I’ve always believed that when someone is able to defy the odds and achieve something special when no one really expects them to, it adds much more significance to the accomplishment in my opinion.
Boxing Trainer Ann Wolfe hasn?t always had the luxury of traveling down the easiest road in life. She knows all to well about having to defy the odds, and has been able to do so on more than one occasion, not only as fighter, by becoming a world champion in four different weight classes, but most recently in her efforts training junior middleweight contender James Kirkland.
We all remember Kirkland?s shocking knockout loss to thirty to one underdog Nobuhiro Ishida back in April of this year. It was his third fight coming off of two year layoff since being released from prison, after serving an eighteen month sentence for gun possession. It was also his third fight in a row without his longtime trainer Ann Wolfe, as the two went their separate ways while James was incarcerated. James just didn?t look like himself in the Ishida fight. He seemed to have lacked his usual fire, aggressiveness, and phenomenal conditioning that we?ve all grown accustomed to seeing. It was shocking to see the light hitting Ishida knock him down three times en route to a first round stoppage.
Many believed he lost because of the split with Ann Wolfe. You would be hard pressed to find another trainer that employs her intense unorthodox training methods that James always seemed to respond well too, and because of that, there was something missing in James when he first made his comeback after the long layoff. It?s not only the physical training but also the mental connection and strong bond that these to have together. No one else has ever been able to tap into James? inner strength better than Wolfe. She knows how to keep him focused and motivated for the task at hand.
