TRAINER DERRICK JAMES CONFIDENT ERROL SPENCE READY FOR PORTER, THURMAN, OR KAHN IN SEPTEMBER
By Percy Crawford | July 06, 2015
PC: Errol looked great against Phil Lo Greco. Many feel that he stole the show. What did you think?
DJ: I thought it was a good performance. I got home and I got to watch it a little bit. I seen some things that we can improve on, but I liked the shots we put together. If you watch the workouts we did at the Mayweather Gym, you can actually see those same shots that we were working on in the media workout that you see in the fight. He put them together beautifully. I haven't seen anybody put punches together like that, I don't know, it would have to be since Sugar Ray Leonard. Other than that, I haven't seen nobody do that.
PC: And for a young fighter, he is an amazing body puncher. You see a lot of younger guys head hunt now. He is throwback with his attacks.
DJ: Yeah! I think it's funny. I was talking to a guy I grew up with and who I used to box with. So much about what I do is from what I was taught as a fighter by my trainer, but I also take different things from people who I admired growing up who boxed in the gym with me, and one of my guys did phenomenal body work. And this guy was a little bitty guy. His name was Robert Byrd. He had amazing body work, so I really work with him on his body shots. I had a good jab or this guy had this or this guy had that, so we put certain aspects into EJ that I saw get other people to the next level. When you look at a fighter, you gotta say, "What does this guy have that other guys don't have?" And that's kind of like what we work on. He's very receptive to it. We talk about some things here and there, but he's developing a great jab. A lot of guys don't use a jab and you have to use a jab to set up your body work. You gotta get past your opponent's jab, set up your jab to get off your body shots. That's part of the whole deal is that they all go together. Every punch goes together; it's just where you place them and how you put them together.
PC: Errol usually stays within himself. After the 1st round, you had to calm him down a little bit. Get him to settle down and be himself and the rest is history.
DJ: He talked about getting a knockout in all of his interviews. From experience, I can tell you, what you want, sometimes you don't always get, so you have to settle down and let is basically come to you. It's like a quarterback that calls a play. He has to let the guy run his route before releasing the ball. So you just have to let the situation play itself out. And that's what happened. When he was able to be himself in the 2nd round, the rest came easy. Everyone was asking me, "You have a new opponent. What do you do?" From what I had seen from Lo Greco, I knew EJ just had to be himself. He didn't have to do anything extra or be something he wasn't; just be yourself and that is enough. Everything he does in life, all he has to do is just be himself. It's like you just said, when Errol Spence got in the 2nd round and it was like, okay I'm in a fight, he came out and he prevailed.
PC: You guys were expecting Roberto Garcia and got Phil Lo Greco. Was there anything strategy-wise that you guys had to change when the opponent changed?
DJ: With Garcia, we were kind of prepared for a rougher and more rugged fight. It was the same basic gameplan we had lined up for both guys. I think the difference is Lo Greco is a guy I had a little bit of video on and I just concentrated on the shots that he would normally throw just to give him an idea of what to expect. I always want him to be prepared. It wasn't much of a change. You prepare for one thing and the guy may try and do something different. Of course with this guy not rushing in like we thought Garcia would, we had to keep our distance better, so it was a little change, but nothing major.
PC: When you get a last minute change like this and you're sitting down to watch video on short notice, is it all about focusing on habits and tendencies?
DJ: I do look for the habits, but really, the key thing is I look for their favorite punches to throw. Like I look at Roberto Garcia and he would be a bully, but every time he would throw a punch, he would always drop his hands. So you block his shot and be ready for the counter punch. Well, Lo Greco was a little different because he kept his hands up, but he was a little more athletic. He had more of a style. He really was a guy that could do more than one thing. It's just like with any opponent, you can't let these guys get into the fight. You could tell from the 1st round Lo Greco wanted to cause a lil' problem. It's something that I saw as an amateur with them guys from Europe. I don't know if they do it much now, but they did it when we fought; he came out to cause a problem. But I saw it before, so I knew how to deal with that. He had more dimensions than Garcia did, but the thing about it is, we never let him get in there and show those dimensions.
PC: You never feel disrespected or get upset when people don't seem to recognize you as Errol's trainer. Even during the Lo Greco fight, Daniel Jacobs referred to you as his dad. As long as the spotlight is on Errol, are you content with that?
DJ: I think it's funny, as long as he knows who I am and all of the boxing people recognize who I am and what I am doing with him. It's funny, we were in the MGM and I'm sitting there and this guy was like, "Hey man, who is Errol Spence's trainer? I heard he had a new trainer." And I'm like, "I'm his trainer." A lot of people know me, but I know who I am. I know that my guy has great skills and great boxing fundamentals, so I don't feel like I have to be out there like that. One thing I like about what Al Haymon is doing is he is making it about the fighters. I think in the past 7 or 8 years, people have made it about the trainers. I'm okay with it being all about the fighters. I know who I am and I know what I do and we all in it together anyway. The commission was asking, "Do you know who this guy is?" And he was like, "Yeah, that's the guy that be with Errol Spence." I said, "Nah man. I'm not the guy that be with Errol Spence. I'm his trainer, man." They were making it sound like I was his groupie or something. So I let them know I was his trainer. I had to correct them and it's okay. I'm okay with that.
PC: Errol has voiced his opinion on some of the names he wants to get in there with next. Guys like Keith Thurman, Shawn Porter and Amir Khan. I'm sure you don't have a problem with fighting any of those guys because you have confidence in your fighter.
DJ: Oh yeah, definitely. A lot of people say that he's not ready and I think that's funny because they said the same thing about Holyfield when he fought Dwight Muhammad Quawi for the world title in his 12th fight. I bet they said that about Leon Spinks when he fought the great Muhammad Ali in his 8th pro fight. I bet they said that about Floyd Mayweather when he fought Genaro Hernandez in his 17th pro fight. So when you think about it, are you serious? What about when "Sweat Pea" Whitaker fought Roger Mayweather in I think about his 14th fight? And what do all of these guys have in common? They all were Olympians. In the Olympics as an amateur, you're fighting the best of the best. You don't have a choice. You don't pick and choose your opponents. It's the luck of the draw. We are ready for any one of those guys. I know Shawn Porter and I like him. I like him and his father. I think it will be an interesting fight for any one of those guys.
PC: Are you okay with a September return?
DJ: I haven't heard anything from them. Floyd is doing the promoting, so once they talk to me and we talk about opponents and if it's not one of those guys, who will it be? It's obvious that Floyd wants Errol to be a champ, whether it's against one of those guys or not. September...I'm happy with September. He just fought in April, he trained in May, and fought in June. Their timetable is phenomenal because I think with a young fighter, how do you keep a guy engaged? You keep him fighting. You give him a schedule. You can't have a young guy fighting every now and again if you want them to be a top contender. I just want to keep him moving and if it's September 12th, I love that too. Either way, we will be at the fight, so I would rather just be part of the show.
PC: What was it like for you being around Floyd and hearing him praise Errol leading up to his fight on NBC?
DJ: I think it's great. I have known Floyd since 1996 when he first turned pro. We were really close when I lived in Vegas. Roger used to train me and Floyd, so we would work out at the same time. Part of the show was he would tell EJ, "Hey man, I used to hang out with Derrick." and EJ would be like, "What?" Floyd goes, "He didn't tell you that?" EJ would say, "Yeah, he mentioned it." I was telling the truth (laughing). But it was good getting back acquainted. I moved back to Dallas and been here for 15 years, but it was really cool. He really love EJ; it's obvious. If you go back and watch all of the videos, he really believes in him. Floyd is really a funny guy. The funny thing about it is he hasn't changed from the guy that I knew back from around 1996 to 2000 when I was living in Vegas. He hasn't changed. He's really the same guy; he just has more money now. It was good for EJ and I love to see it. The world got to see the best fighter in the world praise him and Freddie Roach praised him because someone asked him, "Who was the future of boxing?" Freddie Roach said, "Errol Spence Jr." These are two guys that are adversaries at times, but they do see eye to eye on that one particular topic, so I like it.
PC: I asked Eddie Mustafa Muhammad who he enjoyed watching out of all the young fighters and he said Errol Spence as well, so he's definitely on people's mind now. I look forward to seeing you guys back in there and as always, I wish you the best of luck with your fighters. Is there anything else you want to add before I let you go?
DJ: I just want everybody to stay tuned. They haven't seen the best of him. Once you get a guy who pushes him, and I think Shawn Porter will be a guy that pushes him. I don't know if a fight with Keith Thurman, you would necessarily see more out of him, but I think he will be more focused with Keith because he would want to prove a point. Nobody wants to be in a situation where people don't believe in him, so I think he would want to show the world something. He hasn't been pushed to that level to show something else, but what he has shown is consistency and that's a great thing. I do love that, so everybody just stay tuned because there is a lot more to come.
http://fighthype.com/news/article21031.html
By Percy Crawford | July 06, 2015
PC: Errol looked great against Phil Lo Greco. Many feel that he stole the show. What did you think?
DJ: I thought it was a good performance. I got home and I got to watch it a little bit. I seen some things that we can improve on, but I liked the shots we put together. If you watch the workouts we did at the Mayweather Gym, you can actually see those same shots that we were working on in the media workout that you see in the fight. He put them together beautifully. I haven't seen anybody put punches together like that, I don't know, it would have to be since Sugar Ray Leonard. Other than that, I haven't seen nobody do that.
PC: And for a young fighter, he is an amazing body puncher. You see a lot of younger guys head hunt now. He is throwback with his attacks.
DJ: Yeah! I think it's funny. I was talking to a guy I grew up with and who I used to box with. So much about what I do is from what I was taught as a fighter by my trainer, but I also take different things from people who I admired growing up who boxed in the gym with me, and one of my guys did phenomenal body work. And this guy was a little bitty guy. His name was Robert Byrd. He had amazing body work, so I really work with him on his body shots. I had a good jab or this guy had this or this guy had that, so we put certain aspects into EJ that I saw get other people to the next level. When you look at a fighter, you gotta say, "What does this guy have that other guys don't have?" And that's kind of like what we work on. He's very receptive to it. We talk about some things here and there, but he's developing a great jab. A lot of guys don't use a jab and you have to use a jab to set up your body work. You gotta get past your opponent's jab, set up your jab to get off your body shots. That's part of the whole deal is that they all go together. Every punch goes together; it's just where you place them and how you put them together.
PC: Errol usually stays within himself. After the 1st round, you had to calm him down a little bit. Get him to settle down and be himself and the rest is history.
DJ: He talked about getting a knockout in all of his interviews. From experience, I can tell you, what you want, sometimes you don't always get, so you have to settle down and let is basically come to you. It's like a quarterback that calls a play. He has to let the guy run his route before releasing the ball. So you just have to let the situation play itself out. And that's what happened. When he was able to be himself in the 2nd round, the rest came easy. Everyone was asking me, "You have a new opponent. What do you do?" From what I had seen from Lo Greco, I knew EJ just had to be himself. He didn't have to do anything extra or be something he wasn't; just be yourself and that is enough. Everything he does in life, all he has to do is just be himself. It's like you just said, when Errol Spence got in the 2nd round and it was like, okay I'm in a fight, he came out and he prevailed.
PC: You guys were expecting Roberto Garcia and got Phil Lo Greco. Was there anything strategy-wise that you guys had to change when the opponent changed?
DJ: With Garcia, we were kind of prepared for a rougher and more rugged fight. It was the same basic gameplan we had lined up for both guys. I think the difference is Lo Greco is a guy I had a little bit of video on and I just concentrated on the shots that he would normally throw just to give him an idea of what to expect. I always want him to be prepared. It wasn't much of a change. You prepare for one thing and the guy may try and do something different. Of course with this guy not rushing in like we thought Garcia would, we had to keep our distance better, so it was a little change, but nothing major.
PC: When you get a last minute change like this and you're sitting down to watch video on short notice, is it all about focusing on habits and tendencies?
DJ: I do look for the habits, but really, the key thing is I look for their favorite punches to throw. Like I look at Roberto Garcia and he would be a bully, but every time he would throw a punch, he would always drop his hands. So you block his shot and be ready for the counter punch. Well, Lo Greco was a little different because he kept his hands up, but he was a little more athletic. He had more of a style. He really was a guy that could do more than one thing. It's just like with any opponent, you can't let these guys get into the fight. You could tell from the 1st round Lo Greco wanted to cause a lil' problem. It's something that I saw as an amateur with them guys from Europe. I don't know if they do it much now, but they did it when we fought; he came out to cause a problem. But I saw it before, so I knew how to deal with that. He had more dimensions than Garcia did, but the thing about it is, we never let him get in there and show those dimensions.
PC: You never feel disrespected or get upset when people don't seem to recognize you as Errol's trainer. Even during the Lo Greco fight, Daniel Jacobs referred to you as his dad. As long as the spotlight is on Errol, are you content with that?
DJ: I think it's funny, as long as he knows who I am and all of the boxing people recognize who I am and what I am doing with him. It's funny, we were in the MGM and I'm sitting there and this guy was like, "Hey man, who is Errol Spence's trainer? I heard he had a new trainer." And I'm like, "I'm his trainer." A lot of people know me, but I know who I am. I know that my guy has great skills and great boxing fundamentals, so I don't feel like I have to be out there like that. One thing I like about what Al Haymon is doing is he is making it about the fighters. I think in the past 7 or 8 years, people have made it about the trainers. I'm okay with it being all about the fighters. I know who I am and I know what I do and we all in it together anyway. The commission was asking, "Do you know who this guy is?" And he was like, "Yeah, that's the guy that be with Errol Spence." I said, "Nah man. I'm not the guy that be with Errol Spence. I'm his trainer, man." They were making it sound like I was his groupie or something. So I let them know I was his trainer. I had to correct them and it's okay. I'm okay with that.
PC: Errol has voiced his opinion on some of the names he wants to get in there with next. Guys like Keith Thurman, Shawn Porter and Amir Khan. I'm sure you don't have a problem with fighting any of those guys because you have confidence in your fighter.
DJ: Oh yeah, definitely. A lot of people say that he's not ready and I think that's funny because they said the same thing about Holyfield when he fought Dwight Muhammad Quawi for the world title in his 12th fight. I bet they said that about Leon Spinks when he fought the great Muhammad Ali in his 8th pro fight. I bet they said that about Floyd Mayweather when he fought Genaro Hernandez in his 17th pro fight. So when you think about it, are you serious? What about when "Sweat Pea" Whitaker fought Roger Mayweather in I think about his 14th fight? And what do all of these guys have in common? They all were Olympians. In the Olympics as an amateur, you're fighting the best of the best. You don't have a choice. You don't pick and choose your opponents. It's the luck of the draw. We are ready for any one of those guys. I know Shawn Porter and I like him. I like him and his father. I think it will be an interesting fight for any one of those guys.
PC: Are you okay with a September return?
DJ: I haven't heard anything from them. Floyd is doing the promoting, so once they talk to me and we talk about opponents and if it's not one of those guys, who will it be? It's obvious that Floyd wants Errol to be a champ, whether it's against one of those guys or not. September...I'm happy with September. He just fought in April, he trained in May, and fought in June. Their timetable is phenomenal because I think with a young fighter, how do you keep a guy engaged? You keep him fighting. You give him a schedule. You can't have a young guy fighting every now and again if you want them to be a top contender. I just want to keep him moving and if it's September 12th, I love that too. Either way, we will be at the fight, so I would rather just be part of the show.
PC: What was it like for you being around Floyd and hearing him praise Errol leading up to his fight on NBC?
DJ: I think it's great. I have known Floyd since 1996 when he first turned pro. We were really close when I lived in Vegas. Roger used to train me and Floyd, so we would work out at the same time. Part of the show was he would tell EJ, "Hey man, I used to hang out with Derrick." and EJ would be like, "What?" Floyd goes, "He didn't tell you that?" EJ would say, "Yeah, he mentioned it." I was telling the truth (laughing). But it was good getting back acquainted. I moved back to Dallas and been here for 15 years, but it was really cool. He really love EJ; it's obvious. If you go back and watch all of the videos, he really believes in him. Floyd is really a funny guy. The funny thing about it is he hasn't changed from the guy that I knew back from around 1996 to 2000 when I was living in Vegas. He hasn't changed. He's really the same guy; he just has more money now. It was good for EJ and I love to see it. The world got to see the best fighter in the world praise him and Freddie Roach praised him because someone asked him, "Who was the future of boxing?" Freddie Roach said, "Errol Spence Jr." These are two guys that are adversaries at times, but they do see eye to eye on that one particular topic, so I like it.
PC: I asked Eddie Mustafa Muhammad who he enjoyed watching out of all the young fighters and he said Errol Spence as well, so he's definitely on people's mind now. I look forward to seeing you guys back in there and as always, I wish you the best of luck with your fighters. Is there anything else you want to add before I let you go?
DJ: I just want everybody to stay tuned. They haven't seen the best of him. Once you get a guy who pushes him, and I think Shawn Porter will be a guy that pushes him. I don't know if a fight with Keith Thurman, you would necessarily see more out of him, but I think he will be more focused with Keith because he would want to prove a point. Nobody wants to be in a situation where people don't believe in him, so I think he would want to show the world something. He hasn't been pushed to that level to show something else, but what he has shown is consistency and that's a great thing. I do love that, so everybody just stay tuned because there is a lot more to come.
http://fighthype.com/news/article21031.html
