A Day In The Life

When Junior Witter steps into the ring against DeMarcus Corley later this month it will mark the climax of an extraordinary twenty weeks of preparation.

Witter is an obsessive trainer at the best of times – his only elongated absence from training in the last ten years came when he broke his hand against teak-tough South African Lovemore N’dou in February 2005 and was banned by doctors from throwing a punch for six weeks. But that didn’t stop him pounding out the road miles and maintaining his work on movement and balance.

However, despite his 365 days-a-year dedication not even Wincobank-based Witter has ever been ‘in-camp’ for so long before. Originally slated to fight Italian Guiseppe Lauri, the Italian predictably pulled out leaving Witter high and dry. With the possibility of the WBC title fight against Corley in the background, Witter’s coaching team decided to keep their man in full training while the politics sorted themselves out. The result, hopes trainer Dominic Ingle, will see 32 year-old Witter in the best shape of his life.

‘Junior’s an incredibly dedicated guy – even in between fights he’s always in the gym, working on his skills and keeping his fitness ticking over. It speaks volumes for him that he has been able to maintain this level of training intensity for so long, but it we knew it wouldn't be a problem for him. He’s very professional and very, very hungry for success. It was always in the back of our mind’s that Lauri would cry-off, after what Junior did to him when they met before (TKO Rnd2). So we just kept him going and he’s looking fantastic’.

A close examination of Witter’s fitness statistics makes impressive reading. Recent tests place his body fat at an incredibly low 7%, his blood pressure at 100/70 and his resting heart rate at just 40 beats per minute. ‘His stats indicate what he is – an elite-class athlete. His heart-rate is comparable with that of Seb Coe when he won the Olympics’.

Brendan Ingle agrees that Junior is in the form of his life and is ready for the challenge of Corley.

‘Corley’s good but  Junior is so ready for this. Dominic has done a fantastic job with him in terms of his conditioning and nutritional regime and Junior knows he’ll never be in better shape for a fight. Let me tell ya, I took Junior on the pads yesterday morning and me hands are still throbbing now. He’s whacking like a middleweight!’

So having heard so much about the hard-work and sacrifice Junior has put into this fight, let’s see what his daily regime actually comprises:

6:30am
Gets up

6:45am
Four-mile run through the hills of North Sheffield

8:00am
Breakfast – porridge ‘Scottish style’, made with water, salt and a drop of milk followed by plate of scrambled eggs (made with olive oil, not butter and no toast)

10:30am
Gym –footwork and circuits to warm up followed by 8-10 rounds on the pads to increase speed, timing and work-rate

12:00pm
Lunch – Protein shake blended with a banana

12:30 – 3:00pm REST

3:30pm
Back in the gym – more footwork and sparring, with open sparring (punching to head) every other day
Regular sparring partners are gymates Manoo Salari (big-punching southpaw welter) and Muhsen Nasser (cat-quick teenage Ingle protégé) plus regular workouts with British Light-Middle champ Jamie Moore, another strong Southpaw (Corley, of course, is a southpaw too)

5:30pm
Dinner
Menu is choice of either steak (griddled), chicken or fish (steamed) with either brown rice or potatoes and either salad or mixed veg. No salt added to any of his food, the only concessions to condiments being the occasional dollop of ketchup.

6:00pm – 10pm REST (TV, DVDs etc)

10:30pm
Protein shake then bed

It may be the biggest fight of his life but after 20 weeks of intense training and sacrifice, Junior can be confident that he will go into the ring in the best shape of his life. And win, lose or draw, you can be sure that  after a week in the sun of Gran Canaria (and maybe even a week off the watery porridge) he’ll be back in gym, preparing for the next fight.