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01/17/2006 Archived Entry: "Miguel Hernandez Talks on Fighting Ryan Davis February 10th in Miami!"

Miguel Hernandez Talks on Fighting Ryan Davis February 10th in Miami!


Interview and photos by Juan C. Ayllon

Miguel&Second (76k image)

"Macho" Miguel Hernandez and a second pose for the camera following his bout vs. Hajicek

CHICAGO, January 16—Popular local middleweight “Macho” Miguel Hernandez has been slogging away at Chicago’s Windy City Boxing Gym, biding his time and boxing at local shows in hopes of getting an opportunity to advance himself in this roughest of sports, professional boxing. As with most pro boxers, he works hard to make ends meet and provide for his family the best he can. This February, a more sizable payday and a televised opportunity await, courtesy of one Ryan Davis for the World Boxing Council’s USA Middleweight Title.

At 31 years age and a record of 18-3 with nine knockouts, Hernandez looks to give it his best, capitalize on whatever opportunities he can, and bring home several solid paydays for his loved ones before calling it a career. To maximize his returns, he is enlisting the services of Chicago promoter Dominic Pesoli of 8 Count Productions. A tough slugger with only nine amateur fights and a couple Chicago Golden Gloves titles, Hernandez faces an uphill battle as he seeks to progress in this most unforgiving sport.

His record includes wins over Minnesota Middleweight Champions Butch Hajicek and Christopher Holt; Anthony Bowman; Jonathan Corn; and Rudy Lovato. In July, Hernandez lost a split decision to Kenny Kost—whose only loss was to former Olympian Andre Ward, whom he hurt early on and lost a decision to. Hernandez also lost a split decision to Chris Troupe in 2003 and a unanimous decision to Shay Mobley in January 2005. Hernandez has never been stopped.

His upcoming opponent, Ryan Davis, packs a decent resume. In addition to a more extensive amateur career, his record includes: a win over Juan Carlos Garcia for the WBE Intercontinental Title; a TKO loss to vaunted Mexican slugger Carlos Bojorquez in August; and a split decision loss to rugged trial horse Anthony Ivory—whose record is a veritable “Who’s Who” of boxing, including a win and a loss against Antwun Echols and losses to WBC, WBA and IBF Light Middleweight Champ Winky Wright, WBA Super Middleweight Champion Mikkel Kessler, former WBO Middleweight Champ Felix Sturm, and light middleweight contender Marco Antonio Rubio.

Coming off an impressive win over rugged Butch Hajicek in which he scored three knockdowns on January 6th, Hernandez and his chiropractor/training and diet advisor Dr. Stoxen DC spoke with the Cyber Boxing Zone’s Juan Ayllon about his next fight.

JUAN AYLLON: How are you doing today, Miguel?

MIGUEL HERNANDEZ: I’m doing good, man, I’m doing good.

JA: Tell us about your upcoming match.

MH: I fight on February 10th in Miami, Florida against Ryan Davis. You know, he’s a tough fighter. He’s 19 and four, [and a former] six-time Golden Glove champion. He’s the WBE [Intercontinental] Middleweight Champion. You know, we’re fighting for the WBC USA Middleweight Title.

It’s a delayed broadcast on CSS/Comcast.

JA: What is your thinking on strategy and the challenge Ryan presents?

MH: Well, you know, I don’t know too much about the kid. I know that he comes to fight. You know, I hear he was with Baldomir—the guy that beat Zab Judah—he was his sparring partner. So, you know he’s in shape and it’s going to be an exciting fight.

I’m just excited for the opportunity, you know. I’m going to give it a 110 percent. And, this year is the New Year and we’re going to fight. You know, let the best man win. I don’t know too much about him. So, it’s going to be an exciting fight.

JA: Will you watch some tapes of Ryan to help prepare?

MH: Well, there’s not that many tapes of this kid. So, you know, [what exists are] old tapes on him. [With] tapes, really, you can watch as many tapes on a fighter and it’s [a mixed bag at best]—the last time I watched a tape was against Luis “Lobo” Lopez, when I fought him. He came in after the first round. Sam told me, ‘Forget the tape; this is a different fighter.’ And, that’s what it was. You have to adjust in the ring. I mean, it makes it harder, you know, but that’s what we do. So, we’ve got to adjust to whatever style [comes our way].

It’s going to be an exciting fight.

JA: It seems that in your last bout against Hajicek, you came in better shape and you were jabbing more. Tell us more about that experience.

MH: Yeah, well I just want to keep working on more of the boxing. You know, my power’s [already] there. And, I just got to try to put it together if I want to progress as a boxer and move up, I have to adjust and change. You have to change styles in the ring and see what works for you.

Like I said, I came and I was in good shape and I expect to go into this fight the same condition or better.

JA: Assuming all goes well, what next?

MH: Well, we’ll see. I’m not looking past this one. To me, this is a big fight for me. Let’s see after this fight. We’ll see what happens. It all depends on how you come out of the fight.

Hopefully, we both come out okay, ‘cause I don’t wish no harm on anyone. You know, he’s got his family; I’ve got my family. I mean, [don’t get me wrong,] I want to win! In the ring, you want to knock him out or try to do what you can to win the fight. If I’m better after the fight and if I’m okay, and I can fight in a month after that, I’ll be looking for another fight.

You know, this is my first fight out [side] of Chicago; I’m fighting in Miami. I mean, the crowd over here in Chicago—you’ve been to a lot of fights—they’re tough, the fans out here. So, to me, they’ve prepared me to go out of town and fight. They expect the best out of the fighters here. And, when you’re here, you know, I mean, I’ve lost a couple fights out here in Chicago. I don’t believe in hometown decisions, or anything like that, so. We’re going to fight in Miami, which is neutral ground for both of us; we’re not fighting in each other’s hometown. So, it’s a good thing for both of us, man.

JA: Looking at Ryan’s record, I see that in 2004, he lost a split decision to Anthony Ivory.

MH: Yes. Well, Anthony Ivory is a hell of a fighter. That guy fought everybody! I mean, look at Anthony Ivory’s record. He fought Winky Wright—I guess—twice; he fought [former IBF Light Middleweight Champion] Yori Boy Campas; he fought everybody! And the guy’s got one of the best defensive skills, and he’s a hell of a fighter. He’s always in shape every fight. So, I believe that’s not nothing to be ashamed of, a split decision [loss]. And, against a guy like that? You know, that just shows the kind of guy I’m up against. He fought Anthony Ivory.

He fought some good guys and it’s going to be a good fight. I have to train hard and if you look at his amateur background and everything like that, you know, I’m coming in almost like the underdog. That’s expected. From now on, every fight I have, it’s going to be [like that]. Even the guy I fought last time, he had 15 amateur fights. I only had nine. So. I mean I’ve just got to train hard. And that’s the key to boxing.

JA: How’s your diet coming along? I know before you mentioned before that you’ve got to really tight with that; you said that you can’t eat tacos, tamales and food like that.

MH: Yeah, you can’t. It’s a discipline, you know?

JA: I understand you’re training with Dr. Stoxen again on abs. Tell me about that.

MH: I’m back doing ab work and my legs with Dr. Stoxen. He’s got me doing I do a lot of exercises for my feet. He would probably be able to describe what I do better. It’s more for balance. It makes you work muscles in your legs that you don’t work out. He’s one of the guys that’s out there willing to help, and that means a lot to me.

DR. STOXEN: Well first of all, no body building exercise of any kind. I’ve got him on a new advanced training program. We added some new things to his training program. I designed a program to create a foundation that has balance and stability from his feet on up. The balance and stability will help him generate more speed and power without loosing balance. This will improve confidence and you know how important that is.

He’s doing what they call “Open Chain Cable Foot and Ankle Training.” What I do is I hook up a cuff to the bottom of his foot attached [by cable] to a low row machine. He keeps his legs still and moves the weight with his feet in a scooping fashion and a turning fashion to develop the muscles in his feet from all directions. What this does is add spring to the arch and power to the feet while forcing him to use his core stabilizing muscles to work weights while standing on one foot. You try it. It’s not easy.

And then what we do we put Miguel on the Bosu ball—which is a half ball—and we work his feet from abduction, adduction, pronation, supination movements, forward and reversing movements, dorsi flexion and plantar flexion on a ball that’s blown up. He stands on this half ball and has to balance on it and train his feet from all different directions.

We use this to add stamina to the feet. The reason why this is important is because boxing shoes don’t have a counter support mechanism to stabilize the heel. If the arch muscles fatigue during a fight (very common) then the entire lower body will tire and the legs will get heavy. You should see him bouncing in the ring by fight time. Power is generated from the uncoiling of the linkage from the feet, hips, lower back and abs and lastly the shoulders.

MiguelTwist (61k image)
Hernandez works on trunk twists as Dr. Stoxen looks on

Then I have him doing 80-100 lb. torso twists [on a weight machine] for his obliques. He was playing with 40 – 50 pounds in his previous fight. We are all over him if he has a slow turn. If he couldn’t maintain the same speed with 80 – 100 as he did with 40 – 50 then he wouldn’t be advanced. We add this speed and power to his frame so he’ll be able to throw more of his body into his swings and not being an arm puncher.

He is doing the 4 way hip machine with the same speed so he will be able to get those big hips into the punch. He already stacked the machine in our gym so for the next fight we will have to purchase another piece of equipment. He can still move the current weight faster and faster and that is what we are pushing him on every rep.

His ab routine is killer. Some exercises are done while he is suspended in the air from his elbows and he’s just training his midsection with speed. All exercises are done with maximum speed. We don’t do any sit-ups in our center ever. Noone is allowed to do a traditional situp in our center, ever. Sit-ups involves lifting the bodyweight from the belt line to the head. What if an athlete can do more? With selectorized equipment we can add weight according to what he is capable of doing while insuring there is no reduction in speed. It’s perfect. Also the angles aren’t good for the back with sit-ups. Too risky for a back injury.

Other cardio vascular training and speed and strength training are coming from [Hernandez’ trainer] Sam Colonna. He’s in charge. We’re just an extra layer to give him an extra edge. We’ve worked closely with Sam. Hes the boss.

JA: Tell us about your work with Miguel’s diet.

DS: When Miguel first came to us, he was fighting at 220 lbs. at the Tropicana and club fights as an amateur. Sam was the one who gave him finesse. We put him on a training diet that allowed him to 60 lbs. in three and a half to four months while getting stronger and faster. That’s a trick and you have to know what you are doing. Compliance is critical or the athlete will burn out and loose confidence in your plan. Miguel never veered from the plan.

When he came to us, he ate a diet rich with rice and beans, kind of the Puerto Rican heritage thing. We took him to more of a lean white meat and vegetable diet, which was a radical departure from what he was used to eating. His kids were asking him, ‘What is this? It looks like a bush!’ It was broccoli! He made a tremendous sacrifice eating something that was not part of his normal routine.

However, it makes all the difference in the world. The choice of what you eat will determine whether you hit someone with 150 lbs. of force or 130 lbs. of force.

We have him on an anti-inflammatory diet, as opposed to a pro-inflammatory diet. A pro-inflammatory diet will cause a decrease in growth hormone, which increases body fat percentage and inflammation.

Anti-inflammatory diets keeps the body fat down, it keeps the growth hormone up. Growth hormone comes from the pituitary gland and is the hormone for the repair and muscle growth process.

MiguelHernandezHaijikAfter (61k image)
Miguel Hernandez (left) and Butch Hajicek pose after their fight

Did you see how swollen Hajicek’s eyes were when he fought Miguel? The reason Miguel’s eyes did not puff up and swell was the anti-inflammatory diet. Inflammation means the body is in a catabolic state, which is weakening or breakdown instead of strengthening and build up. They suffered the same head blows and that fighter was no joke. He hit like a mule. We have Miguel on fish and fish oil diet, Omega-3 Ultra refined fish oils. It’s just the oil from the salmon. Salmon has an anti inflammatory effect on the body. And that’s helped a lot. And during the fight, it’s critical, as swelling can close eyes and stop fights. You loose!

With pro inflammatory diets, injuries and swelling are more common.

Dr. Barry Sears, MD and Dr. Nicholas Perricone, MD wrote some good books for laymen for anti-inflammatory diets. I’ve read over 500 scientific research papers on inflammation which has led to the diet we have Miguel on.

With anti-inflammatory diets, recovery rate is much faster, there’s not so much inflammation and it’s all done without any drugs of any kind. In fact, drugs are counterproductive to the process. It’s all done with diet.

Miguel knows this [bout against Ryan Davis] is a big fight for him. I’m proud of him. He’s come from Tropicana bar room slugger to a world-class athlete.

MH: The exercises is what [really] helps, you know, your conditioning, your running. Once you do all that and you’re in shape, and you eat small portions. You try not to kill yourself, but you can eat whatever you want [within reason], as long as you eat small portions. And that’s how I look at it.

And I keep up the diet and the training and we’ll see, you know, February 10th. Hopefully, it’ll be a good day. I’m going to give 110 percent and it’s going to be exciting!


Dr. Stoxen DC owns and operates Team Doctors Chiropractic Treatment Centers in Chicago. For more information, see:

http://www.teamdoctors.org

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