Workout Of The Week: Irish Micky Ward
When most people think of famous boxers they think of Muhammad Ali or Mike Tyson.
Not me! I think of Micky Ward.
I remember as a kid going to a friends house and watching his fights on their “illegal” black box. I recall watching Ward fight Alfonso Sanchez, where he got beat up for six rounds. The referee told Micky if he doesn’t show him something in the seventh, then he is going to stop the fight.
Well, Micky being Micky, tapped Sanchez to the head and ripped to the body, and put him down for the count with a vicious left hook to the kidney. Micky won by KO in the seventh with Sanchez on the ground for what felt like 10 minutes.
Fight of the Year – 15 Years Later
This past week marked the 15 year anniversary of one of his biggest wins for Micky and one of the biggest and best fights in boxing history.
In fact it won “Fight Of The Year.”
I’m talking about his first scrap with Arturo “Thunder” Gatti in 2002.
Their first fight was one of the best fights I have ever watched, especially the ninth round.
In a recent documentary about their three fights, boxing commentator Jim Lampley said with tears in his eyes “Every once in awhile somewhere in my life someone will ask me what’s the greatest fight you ever called or what’s the greatest round you have ever called or what’s the greatest thing you have ever seen in boxing and my answer always is: Gatti Ward I, round 9. I think that will always be the answer.”
The two went on to fight two more times with Gatti winning both. The contests were closely decided with Micky giving them everything he had. By the way, their third fight won “Fight Of The Year” just like their first contest.
While reading the book, Irish Thunder: The Hard Life & Times of Micky Ward by Bob Halloran, Micky details some of his favorite training routines he would use to prepare for his fights, especially his fights against Arturo Gatti. I took some of them and combined them with some of my own strength and conditioning routines that I have my athletes do. I then created the ‘Irish Micky Ward Workout’.
The routine includes 10 exercises that are 3 minutes long each to simulate a 10 round boxing match. In between those exercises you will do 300 skips then go right into the next exercise for 3-minutes. Some of the stations you have two things, so what you will do is superset them back and forth until the 3-minutes are up. The routine includes some boxing, some lower body, some core, and some upper body to get you in fight shape and ready for a war like Ward Gatti I.
Irish Micky Ward Workout
*3 minutes on each station.
1.Heavy Jump Rope.
300 skips
- Jab 10 Cross 10. Jab 8 Cross 8. Jab 6 Cross 6 and repeat.
300 skips
- Pushups 15 and TRX 15 and repeat.
300 skips
4.KB Box Squats 15 and Box Jumps 15 and repeat.
300 skips
- Hook L 10 Hook R 10. Hook L 8 Hook R 8. Hook L 6 Hook R 6 and repeat.
300 skips
- DB Curl and Press 15 and Ball Slams 15 and repeat.
300 skips
- Rocky Situps 15 and V-ups 15 and repeat.
300 skips
- Uppercut R 10 Uppercut L 10. Uppercut R 8 Uppercut L 8. Uppercut R 6 Uppercut L 6 and repeat.
300 skips
- Rower.
300 skips
- Planks: 2Front. 2Side. 2Front. 2Side.2Front.
300 skips.
