Improving Tommy Coyle, Matthew Macklin and Stephen Foster Jnr

tommy coyle

TOMMY COYLE

Avoiding punches intelligently

ONE of his main flaws was the one that caused him to lose against Derry Mathews [l rsf 10, last July]. As a reaction, he pulls his head back and drops his hands, to try and get out of the way of a shot. Heโ€™s still not 100 per cent ironed out yet but heโ€™s getting there. Him reacting so quickly to a shot coming is a good thing โ€“ I want the reaction speed to be the same, but I want him to react in a different way. So I try to trigger his reaction by throwing a shot at him when heโ€™s on the pads and now heโ€™s in the mould of pulling his hands up nice and tight. Every now and again, when heโ€™s sparring, heโ€™ll still do the old trick, and Iโ€™ll shout, โ€˜Donโ€™t pull back, keep your hands up.โ€™

Then heโ€™ll go back into what heโ€™s been doing to correct it. Itโ€™s a painstaking job and itโ€™s frustrating for him because heโ€™s getting to the point now where as soon as he does it he knows heโ€™s done it. Thatโ€™s the first step towards fixing it, because if he doesnโ€™t know what heโ€™s doing wrong, heโ€™ll never fix it; I can only instruct it. Itโ€™s constant repetition. For something to become second nature, youโ€™ve got to do it until you get bored with it. Heโ€™s keeping me in good shape, because Iโ€™m constantly throwing left and right hands at him, catching him and getting him to react.

Another thing was moving his head. It was like something blowing in the wind, he was moving that much. I just tried to explain to him, to get out of the way of a shot, you can just move your head six eight inches. He picks it up because heโ€™s so enthusiastic. Heโ€™s practised at home in the mirror.

MATTHEW MACKLIN
Closing the distance and using the jab

MATTโ€™S not going to get any better, physically or in his skill-set as a boxer, heโ€™s a world-class fighter anyway. My job has been to make him aware of what he does well and some of the stuff he used to do well that heโ€™s neglected recently. Itโ€™s a much different job than the one I do with Tommy, where Iโ€™m moulding him.

Mattโ€™s got a great jab for instance and heโ€™s neglected it recently. Weโ€™ve done a lot of padwork, a lot of technique sessions, just me and him in the ring. Then, obviously we try to replicate the kid weโ€™re fighting with the sparring partners. We had [6ft 4ins unbeaten super-middle] Hosea Burton over in Marbella [where Macklinโ€™s gym is situated], who was bigger and a lot more awkward than the kid Matt was actually fighting [Lamar Russ].

I like to concentrate a lot on footwork as well. You canโ€™t get your shots off at all unless your feet are in the right position. With Lamar Russ being a lot taller and rangier, there was more emphasis on closing the distance down when getting the jab off. A lot of the emphasis on the jab was to double and triple it up because you might not land with the first one, but if you keep your momentum going forward and you target both body and head โ€“ because he might lean back but his bodyโ€™s still there โ€“ you can still land. So the first jab can be a dummy jab to spark a reaction, then you follow up either upstairs or down. We did a lot of drills doing that and working on fast feet. On the pads, Iโ€™d replicate Russ. So Iโ€™d be backing off as Matt was moving in, encouraging him to cover that distance quicker, and if he was falling short with his jab heโ€™d realise he wasnโ€™t covering enough distance.

STEPHEN FOSTER JNR
Using his boxing skills more

I WANT him to go back to his boxing; he was a double ABA champion but heโ€™s got such a powerful left hook, he tended to rely on that and his fitness. We need to get him going back to what he was doing years ago because heโ€™s a lovely boxer.

Iโ€™ve had him doing lots of stuff off the back foot and Iโ€™ve really overemphasised it. Heโ€™ll never be a total counter-punching box-mover, but I thought if I took him to the other extreme โ€“ the opposite of a pressuring, come-forward fighter โ€“ heโ€™ll land somewhere in between and thatโ€™s where heโ€™ll be at his best.

So Iโ€™ve had him doing lots of pad drills on he back foot. I walk forward and close the distance down. I want him to use angles more. As a pressure-fighter you go in phases: you attack, then you go again, and maybe even a third phase. But Iโ€™ve been doing the opposite with Steve, getting him to go backwards in phases. So, stick a jab out, take a half-step back then, as someone comes in, hold your ground and counter them on the way in. Iโ€™ve been doing the opposite with Steve to what Iโ€™ve been doing with Macklin; Iโ€™ve been playing the pressure-fighter and trying to get him to walk me onto shots.

*For training information and workouts from some of the biggest names in combat sport donโ€™t miss the Fighting Fit: Train like the Stars special*

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