Boxing: Holly Holm locked and loaded for return to ring, trainer says

Since the day Holly Holm walked into his Northeast Heights dojo a quarter-century ago, Mike Winkeljohn has been the Albuquerque combat-sports legend’s head trainer — from kickboxing to boxing to MMA and, now, back to boxing.

The Holm he’s helping to prepare for her fight against Mexico’s Yolanda Vega in Aanahem, California on June 28, Winkeljohn said in a phone interview, might be best boxer she’s ever been at age 43.

“Like riding a bike,” he said of Holm’s training for her first boxing match in 12 years. “I’m amazed how she went right back to the things that she used to do really well, and now actually improved on her boxing skills.

“She’s sitting down on her punches, she’s hitting harder, and I’m really excited about where she’s at right now.”

During Holm’s MMA career, which produced a spectacular upset of thought-to-be unbeatable Ronda Rousey and the UFC bantamweight title that came with it, the boxing Hall of Famer didn’t always fare well trading punches.

In losses to Valentina Shevchenko, Germaine de Randamie, Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino and Ketlen Vieira, judges saw her opponents as having had the advantage with their fists — though Team Holm will always believe, with some justification, that the de Randamie and Vieira decisions should have gone the Albuquerque fighter’s way.

Boxing, Winkeljohn said, offers a less complicated task: no worries about kicks or takedowns, whether attacking or defending.

Holm’s kicks — she was a kickboxer before she was a boxer — were always her most dangerous weapon in MMA. In order to throw an effective kick, a fighter needs a strong base, restricting the ability to move.

Additionally, Winkeljohn said, “It all changes because of the wrestling. You don’t want to get taken down; you want to take the opponent down. So you can’t just let your punches go.

“With boxing, you don’t care. They’re not gonna take you down. … There’s less things to worry about, etcetera.”

Movement was always a major part of Holm’s repertoire as a boxer, and likely will against Vega, who fights with an aggressive style and mindset. Yet, says Winkeljohn, the strength work Holm has done on almost a daily basis since her last boxing match (May 11, 2013, a victory by lopsided unanimous decision over Mary McGee) has greatly enhanced her punching power.

If Vega presses the action, he said, she’ll do so at her own risk.

“The movement that (Holm) has always had is still there, if she needs to use it,” he said. “But if (Vega) comes hard, she’s gonna run into a train on the other side. So be careful what you wish for.”

Vega, who hails from Ciudad Obregon in the Mexican state of Sonora, has compiled her impressive record (10-0, one KO) against less than stellar opposition and will be fighting later this month for the first time outside her native country.

Videos of Vega’s fights, though, reveal a tough and fearless competitor with significantly developed skills. Though she lacks knockout power, she punches with authority.

Winkeljohn said there’s no underestimating Vega, who signed with Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions at the same time Holm did. MVP is promoting the card.

“She’s talented,” Winkeljohn said. “There’s a reason she’s fighting Holly. She’s not gonna be a pushover by any means; it’s supposed to be a hard fight.”

A hard fight, he said, is what Holm prefers.

“Holly never, never has wanted easy fights,” he said. “Nor has she ever said no to a fight. … Her goal is to get back to the top of boxing, and she has to go through this girl first.”

The June 28 bout has been made at the lightweight limit of 135 pounds, which is the MMA bantamweight limit at which Holm contested all but two of her 23 MMA fights. In compiling a 33-2-3 boxing record, she campaigned at 140, 147 and 154 pounds.

Winkeljohn believes fighting at 135 pounds will be an advantage for Holm.

“She’s bringing that strength down (to the lower weight),” he said.

There’s another number — 43, her age — that’s an inescapable topic where Holm is concerned.

Is Winkeljohn concerned? Not at all, he said, having seen Holm stay in prime physical condition throughout her career.

“She’s in better shape than 99.999 percent of the fighters out there,” he said.

Care has been taken throughout that career, he added, to limit the force and frequency of blows she’s taken to the head.

People have been urging Holm to retire since she lost to Anne Sophie Mathis by knockout in December 2011. The word came up again after Holm’s loss by second-round submission to Kayla Harrison on April 13 2024 in what may or may not have been Holm’s last MMA fight. It’s come up many times in between.

So, Winkeljohn was asked. When Holm hears “the r-word,” does she still get angry?

“She sure does.”