"It's great to call out these MMA guys and say you have better hands and you do; you have been boxing since you were 8 years old and in James Toney's case, he is a Hall of Fame boxer. He doesn't have to worry about anybody as far as just hands, but this ain't boxing. There are elbows, knees, kicks and takedowns. There are other things that they would have to prepare for. It's not something that you can just jump right into...if Shannon Briggs or James Toney could hit somebody with 4 oz. gloves, it's going to be night night. They have done that in boxing and proved with bigger gloves that they can knock people out," stated world-class MMA and boxing trainer Ron Frazier as he shared his thoughts on the possibility of James Toney or Shannon Briggs making the move to MMA. Check it out!
PC: Congratulations on Johny Hendricks' win at UFC 107. What did you think of his performance?
RF: Overall, I thought it was an excellent performance. The thing is he fought a guy that we didn't really know much about in Ricardo Funch. We knew he was from Gabriel Gonzaga's camp, but it was not a lot of fight footage on him. It's kind of hard to prepare for guys like that, but it's good. It made Johny have to kind of think on his feet because the guy was capable of anything. He got 3 hard rounds in of good work and he showed a little bit of everything. He showed his striking, he showed his Jiu Jitsu skills as well as wrestling and his wrestling is something he really hadn't showed since he entered the MMA world, but he has a decorated wrestling background. So it was good to let everybody know that he could still do that too. It was just a great confidence builder for him and we're moving forward from here on.
PC: He has had a ton of hand issues in the past. Is that something that seems to be corrected now or is it still a fight to fight thing?
RF: Yeah he came out of this fight and his hands were sore, but nothing was broke. Maybe he is turning a corner. The UFC got some different gloves, so maybe that will help him. You never know with hand injuries and those issues and hopefully it won't be something that plagues him, but now it just comes down to being fortunate I guess.
PC: James Toney and Shannon Briggs are 2 boxers showing MMA a lot of interest. What would it take for these guys to make that jump, especially guys of Toney and Briggs caliber, who are former heavyweight champions?
RF: One thing they would both need to work on is their takedown defense. It's great to call out these MMA guys and say you have better hands and you do; you have been boxing since you were 8 years old and in James Toney's case, he is a Hall of Fame boxer. He doesn't have to worry about anybody as far as just hands, but this ain't boxing. There are elbows, knees, kicks and takedowns. There are other things that they would have to prepare for. It's not something that you can just jump right into. you gotta go train and they would have to get with a good wrestler or a good Jiu Jitsu guy so they can prevent the takedown and it's not something where I would expect these guys to be submission artist. It's a situation where 1.) if they could keep the fight standing, obviously they have an excellent chance of winning and 2.) if they get taken down, they can get back up or stay out of submissions or learn how to stall where the referee stands them up and get back to their strong suit. They just have to take their time. It's not a situation where either one of those guys are going to step into the UFC, fight champions and win right off the bat because all those guys are going to do is use their hands enough to get these boxers to be defensive so that they can take them down. Obviously, if Shannon Briggs or James Toney could hit somebody with 4 oz. gloves, it's going to be night night. They have done that in boxing and proved with bigger gloves that they can knock people out. You gotta get to that point and that's not an easy task. You know also, how much money are they going to want? They are not going to get the same money coming into the MMA world as they did in the boxing world. People may know who they are in a sense, but they are still kind of unknown entities as far as the MMA world is concerned. They are not going to say, "Oh, James Toney is fighting in MMA, so I'm going to buy that pay-per-view." That's not how it works. They have to make a name for themselves.
PC: What are some of the things you remember most about 2009 from a boxing standpoint?
RF: Obviously, I think Manny Pacquiao has been the story of 2009. Just the fact that he dispatched Cotto and Hatton this year in spectacular fashion makes him the talk of boxing. I think Paul Williams had an excellent year also. Andre Berto has continued to emerge onto the scene and Shane Mosley and what he has done; it's been a good year for boxing. I think everybody that always put that death nail into boxing is because the heavyweight division is not marquee right now. You've got the Klitschko Brothers that dominate the division right now and I think part of it is they are not American so Americans haven't necessarily gravitated towards those guys. I also think the stylesÂ…well, mainly Wladimir more than Vitali because I actually like the way that Vitali fights, but Wladimir, who has had issues with his chin in the past, is a safety first fighter. He has to do what he has to do to win and I have no problem with that, but that doesn't make for exciting bouts. I think lately we have had heavyweights that are larger than life. They have just been so big that it's kind of hard to relate to them. Obviously, in Germany and Russia, they have a huge following and I think worldwide boxing is in great shape. We saw Mikkel Kessler before he came to Oakland selling out a 60,000 seat arena in his native Denmark, so boxing worldwide is in good shape and it's in good shape in America. We've had some good fights and some good pay-per-views. I think when people try to compare it to MMA, or in particular the UFC, it's kind of false because boxing has never put on 12 pay-per-view a year anyway. You're only going to get maybe 6 at best anyway and they have been doing real well. I think that the best thing to happen to boxing was MMA in the fact that guys have to fight one another. They had to put together marquee fights and they're doing that, so I think the state of boxing is good.
PC: Same question, but on the MMA side. What sticks out in your mind?
RF: I guess what stands out most is I found out up close and personal how much of a beast Anderson Silva is. I always knew it, but man, to go against that guy, it's like nothing he can't do out there. I know with the Cote and Leitas fight, he kind of got a bad wrap, but sometimes it's the guys who are fighting you. They are not necessarily bringing it. They put him in there with Forrest thinking if he didn't bring it, he would be in trouble. Well, he brought it and Forrest was in trouble, unfortunately for our camp. He continued his emergence. And the fact that BJ Penn has looked unstoppable at 155. We got a couple of 155-pounders at Xtreme Couture looking at that and that's a big wall to climb and figure out what they need to do with that guy to knock him off his throne. But I look at it like this, you're in this fight game, whether it's boxing or MMA, to be the champ and you want to be the best and to be the best, you gotta beat the best. You gotta find a way to do it to take yourself to that next level. I don't see anything as insurmountable; anybody can be beaten. Anderson, Georges St. Pierre, BJ Penn and Brock Lesnar, as great as all of those guys are, none of them are undefeated. With 4 oz. gloves, anything can happen. You can make a mistake and get caught. As many ways as they have to win in MMA, it's equally that many ways to lose. I look forward to 2010 and the emergence of some of the younger fighters. I thought Johny Hendricks had a great 2009 and I'm looking forward to him continuing to get better. Tyson Griffin and Gray Maynard had great 2009's as well and we're looking for Martin Kampmann to get back to his winning ways in 2010. Mike Pyle is another guy that we are looking to build on the victory that he got in the UFC. He's going to get better and better and we're looking for Frank Trigg and Randy Couture to do their things. They fight in early 2010. I think 2009 was a very good year and we've just been very consistent since Xtreme Couture has been in existence. We win about 75 % of our fights and all of our guys continue to get better. We have great coaches and even better fighters who are great people as well, so just look for us to do the right things next year. Hopefully we can secure a few more title shots and secure a few more titles.
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