Jose Antonio Rivera Training Camp Notes

World Boxing Association light middleweight champion “El Gallo” Jose Antonio Rivera broke his New England-based training camp today and headed south for final preparations leading up to his January 6 title defense against Travis Simms fighting on Showtime live from the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida.

Rivera (38-4-1, 24 KOs), a three-time world champion in two divisions, defends his WBA 154-pound title belt against the WBA “champion in recess” Simms (24-0, 18 KOs) in the 12-round co-feature on the Samuel Peter-James Toney II card.

Training Regiment
Rivera, who has been on temporary leave from his fulltime job as a court officer in Worcester, has been training in three different areas for his fight against Simms: Worcester Boys & Girls Club with head trainer John Scully and assistant trainer Carlos Garcia, Fight Factory in East Hartford (CT) with Scully 3 times a week, and “Fitness Together” in Brookline (MA) twice a week.

“I don’t know if training in three places is any better or worse,” Rivera said, “but I’ve made the most out of it and I’m better prepared and in better shape for this fight than any fights during my career. I’ve made everything fit comfortably into my schedule. Scully and Garcia handle the boxing preparation and the game plan for the fight, and I do my running and work with my personal trainer, Radovan Serbula, on my strength and conditioning.”

Secret Weapon
Rivera calls Serbula his secret weapon. The former Croatian basketball star owns “Fitness Together” in Brookline, which borders Boston, and he has a physical education degree from the University of Zagreb. Radovan worked with Kevin McBride before his TKO victory against Mike Tyson. Rivera hooked-up with Serbula before his May 6th title-winning performance against Alejandro Garcia.

“Radovan is my secret weapon,” Rivera explained. “He is one of the key factors elevating my conditioning. You don’t get this type of training with anybody else. He brought Eastern European/Russian training with him from Croatia. It’s starting to come here, slowly. You see a little of it in the new Rocky movie, but miniscule, and most people probably didn’t notice it. Radovan is ahead of his time. His training will break any man not mentally strong enough. After the Garcia fight, during the summer and fall, I went to workout with him at least once or twice a week to stay in shape so I didn’t have to start all over again like I had to before the Garcia fight, the first time I worked with him. He has raised my conditioning to another level, surpassing the condition I was in for the Garcia fight.

Travis Simms
Simms has been going around saying Rivera has been holding his belt and “El Gallo” didn’t even deserve to fight for the light middleweight title. “All of his talk doesn’t mean anything to me,” Rivera remarked. “All that matters is January 6th when we will settle things once and for all. I’ve known him since our amateur days. He has a big mouth but I don’t hate him. This is business.”

Fighting on Showtime
Fighting on the Peter-Toney II Showtime card is the biggest stage Rivera has ever been on. Although he’s looking forward to fighting again on Showtime, particularly on the first major broadcast show of 2007, once the bell rings it’ll be just like any other fight for Jose. “This is a great opportunity for me because the public will see that I am a fighter who always comes in top condition and gives everything he has,” he noted. “There is no running, no boring fight with me; I’m all about action and giving fans what they want and deserve. I’m a boxer-puncher who likes to be aggressive. I’m going to keep putting pressure on Simms and make him fight full 12-rounds. I’m not thinking about who’s watching or not watching. I’m in there trying to execute my game plan.”

Game Plan for Simms
“Every fight is different,” Rivera noted. “For example, my game plan for Simms is a lot different than for my fight with Garcia. I plan to stick to my game plan but be able to make adjustments during the fight, too. People are going have to tune in January 6 to find out what my game plan is for Simms.”