If you ever want to get close to heaven, Flagstaff is your answer. Joe & I took a weekend trip up north, we went to Flag the Sedona route. We stopped off at Oak Creek Canyon & waded in the creek. The water was freezing cold. We then went on to Flagstaff, we walked the campus of NAU, this is where Joe went to college (Exercise Science degree). We got up the next morning, packed the boys (Kiwi & Meko) in our backpacks & went on a 2 mile hike in Buffalo Park in lovely 76 degree weather. 

The air there is so fresh in Flag, smelling of pine trees, you just feel so darn healthy up there. And the smell of wood stoves burning made it perfect. Boy, it did get a bit chili at night, we had to put on sweatshirts. One of the main reasons we go up there is to eat the best pizza in the world. The place is called Ni Marcos Pizza, located at 101 S. Beaver Street. It is well worth the drive!

We came back through Jerome & hung out on the streets drinking ice tea & people watching. There are still quite a few old time hippies in Jerome. Then it came time to return home, oh, what a joy coming home to 113 degrees (not). But like they say, it feels good to be home. This upcoming weekend we insisted that Tony & Monique go up there. It didn’t take much to convince Tony. Well, I take that back… Cotto fights Margarito Saturday, Cotto is one of Tony’s favorites. Joe told Tony, once he & Monique arrives in Oak Creek Canyon he’d forget all about Cotto.

Sept 12 at 8pm — Police Officers & Fire Fighters Boxing Tournament at Fort McDowell Casino
Ticket Prices: VIP $80, Ringside $50, Reserved $35, General Admission $20.
You can purchase tickets at the Fort McDowell Casino Gift Shop and also online at badboyfights.com

Joe Calzaghe has injured his wrist doing padwork in training. His father and trainer Enzo claims it is sprained pretty badly, and that Joe will be unable to punch for 2 weeks or more. The fight between Calzaghe and Roy Jones Jr could now be set back to November 8th.

Amir Khan is set to reveal cuban Jorge Rubio as his new coach this week. The unbeaten lightweight has been in America speaking to the five top names on his shortlist and will opt for Miami-based Rubio. The coach has an impressive pedigree and has worked with Mario Kindelan in his former role as coach of the Cuban amateur team. Khan spoke to many of America’s top trainers, including Buddy Mcgirt, Freddie Roach and the Mayweathers. They were all keen to work with him, however they would have found travelling to England a difficulty, as they have other fighters in the US. Khan believes Rubio is the ideal trainer to tighten up his defense. He may use Rubio’s Florida gym for his last fight of the year in December, if -as expected- it takes place in America. 

Here are the words of ex world champ Barry Mcguigan. “I’m surprised and do not feel it is a good idea for Calzaghe. I thought that he had fallen out of love with the sport. Not in a spiritual sense, but in the sense of returning to the well at 35 after a lifetime in the gym. That is the hard part for any fighter. You can only put your hands in the fire so many times. Maybe his head has been turned by HBO. Kelly Pavlik is the obvious shout. But that would be loaded with risk for Calzaghe. According to my understanding Joe couldn’t do 12 stone any more; that he was starving himself to make the weight and jeopardising his strength as a result. Pavlik looked devastating against Gary Lockett. I know Lockett is not world class, but nevertheless, the victory highlighted the risks for Calzaghe. This could be a decision that he lives to regret. He has always made the weight the old fashioned way, and that amounts to starving himself. This has caught out every great fighter that has gone on too long. Calzaghe has boiled himself down more than 20 times to make super-middle. That puts immense stress physically and mentally on the body. If he gets through Jones, which i think he will, he will find Pavlik a real handful at super-middle. Pavlik is hungry and can’t do middleweight much longer. He will be looking at Calzaghe and thinking “bring it on”. Its the eternal question for boxers; when to go. Once you have made up your mind that should be it. I barely wavered. Sure i would be watching guys in the first couple of years thinking that the standard is not that great, but i always resisted any temptation to cross those ropes. There were enough people who thought he was lucky to get the decision against Hopkins last time out. I thought he won it fair and square, but it was close. Against a fighter on the way up he might not get the decision. Would the extra money compensate for the loss of his unbeaten crown ? You can’t take it with you ”       Barry Mcguigan writes a saturday section for The Daily Mirror newspaper in England. 

Hi everyone, its steve from the uk. I hope you are all still training hard and developing your boxing skills. I know there have been changes to the coaching team, but i’m sure the return of rob will really help on that score. I hope to be over late october or early november. I look forward to helping out and of course learning a lot more myself. At least the temperature will be cooler by the time i’m out there, that 100 + weather would have made me drenched in the gym. I’m sure i’ll see a lot of new faces , and people that i didnt get a chance to meet last time. See you all soon.

Pretty interesting article. It mainly applies to trainers in a weight lifting gym. What’s ironic for such an article, Irongloves has asked a few of their own trainers to hit the trail for the same reasons mentioned. click here to read Having been in the business for 16 years now, I still believe it is all about customer service. If you live by the rule, “treat others as you wish to be treated”, you will not only succeed in life, but your business will prosper. We appreciate all of our members, having had some for 5, 7, 12 years. If you stand by what you promise, then you shall be surrounded by good people!

Renene said the other day how she notices lately that so many businesses are really treating their customers much nicer, now that the economy is not doing so good. Every place from Best Buy to grocery stores, NOW employees actually come up and offer assistance. How strange is that (twilight zone)? Before the gas prices, etc., store employees always blew you off. You can definitely tell a difference how they are trying to keep business afloat. We will see if it all goes back to being rude and lazy after this financial crunch.

Stay tuned for next week. I will give you the signs of a lazy boxing trainer/coach.

Steve is going to start writing for this blog. He is going to be bringing us news from the UK. He will also be posting material on different boxing subjects, training, fighters, and covering some of the fights. If you all recall, he was here in April at Irongloves showing us all the “Brit” way of training.
Welcome aboard, glad to have you!
Joe Leinhauser

If you haven’t heard by now, Rob is coming back to Irongloves on July 21st. He is one of the best coaches to ever come through our doors. Rob is away at camp, training Carlos Condit, “The Natural Born Killer”, MMA fighter, RANKED IN THE TOP TEN! Ranked the #6 Welterweight in the world.

His schedule is filling up fast, call if you wish to come in for a work out with him.
Call Joe or Renene @ 480-777-9170    Click here is his video to watch