Joan Guzman's Progress Has Pleased Kerry Kayes
By Lee Collier
Joan Guzman and Lee Beard have enlisted the help of the renowned nutritionist Kerry Kayes in preparation for the upcoming rematch with South African Ali Funeka. Kayes’ expertise is in the nutritional and strength/conditional side of boxing training. Kayes, a former UK bodybuilding champion, was the man responsible for getting Ricky Hatton into shape during his best fighting years alongside advising other top UK fighters such as John Murray and Jamie Moore.
Kayes also owns the famous Betta Bodies gym in Denton, Manchester, which also houses [Joe] Gallagher’s Gym, and the former bodybuilder is also the owner of the CNP Professional sports supplement company. Kayes is respected so much that he is also works with the GB cycling team, UFC fighters such as Michael Bisping, alongside giving seminars nationwide.
Kayes has only come on board with Guzman four weeks before the Funeka fight and admits that the situation is far from ideal. “Lee [Beard] sent me a text from New York saying he had got the job working with Joan and asked would I get involved and I said yes immediately,” revealed Kayes.
“We arranged to meet in the gym the day he got back to Manchester so I met up with him and Joan and Lee’s exact words where, ‘It’s a big fight Kerry, there’s a lot of pressure and I’d like to get you onboard for it as I need all the help I can get’, and I respected him for that.”
“We looked at Joan and realised we were starting from behind the starting line as he had probably let himself go a bit too much after his last fight but that’s par for the course with a lot of boxers,” explained Kayes.
“So we wrote a diet and started monitoring him every week and it’s fair to say when you start working with a boxer for the first time you have to gain their trust. Lee was saying the right things to Guzman telling him to trust me and that I’m good at what I do so I’d like to thank Lee for that. Joan is now a believer and I have gained his confidence and once you have the boxers trust you can do a few more radical moves with them.”
Kayes then continued, “The worst thing you can with someone you have never met before, remembering this is not someone losing a bit of weight to go on holiday but someone trying to lose weight to make a weight for a world title, is tell them everything they have been doing is wrong and that your way is right. You have to do it a little bit at a time to gain the confidence. It would be nice to have 12 weeks and we have had four weeks but the results are coming. He has told Lee he is feeling stronger than ever and a lot fresher so I’m quite pleased.”
Guzman has a reputation for being a lazy trainer and gaining weight between fights. A lack of activity and bad dieting led Guzman to fail the lightweight limit for a showdown with Nate Campbell. As Kayes mentioned previously, a lot of boxers pile on weight between fights and the two-weight world champion is no different.
“He [Guzman] was nearly 40lbs over the limit when he came here and I’d like to say 38lb of that was water retained on the flight over here but in reality it isn’t,” joked a jovial Kayes. “So it’s been a drastic weight loss and my job is to make him get to the weight as healthy as possible. I will get him to the weight and he will be healthy but it isn’t an ideal way of doing things but we don’t have the luxury of time.”
Guzman is that impressed with the work he has done with Kayes and Beard in Manchester that he intends to train in Manchester for a full 10 weeks prior to his next fight. According to Kayes and trainer Beard, Guzman has stated he is feeling stronger and fresher than he ever has in his career.
“He [Guzman] already believes in what we’ve done in two weeks and Guzman has told Lee he wants to come over for 10 weeks next time which means he is happy with the work we are doing. He is probably thinking if I can do this in two weeks what could I do with 10 weeks, which is giving him a buzz,” revealed Kayes.
Guzman is due to finish his training in Las Vegas, arriving this week. Unfortunately, due to the busy schedule of Kayes, the strength/conditioning coach will not arrive until the week of the fight.
“I have other commitments, such as I have a seminar here in Betta Bodies this week then on Sunday I have a bodybuilding show which I run every year as I’m the promoter so I’m going over for the last week,” stated Kayes. “I’ll draw up my nutritional plan and I’ll give Lee all the products he needs for the week I’m away, and I’ll be there for the weigh in.”
One final point that Kayes was keen to stress was that his job was to make the fighter stronger and to get them in a better shape physically for the fight. There is no intention to try and make the boxers look like bodybuilders.
“I’d like the readers to know that we are not trying to make the fighters into bodybuilders, which a lot of people think. I don’t make them better boxers; I just make them better athletes. If the physique looks good then that’s a by-product of the physique being good. A body builder just wants to look good whereas a boxer wants to perform at his best and if he has low body fat and toned muscle he is going to be a better boxer, and he’ll feel better,” stressed Kayes.
