ITโS BEEN a process. Frank Buglioni has followed the well-trodden route for a new pro with good potential. He began his professional boxing career with four-round contests. Stepping up to six-threes after his first three bouts, he did his first eightrounder this year and is now preparing for a scheduled 12 rounds at the Copper Box on November 30.
His training reflects that development. Five or six days a week, he has two sessions a day, usually in the gym in the morning and running in the evening. As his upcoming bouts have grown in distance, the number of rounds heโs sparring has also increased. โI tend to use two or three sparring partners at a time so I can get the rounds out but still at a high-quality pace. As the weeks go on and my training becomes more and more intense, Iโve been finding the rounds a lot easier,โ Buglioni said. โSo I know my fitness is getting better and better and my sharpness is really starting to find the targets now.โ
Having turned pro just over two years ago, Buglioni is 10-0 (7). โIt takes a while but weโve built it up over time,โ he continued. โAt the end of last year we were doing eight and 10-round spars, weโveincreased that this year and it feels like itโs the right time.โ
IN THE GYM
โIn my gym sessions, itโs a mixture of sparring, pads, shadow-boxing and strength,โ says Buglioni. โEvery now and then weโll do a lone strength session or a nice circuit.
โIโm probably in the gym for at least two hours. Thatโll consist of having a decent warm-up, where Iโll be doing some footwork drills and quite a few exercises that increase power and speed of footwork. Iโll do them to start with and then Iโll move on to shadow-boxing where weโll be working on different techniques, tempos, different shots, maybe six rounds of shadow usually. Then Iโll go on to various bags or Iโll spar or Iโll do padwork. Mark [Tibbs, his trainer] tends mix it up as well. Sometimes itโll be padwork in between bag sessions and Iโll probably end up doing 10 rounds of either padwork, bagwork or sparring and maybe cool down with some more rounds of shadow.
โIf I had to prepare for a fight and I was only allowed to do two things, it would be running and sparring. Theyโre the two most important things but obviously padwork and shadow-boxing, they both play their part so you can do the right things and work on certain techniques.โ
CIRCUIT TRAINING
โYou need to be strong all over as a fighter. I wouldnโt go too heavy with the weights, maybe aim for 12 to 15 reps, where you just about get them out but maintain technique. The weight depends on the individual,โ said Buglioni.
โAnything from six-to-eight [exercises], maybe three lower-body, three upper-body and a couple of either full-body or core exercises.โ
โA full-body exercise would be burpee jumps, maybe with a press-up. With the bar, power clean and jerk, clean and press or a squat and press. Step-ups, you can add a curl and shoulder press as well.
โYou want to include your core and twisting exercises as well, which you can do with medicine balls. You donโt want to do standard sit-ups, you want to replicate twisting when youโre punching. Always balance that out with your lower-back exercises as well.
โ[For the legs] weโll do bodyweight squats, squat jumps or tuck jumps and then squats with the barbell, lunges, lunges with dumbbells. Your legs are very important to keep strong.โ
ON THE RUN
โThe runs, they differ obviously,โ Frank explained. โAt the beginning of the camp I tend to run seven or eight miles at a time and as I get closer and closer to the fight I start dropping them down to sixes, fives, fours and obviously start including the sprints.
โWe use hill sprints a couple of times a week, and thatโll be maybe the last four or five weeks of a camp. The reps vary depending on how far away we are from the fight. Itโs all very much tapered. Mark is very good at adjusting the reps and the distances for if Iโve had heavy sparring or if Iโve got a hard week coming up, heโll manage that accordingly.โ
FOOTWORK
โLadders are perfect but itโs all pretty uch attitude and your mental state. Iโd be thinking, โFast handsโ, but I wouldnโt be thinking, โFast feetโ. Iโd tend to leave my feet behind and sometimes over-extend and lean over my front foot. Now Iโm thinking, โDo everything fast’ and you condition yourself.”
KEEP DEVELOPING
โWith the guidance of Mark and his experience, Iโve listened to him and Iโve made big improvements. The [Kirill] Psonko fight, that was a bit of a poor performance from myself. We looked at things I was doing wrong and made a conscious effort to rectify it and itโs paid off,โ Buglioni said.
โI was impatient and a bit immature, trying to chase the knockout and only worrying about what shots Iโm throwing rather than worrying about whatโs coming back. We had that in mind when I was doing my training, so Iโm boxing on the front foot and on the back foot now. Iโm dangerous when Iโm going back and taking shots rather than being content to come forward.
โIโm thinking about their shots, coming back with counters and trying to slip and move, make it awkward for them as well. โIโll be boxing systematically, everything off the jab, back and forward.โ