Interview Dated April 2006 Jay Johns Jay Johns is one of the best-known trainers in southeast Texas. He has worked with everyone from the youngest kids to greats like Evander Holyfield. Speaking in the distinctive accent of his native New Orleans, the 31-year-old Johns talked about his love for the sport, boxers' most common mistakes, and his work at the Savannah Boxing Club. HBS - How'd you end up in Houston? JJ - My father's from Houston, my mother's from New Orleans. I lived here a couple of years in school, fourth grade, sixth grade and 11th grade. HBS - How'd you first get involved in boxing? JJ - I always wanted to box. My grandmother, she wouldn't let me box and we had free karate in our neighborhood in New Orleans, so I did karate until I was old enough to make my own decision, about 15 or 16. HBS - Tell us about your amateur boxing career. JJ - I boxed in New Orleans. I had about 40 amateur fights. I came to Houston, I turned pro. It didn't work out for me. I met my wife. She hated boxing and she basically told me not to box any more. I got a job, I started training. HBS - You have a pretty good physique in many ways to be a boxer. You're kind of tall, with a pretty good reach for your weight and you probably had the reach advantage over most of the guys you fought. JJ - That's correct. I always had long arms. I was short in high school. My arms were a lot longer than for my size but after high school that's when I sprouted up. But I always had reach over most of the guys I fought. HBS - What is it you enjoy about the sport? JJ - I just love boxing. On Sunday mornings, I used to watch the boxing when it came on, Saturdays when it used to come on regular T.V. and I just always loved fighting sports. I wrestled in high school also. I just love combative sports and boxing is the ultimate, it's just throwing punches. HBS - So you've been training then probably for almost ten years now. JJ - Oh yes, definitely. HBS - Give us a rundown of some of the folks you've trained. JJ - I helped Ronnie Shields with most of his fighters, with the exception of the Diaz boys and their cousins but most all of the rest of the fighters I helped Ronnie Shields with. I was in the corner with Holyfield. I was in the corner when Ivan "Choco" Hernandez won the world title. HBS - You train both pros and amateurs. You're at all the amateur shows and you have your kids from the Savannah Boxing Club. When someone's first starting out boxing, what are some of the basic things that you first teach them and tell them to do and not to do? JJ - Well the first thing I do is I try to get these kids in shape. If you're not in shape, especially amateur boxing, amateur boxing is 75-09 percent conditioning. So you've got to get these kids in shape. Then the second thing I teach them, I find out what hand they write with, and I teach them the stance. I try to go over the stance because balance is power and balance is speed and balance is going to help your accuracy. So I try to help them with their stance. For two or three weeks it's just stance and moving with the stance. It's not even really throwing punches. Then I start with the jab which is the most important punch. HBS - What are some of the most common mistakes that boxers make? JJ - Most common mistake is dropping their hands. I guess with the Roy Jones era and all, everybody's looking at Roy and what he can do but they just don't know that he was a freak of nature. He had amazing speed and the average human being is not going to be able to react like that and they try to drop their hands and look pretty instead of holding them up and protecting themselves at all times. I'd say that's the basic mistake, these kids come in and think they're going to be Roy Jones. HBS - Your team did pretty well at the Golden Gloves so I understand. JJ - Yeah we did. We got a lot of trophies but that's attributed to, especially, we've got a trainer here by the name of Sid Williams, and he really is the leader of the Savannah Boxing Club, him and Claire Savannah. So they did all the hard work and the kids came in and put the hard work in and hard work pays off as you can see. HBS - Some of the top names that come up in the Houston amateur boxing scene seem to be Hylon Williams and J.T. Mendez and Marlen Esparza is really tough for the females, and there's that kid Isau Aleman in Galena Park. Do you agree with those names, and are what others would you add? JJ - Those are some of the top names. I like this kid, I think he's from Ray's Gym, they call him "Tin Tin". That kid can fight. He's got like a pro style, though. I don't know how far he's going to go in the amateurs but if he sticks with it and turns pro he's going to be real nice. There's a lot of kids out there. Actually I like any kid that has the heart to train and get in that ring and fight. Because anybody has the time to shine and just because these guys are on top right now doesn't mean they're going to stay on top because they've got to keep with it and stay training. So if you stay training and you want to progress, stay in the gym, stay training, listen to your coaches and you're going to reach the peak. Michael Jordan got cut from his basketball team but that didn't stop him and he became the greatest basketball player of all time. So if you want to reach those heights stay training, stay in the gym and listen to your coaches. HBS - You train some pros in here. You've got heavyweight Adam Richards over there who's been coming in here just about every day for about a year now. How's he progressing? JJ - We call him " Swamp Donkey" so we don't even know that his name is Adam any more. He's the Swamp Donkey around these parts. He's been coming along tremendously. He's a hard worker. He listens to everything that Ronnie's telling him to do and it shows in his fights. He's been getting knockouts all his last fights so he's a fighter to watch especially in the heavyweight division. He's going to be on ESPN April the 19th I believe so just watch out for Swamp Donkey on Friday Night Fights.