"Whenever Mike would get on the scale, he wouldn't let Mike look"

Boxingtalk's  Stephen Breland caught up with trainer Buddy McGirt as he was leaving the Miccosukee Resort where his charge, former WBO junior lightweight champion Mike Anchondo, had just suffered his first defeat, a fourth round TKO at the hands of Jorge Barrios.   Buddy answers questions about Mike's not so Mighty conditioning and the weight issue that resulted in Anchondo losing his title on the scale.


SB: Buddy, whats up?  What happened to Mike tonight?

BM: Mike was going through a lot of things with his conditioner, he lost a lot of weight and he just didn't have it.  That's just the bottom line.

SB: So it just didn't make sense for him to even try to shed the pounds, to just give up the title on

BM: (cutting in) He could barely walk yesterday, so to shed the pounds would've made it even worse

SB: Was it any one thing that happened over the last few months?

BM: Well what happened, the last few days the conditioner guy told me he was at weight. He told Mike he was at weight.  Whenever Mike would get on the scale he wouldn't let Mike look at the scale.  He told him 'don't look at the scale, I'll look at the scale'. Mike trusted him.  All along he was heavy, and he (the conditioner) never said anything.

SB: How did he feel during camp?

BM: He had a great camp.  But yesterday (the day before the fight) the conditioner put him in the sauna for four hours.  He lost 9.5 lbs.

SB: Was it difficult previously for him to make weight or was this the first time had trouble in camp?

BM: In camp the conditioner said ' I got his weight don't worry'. The kid said 'Buddy, he has my weight don't worry', so I trust the conditioner's word. I mean If the fighter trusts him... I checked, I asked how's his weight and he said 'don't worry Buddy, he's at at weight.  He's at 130 right now'. So, I took his word for it.