What, specifically, was the plan for Rashad in the Forrest fight?
Where was Forrest’s comfort zone? With Forrest, I wanted Rashad to catch the kick. Forrest almost always commits to the same kind of combination: jab, cross, kick. Like that. He typically ends on a kick. I knew that would be in his plan against Rashad, hoping to slow him down by going to the body and the legs a lot with the kicks. So I wanted Rashad to wait until he committed, catch the kick, and use it to take him down. Rashad had to get warmed up in that fight and get going, and he did, so I was glad it worked out the way it did. In addition to that, Mike Winkeljohn put together a great striking plan, so it’s a team effort. How about mentally, how do you prepare your guys? We just live for the fight itself. If you win, that’s great. If you don’t win, we’ll live to fight another day. If you make it a big deal, it becomes a big deal. If you think, ‘Oh no, this is a title fight, if I lose I won’t be considered the best 205-er in the world,’ that puts a lot of unnecessary pressure on you
