Mackie Shilstone fine tuned Spinks, Bowe, Jones, Hopkins

Conditioning guru Mackie Shilstone has trained both Roy Jones, now age 41, and 45 year old BHop

Golden Boy (Hogan Photos)

 

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He's not a miracle worker.

But, when it comes to conditioning great athletes including boxers, New Orleans-based fitness expert Mackie Shilstone is one of the best around.

I've known Shilstone dating back to when he took a light heavyweight champion named Michael Spinks and molded him into a sleek heavyweight who upset the much bigger Larry Holmes.

Shilstone also worked his magic with a pudgy heavyweight named Riddick Bowe. I used to refer to Bowe as Riddickulous during his lazy, hazy early days as a pro but, under Shilstone, the Brooklyn boxer became a mean if not always lean fighting machine.

One of Shilstone's current clients is tennis superstar Serena Williams. A past client is baseball superstar, the acrobatic shortstop Ozzie Smith.

Not by popular demand, exactly, but BHop-Roy Jones fight Saturday night for the second time in 17 years, meaning their third bout will take place in the year 2027, when Jones is a youthful age 58 while the crotchety Hopkins will be 66 years "young" (Hogan Photos/Golden Boy)

Shilstone is of interest this weekend as he has trained BOTH Roy Jones and Bernard Hopkins, the 41 year old and 45 year old icons who fight a rematch (17 years later) Saturday night in Las Vegas.

Go to Mackie's nifty website.

Herewith, in Part 1 on Mackie Shilstone, his thoughts and reflections on Jones and BHop.

(mlcmarley@aol.com)

SHILSTONE ON WHAT SET BOXERS APART FROM ALL OTHER ATHLETES:

MS: First of all, boxing is a totally unique sport. Boxing is the only sport where a boxer has a license to kill. If a man hits another man, and the other man doesnt get up, no one goes to jail. Inside the ring, theres no difference between boxing and war. The ring is the theater of operations, with a Geneva Convention called a referee. Everything else is a childs sport. Boxing is controlled aggression. When we (Jones Jr.) fought John Ruiz, we went in there to break his nose, get him to breathe through his mouth, target his chest with shots; essentially reverse CPR to slow his heart rate. Tarver was lucky he didnt have his jaw broken, because that was the goal in training Bernard. I consulted with surgeons as to how to break a jaw. We called Tarver a cobra, because cobras only have one type of attack. I had Bernard Hopkins reading about mongooses, an animal particularly effective in killing cobras. So what Im getting at is that all the other sports pale in comparison. Boxers literally have to look out for their lives.

Everlast: Whats the most important training tip that many athletes seem to miss?

MS: Motivation. The single biggest thing to overcome is lack of passion - complacency. I think the key is to know where you are in the game and know how to recover yourself. Fighters dont realize that this is a year-round sport. Boxing is a sport, whether you like or not, where there is potential for brain damage. You need good, sound management. Professional boxers dont want to do this for a long time. Invest your money wisely. The smart fighters are the ones who got out in a timely manner. Get out with your health. While youre in the sport, do it passionately, but dont pay with your health.

MACKIE SHILSTONE OFFICIAL BIO:

Mackie Shilstone is one of America's most influential sports performance managers, whose expertise has played a pivotal role in the success and longevity of scores of million-dollar world-class athletes.

Over 3000 professional athletes have turned to Mackie to give them the body, the drive, the stamina, and the performance they need to win. Mackie has also transformed the lives of hundreds of everyday people struggling with health and weight problems, poor nutrition, and lack of motivation. To Mackie, there are no barriers between professional athletes and the average person, only different target goals and differing training times to reach those goals.

 Hitting partner Sasha Bajin, Serena Williams and fitness guru Mackie Shilstone (www.mackieshilstone.com)

With a Master of Arts degree and Master of Business Administration, Mackie currently directs The Fitness Principle with Mackie Shilstone at East Jefferson General Hospital. Additionally, Mackie is a Clinical Instructor of Public Health and Preventative Medicine at Louisiana State Health Sciences Center, Adjunct Instructor in the School of Allied Health at Nicholls State University, Adjunct Professor at the A. B. Freeman School of Business at Tulane University, special advisor to the United States Olympic Committee on Sports Nutrition, and has served on the Governor's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, State of Louisiana.

Mackie's newest book, Body Plan for Kids, is a comprehensive guide for parents to gain control of their child's weight. It is the first book of its kind to offer specific strategies for eating healthily, getting fit, and increasing self-esteem targeted at eight- to twelve-year-olds.

Mackie's last book, Lean & Hard: The Body You've Always Wanted in Just 24 Workouts, is the ultimate strength-building workout to build the powerful muscular physique readers always dreamed of having.
Mackie's other books include The Fat Burning Bible, 28 days of foods, supplements, and workouts that help you lose weight, released in January 2005; Feelin' Good About Fitness (Pelican Publishing 1986); Lose Your Love Handles: A 3-Step Program to Streamline Your Waist in Only 30 Days (Perigee 2001) and Maximum Energy for Life (John Wiley 2003). Mackie has written articles for prestigious health and fitness journals, including the American Medical Athletic Association Quarterly and The Physiologist. Recently, Mackie assisted the Nevada State Athletic Commission in writing the chapter Performance Nutrition and Conditioning for boxers for the Manual on Training and Ringside Safety Recommendations for Unarmed Combatants.

The astonishing results of Mackie's work with top athletes are constantly reported in magazines and newspapers across the country. Over 2,000 articles, appearing in print media such as the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, People magazine, and Inc., have praised the Mackie Shilstone method. KO Magazine voted him among the top 50 most influential people in the history of boxing.