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JUANITO
IBARRA A Gift to Teach
Juanito Ibarra with Rampage Jackson
©
Marc Wickert December
4, 2007 All
photos copyright 2004 Zuffa LLC MMA
and boxing coach Juanito Ibarra is like a second father to all his
charges. And this is particularly the case with UFC World Light
Heavyweight Champion Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson. Not only is Juanito
Rampage’s trainer, he’s also his manager, accountant, and a man who
has put his time into Quinton for the past two and a half years. But
it was much earlier in Ibarra’s career that he realized he had a gift
to watch over and help people. And although Juanito was a promising
athlete in football, basketball and track, he later heard his calling to
take up boxing. “I
liked to protect people. I never thought about winning or losing, or
getting hurt. I’ve always had that heart. I think I got it from my
family: We’re there to help, so it was just in my nature to get into
fights – not as a bully, but to help out, to help individuals whether
they could fight or not. I was always the guy who would stick up for
people. It didn’t matter if it was against someone big, small… It
didn’t matter to me,” says Ibarra. “I
actually started getting my butt whooped, getting jumped a little bit,
so I wanted to learn how to fight. That’s when I got into Koshu Kenpo,
a Filipino martial art with butterfly swords, balisongs, kali sticks and
stuff like that. “My
teacher said I was better with my hands, which led to my taking up
boxing until I broke my ribs at a tournament, so I didn’t get to go
pro…Thank God I didn’t go pro because I wasn’t ready. I was more
of a street fighter – the kind of crazy guy you want to help you
out.” Juanito
subsequently found he was a natural at training other athletes, which
led to his coaching such renowned boxers as Oscar De La Hoya, Paul
Gonzalez and Pepe Reilly. “After
I got my ribs broken, I hung out at the Hoover Street gym in LA, where I
started learning how to teach rather than fight. I was taught by the
best trainers in the world: Eddie Futch, Thell Torrence, Jackie McCoy,
George Hope, Bill Slayton… And I began training world champions like
Tony Tubbs and Pinklin Thomas: guys like that I was working with, and
they were mentoring me. “God
gave me a gift to teach… Everything I teach, whether it’s kids’
basketball or high school football, whatever I teach I always seem to
have great success. I always seem to take the ‘nothings’ – the
Charlie Brown’s if you will – the leftovers, and make them all that
they can be. I believe that’s what God’s given me: a gift to
teach.” Juanito, you’ve said there’s a difference between boxing and MMA-boxing styles. Obviously the boxer could be wearing 12oz gloves and the MMA fighter wears 4oz gloves, and the MMA guy has to prepare for and defend against takedowns. What other variables do you see between traditional boxing and the MMA style? “Well,
I believe I developed what’s called ‘MMA boxing’. I’ve been in
MMA for 12 years now, and I truly believe it’s my own style as far as
what I teach: MMA boxing. But if you teach true boxing to MMA guys, as a
lot of these trainers do, there are many reasons why their fighters can
get hit and kicked because they put themselves in bad positions. MMA
boxing is more striking and movement, knowing how to use your feet and
not being vulnerable after your last punch. You have to be able to kick,
punch and sprawl after your last punch. And it’s just something I’ve
developed.” Is
the MMA guy’s style more of a brawling/street system than the
traditional boxing? “No,
it’s still technical boxing, but it depends on the kind of kid you
work with. If you have a kid like Rampage Jackson, who was a very raw
guy before I got him, and an animalistic kind of a guy with raw talent
and street-brawler type of mentality, it takes time and time again to
take that away. He’s now more technical than he’s ever been, but
when his second nature kicks in, because of the adrenalin rush and he
has somebody hurt, he’ll always go back to bad habits. That’s just
human nature – going back to bad habits, and it could be a very
vicious way rather than a more technical way. “So I can’t answer that question precisely because every athlete is different. You take an Oscar De La Hoya, and he was one of the greatest students I had because the influence my partner, Al Stankie, and I had on Oscar was that he was always so calm and together that it was easy to teach him to be technical. He wasn’t a violent, street-brawler kinda guy: his second nature wasn’t that, so he was a very technical sort of guy even in his worst scenario of a fight. Rampage, given his worst scenario, he’s going to go back to being that ‘Rampage’ more than being technical.”
Juanito
Ibarra wiping down Hector Ramirez After
which of Quinton’s fights did the two of you link up? Can you
remember? “Oh,
yeah. Quinton and I got together after the Shogun fight. I saw
Quinton’s fight and I was totally embarrassed for him – having an
injured rib and his corner not throwing in the towel. It looked like
Quinton couldn’t fight due to the bad injury. It was something I’d
never seen in all my years of professional sports and 25 years in
boxing. It was crazy and I felt bad for him. “I
heard he was a born-again Christian and I reached out to him through a
friend of his. Quinton decided to take my call, and I love reaching out
to people. It took 15 minutes in the gym for me to show him something
and we got the chemistry. It will be three years in February that
we’ve been together.” What
separates Quinton from other fighters? “Quinton
Jackson – he’s so raw. The thing about Quinton Jackson is he’s so
humble: He’s humble to learn and he’s not scared to make mistakes.
He has no ego in the gym. He and I get into fights in the gym and I slap
his ass around when he gets out of hand. He respects me for that, and he
has a great mentality for wanting to learn. “Some
people can’t handle it because he kids around, but you have to know
how to handle athletes and push the button to get to the mental, and
make them feel grounded so much that they respect you enough to learn
from you. I think, because the sport is so young, a lot of people in MMA
don’t have the experience to do that with guys like Quinton Jackson.
And I think because of my experience and success, that’s why we’re
meant to be: We have great chemistry and we understand each other.” Does
Quinton incorporate a lot of weights in his training? “No.
We do a lot of plyometrics and strength and conditioning, but no, he’s
a freak of nature. I think weights would tighten Quinton up more. We
have a hard time now getting his flexibility down, so no.” What
was your connection with Marco Ruas? “I
trained him. I got Marco going with his hands nicely and I used to train
him in boxing and movement, movement and boxing. And I gave him any
advice he needed as an MMA fighter. Marco is a great man: I really
admire him. I was there to teach him and his students how to work their
hands, boxing-wise.” What
about Antonio McKee? “I
managed him for eight years. Antonio is a character and I love the guy.
He’s been all over the mat, but I wasn’t a big part of his training.
I was more of an advisor-mentor-manager: ‘This is what we can get
you,’ kinda thing. When he moved over from Las Vegas I got time to
work with him, but Antonio is talented in his own ways and he teaches
his own classes, so… I did train him, don’t get me wrong, but I
didn’t have a lot of hands-on because he was so stubborn to be a
wrestler, he didn’t want to change his whole game. He’s such a freak
with his strength that his second nature became his first nature, which
was wrestling. But Antonio and I, yeah, I love the kid.” How
is Hector ‘Sick Dog’ Ramirez going? “Hector’s
doing good. He opened a gym in The Valley, he found Christ, and he’s
doing real well in life. He’s not fighting much now: He’s just
getting his gym together and trying to figure out the best position his
family should be in. But we talk and I’m here for him when he’s
ready to do it.” Was
his bout against Forrest Griffin a great learning opportunity for him? “I
think it was, but he didn’t have a lot of time to train for that
fight. He came up to my camp late and it was more of a mental fight. He
definitely has a talent but we didn’t have time to prepare him right.
He still put up a battle; however with a little more time, I think we
would have had a better fight.” Who
else do you have coming up in MMA for fans to watch out for? “Right
now I’m concentrating on Cheick Kongo. I had him for the Cro Cop
fight, and he’s moving down in my area, so I’ll have to put my time
in Cheick. Along with Rampage, we’re going to take him in, and I want
Cheick Kongo to shock the world. He’s in a great position to fight for
a title if he keeps winning, and he’s an unbelievable person and an
unbelievable athlete. I love him to death.” Juanito,
your sponsors? “Toyo Tires, Throwdown, Affliction, Boost Mobile, Defense Soap and Pure Sanitizer.”
Juantio
Ibarra with Rampage Jackson at UFC 75 For
more on Juanito Iberra: www.juanitoforfighters.com. For
more on Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson: www.myspace.com/rampagejackson
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