,
fists raised. They had each worked as hard as I'd seen them, focused, smiling
and intent on reaching and moving past new limits.
Said
Escalante, “It’s always motivating to work with the best coach at the track and
also working with successful athletes is very motivating to train hard.”
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