I’m going to post some random Thai boxing and K1 style matches that I filmed from Austria. These matches have no real significance to me, I just filmed them to further my education and also my students’ education. Observe the pace and footwork. Pretty good stuff. Enjoy! Jd
Boy the day after can be rough. The boys really did a good job with their wins yesterday so as they were partying it up in TO, I decided to do the same in Vancouver.
Our evening consisted at dining at my friend’s restaurant Azia. If you love Asian Fusion food, you gotta come here. It’s got tapas, Thai, Chinese, Malaysian, Mongolian and Japanese theme dishes. A lot of the staff are Asian, so Ivano and Hector, jump on a plane!
Afterwards we hit the theaters to see 2012. Awesome effects in this movie. However with all of the rain we’ve been getting in Vancouver, you would think 2012 is already upon us!
The night concluded with more eating at Moxies and at the fully licensed Cafe Crepe!
Next morning I woke up with a purpose to hit the gym in an effort to reverse the damage I had caused. As my student Julian likes to state “if you do the crime, you must do the time.” Man I know that statement very well!
Before I had a chance to hit the gym, I got a call from Rob Kaman! You will be very glad to hear that Rob is his usual charismatic destructive self. He says “hi” to all of the Kombat boys and girls.
I jumped on the SkyTrain and made my way to the Gold’s Gym. Boy it’s been a long time since I’ve been in a gym. We actually started off Kombat Arts in the aerobics studio (just 2500 sq ft!) of a Gold’s Gym. Boy I miss those days, and at times a small part of me wishes to be back there. The good news is that I weighed in at 147 lbs this morning! Must be the facial hair!
It was great to be totally anonymous and get in about 1 1/2 hours of hard work. My workout consisted of: skipping rope, shadowboxing, chin ups, dips, snatches into a split squat, military push presses, 1 legged stiff legged deadlifts, japanese squats, plate twists, more core training, Ys and Ts for the mid back and finally neck training. Whew, not bad eh?
I finished up and made my way to Extreme Pita were I chilled and read more of Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now. It’s pretty interesting; if you’ve completed the whole book, please let me know your thoughts on it.
Back at home Josip’s brother entertained us for an hour or so by bringing over his German Shepherd puppies. They are such little terrors!
After getting nipped everywhere, Josip and I escaped our residence and headed to Earls for dinner. The night got capped off with the movie, The Blind Side. The movie was really moving and inspirational. If you get a chance please check it out. Ok guys, off to chill out by watching Heroes on my net book. Tomorrow will be a full day of Yoga (my 1st lesson!) and back to training camp-Jd
Dragged my carcass out of bed today at a respectable hour. Still raining here. I think today I am going to build an Ark. Ever since I got here it’s been raining. And man it’s cold! I got to gain my weight back to stave off this cold. I weigh 145 lbs. The good thing is that last month I weighed 140 lbs. So I’m back up. My goal is to get back to my svelte 155lbs. So that is how I ended up at McDonalds. Actually it was the smell of fries and just plain interest. After a Big Mac combo and 2 extra cheese burgers, I was not interested any more 
. This was going to cost me later on.
I did some lame errands and than Josip and I hooked up, making our way to KB-1 for training. I put in my usual 4 rounds of 3 minutes, 30 sec rest on the bag. The last round was really lethargic. This was not a good sign. Than Mehdi dropped the bomb. I was going to hold pads for him, for 5 seven minute rounds with 1 rest! Time to digest my McDonalds! And he was going to wear weights on his ankles!
I have attached a video of the last 3 minutes of the last round. We are still going at a respectable pace. At the end of this I helped Mehdi out with some plyometrics. I concluded my own workout with pull ups, T-push ups, abs and neck exercises. Time to eat!
Again we find ourselves at the Persian restaurant. Going to gain that weight back! Besides my daily Aspirin and Cold F/X supplementation, I found myself popping some extra Advil. Soreness was already creeping into my muscles. I think I will take a HOT shower and crash early tonight. Tomorrow will be more training, and than downtown for an evening of debauchery and mischief-Jd
Hey guys we got some sweet Manny Pacquiao shirts! Please check out the proshop for these awesome shirts. Congrats to Manny for his win over Cotto! Jd
You decide who wins this barking competition: BlackJack de Los Reyes or Hector Perez. It’s pretty close-Jd
Congratulations to our Canadian Light Contact competitor, Neil Bishop who took the gold in his division. You really represented the Canadians well! Jd
Just wanted to give a shout out to Ilyna and my Russian counterpart, Coach Sergei for winning the gold in her division. I appreciate the invitation to Moscow and I will definitely consider the offer to come and train. Thanks guys and great work Russia! Ilyna you are a great athlete, good luck in the future. Jd
Sorry guys, I had this ready for you guys yeterday, but the internet is screwy here. Ok the morning started off really well. Jermaine Haughton stopped his opponent with a beautiful overhand in the 2nd round. Paolo Dultra unfortunately lost a decision to a very tough opponent from Azerbaijan. His opponent had 60 fights! This was Paolo’s 8th or 9th fight. Sylwester Organka went on to the quarter finals beating his opponent from Turkey with a decision. Adam Henson went on to beat his opponent from Greece with a decision. And Chris da Costa finished our morning with a lose to Portugal via decision. Jermaine, Sly and Adam would have to fight again in the afternoon!
In the afternoon we had a rough go. Jackie Walters lost a decision to Croatia. Christine Hackbert lost a decision to Italy. Jermaine Haughton lost a decision to Serbia. Adam lost a decision to Macedonia and unfortunately my friend and student Sly lost a decision to a very tough opponent from Bulgaria. Even though we had these loses, I am very proud of the Canadian Team as they have fought the best. Between Roger and I, we both managed 10 fights!
Tomorrow we have Joel Hollands in the quarter finals, K1 style, James Coomber fights for the 1st time in K1 style, and Neil fights in the finals in light contact. Two more days and we are coming home. Even though the natives have been hospitable, I can tell that my boys miss their homes. I will be bringing them back to Kombat soon! Jd
Getting ready to travel to the event involved a lot of stuff: packing gear, checking on my guys and packing toilet paper. This is essential. When we got to the event I was impressed with the layout of the 3 rings and the 3 tatami mats. Over 50 countries were represented with over 600 athletes registered. I included a short video of the Opening Ceremonies.
Ok here are the results so far. And please bear with me as I may have some incomplete info.
Max was the 1st to fight, representing Canada and the Kombat Arts. Listen to the drama. Max was winning his fight, as per the scores indicated on the NEW computer scoring system and the supporting crowd. Than at the beginning of the 3rd round, the computer shuts down! After a few adjustments the computer got turned back on. We did not notice that the score had been changed. At the end of the fight we were all surprised to see the opposing corner with their hands up. Max’s opponent had won?! Through a computer default, Max’s opponent had won. I am sorry to say that as a coach I took a little bit too long to contest it. This is another drama story. As a result Max was eliminated. I truly believe that Max won that fight. To me Max, you have made me very proud and I am sorry that I could not be more convincing to the Officials.
Joel Holland fought next, representing Renegade/ Kombat, and he beat his opponent from Italy via decision. Joel will go into the final 8 tomorrow!
Darryl Ireland, Ricardo Smith and Marcel Villeneauva all lost their matches. Canada comes out with 2 wins (one K1 and one light contact match), as we enter tomorrow with 11 athletes competing. Lets wish Team Canada good luck, especially Joel Hollands, Paolo Dultra and Sylwester Organka! Jd
PS, Max you won that fight
Ok, to keep the edge on the guys and to reduce the tension, we ran a second training session. These guys are looking sharp. Tomorrow we go to WAR!-Jd
