Hollister boxer Kelsey Jeffries is known for her training
regimen, which becomes more focused and refined as she preps for
her upcoming fight
HOLLISTER
Before her latest bout with Ana “The Hurricane” Julaton was scheduled, before any of the contractual details were hashed out and put down on paper, Kelsey “The Road Warrior” Jeffries was in the gym twice a day, in the ring twice a week.
She had been training like that for more than a year, without a specific target date or scheduled fight on the horizon.
“I guess you could say it’s my dedication,” Jeffries said, “my dedication to the sport; my dedication to improve my skills; my dedication to who I am as a world champion.
“There’s always someone out there who’s chasing you.”
Sparring, jogging and weightlifting on a daily basis is common procedure for any fighter in training, but not necessarily typical of those boxers who are enjoying their “offseason,” a term Jeffries used when describing the months in between scheduled fights.
The Hollister boxer hasn’t had a scheduled bout in 14 months, a significant “offseason” for any athlete, and an even longer layoff for any active boxer. But with Jeffries’ training regimen geared toward quantity during her down time, the local prize fighter is almost never in a position where she’s behind schedule, either out of shape or out of time, when there is a scheduled bout looming.
With her previous fight held on June 12, 2008 – a fourth-round knockout of Jessica Mohs – Jeffries will make her long awaited return to the ring on Sept. 12. As the headlining bout on American Metal and Irons’ Fight Night at the Tank, Jeffries and Daly City’s Ana Julaton will square off in a 10-round fight for the vacated IBA junior featherweight title at HP Pavilion in San Jose.
While there may be less than a month to prepare after having 14 months off, Jeffries is right on schedule, nevertheless.
“She’s in intense training all the time,” said Jeffries’ trainer, Buddy McGirt, who’s been with Jeffries for nearly five years now and whose stable of fighters in the past has included Antonio Tarver and Timo Hoffmann.
“Her goal is to be the best,” McGirt added. “Sometimes she has too much intensity. I have to slow her down a lot. But the good thing about that is that she’s always thinking about fighting.”
Although McGirt conducts training camp out of Vero Beach, Fla., he has been in constant contact with Jeffries for more than a year, speaking on the phone with her almost every day. McGirt is expected to be in Jeffries’ corner on Sept. 12.
“If I tell her to take a day off, she asks, ‘Why?'” McGirt said. “She would be training every day if she could. It’s good to have that attitude. When that changes, I’ll know something is wrong.
“I wish half my guys had that attitude.”
While Jeffries is constantly in training, even when there isn’t exactly an opponent to be training for, her regimen only becomes more focused and refined when an opponent is finally slated. She is training for the fight at hand at that point, she said, no more and no less.
“Mentally, (my training) increases. But, in a sense, it also decreases because I do train so hard,” said Jeffries, adding that she’ll spar for 10 rounds now instead of 15, run three miles instead of five. “Buddy (McGirt) will cut me back so I don’t peak too soon. But (my training is) just more intense … it’s got more purpose.
“When the fight time comes, I just focus on what (McGirt) tells me. I don’t do anything more than what he tells me.”
On Saturday, Jeffries was sparring with a fighter said to be approximately 160 pounds, roughly 36 pounds heavier than Jeffries, and one who delivered a strong right hand.
“I didn’t want to get hit by her,” said Jeffries, who focused on body punching during Saturday’s session, not to mention avoiding the right hook. “I didn’t want to get touched by her.”
McGirt says “work is work,” though, even if Jeffries’ sparring opponent may be the complete opposite in size and stature of her actual opponent.
The 29-year-old Julaton, four years Jeffries’ junior, is considered a fast fighter with an extensive amateur career of more than 30 fights, according to some reports – something that has to be figured into the discussion when comparing Julaton’s short 4-1-1 professional record with Jeffries’ lengthy 41-9-1 career.
Ranked as a top contender by the WBC and IBA at 122 pounds, the 5-foot-5 Julaton, who is coming off a split decision loss to Dominga Olivo in August of 2008, and whose scheduled late-July bout with Melissa Hernandez fell through at the last minute, will be searching for her first championship title as a pro boxer.
Jeffries, meanwhile, with seven belts to her name, including the GBU and IFBA world championship featherweight titles, will be looking to reclaim the IBA junior featherweight belt she held previously in 2004.
“She’s unique,” said Jeffries’ manager, Bruce Anderson. “She trains too much, trains too hard, but that’s what works for her – don’t mess with success. That’s what makes her the fighter that she is.”
Before an opponent is ever scheduled, before any details are on paper, Jeffries goes above and beyond in her training to make those weeks leading up to a fight that much easier. She even runs on Christmas Day, anything to perhaps find an edge over the opponent.
“I’ve got to train when everyone is enjoying something else,” she said.
“But I’ve made it to where I enjoy training and I enjoy what I do. When the fight comes, it’s icing on the cake.”
Fight Night at the Tank
Hollister’s Kelsey Jeffries will fight Daly City’s Ana Julaton on Sept. 12 in a 10-round bout at HP Pavilion in San Jose. The vacated IBA junior featherweight title will be on the line.
– Tickets can be purchased through TicketMaster, at HP Pavilion in San Jose, or at Gold’s Gym and Main Street Kickboxing in Hollister.
– There are three price levels for tickets – $26, $47 and $77.
