The popular crossfit system is transforming the way one fighter is preparing for his next fight.
Coming off of the biggest fight of his career and only the second setback he had ever suffered, many questions lingered on what exactly, if anything, Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero could have done differently in his May 2013 showdown with pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr.
“I went out there and gave it 100 percent, but when I stepped back and thought about it, there was more I could have done in the gym,” Guerrero said. “I always take a loss like even the best lose, but it’s how you come back after a loss that really counts. I knew I could have worked on some different things.”
A good buddy of Guerrero’s, Dave Castro, just happened to be the Director of Training for Reebok CrossFit and suggested that Guerrero should think about changing up his training.
“I was real skeptical about it with the weights and stuff,” Guerrero said. “My whole point of view was that I can’t get bulked up and get all yoked up and big and buff, because you get tight and slower. You need to be flexible, fast, slip punches, and be able to fire off any angle you can shoot off of. But I thought about it and said ‘I’m gonna give it a try.’ If it works, it works. If doesn’t, I’ll throw it out.”
Guerrero teamed up with CrossFit coach Brian Chontosh—a U.S. Marine who was a recipient of the Navy Cross for his heroics in Iraq in 2003—in preparation for his June 2014 fight against Yoshihiro Kamegai.
Chontosh offered a harsh assessment of Guerrero’s physique, but the two quickly went to work changing up his body.
The hard work paid off when Guerrero survived a war with Kamegai and pulled out a unanimous decision victory in Carson, Calif. in what many boxing insiders considered one of the top fights of 2014.
“Well it worked,” Guerrero said of his newly incorporated training and lifestyle change. “I think I’m gonna stick with it.”
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