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Philippines, 30 Jun 2025 |
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Ignacio "Nacho" Beristain Interview By Ricardo Lois PhilBoxing.com Thu, 22 Jan 2009 There might be nothing more pleasurable in boxing than chewing the fat with legendary trainer Ignacio "Nacho" Beristain. The trainer of Juan Manuel Marquez and Rafael Marquez spent a few moments with me via phone from his Mexico City, Mexico home to discuss Juan Diaz vs. Juan Manuel, his experience in training Oscar De La Hoya, his thoughts on who is the pound for pound best in boxing, and the return of Rafael Marquez. Boxing Confidential - How are things going along in Juan Manuel Marquez's camps for his fight with Juan Diaz? Ignacio Beristain - We are working very hard because Diaz is a young, strong, and quality fighter. Our preparation in camp is based on the goal to give the public in Houston that night a beautiful boxing performance by Juan Manuel, a performance for the fans who still love true boxing, beautiful, technical boxing. BC - Do you see Diaz as a young, over aggressive fighter that Juan Manuel Marquez could easily counter all night long? IB - I think there will be difficult moments for Juan Manuel during the fight due to Diaz's youth and ambition. You can see Diaz's desire in the ring and his heart. Those characteristics make him a difficult fight for anyone. Marquez is training hard, but we are watching how hard we push him in camp. At his age (35 years) you have to be careful you push a fighter in camp going into a tough fight. BC - Do you worry Marquez will become old inside the ring? IB - Nothing is written in stone when it comes to boxing. The specter of old age can appear before a fighter at any given moment and we are aware of that. Our training camp is a smart, well planned camp, taking into account all the upcoming fight's different factors. You might remember I had some experience with a a four-two year old champion by the name of Daniel Zaragoza, up until the end he gave great fights; an Erik Morales body shot ended his run. That being said, I am sure Marquez will give us a classic boxing presentation. He has been at this since 14 and his issue is not his age, his biggest issue might be the weight. Remember Marquez is a true featherweight who found himself at lightweight chasing a third fight with Manny Pacquiao. Lightweight is really not his weight. BC - Mentioning Manny Pacquiao, you know a little about Manny. Talk about the experience of training Oscar De La Hoya. A lot of negative things have been said about your preparation of De La Hoya in the American boxing media, speak your mind Don Nacho. IB - Working with Oscar was a true pleasure. I got to know him as an athelete and a human being and he is excellent as both. There are few athletes at his level. Training was well. I brought the technical training and shared other aspects with his team. I worked with Joel, his brother, who is experienced having been with Oscar all his career. I also worked with his nutritionist and personal trainer Rob Garcia. Garcia had the responsibility of making weight. I think Rob did a good job, he works hard, and knows what and how to do it. Everything was fine during camp, in my estimation. I think of fight night something was bothering Oscar from a psychological or mental aspect. Something was bother Oscar, aside from the fact that Oscar is a classic example of a fighter who is bothered by left handed opponents. Oscar does not adapt well to lefties. Pacquiao is not a run of the mill lefty, he is difficult to figure out. I can say this after having been in Juan Manuel's corner for 24 rounds against Pacquiao before the De La Hoya fight. I still feel Marquez won those fights with Pacquiao, but what can we do? Since training camp we had a lot of difficulties with south paws. I believe we did not have the right sparring partners. I do not want to blame anyone, but when I got to Big Bear the sparring partners had been decided on. BC - Edwin Valero was in camp and I have read that you were not pleased with him as a sparring partner and released him. Wouldn't he be a good guy to emulate what Pacquiao brings to the ring? IB - I take responsibility for Valero's use, or lack there of during camp. I did not like Valero. He is a bothersome southpaw, with an ugly style, and creates a certain level of discomfort for his opponents. I did not like him as a partner for Oscar. He in no way, shape, or form, was an adequate sparring partner. I told the people there, that if he wanted to train at the camp, that was fine, but there was no way I would let him spar with Oscar. He was not helping Oscar prepare, he was causing him more technical confusion. I guess that irritated someone, but I made it clear, he can stay, but he will not continue sparring. He is elusive, powerful, and has a very ugly style. BC - Is Pacquiao the pound for pound best fighter in the world today? IB - No, no way. He is the most exciting fighter in the world, but there are better boxers. Pacquiao puts on a great show, he might be the most spectacular. Pound for pound is meant to be for a polished fighter like Miguel Cotto, or Floyd Mayweather Junior. To me, Mayweather, retired or not, he is the best fighter. Bernard Hopkins has a claim to the title, when he is on, he does marvelous things. He is, how, can I say it, he is raw... BC - Nacho, you never pull punches. He is dirty. IB - You cannot even call it dirty, due to the manner in which he pulls of those veteran tricks. Dirty does not describe what Hopkins does inside the ring. I would call him the "Professor of Boxing". So I would say Hopkins, Mayweather, or even Marquez, if I can throw in his name for pound for pound best. BC - What is going on with Rafael Marquez? IB - He is due to return in late March against some Colombian guy. The guy has a decent record and will let me know how Rafael is doing after those tough fights with Vazquez. He is working real hard in the gym and seems as if he is going to be back at 100 percent. The public must understand, that after three wars, where Vazquez lost an eye and Marquez left one third of his life as anathlete in the ring, you cannot just throw Rafael in with the lions again. I need to gauge where he is at, even though he is responding well in the gym. You cannot just throw him in with Celestino Caballero, I would be stupid to accept that fight right now. We are going to sit down with the his doctor and observe him in this next fight. BC - Where will his return take place? IB - The U.S. television economy is bad for boxing and we will be fighting here in Mexico, possibly somewhere in Torreon, Mexico. After that fight, we will analyze Rafael's status, take a short break, have another tune-up, and maybe even return for a fourth fight with Israel. I care a lot about him and Juan Manuel, and I want them both to have happy endings when it comes to boxing. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ricardo Lois.  |
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