โJUST the details,โ Errol Spence, an admirer of Emanuel Steward, responds when, as the fighter who knows the remarkably in-demand Derrick James better than any other, he is asked what makes the trainer so good. โDetails, how he always โ even if youโre doing it the right way, heโs still going to remind you. Like, โKeep your hands upโ. A lot of the time Iโm like, โI am keeping my hands upโ. Heโs like, โI know youโre keeping your hands up โ Iโm just reminding you, keep your hands upโ.
โHeโs very detailed; he works on the small things; the small things can add up to big things. Especially if thereโs a lot of them. So we work on the small things. And whatโs good about him is he donโt try to change you. He has little bits and pieces he need to change, but he donโt try to change you. Like Naseem Hamed โย how crazy he fights โ he wouldnโt try and change him and try to make him fight like Marco Antonio Barrera. Heโd just add little pieces to his game. But heโd keep it the same โcause it works for him.
โAnd he used to be a boxer. So he knows how it is โ how youโre feeling. When youโre losing weight, or itโs five weeks [out from fight night] and youโre feeling weak. โAlright, thatโs enough. We donโt have to do that much today.โ โCause he know youโre feeling sluggish, or youโre feeling down. I feel like he can relate more to a boxer, โcause he was an ex-boxer. So he know how it is when youโre losing weight. He know how it is when itโs a sore day in the gym. He know how it is when you had a hard day and the next day youโre feeling kind of down and sluggish. I feel like he relates to the boxer more because he was actually a professional boxer. He was one of us.
โDerrick hasnโt changed anything for me [since being recruited by Anthony Joshua and Ryan Garcia, and since Jermell Charlo signed to fight Saul โCaneloโ Alvarez]. Everybody get there on time. I see Frank [Martin] in the gym, or I might see Anthony Joshua, but itโs like, through passing.
โMy timeโs over; Iโm leaving the gym, then I see Frank, or I see Anthony Joshua, or I might see Ryan Garcia. We never train at the same time. I might train with Frank at the same time, or if we have something to do I might train with Anthony at the same time, but everybody has their set time when they come and they train.
โ[Weโre] definitely, definitely feeding off each other. You always want to work hard โcause you know the other guys are working hard. Especially if youโre in the gym together; yโall sparring, you try and spar a little harder. Just because you know you got another top athlete watching.โ