In the second installment of Top Rank’s behind the scenes miniseries Blood, Sweat and Tears, focused on this weekend’s title fight between Jamel Herring and Shakur Stevenson, we get a little bit more into the nitty-gritty of training camp as well as the fighters’ backstories.
For Herring, he makes his way up to Colorado for the second half of his training camp. Much to my surprise he’s met by Amir Khan, who has become the latest fighter to join Terence Crawford’s camp under the guidance of lead trainer Brian McIntyre.
“I decided to join the team with BoMac here — obviously Crawford, we’ve worked together, we fought against each other — but when BoMac studied my style I thought he’d be the best idea for me to join the camp as well because he knows me inside out,” Khan said.
But to that end Herring makes a clear, important distinction.
“As soon as I walked through those doors they know everyone can’t be a ‘Bud’ Crawford,” Herring noted. “But the main thing here is no one here is better than the other. We all are treated equally. There’s no ‘this is the guy’...everyone is treated the same.
Shortly after we get a glimpse into the personal life of Shakur Stevenson, who is now expecting his first child with female rap artist Lyric. This introduces a clear juxtaposition as while Stevenson will be welcoming a newborn, Herring had to bury his own as he recalls the difficulty of losing his daughter to SIDS.
Watch the full second episode of the series before the fighters square off this weekend in Atlanta.