Holm’s trainer says he was ‘overconfident’ in first Mathis bout

Over the years, as victories and titles flowed like spring water, trainer Mike Winkeljohn made some changes in boxer Holly Holm’s pre-fight regimen.

Training gradually became less opponent-specific, Winkeljohn says, and more focused on merely improving Holm’s skills from fight to fight.

“As time went on,” he says, “Holly made it so easy on us with her assets that we stopped worrying about (opponents’) strengths as much and just figured that Holly doing what she does would solve the problem.”

	Friday Pro Boxing, 7 p.m., Route 66 Casino Hotel: Holly Holm vs. Anne Sophie Mathis, several other fights. Tickets: $25-$200, startickets.com

Then, on Dec. 2, came a human wrecking ball named Anne Sophie Mathis. In front of a stunned crowd at Route 66 Hotel Casino, France’s Mathis hurt Albuquerque’s Holm in the fifth round, battered her in the sixth and knocked her out with a devastating right hand in seventh.

That outcome “humbled me, because I was really overconfident,” Winkeljohn said last month at a news conference to announce Friday’s Holm-Mathis rematch at Route 66.

Winkeljohn was perfectly aware of Mathis’ remarkable knockout ratio entering the December fight: 21 stoppages in 26 fights. But his trust in Holm’s skills, and in his own, overrode his gravest concerns.

Now, he says, “We overlooked some simple things, like that this girl (Mathis) has the ability to walk through fire and keep coming.

“A couple of other things caught us off guard that had to do with our training and our game plan, which I can’t get into. … But we just didn’t put enough thought into respecting the opponent’s skills.”

And now?

Winkeljohn says this training camp has been sharp in its focus on Mathis (26-1, 22 KOs).

“More intense,” he says. “What she did when Holly did different things; what Holly wasn’t doing when she did specific things.

“And I’ve tried to get into her coach’s mind, trying to think what he’s gonna do. Her coach thinks Holly’s gonna make some adjustments. What adjustments does her coach think (she’ll make), and how can we one-up that?”

Holm’s only previous defeat came eight years ago, the freakish result of a cut. Until December, the Albuquerque southpaw had fought 24 times without a loss.

Not all those fights were easy; she fought to a draw in Auburn Hills, Mich., against Mary Jo Sanders and had some difficulties with Myriam Lamare, Mathis’ French countrywoman.

Yet, Winkeljohn says, nothing in Holm’s experience had prepared her for Mathis.

“Holly has risen to the top fast and hasn’t had to have many of those long, drawn-out wars that you don’t want your fighter to have,” he says. “But, in a funny way, they help you in a future fight.”

Holm, perhaps, made the first Mathis fight more of a war than it needed to be.

She has said she believes she was winning the fight through four rounds, perhaps five. But Winkeljohn says she was pushing her luck by trading punches with a puncher virtually from the opening bell.

“I was not happy with some of the things Holly was doing, and we had those conversations between rounds,” he says. “Apparently, I wasn’t using the right words to instill confidence in her to get back to what we needed to do.

“No, I wasn’t happy with the way the fight was unfolding. We were winning, but (not the way he wanted).”

Holm (30-2-3, 9 KOs) rarely has entered the ring as an underdog, but she has performed well in that role.

Before the Albuquerquean’s first fight with Sanders at Isleta Casino & Resort, four years ago today, many were picking the then-unbeaten Sanders to win. Holm thoroughly outboxed her and won by lopsided unanimous decision.

In September 2005, Holm took on women’s boxing legend Christy Martin at Isleta. Holm, a relative unknown, won easily on the scorecards.

It’s the underdog’s mindset, Winkeljohn says, reminiscent of the Martin fight, that he’s seeing from his fighter now.

“That was the turning point in Holly’s career,” he says.

That career, Winkeljohn believes, is due for another turning point.

“Believe,” he says. “Holly’s coming back.”
— This article appeared on page D1 of the Albuquerque Journal