ROBERT EASTER will always call Toledo, Ohio home. But in order to grow, he had to uproot himself.
Easter has spent the past 10 weeks training in muggy West Palm Beach, Florida, hoping the different environment changes the forecast for his next bout. On Saturday, July 28, he puts his IBF world lightweight title on the line versus WBC counterpart Mikey Garcia in a unification bout at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.
This will be Easterโs first headliner on Showtime Championship Boxing. The magnitude of this opportunity isnโt lost on him. Garcia is a pound-for-pound talent and a heavy betting favorite. Most doubt Easter can pull off the upset. That negative chatter fuels him.
โThey donโt think I got it,โ he says, as he sinks two left hooks into the lower portion of the heavy bag. He moves closer to the bagโbarely an inch awayโdrops his hands and unloads a combination with his chin hanging in the air. โThey think this is how Iโm going to fight.โ
โTheyโ would have every reason to. Most lightweights are on eye level with the average Olympic gymnast. Easterโs 5โ11โ frame dwarfs his opponents, like an angry parent scolding a child. Such physical assets are only useful if taken advantage of. In his last two bouts, versus Denis Shafikov and Javier Fortuna, Easter lingered on the inside, smothering his own shots and eating too many in return. He defeated Shafikov by scores that were largely considered too wide and escaped with a split decision over Fortuna that could have gone the other way.
The Fortuna bout convinced him that it was time for a change. Leaving behind family and friends in Toledo, particularly his one-year-old son, wasnโt an easy decision, but it was the right one. Like many Midwestern fighters, boxing is in Easterโs blood. His father, grandfather, several uncles and even his aunt, were boxers. As a child, Junior would follow Senior to the gym and watch him train. The younger Robert began throwing punches almost as soon as he learned how to make a fist.
Easter went 213-17 as an amateur and was an alternate on the 2012 US Olympic team. As a pro, he first turned heads in April 2016, stunning a sold-out crowd at the Armory in Washington, D.C., with an impressive KO of former champion Argenis Mendez.
Against Mendez, Easterโs infighting skills recalled that of Diego Corrales, another tall fighter who eschewed his physical advantages in favor of a good old-fashioned scrap. Five months later, he claimed the vacant IBF title in just his 18th pro bout, beating Richard Commey by split decision in a Fight of the Year candidate.
โCommey made me fight for every second of each round,โ he said. โIf I had any doubts or setbacks in that fight, I wouldโve lost. I was determined to win, no matter what.โ
Easter was now one of boxingโs hottest young talents, and the biggest thing out of Toledo since Anita Baker.
โThere were plenty of distractions. I was living a dream. I had everything my way: access to females, friends, everything that kept me from what I was supposed to do,โ he said.
Bad habits began seeping through in camp. Easter would wait until six weeks to fight night before even entering a gym.
โMy last four training camps were at home and it got worse and worse with each one. I was going into a lot of them fights using my talent because I didnโt focus on my skills in the gym. I wasnโt there with a game plan,โ he said.
Even so, heโs quick to point out that his opponents were no slouches.
โI usually donโt have any problems with southpaws, but [Shafikov and Fortuna] are just awkward fighters,โ he declares. โYou canโt find anyone to imitate those guys. For the Fortuna fight, I was sparring sharp southpaws that could really box and move. Then I get in the ring and heโs throwing shots from everywhere.โ
Afterward, Easter reached out to trainer Kevin Cunningham, who he knew from the amateur circuit out in the Midwest. Cunningham guided Cory Spinks and Devon Alexander to world titles. In 2016, he relocated from St. Louis to West Palm Beach and opened Camp Cunningham, where he trains Easter, Alexander, Adrien Broner, Gervonta Davis, Erickson Lubin and Sakio Bika, among others.
The blazing Florida weather is several degrees cooler than the temperature inside Camp Cunningham today. Alexander, having wrapped up another workout ahead of his August 4 date versus Andre Berto, chats with several coaches by the entrance, where thereโs a breeze. In the ring, Easter shadowboxes under Cunninghamโs watchful eye, pausing every so often to recite lyrics from Young Scooter & Futureโs โCanโt Play Around,โ blaring through the speakers.
โThis was the perfect move for โBunny,โโ Cunningham says, using the nickname favored by those closest to the fighter. โGarcia is the biggest fight of his life. He needed to have a professional training camp with the right program. Here we have warm weather to sweat the pounds off, a live-in chef for the fighters and a strong gym regimen. Iโve never seen his body like this. Heโs had a tremendous camp.โ
Three weeks away from the fight, Easterโs a sculpted 141lbs, though that number may be skewed by a wooly beard that suggests he hasnโt hit the barber shop in a while.
โWhen you become champion, you got to work harder, do the things you havenโt done or donโt want to do,โ Easter says. โBeing in camp right here has put me into a whole different world. I donโt leave the house unless Iโm going to Walmart or something. I canโt go to sleep without watching boxing, shadowboxing or doing something related to boxing.โ
Such as studying tapes of himself and of Garcia.
โBoxers donโt fight everyone the same way so when I observe them, I look for habits,โ Easter notes. โGarcia is a great boxer. Heโs a good counterpuncher and he has such good patience. And he knows how to use distance. Those are the things Iโm paying attention to.โ
Cunningham wants Easter to use his physical dimensions to control the ring space. Theyโve also worked on balance, footwork and other subtleties, but there is only so much one can absorb over 10 weeks.
โA single camp isnโt enough to really do everything that I want to do with him and rectify a lot of the things that need to be rectified,โ says Cunningham, sporting dark circles around his eyes like a mad scientist who hasnโt slept in weeks. โThe more important things that will help him in this particular fight, thatโs what we focused on.โ
As todayโs session winds down, Easter Facetimes with his son, Robert III, who just celebrated his first birthday several weeks before.
โHe was born on my dadโs birthday, June 6,โ Easter says, breaking into a smile. โI didnโt have to buy my dad a birthday present because thatโs the gift God gave us. Being a father has changed me a lot. Iโm no longer doing it for myself. I have someone else Iโm thinking of every second of the day.โ
Easter pauses and looks around the gym, the smile slowly disappearing as he recalls the task at hand.
โItโs been tough not seeing him, but I needed this. My son has given me a different drive, a different focus. A lot of people are overlooking my skills because of these last few fights. After people see how I beat Garcia, Iโm going to be one of the biggest names in boxing. Not just in Toledo. The world.โ