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While not having fought for nine months, Welterweight Rashad Holloway is still constantly honing his skills in the gym on a daily basis. The Cincinnati, Ohio native relocated back to Los Angeles from Las Vegas earlier this year and in now working full-time with trainer Freddie Roach he seems to have a new outlook on his career.
Holloway was set to fight this past July 30th in Saratoga Springs, New York but had to withdraw from the fight due to a staph infection that surfaced on his hand after suffering a cut in sparring. The infection has since healed and Holloway could be found last week testing his pugilistic gifts against former Jr. Middleweight champion Sergio Mora, prospect Carson Jones and WBA champion Vyacheslav Senchenko.
Senchenko came into town last month to train with Roach and Holloway was one of the first men he sparred. On their first day together inside of the ring Holloway vividly recalls how easily he controlled the action but Senchenko has since adapted and made things more competitive. The Ukrainian has an August 30th title defense at the end of the month and as his date draws near so does his intensity, apparently.
?After the first day he got a little better here and there,? Holloway concedes. ?I still have him well within range and I just sparred with him the other day. He had a little cut and we stopped sparring but it felt great being back in the ring.?
Holloway has been putting in some serious work with Mora, who is prepping for a September 18th clash with Shane Mosley at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. While usually calling the Wild Card Gym home, Holloway has had to relocate in order to meet up with the ?Latin Snake?.
?In his gym in Montebello,? Holloway says of sparring Mora. ?It?s going real good man. Me and Sergio are good friends. I?ve known him for quite a while and I?ve sparred him numerous times. I ran into him a while ago and his coach told me that he needed me so we wanted to work something out. It?s been going real good man and there have been give and take battles. Golden Boy was there the other day checking it out and it?s been great work.?
Mora gained fame for his role on the inaugural season of The Contender and went on to surprise many with his success as a professional, most notably his June 2008 title-winning effort over the late Vernon Forrest in which he captured the WBC crown. Mora would lose the rematch to Forrest three months later and failed to fight at all in 2009, eventually making his return to the ring underneath the Bernard Hopkins-Roy Jones rematch this past April at the Mandalay Bay, stopping Calvin Green in the seventh. Holloway admits that the two men are giving each other lively work.
?He?s a crafty little guy,? Holloway says with respect. ?He?s awkward at times. It?s not that he?s not orthodox; he?s one of those guys that is a great athlete. Sergio had great legs, he?s tough as hell, he has good speed and he has good skills. He?s just a tricky little guy and I?m a slick fighter so we kind of mimic each other at times. We both know each other well and we?ve spent a lot of time checking each other out. We?ve both landed good shots and both done a lot of work together.?
Last but not least, Holloway has been going up against Jones at the Wild Card. The fighter?s 26-7-2 record with 16 knockouts beguiles the recent success he has had in his career and he is eyeing a September 11th clash with Grady Brewer in Lawton, Oklahoma himself. Holloway says that Jones can punch and that the work has been beneficial for both of them.
Outside of his sparring routines Holloway is simply enjoying being back in Los Angeles and the vibe inside of the Wild Card. The 29-year old talks to Roach on a constant basis and says for the moment the trainer is still trying to iron out all the particulars for his prize charge Manny Pacquiao?s upcoming training camp. As for Holloway he will likely be seeing action in the ring in the coming months.
