Hall of Fame boxing trainer Freddie Roach, who is also training Manny Pacquiao Amir Khan, said his new ward, undefeated featherweight Lorenzo “Thunderbolt” Villanueva is ready for the world championship fight against Indonesia’s Daud Yordan on May 5 in Singapore.

Yesterday, in a sparring session at the Coyeesan Gym, Villanueva knocked down former amateur standout and top bantamweight Robert Udtuhan in the second round.

Villanueva has huge punching power, and his awkward style and southpaw stance make him a very dangerous boxer.

He has a record of 24 wins with 23 knockouts. His three last fights ended by knockout in the first round with the fastest knockout coming at one minute 17 seconds against another Indonesian Eddy Comaro.

A huge group of supporters from his home province of North Cotabato is expected to fly to Singapore to witness Villanueva’s attempt to become the first world boxing champion from the province.

Click here to see his latest fight against Tyson Ledesma

WBA SUPER WORLD FEATHERWEIGHT TITLE:

CHRIS JOHN (Indonesia) Vs SHOJI KIMURA (Japan)
(12 x 3 minutes)

IBO VACANT WORLD FEATHERWEIGHT TITLE:

DAUD JORDAN (Indonesia) Vs LORENZO VILLANUEVA(Philippines)
(12 x 3 minutes)

SUPER BANTAMWEIGHT

MOHAMAD NOR RIZAN (Singapore) Vs WANG XIN HUA (China)
(6 x 3 minutes)

JUNIOR MIDDLEWEIGHT

YAO YI MA (Taiwan) Vs KENGO NAGASHIMA (Japan)
(6 x 3 minutes)

SUPERFLYWEIGHT

REX TSO (Hong Kong) Vs YODPICHAI SITHSAITHONG (Thailand)
(4 x 3 minutes)

SWING FIGHT 1 - BANTAMWEIGHT

QIU XIAO JUN (China) Vs BAYU GEDE PRABOW (Indonesia)
(4 or 6 x 3 minutes)

SWING FIGHT 2 – WELTERWEIGHT*

YANG XIN XIN (China) Vs SINGDET SITHSAITHONG (Thailand)
(4 or 6 x 3 minutes)

*Will only take place if any of the previous fights are concluded early.

 
To buy tickets:
Click here to buy from the MBS website.
Click here to buy from Sistic.

Over ten international boxers hailing from Indonesia, Philippines, Japan and Singapore including (WBA) Super World Featherweight champion, Chris John, will be gathering at the Championship Boxing Event Night slated for 5 May 2012 at Marina Bay Sands.

The event will showcase the World Boxing Association (WBA) Super World Featherweight Title fight between world- renowned boxers, Chris John and Shoji Kimura as well as the International Boxing Organization (IBO) Vacant World Featherweight Title fight between Daud Jordan and Lorenzo Villanueva.

WBA Featherweight Champion Chris John said, “2012 is the Year of the Dragon and I will knock out all my opponents at this fight at the iconic Marina Bay Sands!”

The 32-year old WBA Featherweight Champion has retained the crown from 2003 and has since defended the title 14 times over the nine years.

Japanese professional boxer, Shoji Kimura said, “I have proven I am worthy to fight Chris John. One of us will be knocked out and that is him. I will emerge the new champion at this fight at Marina Bay Sands.”

Come 5 May, exhibition Hall E at the Sands Expo and Convention Center will be transformed into a spectacular boxing arena with up to 4,000 seats for the Championship Boxing Event Night. Tickets will go on sale 5 April 2012.

Marina Bay Sands Press Release

To buy tickets:
Click here to buy from the MBS website.
Click here to buy from Sistic.

Following his victory in Thailand last week, Ben Fightworks Asia has agreed to answer to a few of our questions:

Congratulations on your victory this Monday, Ben.

Thank you!

You must have a great sentiment of joy after your victory on Monday?

I sure do, I am glad that all the hard training was worth it.

Who is supporting you?

My father, more than anyone else, and my family, friends and trainers.

Were you confident before the fight on Monday?

Yes, I was. I didn’t want to be too confident though, but I knew that I had put a lot of hard work into this and that I was ready.

Is it intimidating to step in the ring in front of a psyched crowd?

At first it really was. The first time I fought I remember being at the locker room, before the fight, and I could hear the crowd shouting very loud. That sort of environment was very new to me and when I stepped into the ring it made me very nervous.

But this time, though I thought it would make me nervous again, it didn’t. When I stepped into the ring I felt as if I had known that feeling for quite some time and it just became less intimidating, therefore allowing me to concentrate more on the fight.

You train quite hard at Fightworks. Do you find the training there effective?

I think the training there is great. I’ve tried many different Muay Thai gyms in Singapore, and Fightworks has the more Thai-like training, in my opinion. Fightworks was just what I was looking for when I joined, for the training to be as close enough as in Thailand.

How did you prepare for the fight?

First of all, I joined Fightworks, because I was looking for the best place to prepare very well. And then I thought of opening my mind to adapt to the new training that I would be taught there, by the different trainers. Things changed, mostly by adding more stamina and running more. I would start by a 45 minute run in which I included some sprints, then shadow box for about 10 – 15 minutes. After that I would put gloves on and hit the bag and kick pads for the next 60 – 80 minutes. But some days, instead of kicking pads, I would do sparring. After that, it was just lots of sit ups, push-ups and other fitness exercises. I trained every day except on Sundays.

What are the main differences between your training at Fightworks and your training at Patong Boxing Gym?

The main difference is definitely the environment in which I train. Patong Boxing Gym is located in the middle of a hill, surrounded by almost nothing but nature, which helps concentrate more. Also, the fact that it is located outdoor helps a lot because it makes you much more tired when training as there is no air conditioning around and the weather is very hot. Finally, most of the people among the gym are like me, foreigners or Thais who also fight Muay Thai, and there are lots of them so I get to talk more with them and share experiences and ideas to improve and learn more from them.

You trained Muay Thai for about one year before going to your first professional fight, what would you say to somebody who would like to follow your path and become a champion too?

I don’t really consider myself yet experienced enough to give advices to others on what they have to do or what they could do. But if I could choose one thing to say to someone who would like to follow my path, it would be to remember not to fill his mind with ego once he achieves a goal, or in other words, to remember to always stay humble and treat others with respect.

What are your objectives after this victory?

Just recover and train light for a few days, because my left ankle still hurts, and then go back to normal training, every day, until my next fight comes up.

My goal at the moment is to keep training hard and gain experience from my last fight in order to perform better next time, as I still have a lot to learn.

Anything else you would like to add?

I would like to say a big thank you to all my trainers at Fightworks and also to Mr. John Lee for supporting me on this and really welcoming me in when I joined the gym, and to everyone else who supported me on this, I really appreciate it.

 Layne Norton, an example of a natural bodybuilder

Early Morning – The Mental Hurdle

The peak time for running is definitely not first thing in the morning. Virtually all bodily functions are at their worst at this hour. Body temperature is low, which means that muscles will feel stiff, lung function is poor, and not having any substantial food intake for the last ten hours significantly depletes your energy stores. All these means the same level of exertion is likely to feel much harder at this time of day than later on

Just because nearly everything physical is against you at this time, however, doesn’t mean the early morning session has no benefit. The very fact that it feels harder means it’s good for building up mental strength.

Mid-Morning – Muscle Booster

Lung performance and body temperature are much improved from the early morning, plus if you’re training at this time you should have had a good protein and carb-filled breakfast, meaning your energy levels will be much higher. However, although most of your physical functions will be improved from the early morning, they are still not as good as later in the day. Furthermore, if you work normal hours, a mid-morning run is likely only to be possible on the weekend anyway. If you do put in a mid-morning run, on a Saturday for example, you might want to make it a speed or hills session in which building up your calf and quad muscles is the aim. The reason is that most scientists agree this is the best time of day to boost muscle. “There’s a strong argument for doing weight training in the morning if you’re interested in building muscle,” said Dr. Stephen Bird, from the School of Human Movement Studies in Australia. “This is because testosterone, the hormone most responsible for muscle-boosting, is at its highest around this time.”

Lunchtime – The Convenient Substitute

The lunch-time run is extremely popular with all those who work normal hours. Getting out of the office and breaking up the day with some running seems like a great idea. And indeed there are positives to training at this time, but mostly they have to do with your work performance rather than your running performance. "Many people choose to exercise at lunch because it doesn’t eat into their free time," said workplace psychologist Mike Clinton. "Plus it perks you up and is likely to make you more productive in the afternoon."

In fact, nearly all bodily functions experience a lull in the middle of the day, particularly those such as lung function and body temperature, which are crucial to running performance. Like the early morning, this doesn’t necessarily make it a bad time of day to train; just make sure you save those time trials, or sessions where you’re looking to run your absolute best, for later.

Afternoon and Evening – Score!

It has been known for some time that most physical activities are best performed in the mid- to late-afternoon, as this is when body temperature peaks, meaning the muscles are at their most supple and running at speeds that feel tough in the early morning will feel much easier. Recently this has been bolstered by a study by Dr. Boris Medarov of the Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New York, which found that lung function was more than 6 percent better in the afternoon than at other times during the day. So this is definitely the time of day to run if you’re going for a personal best.

If your gym trains in the evening, you’ll probably want to sweat out your personal best before class starts! A short 10 min run should be sufficient.

By: "the Grouch" published "female-muay-thai" blogspot

Like a lot of people, you might think that muscle weighs more than fat.

“When I hear this statement, I always think of the old riddle: Which weighs more, a pound of feathers or a pound of bricks?” says Laura Stusek, MS, fitness coordinator for Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah. “A pound is a pound!”

Muscle vs. Fat: Clearing Up the Misconception

Common sense tells us a pound of muscle and a pound of fat have to weigh the same, but they do differ in density. This means if you look at five pounds of muscle and five pounds of fat side by side, the fat takes up more volume, or space, than the muscle. That’s important when you’re on a diet and part of your goal is the lean look of muscle, not the flabby look of fat.

So why do people say muscle weighs more than fat?

“I find people make this statement when they put on weight,” says Stusek. “One person will say, ‘I gained three pounds and I’ve been working out.’ The good-friend response is, ‘It’s all muscle.’ And while this is a very comforting thing to hear, it’s just impossible to gain three pounds of muscle in a week. It is common for exercisers to lose fat and gain muscle without a change in body weight, so I understand why people often get frustrated.”

Muscle vs. Fat: The Truth

The first step in a successful diet and exercise program is to banish the idea that muscle weighs more and is therefore bad. In fact, Stusek recommends tossing out the scale altogether.

“I try to get people to think about how they are feeling, how their clothes are fitting, and how their body has changed,” Stusek advises. “It’s a hard thing to do sometimes. The focus should not just be the number on the scale. If we only did things to make ourselves weigh less, we wouldn’t necessarily be healthier.”

Muscle vs. Fat: The Benefits of Muscle

In fact, not only should dieters stop thinking of muscle as the enemy, they should embrace it as their friend.

Muscle boosts a person’s metabolism, so a pound of muscle will burn more calories at rest than a pound of fat. What does this mean? Even when you’re not exercising — you could be sitting on the couch watching TV — you will be burning more calorie just by having more muscle.

Muscle has other benefits, too. It’s critical in improving bone density and helps prevent the loss of muscle mass that occurs with aging, allowing people to stay active as they get older.

Muscle vs. Fat: Ways to Gain Muscle

There’s no doubt cardio workouts such as jogging, cycling, and walking are important for calorie burning and good health. But strength training is vital, too. “Of course, we always think of lifting weights to put on muscle, and many fear they will become ‘bulky,’” says Stusek. “Women need to stop worrying about this.”

There are plenty of options to build muscle, ranging from free weights to resistance bands and even plain old soup cans. Stusek recommends enlisting the help of a personal trainer to design a balanced, full-body workout for the best results. “Or if you want to bulk up, lift heavy weights and do low repetitions,” she says. And two or three times a week, with at least one day off in between for muscle recovery, is sufficient.

Ultimately, building muscle mass is a good thing. So find some enjoyable exercises and get lifting.

Fightworks Asia is organizing another inter-club friendly sparring this Friday the 9^th of March 2012.

This time we have invited Muay Thai workshop to our East Coast Beach branch.

It's an open event so feel free to join and test your skills against their members.

Check out our facebook for more info.

The legendary Barry Pestana and his former students were at fightworks Asia this Friday 02/03/12.

Nor Rizan, Singapore's only pro boxer was also there and demonstrated his boxing skills by sparring with some of our members and instructors.