Interview by Keith Terceira
Recently, Hall of Fame trainer Jesse Reid was added to Samuel Peter’s camp to assist Andy "Pops" Anderson and Boza Edwards. Previously Reid was the trainer for Lamon Brewster who just lost his title to Sergei Liakhovich, besides several other world champions.
This evening, Boxingscene, caught up with Jesse just minutes before Peter enters the ring against 7 foot Julius Long (14-7). We touch on the reasoning behind fighting Long as well as how Peters training is coming, Reid also responds to questions concerning his replacement with James "'Buddy" McGirt in Brewster’s corner for his title loss.
BoxingScene; Jesse what is the thought process behind Peter facing Julius Long?
Jesse Reid; Actually similar what I did with Lamon Brewster when you have a puncher like Samuel, with his hand speed you make him throw, doesn’t matter what they look like , not the first punches, but you look for clean punches, and let your hands go. I think he will just chop this guy down, just bang him in the body, the arms, anywhere you can hit him , that’s how you break him.
I used Tye Fields in sparring and made him fight right handed, it was good work for Samuel.
BoxingScene: Is Julius Long in preparation for fighting these taller champions that we have now?
Reid; Yes, all these champions now are pretty tall, so its better to get these tall guys in , I think it’s a good fight for him.
BoxingScene: You surely didn't take Long for his record !
Reid; No, more or less it was to see what Samuel does with a tall man. See what he has been learning in the gym.
BoxingScene; How is Samuel’s mental outlook?
Reid; Samuel is a lot of fun to work with really, he has a lot more skill than people give him credit for, I think he has tried to much to be perfect, and I'm trying to get him to be more relaxed. Whatever I'm doing is the same think as Pops and Boza were doing before I came in. I'm just following up on what they were trying to get him to do. It’s helping him because he sees that another person is saying the same thing. So I'm just following in the footsteps, giving a little more re-enforcement.
BoxingScene; Are you getting him to let him let go of his hands a little more and not load up so much?
Reid; Yeah, we are counting his punches in the gym and I got him throwing 150 -200 punches a round. With no clinching, most heavyweights get the people booing and stuff because they clinch to much, hanging on, even Wladimir does a lot of hanging on. It takes away from the game. Heavyweights , if they are trained in the gym to do that stuff, they will do it in a fight. What I've done with Samuel is not let him hold on once. Just keeping his hands busy, don't stop punching just because a guy holds on, make it tough for him to hold on. You are going to see that in the fight tonight. You are going to see a lot of punches.
BoxingScene: Jesse did you say he was throwing 150 -200 punches a round in the gym?
Reid; Yes, that’s quite a bit of punches, and he is doing twelve rounds like that. We do that five days a week.
BoxingScene: Peter’s conditioning must be improving dramatically?
Reid; It has, we has him away from the mental stress and the tightness he was in before, to try to be more elusive with his body and not load up so much, just let his hands go. When a punch is coming at you instead of thinking you have to slip it, punch into it. Kill it before it gets there.
BoxingScene: Jesse do you mind talking about Lamon Brewster a bit?
Reid; Sure!
BoxingScene; Brewster had a good win streak going with you. What did you see that he changed to lose his title?
Reid: He tried to be to much of a boxer. That was one of the things he said to me in his letter releasing me. He said that that he was more of a boxer and a spirit told me to move on. I have always heard about Buddy Mcgurt and I want to see what he can do with my boxing skills but that doesn’t mean you are not going to train me again. I told myself wait a minute if you think I’m going to train you again your crazy. What I did with Lamon is take him from a boxer to a fighter. The boxing was always there. When you can’t win fighting then you try to box. I do the reverse. I don’t believe you win everywhere with boxing, you win with fighting. You win the exchanges you fight and throw a lot of punches. It’s almost like the amateurs where guys are winning throwing a lot of punches instead of being a boxer. I think that is what I did for Lamon. I taught Lamon how to be a fighter. When he went back to boxing you see what happened, he was beat by a guy he should have knocked out.
BoxingScene: Brewster wasn't reacting to the lead right to the body for some reason, unlike him you could say, why do you think he couldn't counter that punch?
Reid: I think what happened was he felt guilty for what he did to some people, had a lot of stress in his body, started eating heavy. So he got heavier than he ever was. I think it took away from his training. He had a new trainer and had to learn their system. It was a combination of things. His success the last two fights was from being aggressive, not trying to out think other people, and let other people hit him before he would react. Somebody hitting you and you are not reacting takes you out of your play. When he fought real hard he did damage but then he went back to waiting and seeing what he was going to do. That what got him hit a lot , and kept him off balance.
BoxingScene: Do you see Peter going for Wladimir Klitschko next?
Reid: I think the fight for him is James Toney. I think you beat James Toney and you then go for, not Rahman but Wladimir. You beat Toney then Samuel is made overnight. I’m not the manager but if it was me, I would say Samuel goes after James Toney right now. Even though Toney didn't do well against Rahman, he is still the name. I think that is the guy you go after. I'm not speaking for Samuel’s management I'm speaking for what I think.
BoxingScene: What is your function in camp, exactly Jesse?
Reid; Well Pops actually asked for me, he is the trainer. I’m very proud that he wanted me to join the camp, I respect Pop’s greatly, he has done a good job with Samuel , and I think I can help him. I'm just following up on the game plan that Pops has always wanted him to do. Pops is giving me a lot of leeway, letting me do a lot of instructing in the gym. We both sit down and figure out what we are going to do and we both have the same thoughts and plan, we go do it but Pops lets Samuel know that I'm there to train him. That’s kind of the way its been going.
BoxingScene; What’s your prediction for tonight?
Reid; I think Samuel is going to knock him out, he is going to throw a lot of punches, and this guy may go three rounds, five if he is real lucky.
BoxingScene; Thanks Jesse and best of luck with Peter.
Reid; Thanks Keith and we will talk next week.
Next week I'll bring you some info on Tye Fields , whose constant improvement leads Reid to believe he will soon be a force in the heavyweight title picture.