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On weight-training:
“You box your best when your for 1) Relaxed, and for 2) Injury-free. Weight-training will tense you up, make your muscles tight and sore the following days and probably cause injury with only slightly incorrect lifting technique.
“One’s time should be spent focusing on correct boxing technique and learning how to stay loose. It’s when you are loose that you perfect punching technique, and it’s when you perfect punching technique that you punch hardest.”
On roadwork:
“I would advocate a mix of beach running, grass hill sprinting, cycling and Versaclimber, rather than roadwork. I have first-hand experience what many long years of long tarmac runs can do to your knee joints.”
On sparring:
“Forget the rest, sparring is paramount. Getting in that four-cornered circle and trading two-way aggressive leather with a strong-chinned, big-hearted, hard-punching, heavy-handed, ******-living or working-class man will do far more for your progression than anything else you could care to contrive or contribute for consideration.”
For strength:
“For the lower body, I would do planks stretches with my martial arts tutor Walter leaning on my back, the guy I called ‘Doctor’. He gradually added more resistance right through my career, from my light-middleweight days near the start through my cruiserweight days at the end.
“For the upper body and grip, I would do lots of rope climbing with no legs, play the guitar and piano and ring dishcloths.”
For speed:
“I would keep trying to break my 10-second, 20-second and 30-second records in most 6ft roundhouse kicks with the correct hip rotation. I did this when I was 19 to 22, and when I moved on to Ronnie Davies, I would direct Ronnie Davies where to place punch pads for me to throw consecutive single shots for speed and power, because I naturally had punching accuracy.”
For stretching:
“Very, very important to my success because stretches helped me with my breathing pattern and staying injury-free throughout training. It was also important for me to build great extension in the midrift, arms and legs, because I didn’t have the height and natural reach that a middleweight or super-middleweight who preferred an out of range, jab working style possessed.”
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