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Interview with Evander
Holyfield's Trainer Ronnie Shields |
By ROBERT JONES
Staff Wright FightNightNews
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Ronnie
Shields knew he would be a trainer
from almost the first day he stepped
in a gym.
Shields went from helping coaches
who were overcrowded with kids to
training some of the best fighters
in the world. Shields won a Golden
Gloves tournament as an amateur and
fought for a world title as a pro.
The only world title he's worried
about now is the one his fighter,
Evander Holyfield, hopes to get a
shot at by defeating Fres Oquendo on
Nov. 10. |
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Enjoy what Shields had to say
about his career, his training of
Evander Holyfield, and a surprising
answer regarding the time he spent
training Mike Tyson.
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Robert Jones:
Before becoming one
of the best trainers
in the game you were
a fighter yourself.
At what age did you
know you wanted to
be a boxer?
Ronnie Shields:
Actually, when I
first started at 13
years old. I used to
watch Muhammad Ali
with my dad, before
Friday Night Fights
and all. I never
really thought about
boxing until some of
my friends who I
played football with
were all boxing.
Just one day they
asked me to come by
the gym with them. I
asked my mom if I
could go, and she
said yeah and I
went, and the rest
is history. |
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RJ: What was
your greatest
accomplishment in
your boxing career?
RS: I think
winning my first
National Golden
Gloves title in 1975
as an amateur (125-
pound division.) I
think that would
probably be it.
RJ: At what
point did you know
you were interested
in training?
RS: Well,
actually when I was
15 years old. We had
so many guys in the
gym. We only had
about three trainers
and we had about 75
guys. So, we all
just kind of helped
each other out. I
really enjoyed doing
the pads with the
guys and showing
them what to do and
stuff like that. I
said, “Man, I like
this stuff. I like
doing this.” When I
quit fighting it was
just a natural for
me to go in and
start working with
people and starting
training with them.
RJ: How
instrumental have
great trainers, and
your mentors, Lou
Duva and George
Benton, been to you?
RS: I learned
so much from both of
those guys. The
knowledge that these
guys know, you know,
they just passed it
on to me. They
passed the torch to
me and I'm just
grateful for
learning so much. I
still use a lot of
those methods today
that I learned from
George and Lou.
RJ: Was Mike
Tyson, who you
trained for the
Lennox Lewis fight,
the most difficult
of fighters you've
ever had to train?
RS: Actually,
Mike was one of the
easiest fighters I
ever had to work
with. I had a great
experience with
Mike.
RJ: How much
better has Holyfield
looked after getting
the long needed
shoulder surgery?
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RS: I'll tell you
what. What he needed
was to rest it.
That's what he
really needed. After
the Larry Donald
fight, it's now been
almost two years
since that fight.
That was a blessing
is disguise for him.
That's what he
really needed, he
really needed to
rest that shoulder.
He needed to get to
that point where he
could throw
combinations and not
worry about anything
happening. As far as
injury is concerned,
his shoulder is
completely healed.
People are really
going to see on
November the 10th,
just like he showed
him four weeks ago,
the combinations
that he put
together. I could
see if it was a one
punch knockout
people say, “Oh,
anybody can hit
anybody with one
punch,” but, what
Evander Holyfield
did that night in
Dallas, Texas was
incredible. With the
amount of punches he
threw and with the
way it happened, he
just proved to
people that I'm back
and that I'm back in
a big way. |
RJ:
You've been in
Holyfield's
corner for a
long time. How
does the fight
rank up with all
the big fights
Holyfield has
been a part of?
RS: I
think because of
the situation
this ranks right
at the top. Just
for the simple
reason that so
many people have
just wrote him
off completely.
Every fight for
him now is a
world title
fight. So, every
fight is a huge
fight. With
Evander
Holyfield, he
wants to sit
back and fight
16 or 20 more
fights to try to
win the
undisputed
championship of
the world. He
wants hard
fight, after
hard fight,
after hard
fight, until he
gets that title
shot. That's the
most important
thing in the
world right now.
He doesn't just
want to win the
heavyweight
title. I think
that's where a
lot of people
get it mixed up.
He wants to be
undisputed, so
that means he's
got three belts
out there that
he wants. WBA,
WBC, and IBF,
those are the
titles he wants.
RJ:
Holyfield says
that he would
like to be
champion again
before the 2008
Olympics. Would
you like to try
to get him to
his goals a
little before
then?
RS: Well,
no, not
necessarily, I
realize that
there's a path
we have to go
through. I
realize that. I
realize that
it's going to
take different
fights to get up
to that goal.
I'm just saying
that he's not
going to be
around for five
more years to
try to win his
undisputed
championship of
the world. It's
going to happen,
I think, in the
next two or
three years.
RJ: In
this
unpredictable
world of boxing
it seems it
would be really
hard for
Holyfield to
even get a
chance to unify
all the titles?
Do you think he
would be happy
if he could just
rack up or two
titles?
RS:
(Laughs) It's
going to be
hard, you know,
because you have
mandatorys and
such like that.
I think that if
you fight the
guys that are
champion, and if
they don't have
a title, people
are going to
look at that as
it is a world
title. It all
depends on how
it's all going
to play out. I
think if boxing
is in a good
state, a good
state in that
moment, people
are going to say
this is the
fight we want to
see. You know,
forget all these
mandatorys that
all these
different guys
have. That's not
a championship
fight, that's a
bigger mandatory
then anything.
RJ: Fres
Oquendo has a
history of
fading down the
stretch in
fights.
Holyfield has
never came into
a fight in bad
shape. Is
Oquendo's
apparent stamina
problem a factor
in your strategy
for this fight?
RS: The
most important
thing is that we
take Fres out of
his game plan
right away. I
realize that
Evander has to
be in great
shape. You know,
he's always
going to be in
great shape.
Fres Oquendo is
such a good
fighter that we
have to get to
him early. We
have to get to
him early and we
have to let him
know this is the
way it's going
to be all night
long. We want to
put something in
Fres Oquendo's
mind that every
time he goes
back to his
corner he's
going to say,
“Man, I have to
go back out for
this again.” I
don't want
Evander to have
to wait eight,
nine rounds to
try to get this
guy out of here.
RJ: With
Sam Peter tied
up in a rematch
with James Toney
there seems to
be an opening
for another
challenger for
WBC champion
Oleg Maskaev. If
Holyfield gets
by Oquendo will
you guys try
your best to
jump on that
situation?
RS: Well,
I'm a firm
believe in
fighting one
fight at a time.
It's easy for me
to say of course
we want to go
after the world
title right
after this
fight. But, I do
realize we do
have to win this
fight first.
With Evander
Holyfield, he
doesn't just
have to win it;
he has to look
very impressive
in doing it. I
think Evander
Holyfield is
going to go out
in with this
fight and look
impressive.
Then, people are
going to demand,
saying, “He
should be
fighting a world
title fight.”
RJ: Thank
you very much
for your time.
Is there
anything you
would like to
add in closing
to the readers
at
FightNightNews.com?
RS: The
only think I
want to add is
people have been
saying, “Evander
Holyfield is
washed up, he
should sit down
and take a
rocking chair,
kick it back,
and go sit down
some where in
the corner.”
But, if you saw
this last fight
you see that he
didn't knock
this guy out
with one punch.
He hit him with
a series of
combinations
that people
hadn't seen from
Evander in a
long time. This
is just a small
indication of
what he's going
to do to Fres
Oquendo. Just
tune in and
you'll see that
you should never
underestimate a
man who's whole
heart and soul
are into God. He
is the Real Deal
and there is no
doubt about
that.
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