K-1 Los Angeles Dewey Cooper Training Blog: Week 1

On September 8, at the K-1 Rising 2012 US Championship in Los Angeles, K-1 veteran Dewey Cooper will take on Randy Blake. In the weeks leading up to the fight, Cooper will be providing us with a weekly training blog, giving Bloody Elbow readers updates on how the training is going, and an exclusive look inside the training room of a professional fighter.

I'm taking this fight very seriously and I'm also very excited for this fight, which is not always the case when you're as experienced as I am. This is a huge opportunity and I'm going to be ready to put my best foot forward.

Right now I'm working on every aspect of the fight - hands, feet, strength, conditioning, meditation, focus, rest, diet, everything. There's nothing that's not being covered. We're crossing the t's and dotting the i's. I just found out who my opponent was a few days ago, so right now, I'm focused on myself. I'm trying to reach personal highs and express myself in the fight. Every fight's different, every moment of the fight's different. A fight is like a roller coaster ride, up and downs, twists and turns, so I want to be focused on being able to improvise the night of the fight. Basically I'm planning without planning.

I'm focusing my mind also. Visualizing my goal, having a moment of clarity every day, and white lighting myself, then going out there and putting the work forward so that I'll complete whatever goal is at hand.

In my career, I have fought in both boxing and kickboxing, but it's not hard for me to switch back and forth. I live by a philosophy in life called KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid. So as far as switching back and forth, for boxing, I train in shoes, so no kicking, for kickboxing, I'm barefoot, so I kick. Keep it simple. The only difficulty I have in boxing is that I fight at 190, so there's a little weight cut for a boxing fight. In K-1, weight is no issue.

For this fight, I'm again working with Jeff Mayweather. He's been my boxing trainer since 1998. I've had the same team for almost 20 years - my head trainer is Master Nick "One Kick" Blomgren at One Kick's Gym in Las Vegas. He's my original professional trainer and I've been with him since 1994, and Jeff came shortly after. I have a very experienced team - we've been together many years, and we're looking forward to a good showing September 8.

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2012/8/8/3227129/k-1-k1-los-angeles-dewey-cooper-training-blog