Sorry it took forever guys, since the fight all I've been doing is sleeping for the most part. This was taken from my journal, it got kinda long so I edited some parts out. Hope you enjoy.
So we flew out at 9:10am and we got to Fresno at 10am, they picked us up in a stretched limo which was pretty sweet. I wouldn’t care if they picked us up in a van but a limo is cool and I didn’t mind one bit. We just got to the hotel and were about to go eat, I feel pretty good. I had a bowl of oatmeal this morning and theses are probably gonna be the only carbs I take in all day except for like broccoli and what not. But yeah I feel good my body doesn’t feel bad or sore of anything like that. We’ve been making fun of Eddie the whole time because it seems to me like he’s doing everything wrong diet wise. So far this morning we saw him pound a juice smoothie which has like 35 grams of sugar in it. That’s crazy! But hey he’s had more fights than me so he must know what he’s doing, besides who knows his body better than himself right?
I met M16 today! He doesn’t speak a word of English but he has an interpreter so that helped, I wanted to clear some things up with him before our fight. Apparently one of the reasons why he wanted to fight me is because he read an article that I did in Japanese and I think he took it the wrong way and thought that I called him out in a disrespectful way. When I saw him I explained to him that I think he’s a great fighter and that I want to fight the best guys in my weight class and that I consider him one of the best guys. They asked me if I would fight him and I said “yes he’s just a man like me.” Why wouldn’t I fight him, I mean I would have liked to wait a couple of months or at the very least have this be a title fight but I’m a fighter and that’s what I do I fight. I think I can beat everyone and I think that’s how a fighter should think. If they don’t think they can win the fight than they shouldn’t be fighting, that’s the way I look at it.
We talked a little bit and he said that he just wants to make it a good exciting fight and I feel the same exact way except I wanna win. Ha-ha. The way Thai fighters are is that they fight like this, I hit you, you hit me and let’s see what happens. If they lose they don’t care just as long as they put on an exciting fight for the fans. Its kinda comparable to Mexican boxers, they fight the same exact way. So I expect our fight to happen kinda like that, if I can’t take him down I’m gonna have to stand and trade with him and see what happens. And I don’t mind doing that I’m prepared both mentally and physically. I think that if the fight doesn’t end quickly than we will get fight of the night and I expect both of us to get a little beat up in the process.
Nena asked me why I insist on talking to my opponents before we fight and I think it’s pretty simple, it gives me the opportunity to find out what kinda of fight I’m gonna be in and how its gonna turn out. Before I fought Greg we talked and I knew that I had him mentally beat, like I could tell that he knew that there was no way he was gonna be able to beat me. When I talked to Alex before out fight I had the feeling that he thought there was a possibility that he could beat me but he wasn’t 100 percent confident himself. I think he figured that he could hype himself up into thinking that he could win our fight. With M16 from talking to him I know that he thinks he can beat me. There’s no question in my mind about that, from talking to him I can tell that he’s not scared of me and that he’s ready for our fight. Knowing that makes a huge difference in my eyes, I know what to expect from him. I know that it’s gonna be a tough fight and that he’s gonna be willing to go the whole 3 rounds. That’s why I like to talk to my opponents before my fights. Anyways I just got done stretching and watching the de La Hoya vs. Pacquio 24/7. I just check my weight and its 148lbs; I normally float 8-10 pounds over night so I should be in the high 130s tomorrow when I wake up.
We went to the same gym that we went to last time to cut weight. I put on my thermals, a sauna suite, a sweat suit and a jacket and beanie and jumped on the elliptical for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes I got off and checked how much weight I had dropped and I only dropped 2 pounds. I was crushed! I said screw the elliptical and I would just do what I did last time and sit in the sauna. I did a 10 minutes session and then I took a few minutes off and did another 10 minute session just to get used to the heat. When I got out I was 133. I took a few minutes and this time I did a full 20 minutes in the sauna, I can do 20 minutes straight no worries anything longer than that and I start to break. After those 20 minutes I was 131. So I was dropping roughly about a pound every 10 minutes.
After I got out I felt a little light headed so I had to lay down for a few minutes just to re gain myself. When I was ready I got my gear back on and went in there for another 20 minutes and to help pass time I was on the phone making calls. I called my sister Ximena and she didn’t recognize my voice. My voice had changed a little bit because of the loss of water. When the 20 minutes were up I checked my weight once again and this time it was like 130 or so. I felt depressed but I said screw it because I have to make weight no matter what. I took a few minutes to gather myself again and this time after the 20 minutes were up, I sat there and every minute I took off a piece of clothes. I started with my beanie, than my jacket, than my shirt and then after that I said screw it and I had to get out. I got out and laid on the bathroom floor and it felt good because the tile was cold. When I checked my weight I was at 129. I woke up at 139 this morning and I was 129 right now so I had 10 pounds down and only 3 more to go but I wasn’t feeling too good at this point.
From here I put my everything back on and we got in the car, blasted the heater and drove back to the hotel. By this time it was close to four o’clock and they kept on calling Jeremy asking where we were at. I was in the front seat of the car miserable I could barely move and I didn’t even want to keep my eyes open. When I got out of the car I walked to the lobby and sat down, Brian told me that I have to look strong or at the very least fake it so I got up walked to the elevator and the walk seemed like it took forever. I sat down in the elevator for a second and I got up and headed to my room, when I got to my room I went into the bathroom and laid on the floor. The tile felt so good! It was cold and I felt like I was in purgatory both heaven and hell.
I had to change out of my plastics and put on some clothes so I could weigh in. I could barely move and I had to have Nena come in and undress me and she put my underwear on. I was that tired, I felt so helpless, as she was doing that Jason Carp walked in the room and I think he saw my balls. Ha-ha! But yeah I got dressed and went to the room and laid on the bed for a second. I tired talking to yazmine but she won’t look at me. I glanced in the mirror and I could see why, I looked dead! It looked like I was in a Nazi concentration camp. Later on I found out that when I walked in and she saw me she ran to the bed and hide under the blankets and started to cry. She’s only 7 and part of me wanted her here and the other part didn’t because I didn’t think she would understand that I fight for a living and I might get hurt. I was all worried about how she would react to the fight and I didn’t even think about how she would react to the weigh ins. It didn’t even cross my mind.
From here we walked to the Den for the weigh ins and that felt like the Bataan death march.When I was walking I could barley focus, it was hard for me to concentration and when I would talk I could hear an echo in my head. I got to the weigh ins and I informed Christian the Promoter that I was over a few pounds but that I would cut the weight. He said okay no worries just get it done.I sat down in the booth and did my best to focus, I had to fill out some paper work and I could barley do it. When I asked Brian a question he could barely hear me, I had to yell so he could hear me but apparently I wasn’t even yelling. I never felt like that before. The weigh ins started and they called my name up, M16 weighed in first and he was 123lbs I got up and I was 128. I flexed real quick and got off I didn’t even feel like I could hold that position for very long. We were supposed to do the stare down but he wouldn’t look at me because he was looking at the camera. He made a funny face and everyone laughed so I gave him a kiss on the cheek and he hugged me and then I hugged him an everyone busted in laughter. I didn’t even notice that his boxers said “Please Kiss me again.” Kinda ironic I guess, I was really out of it by that point.
I went back to my hotel room and got my gear on to go and cut weight again. We went down stairs and they threw me in the sauna for 10 minutes and then I rode the elliptical for a few minutes we checked my weight and I think I dropped like .2 ounces in close to 25 minutes. I sat there took a second and then went back in the sauna for 15 minutes or so. I thought that I was sweating real good but apparently I wasn’t I had barley even broke a sweat. What I saw was the Albeno that I had rubbed all over my body. It musta been cutting weight for 45 minutes or so and all I lost was a half a pound. My trainers pulled me out and I laid on this bench by the sauna. They told me that I wasn’t gonna be able to make weight and that I should just forget it and start to hydrated myself instead of trying to kill myself. I told them that I have like an hour still and then I can do it. They kept on telling me no it’s not worth it. I figured that I better listen to them cause they over voted me. I know they have my best intentions when it comes to stuff like this.
Jeremy’s wife Percilla took us to the hospital, they really took care of us the last couple of days. Percilla got us everything that we needed from wal-mart yesterday and Jeremy took us to the gym today to cut the weight. And now I had percilla waited with us at the hospital the whole night. I really appreciate everything that they did for us. When we got to the hospital they wanted to take my blood to see where my levels were at. I guess this was a bad time to tell my trainers that I’m afraid of needles. The lady stuck me with a needle to check my blood and almost instantly I felt light headed and dizzy. I almost passed out but lucky I held on. I thought the pain was over until she stuck me with a needle in my other arm to put the IV in. Man talk about torture! I sat there with my trainers and I told them that it’s my fault for not making weight. That I didn’t take my diet as seriously as I took my training. I accept full responsibility for my actions today and that in no way shape or forum am I blaming anyone but myself. They said its okay just don’t let it happen again. Brian told me it better not happy again or I fight for free next time. I guess he told Christian the promoter that this is the first and only time I would not make weight and if it happens again that I will fight for free from now on. I wish he would have told me before hand but I think that’s fair. I plan on making this the only time I don’t make weight for fight. It’s embarrassing and I didn’t like going to the hospital that much.
I hate needles!
<!--{122845062104224}--><!--{122845062104225}--><!--{122845062104227}-->After the first IV was all said and done I was ready to go home, the color in my face came back and I could recognize my voice. The lady said that I needed to pee in a cup and that she was gonna have to put one more IV in me just to be sure. She gave me the other IV and I pissed in a cup for her but when my pee came out it looked like apple Juice. It was brownish and I knew that wasn’t a good sign. I musta felt better because apparently I wouldn’t shut up when we were in the hospital. By the time the second bag got done I felt 100 times better. We waited for the nurse to come so we could go and when she showed up she told us to wait because the doctor wanted to talk to me. Maybe he wanted my autograph?
When he showed up he said something about my kidneys and how cutting that much weight in that short of a time could have put my kidneys into dialysis or something. I cut 11.6 pounds in less than 6 hours. He said that my blood work showed that I have high levels of Creatinine which is caused by muscle breakdown. I asked him if I could fight and he said that “it’s up to you but I don’t want to see the news and hear that you died of a heart attack after your fight.” He said that it would be best if I came back in the morning and got my blood drawn again to see if they went down. All I heard was its up to you and getting your blood drawn again tomorrow. In my head I was like “screw getting stuck with a needle again, I’ll take my chances.” I’m such a baby.
When we got back to the hotel I was super hungry! I went to my room to check up on Nena and Yaz. Yazmine was a sleep when I got there, nena said that I looked like a completely different person than I did a few hours ago. She was glad that I was okay and she said that she was worried about me the whole time. She told me how much Yaz was crying and that she said she doesn’t want to come to the next one. I was fifty/fifty on having her come anyways. I knew that she probably wouldn’t understand what is going on but she wanted to go so we let her come. I think she’ll be fine she just wasn’t expecting anything like this, in her defense neither was I. I went downstairs to grab some food; I ate some chicken and pasta with sauce on the side. I really do not want t get fat again because it’s getting harder and harder for me to make weight for my fights. Before I fought the first time I would walk around at 136-140 but now between fights I get up to 160. Every time around it gets a little more difficult on me because of how much I balloon up. Well I’m sure if I would have stuck to my diet like I was suppose to I would have my made job a whole lot easier on myself but that’s all hindsight now. Anyways I got some food for Nena and we just stayed upstairs in the room talking.
After I woke up I had breakfast with everyone, I had some steak and eggs and some French toast which tasted so good! We hung out and talked about what the doctor said last night. They wanted us to come in today at 11 to do some more blood work. Sean trains a doctor that deals in that area and he explained to him what happened yesterday and what the doctor said. Sean’s client told Sean that he doesn’t think it’s necessary for me to get my blood work done again because my levels won’t go down overnight. He said that they will still read high and the best way to really tell if they went down or night is to get them done in a few days not the next day. He told Sean that the best thing to do is to see how I feel and act and take it from there. If I don’t look better than I shouldn’t fight but if I feel better and back to “normal” than I should be good to go. He said that it’s a 9 minute fight so I should be fine considering its only 9 minutes. That made me feel a whole lot better especially since I didn’t have to get stuck with a needle again.
5:00pm- Lunch again
Normally I like to have lunch with my family and friends right before the fights. I figured that I would fight at around 8 or 8:30 so I decided that I would eat at 5 and three hours would be more than enough time for my body to digest the food and what not. This is the first time that my older brother Herc and my younger sister Grecia would be at my fights. I had asked Herc to be in my corner a few days ago and he said that he would do it but I could tell that he doesn’t really want to do it. Kinda funny that I’m gonna have a soccer player in my corner but I feel more comfortable having him there. I can always count on having my family there to support me. Anyways Grecia and herc both showed up to the hotel right around 5 o’clock. Grecia drove up from L.A that day and herc flew into Sacramento from Kansas City than drove from Sacramento to Lemoore. My dad also drove up from Vegas that day; my mom had to work so she couldn’t make it.
We all had lunch together even though everyone showed up like in like 10 or 15 minute intervals. It’s kinda weird cause I’m kinda OCD when it comes to stuff like this but it’s hard for me to control when they got here and what not. Regardless it was nice to sit down and eat together. I had some pasta with some shrimp and chicken and the sauce on the side. It was pretty good but I made sure not to get too full because I didn’t want to feel sluggish before the fight. After we got done eating I said good bye to everyone and I went upstairs to the room to grab my things and then I headed to the venue. Carp is the first fight of the night so I want to make sure that I get to be in his corner. We trained together and I want to be there for him.
<!--{122845062104244}--><!--{122845062104245}--><!--{122845062104247}-->Around 7:30 I started to stretch out with Sean, we used the foam roller, a Swiss ball, and a tennis ball to help stretch out and to help elevate some of the pressure in certain areas of my body. We used the tennis ball to roll the bottom of my feet out. We used the foam roller on my legs, calves, and lower back to get some of the tension out of those areas. And with the Swiss ball we used it to stretch out my lats and should blades. After we got done doing that, Brian wrapped my hands. While he wrapped my hands I was watching the Luis Gonzalez vs. Pat Runez fight. They are on the opposite side of the bracket so I watched it because I’m supposed to fight the winner. After it was all said and done Pat won a unanimous decision over Luis.
I talked to my sister for a little bit, she was watching the fights online on sherdog and I could tell that she was a little bit nervous because they kept on hyping up M-16. She wasn’t as nervous as Herc though, he was in the locker room with us and I could tell that he was nervous. It was kinda funny cause I’m not nervous before his soccer games but he said he feels more nervous for my fight than he does for his game. Then again it’s a fight and not a soccer game. I talked to my mom before the fight like I always do and she told me the same thing she always says, go out there be careful and beat the guy. She reminded me that I trained hard for this fight and all the hard work is over. After that I got a good warm up on the mitts and then they called us out to the back to wait till we had to walk out.
Fights over and well I’m not too sure what happened or how I feel. From what I remember the fight starts and we throw a couple of punches and I clinch him and I take him down with an outside trip. We’re against the ropes so they put us back in the middle and I try to ground and pound a little bit but he kept on hitting me in the back of the head. The punches really didn’t hurt they were more annoying than anything but it was against the rules so it bugged me that he was doing it. We had a scramble and he got back to his feet and he hit me with some punches and the next thing I know my butt hits the floor. I was surprised that he dropped me with his punches. I got up and went after him and then from here on I remember bits and pieces. I remember thinking for whatever reason that I was surprised that they didn’t stop the fight and then I immediately thought that I better move before I stop the fight. It’s weird I know.
The next thing I know I'm sitting in my corner on my stool and laimon and Brian are trying to talk to me and I could hear what they were saying but nothing really processed in my head. The doctor/cut man came to the corner so I focused on him, he shoved a cotton swap up my nose told me to take a deep breath and then he left. I focused my attention on laimon and than Herb Dean came to our corner and told us that if I got dropped one more time he was gonna stop the fight. Brian told him that I was fine and then I tried to focus on what Brian was saying but they told us that the second round was about to start. I got up and got ready to start the second round.
Once I stood up to start the second round I felt a lot better than I did at the end of the first round. I remember telling myself that instead of trying to shoot in on M16 that I would trade punches with him instead. We threw a couple of punches and I closed the distance enough to clinch him and take him down with an outside trip again. While I was on top he hit me with some punches in the back of the head again and Herb took a point away from him this time. Good thing that Herb saw the punches because they were really starting to annoy me. When I was in his guard I kinda froze, I remember thinking to myself that "if I try to pass his guard he'll get back to his feet and drop me again, so I'll just stay in his closed guard and try to ground and pound him."
I don?t know why I thought that but that's what kept on going through my head. I knew that I could of passed his guard but for some reason I didn't want to or really try to pass his guard. It's weird because I'm a pretty aggressive grappler but for some reason I was passive in the position where I should have been active. Anyways Herb stood us up and we finished the round off on our feet. I hit him with some jabs and all he really threw was his lead leg kick at me. His kicks didn't feel that hard so I didn't really try to check them.
In between the second and third round laimon told me that if I took him down than I would win the fight. The round starts and I decide to trade punches with him. I used my jab a lot and all he would do is throw his front lead leg kick, from some reason I countered his kick with a kick of my own. He was pretty surprised that I did that, heck I was surprised that I did that too. By now I couldn't feel his legs kicks, I don't know if my leg was numb or if he wasn't throwing all his power into them. He probably didn't want to over commit on his leg kick. As the round progressed I tried to kick box with a kick boxer but for some reason I felt a lot more comfortable. He stuck out his tongue at me so I put my arms behind my back and did the same thing. I kept on backing him up but I couldn't quit catch him, somehow I clinched him and took him down and I landed on top and I threw some punches and I got back to my feet. I stood up and threw some punches but nothing real significant.
The round ended and we both raised our hands in victory. He ran to the corner posts and jumped up on the ropes so I ran to the same corner and did the same thing. I remember thinking in my head that I got beat up. For some reason all I could think about was when he dropped me in the first round. I did my best to hold my head up high. I walked to his corner and shook his corner man's hands. I walked to my corner and they told me that I did good. We both waited for the decision and it felt like forever. Finally the announced the decision and he had won a uniamous decision, as much as I was disappointed I couldn't show it or be a bad sport about it. This wasn't my night and it wasn't my time to shine, I walked over to M-16 and picked him up and carried him around the ring for a little bit. As I was walking out Erik Apple told me that I should be proud of my performance and that I showed a lot of heart.
I got to the back locker room and took off my gear and then I went and found my family and friends. I told them that I was sorry for letting them down and they said that I fought good and that I had nothing to be ashamed of. I went back to the locker room and people were telling me that I fought good and that I showed heart and some even said that they felt that I won. I figured that they were just being nice to me. While I was in the back I mention to Brian that I couldn't believe that he dropped me in the first round, than he said "which time?" I told him that I only got dropped once in the fight and he said "dude you got dropped like 3 or 4 times in the first round. After the first knock down every time he hit you, you went down." I didn't believe him, than laimon and everyone else in my corner told me the same thing. I asked my brother if it was true and he said yes.
1 of the many knockdowns
another one..haha
I thought I had only got dropped once not 3 or maybe even 4 times. I only remember the first knock down and that's it. I kept on asking them "are you serious?" they laughed and said yes. Then they told me that I wasn't making any sense in the corner after the first round. Brian said he looked into my eyes and said that I was in LaLa land. He told me that he slapped me in the face a few times to wake me up. I don't remember that at all. I remember sitting there talking to the cut man and I also remember what herb dean told us before the second round started. The more I heard Brian and Laimon talk about the first round the more I felt like I got beat up. I kept on thinking that I embarrassed myself and my friends and family and my trainers and gym.
After I got all my stuff I we all went to the Coyote Grill to eat. While I was walking there people kept on coming up to me and telling me how much they liked the fight and how much heart I had showed during the fight. After my last two fights I had one person come up to me but this time around it seemed like everyone want to come up to me and tell me something about my fight. I was glad that people liked my fight but I kept on thinking that everyone saw me get beat up. Every now and then people would come up and tell me that they thought that I had won the fight. What fight did they watch I was thinking to myself? From what I heard about the first round and from what I remember I couldn't believe that they thought that I won the fight. All that I kept on thinking about was that I got dropped in the first round.
me and carp
We all sat down to eat and my family told me that I fought good and that they were proud of me, of course they weren't about to tell me that they thought that I sucked. Ha-ha. I asked Nena what she thought about the fight and she said something along the lines of that she was glad when the first round ended. She was glad?!?! How does she think I felt!!! Ha-ha. Brian told me that I fought like a warrior and that even thought I didn't come on top that I answered a lot of question that people had about me. Sean told me that for what I had to go through the last couple of days that he was surprised that I came back and fought like I did the last two rounds. I turned my phone on and messages kept on pouring in. they all either read, "Great fight you showed heart' or 'you got robbed, you won 2 rounds to 1." When I read those it made me think that they were just being nice to me. I felt beat up inside, my face was swollen, I had some cuts on the inside of my tongue and to make matters worse my left leg started to hurt.
tracy lee
After we got done eating I ran into M16 and we talked for a few minutes about the fight. He said he was happy because all the fans liked our fight. I will admit that from what I heard it was a pretty exciting fight. We talked and he mentioned that he wished it would have been a 5 round fight, I told him not to worry that the next time we fight it will be a 5 round fight but this time for the title, he smiled when I said that. He said that we will have a rematch for sure and I smiled when he said that. I asked him what he thinks I need to work on and he was surprised and he laughed. Before we left I wished him luck in the finals against Pat. Out of all the guys that I fought, M16 has been the nicest and coolest one of them all. He was a total professional the whole time.
4:30am- Hotel room So I couldn't sleep, my face hurts, my leg hurts, and I had to go pee like every 30 minutes or so. I got up and went online and saw that someone posted my fight on bodybuilding.com. I braced myself because I wasn't too sure what to expect. Right away I saw myself in the pre fight interviews and I looked and sounded like I was a crack head. It was hard for me to listen to myself let alone look at myself cause I didn't look or sound like myself. Kinda surreal. Anyways I while I was watching the interviews I remembered a conversation that I had with my sister, she mentioned that I fought good considering what I went through. She said something along the line of that if I didn't have to cut all the weight, go to the hospital, this and that than I would have won the fight. I told her that everything she just said "was an excuse but if I would have won everyone would have considered those obstacles that I had to overcome." I explained to her that none of that mattered once I stepped into the ring for the fight. No one goes into a fight 100 percent and that it wouldn't be fair to M16 to taint his win. I told her that he beat me fair and square and that since I wasn't making any excuses for why I lost that she shouldn't be making any either. The better man won that night and that's all there was to it, nothing more and nothing less. I don't fell its right to make an excuse. He won plan and simple.
I didn't think I would have my first loss this early in my career, if I had it my way I would never lose. After watching the fight there are a lot of things that I need to work on in the ring but the good thing about this loss is that I now know what I have to work on. Even thought I didn't come out with the win on the score cards I think this fight will do more for my career in the long run. I gained some fans and learned a lot from this fight and that's almost more importantly than winning the fight. It would have been nice to have my cake and eat it too but hey it is what it is. I also feel better since watching the fight because I think I did a lot better than I gave myself credit for.
I have never ever heard of someone floating off that much weight in a night. At your size I cant even believe what I am hearing. WOW. I wish I was that efficient. I am no where near that at almost 100 pounds heavier.
