Boxing Training With Pro Boxer Delante “Tiger” Johnson

Training Day

Everybody loves getting to look into professional athletes' everyday lives. We are curious about what makes them tick and want to look at how they go about their training, diet, preparation, and life in general. This helps us learn from them and may even help inspire our very own regiment.

FightCamp Trainer Coach PJ and Rocky Harris do just that for us. They were both fortunate enough to be able to sit down and interview none other than Delante “Tiger” Johnson at Knockouts Gym in South Gate California to give you a sneak peek at what a typical day in the life of a pro fighter in fight camp looks like.

Tiger Johnson

Delante “Tiger” Johnson is currently signed with Top Rank Boxing and is undefeated in his young professional boxing career. As an amateur, he won the gold medal at the 2016 Youth World Championships and a bronze medal at the 2019 Pan American Games. Tiger also represented the United States in the 2020 Olympics making it all the way to the quarterfinals.

Curious Boxing Minds Want to Know

Coach PJ and Rocky Harris talk to Tiger after a recent sparring session. Here’s what they asked him:

FightCamp: How has the transition from amateur to professional been?

Tiger: One of the biggest things Tiger mentions is that there is a big step up from the amateurs to the pros. As an amateur, he was fortunate enough to be able to travel across the globe, fighting boxers from different countries, all with their own unique boxing styles. With his amateur experience, he was able to make the jump and had to focus on some minor adjustments now that he was gonna be fighting professionally.

FightCamp: How do you maintain your hand speed?

Tiger: As he likes to put it, Tiger has always had speed growing up as a kid and was fortunate enough to be naturally inclined to have fast hands. He does recommend a couple of drills to help improve your hand speed: speed bag and double end bad work on a consistent basis.

FightCamp: How is professional training different from amateur training?

Tiger: One of the things that Tiger has started to put more attention towards, now that he is a professional boxer, is the smaller details, like sitting down on his punches and being more fluid - this helps to maximize the full power of a punch. He also is spending more time working on his defensive skills to optimize his reflexes and when in the clinch, working on head movement and keeping his guard up.

FightCamp: How does strength/conditioning play a role in your training?

Tiger: Some boxers prefer to lift heavy, Tiger is the opposite when it comes to his training, opting for a lower weight typically with more reps. Conditioning-wise, Tiger recommends doing sprints, jump rope, speed bag, and bag drills, and to always get your miles in. Your diet has to be on point too.

FightCamp: What does your diet and nutrition look like?

Tiger: Typical meals are

• Breakfast: Egg whites, turkey sausage, some fruit, two slices of toast, and some water.

• Pre-fight dinner: Pasta, fruit, and water.

• Fight Night Breakfast: Waffles, scrambled eggs, turkey sausage, fruit, and water.

• Water: One gallon a day

FightCamp: Describe your different fight camp stages

Tiger: At the beginning of a fight camp, usually most boxers are a little overweight, so it's getting back into a groove, and starting your diet to help get your weight back down. Towards the middle of fight camp, you should be at least halfway towards your fight weight, you should be in shape and your sparring should be going well. Towards the end of camp, you should be ready for fight night and training is slowed down - all the hard work has already been put in.

FightCamp: How do you mentally prepare for a fight?

Tiger: For Tiger, he likes to try and visualize the fight and picture what's happening in the ring and make sure that he executes the game plan.

FightCamp: How does pro training compare to Olympic training?

Tiger: According to Tiger, there is a bit more traveling with pro training and it is more fun. At both levels, you are constantly around the best of the best and at the professional level, you get to be around world champions. “I get to be around greatness and people chasing the same goals as me; it’s definitely motivating.”

Train Like Tiger

Take your workouts to the next level and train like Tiger with the at-home connected fitness solution used by world champion boxers Mike Tyson and Floyd Mayweather. FightCamp has everything you need to work out on your schedule, with premium boxing equipment and hundreds of on-demand strength, conditioning, kickboxing, boxing, core, and recovery classes led by real fighters. As Mike Tyson said - “FightCamp is the next level of training!”