20/08/2026
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GRANDPA’s PHILOSOPHY ON TRAINING A FIGHTER 🥊
There are a lot of people on the internet today telling everyone how to box, how to coach, what fighters are doing wrong and what strategies they should be using.
My philosophy is a little different.i not there to impress the fighter, im not a yes man ,im there for results.
When I’m training a top-level fighter, I don’t throw 100 instructions at him. I sit back and watch.
If a fighter has already reached a high level, he has years of muscle memory. He has his own rhythm, movement, reactions and methodology.
If the way he fights got him to where he is, don’t f**k around with it. ADD TO IT. Just fine tune him.
A trainer’s job isn’t to completely rebuild a successful fighter.
I see the trainer’s job as being a little bit like:
First — a father.
Second — a psychiatrist.
Third — a Formula One pit crew manager.
THE FORMULA ONE PIT STOP
When a Formula One driver comes into the pits, you don’t have time to give him a 20-minute lecture.
Check the car.
Fuel it.
Check the tyres.
Make the adjustments required for the track and conditions.
Give the driver the information he needs.
Then get him back onto the track to win the race.
A boxing corner should work the same way.
I often see fighters come back to their corner and immediately three people start shouting instructions at them.
The fighter isn’t hearing half of it.
For the first 30 seconds the fighter needs to breath , I want my fighter recovering.
Breathe. Water. Calm the heart rate.
Check the face, eyes and any cuts or damage.
Then, in the last 20 seconds, give him the important instructions.
Keep them short, clear and achievable.
In the final 10 seconds, give him encouragement—and tell him the truth about what is happening in that fight, get him pumped ready to get out there again.
Then send him back to work.
SPARRING
I use the same philosophy in the gym.
I don’t believe in trainers screaming instructions throughout every round.
Why?
Because when the bell rings on fight night, the fighter is in there by himself.
He has to learn to think, react, adapt and solve problems under pressure.
I also like having a third man in the ring during serious sparring, moving like a referee.
A referee naturally watches the fighter receiving the most punishment. That can become another piece of information an intelligent fighter learns to recognize.
I want my fighters comfortable with that third person moving around them long before fight night.
ROADWORK
I’m old school. I believe in roadwork.
But I don’t believe in destroying fighters with unnecessary mileage.
For heavyweights, around 5 km—approximately 3 miles—is plenty when we’re getting close to a fight.
Earlier in camp we can stretch that toward 8 km.
Lighter fighters can generally handle more mileage because they’re not pounding the road carrying heavyweight mass.
Training should build the fighter—not destroy his joints.
After roadwork, eat a good breakfast, recover, and within roughly six hours we’re back in the gym.
START THE ENGINE
If you can skip—skip , this is very important for the lightweight divisions.
If you can’t skip due to size or weight get into the ring and shadowbox.
Your calves work like little heart pumps helping circulation through the body.
Before heavy training, I want the body warm, circulation working, oxygen moving and the fighter mentally switched on.
Skipping and shadowboxing aren’t wasted rounds.
They’re starting the engine.
THREE TYPES OF PAD WORK
I believe there are three important types of pad work.
1. Technique — drilling and correcting specific movements. This is where you work combo’s
2. Power — developing individual power shots and learning to deliver them properly.
3. Freestyle — reacting, finding openings, maintaining distance, rhythm and timing.  The pad man doesn’t call the shots keeping the pads close to the body and bringing them up when the fighter sees the opening or the Pad he or she takes a shot. It’s important that the freestyle pad holder simulates an opponent and is not just a standing man like a punching bag, holding up a set of pads. It’s to create timing, slipping, movement, and punching on the go.
As we get closer to fight night and hard sparring stops, freestyle pad work becomes extremely important.
You still need to keep the fighter’s timing sharp so he can find those shots when the lights come on.
TEACH THEM WHAT EMPTY FEELS LIKE
You can run miles.
You can smash the treadmill.
You can hit pads all day.
You can look like the fittest man in the gym.
Then the fight starts—and suddenly you’re empty.
The adrenaline, pressure, physical contact and mental stress of a real fight are different.
That’s why I want fighters to experience extreme fatigue safely during training and learn how to think while they’re tired.
I’ll put on the big body shield, tie them up, lean on them, make them work and force them to keep fighting when the tank feels empty.  Not so much for technique more so to burn them, to find that basement, and see if they can hang in when there’s nothing left..
They need to recognize that feeling.
More importantly, they need to know how to recover and fill the tank again while the fight is still happening.
Heavy Bag
 The heavy bag is important. I like my Fighters at the end of each day of training to Tap Out on the heavy bag, sometimes the whole training is about using the heavy bag, it’s important for the development of power, and also build the strength and the joints to handle the impact from the punching,
OLD SCHOOL
My philosophy will always be old school.
You have to put in the time.
You need discipline.
You need sacrifice.
And most importantly, you have to genuinely WANT IT.
Professional boxing isn’t a part-time job.
There are people who put on a great performance at the press conference but don’t put on the same performance in the gym accept when there is a camera out
There are people who talk about how good they are but won’t give 100% when nobody is watching.
And now there are TikTok and Instagram fighters , look great technically, collecting questionable records and titles, hoping one big opportunity will suddenly turn them into champions, but fight, boring fights, and only can knock out and beat and experience Fighters, most are scared to challenge themselves in real battle.
That’s not how boxing works.
Millions of people want to become fighters.
Very few make it.
Even fewer reach the top.
And only an incredibly small number ever become genuine world champions.
Because talent alone isn’t enough.
It takes sacrifice.
It takes discipline.
It takes determination.
It takes heart.
And above everything else—it takes the WILL TO WIN.
🥊 OLD SCHOOL BOXING.
The fighter fights.
The trainer prepares him to fight.
— Robert McInnes
ISS BOXING GYM — “THE BASEMENT”
