TalkingBoxing Article

Pre-Fight Diary of Michael Lerma
LERMA BATTLES RODNEY JONES FOR THE NABF TITLE
by Michael Lerma
8/27 - When I first got the call to fight Rodney Jones for the NABF title, I was excited about it and ready to go to work. I just fought a southpaw in Daniel Santos and already mentally I'm prepared to go in with another southpaw in Rodney Jones. Their styles are pretty similar. They both stay on the outside and run around, so in training for Rodney Jones, it's not going to be much different than what I trained for in Daniel Santos.

Training has been going well so far. I had a distraction in my training when a close friend of mine was gunned down in a drive-by shooting. I had to take a few days off to go to his wake and I was a pallbearer in his funeral and I spent some time with his family. But my mind is still totally focused on the task at hand, which is defeating Rodney Jones and taking his NABF title. That hasn't changed. [Lerma challanges Jones at the Palace Indian Gaming Center in Lemoore, California on September 16th]

I train with Henry Mendez in Ft. Worth, TX, which is an hour and half drive from Waco. I travel back and forth everyday to train with him, and we're working a lot on staying on the inside with Rodney. He's a little bit taller and has a longer reach than I do, so we're mainly focused on staying close to his chest where his long arms won't help him. And I need to keep my punches moving because I'm fighting him in his hometown in his promoter's palace. So I have to keep swinging and let the judges be the decider of the outcome. I've been in this position before, fighting the hometown guy, so I know what I'm going into. I'm used to it, so it keeps me motivated because I have more to prove. I know that this won't be any easy fight, not at all. But I'm never in an easy fight. Anyone who has seen me in the past knows that about me. But I always keep fighting from the first to the last bell, I'm gonna be in there.

It should be an exciting fight for all boxing fans. And hopefully I'll be victorious at the end of the fight. This week, the majority of what I've eaten is a lot of lean protein, complex carbs during the morning hours (for energy to last me throughout the day), whole wheat carbs, and plenty of green vegetables. I drink two gallons of water during the day everyday, because the Texas heat can really drain and dehydrate you if you aren't retaining enough water when working out so hard. I drink protein shakes and eat protein bars and take a multi-mineral vitamin plus Vitamin-B and C as well as Potassium. Just maintaining my diet and keeping up with my supplementation and eating is training in and of itself, but it always pays off because I'm always in excellent condition.

When I'm not training I enjoy just spending time with my wife and my kids. That's something that's hard to do when I'm training because I don't get to see them as much. My second son Elijah just started kindergarten, and my wife and I are really excited about it because it's his first year in school. He's having a problem adjusting to the classroom because it's a lot bigger than his preschool classroom the year before. He just wants to play around, but we're hoping that he'll get used to it and not fall behind. Right now I'm about to go pick up my new watch. I have a friend who owns www.streetbling.com, so y'all go check it out and support him. Hey, I got a watch out of it.

All in all, it's been a good week. I'm feeling confident in my training and I'm ready to fight. I want to thank TalkingBoxing.com and [The Man] Julius Stecker for this opportunity, and I'll see you all next week.

P.S. I am getting paid for this, right Julius?

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