Curtis Stevens on The Trainer Switch To John David Jackson

By Ryan Burton

Hard hitting middleweight contender Curtis Stevens (27-5) will enter his May 7th clash against Patrick Teixeira (26-0) with a new face in his corner.  Stevens will receive instructions from former champion John David Jackson who also trains Sergey Kovalev, Chris Algieri and several other fighters.

The 30-year-old Stevens doesn't subscribe to the theory that a trainer change late in a fighter's career won't make much of a difference. He believes that Jackson will bring the best out of him when he steps in the ring on the Canelo Alvarez-Amir Khan undercard against the unbeaten but relatively unknown Texeira who is promoted by Golden Boy Promotions.

"I don't know where they come up with the saying you can't teach an old dog new tricks because you can always add on to your game in general.  He is just getting me back to more settling down, not looking for the kill and being more relaxed - it is a 10 round fight and not a 2 round fight or 5 round fight - just getting me to be more relaxed," said Stevens.

Stevens agreed that the word "refinement" is more accurate in describing what Jackson has done for him in training camp and that he will be a more patient fighter the next time we see him in the ring.

"Refining in a sense where you can set up shots instead of just throwing one hard shot, where you lead him into the big shot," Stevens explained.

The Brownsville, Brooklyn, NY native said that he hooked up with Jackson after relocating to South Florida where the world class trainer is based out of.  Stevens had previously been trained by his uncle Andre Rozier and said that he worked with Jackson for a few days and that they clicked almost immediately and on Saturday we will see the fruits of the their labor.

"Well you know (Main Events stablemate) Kovalev trains with him. John is out here in Florida and I am in Florida.  I came into the gym and met up with him and trained with him for a couple weeks. We kicked it off well and took it from there," Stevens told BoxingScene.com.

Alvarez-Khan takes place May 7th at the T-Mobile Arena on the Las Vegas strip and will be distributed by HBO pay-per-view.

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