6am: Run – Las Vegas mountains
Leonard Ellerbe: He runs a five-and-a-half-minute mile. Nobody even tries to keep pace with him.
Roger Mayweather: He gets some physical condition from me but he’s still got to get it from running because them lungs, he’s got to go in the mountain to get that wind.
3pm: Technical session – gym
Floyd Mayweather: It’s hard every day. I get to the gym in the afternoon and immediately take a shower. I like to feel clean and refreshed when I start my training. After the shower, I change into my boxing gear and go to work. Most days I have Rafael Garcia get my hands ready, one of my team members and the best hand-wrapper in boxing. We sit by the gym and I mentally prepare for the two hours ahead of me while he wraps each of my hands. I used to have problems with them but ever since Rafael has been a part of my team, my hands feel great. After we finish the wraps, I get in the ring and shake out a bit, working on my footwork, movement, just loosening up. When I feel good and have started to work a sweat, I get ready to put the gloves on and hits the mitts. Working the mitts is intense and very good preparation. It helps with coordination, precision, working combinations and handspeed.
Roger Mayweather: He’ll spend about an hour on the pads. He’ll do 30 minutes then he’ll go to the heavy bag, speed bag, double-end bag, jump rope, then he’ll say, ‘I wanna’ work on the pads again’. Most times he do it he don’t rest and if he do rest, s***, he’ll have 10 or 20 seconds but basically he’s pretty much non-stop. I watch him on the bags and he does that non-stop as well. Whatever he do, he do it in time. If it’s 20 minutes, he gonna’ work for 20 minutes, not 15 minutes of talking and then five minutes of punching, because he knows what made him successful.
6PM: Strength and conditioning workout – gym
Ellerbe: We work five-six days per week, and a minimum of one session per day. That lasts around two hours. Floyd’s conditioning has always been superb; we have gradually strengthened his body as he has moved through the weights. When I started we focused on building his legs, and Floyd has excellent symmetry now. He’s never had any stamina problems in his career, he’s a lot stronger than people think he is, it’s the first thing most of his opponents say.
This article was originally published in an edition Fighting Fit magazine
