Peter "Kid Chocolate" Quillin is gearing up for his April 29 fight with Jesse Brinkley at the Wild Card Gym, and like some other fighters there, he's taking advantage of a machine called "The Vortex," with strength and conditioning coach Brad Bose.
"The Vortex is unique in that it helps train athletes in more of a sports specific way," Bose explained. "A lot of training in boxing is kind of old fashioned. The machine can be weighed down with 30 pounds for boxers who throw 1600 to 1800 punches within a five to 12 minute span. It increases their punching strength and speed, as well as get them ready for the later rounds, when a boxer's arms are fatigued and they can barely hold them up."
The machine (which can be seen here) is about six feet wide and four or five feet deep. Along with Wild Card boxers and some MMA fighters, Robert Downey Jr. used the machine to get in shape for the Iron Man movies. Bose says it's paying off for Quillin during his current camp.
"'Kid' worked on it for six weeks before going to train in high altitude, where this training will also help his body recover faster," said Bose. "I saw quite a difference in him from the first day when he started with 15 pounds on his arms. After six weeks he made it up to 45 pounds for each arm, throwing 200 punches without a rest. A fighter may average 600 punches thrown in a fight. Training on this machine they have 45 pounds for each arm, throwing 200 punches in two minutes, for 20 minutes without resting. Throwing punches in the ring is no big deal because their arms won't get tired."
Quillin admits that the training has helped him feel strong heading into the fight, but has his own view of the Vortex. "The Vortex is like a torture machine," Quillin remarked. "Brad had me throwing 1200 punches with 30-pound weights. I noticed a big difference. I really feel stronger. I'm up at Big Bear now to get used to the altitude for the fight in Reno. Freddie's my trainer but he's with Manny, so I'm working with his assistant, Eric Brown. I work a lot with him and Freddie still oversees everything."
At 27 and having seen his career stall, taking him from prospect-to-watch to almost forgotten man, Quillin knows that the fight with Brinkley is must-win.
"This is the biggest fight of my life," he said. "Brinkley's coming off his world title fight against Bute and I wanted to find out how I'd do against Jesse Brinkley. He's strong, tough and always comes to fight. I want to campaign as a middleweight but walk around between fights weighing like a super middleweight. I took this fight because I couldn't say no to my first title fight.
"I'm as sharp as a razor. He's going to have to watch out for me punching from every angle. I can hurt him with punches to the head or body. Once he punches, I'll counter-punch. Boxing is a lot like poker, spades or dominos - it can fall either way. I'll be trying to knockout Jesse Brinkley, but anything can happen, so I'm training to just win and prove that I belong at the elite level."
Quillin's fight with Brinkley will be televised on Solo Boxeo Tecate on Telefutura from the Reno Events Center in Reno, Nevada.