Danon “Phenomenon” Quick: Manny Pacquiao You Need Me!
Exclusive Interview by Marc Anthony
“Freddie is old, Freddie is almost 70 now? So he is not able to move and that is why Manny Pacquiao doesn’t really know how to use his feet. Everyone is: “Oh, he is so fast and hits so hard,” but Manny has some of the worst defense if you have ever seen it. Manny would definitely benefit in an amazing way” – Danon “Phenomenon” Quick
With technology continuing to advance throughout the years, there is always someone looking to improve a product. The same can be said about boxing. The sweet science attracts people from all walks of life, from rich to poor. We get people doing wonderful things in this sport, some doing it for the love, others for the money and everything in between.
The personalities of men and women get showcased on print, internet, and television. Today we take the time to speak to a young up and coming boxing trainer that has big plans to change the sport of boxing: Danon Quick, AKA: “Phenomenon.”
MA: You have worked with Floyd Mayweather, SR. Is this correct?
Yes, I am really thankful to Floyd, SR. He has been a great mentor and a great friend to me. I just spoke to him yesterday as a matter of fact: It’s for me to come back to Vegas because he has some fighters he wants me to see, it’s great. I just don’t work with him but I do my own thing and he is really behind what I am doing. He is very excited that the boxing world is going to see something new.
MA: From what I understand, your style is very entertaining compared to the approaches of other trainers.
It’s a bunch of things. First and foremost, there has never been any training quite like it. Let me back up: I am certified in nine different styles of fighting: From boxing all the way to aikido, kung fu, jiu jitsu, Muay Thai. When I train fighters, it’s from a martial arts stand point. But the difference between the ways I train them is “awareness”. Look at the way that fighters are today. Boxing is pretty much the same. Same technique, the same way that they fight, same defense, everything, the problem over the years is that boxing has become a thing where there hasn’t been anything new.
Boxers are not taught the way martial artists are taught. Martial artists are taught to attack the body, but it doesn’t necessarily mean we will attack your stomach, sides or your ribs…we will attack your legs, or we will hit your arm: Because we can break many things on your body, we don’t have to hit your face or stomach. We learn from a martial arts stand point how to attack your body in a way that boxers would never think about. I know different places to attack that a boxer wouldn’t hit them with, even your arm. I can dislocate your arm with just one shot. I started taking all these different techniques that I had. So, seven years ago, I started creating a new boxing style. And it is ferocious: It has the speed, the velocity, and the power of martial arts but in boxing. I call it: A.D.A; I know what you are thinking what does A.D.A stand for? Anticipate Defend Attack. Those are the three things that I train.
The thing is that boxers are just getting in the ring and doing a slugfest today. They just go toe to toe, whoever is going the throw the most power. I am a defensive specialist, self –defense! I used to teach some of the Marines.
I looked at boxing and one of the things that these boxers are not doing is defending themselves. Yeah they can hit. The thing that people ask me, Sir, Mr. Phenomenon, you have a lot of power. I tell them they can knock me out too. Real fighting is the point of not to get hit. Whoever has the best defense, no matter how hard they hit is the person who usually wins the fight. And the bottom line is that I teach my fighters to anticipate. I make them much more aware that is beyond anything that is out there, it’s mental.
Before we throw punches, I teach them things that are totally different. What to look for, what to look at. Boxers don’t study the human body. I do! That’s what I did. I teach them how to look at a fighter. Look at their shoulders, legs, stances, how their hands are positioned. Guys that I did train were knocking guys out in the first round. Once my fighters are out there fighting for five or ten years, guess what? I am going have to redo it. Once people see it and they critique it.
That’s what I was able to do with boxing because there hasn’t been anything new. All the trainers, the truth is I am young enough to be their son, so I am going in with much more speed, much more power and I am coming with something that they can’t deal with. It’s something totally new and you would have to be an expert in martial arts or an amazing fighter to defend against this. Anytime I train guys, they are going be a lot more ferocious, they are going to have better defense and when they do hit someone, it’s going to be something that most boxers have never been hit with. That’s way some of the guys that been hit by my guys can’t take it. Because they are hitting pressure points not just regular spots.
MA: Who in your mind could really benefit from your style right now…a big name?
(Laughter) All of them! Honestly all the guys out there need it. If I were to name a few off the bat, I will tell you who and why. One of the first people I think would be Manny Pacquiao. The reason I say Manny Pacquiao is for him to be as fast as he is, for him to hit as hard as he does, but to not have defense? Is amazing! Freddie Roach…I have a lot of respect for Freddie Roach, I think he is a good trainer. I actually learned things from afar from Freddie. That’s what I do…I watch and study all these trainers. I think he is a great trainer and good at what he does. However Freddie is old, Freddie is almost 70 now? So he is not able to move and that is why Manny Pacquiao doesn’t really know how to use his feet. Everyone is: “Oh, he is so fast and hits so hard,” but Manny has some of the worst defense if you have ever seen it. Manny would definitely benefit in an amazing way.
Watch Floyd and watch the fights that Manny has had and you will see that Manny is exposing himself more and more. Fighters are seeing more and more flaws in Manny as the fights get tougher for him. So what happens is you get a guy like Manny Pacquiao with no defense but hits the way he does when he starts going against people like Floyd, who has excellent defense and bigger guys who don’t get affected by his power, then it’s a battle of “I got to outpoint this guy” not I got to box this guy and win and win looking good. Manny would definitely benefit from it.
Andre Berto would benefit from it. You saw what happened in his last fight. Yeah Andre Berto would need it no question. Paul Williams, Shane Mosley, I can go on and on and tell you how each one of those would need it. Paul Williams, I like him, he is a guy with a lot of potential but these trainers are old. They are training all these fighters how to do stuff that is the typical normal.
When they get in the ring the style is so old and it’s so slow, I don’t believe Paul Williams should have got knocked out like that. There is no way. Andre Berto should have never got beat like that, no way. Andre and Paul Williams are way too skilled. Paul Williams with his long arms should have used his jab and kept him at a distance. Jab to the body, jab to the head, moving at angles, moving his head.
Sergio Martinez is not what people think he is. I like Martinez, I love Martinez, but when you watch Martinez, you know why Martinez puts his arms down and leans his head forward? Because nobody he has fought against has had a great jab and they didn’t move there head. There is a difference when you use speed against someone who is slow. Then you can put your hands down like that. But somebody with a good jab that has great defense, that not going be there when you throw your punches, the fight is totally different.
Martinez has become a power guy. He throws punches but he waits for that one shot, like he did with Paul Williams. So these fighters today…the reason they are fighting like this is because they don’t have anybody young enough, tough enough, with that speed and that agility. Every fighter now has become a power guy.
Look at Berto in his last fight, what did he do? He fought with just one punch. He was looking for that one punch the whole night! He didn’t get out of the way, he was flat footed. Why? Because his coach can’t teach him that. Again this is not a knock against any of the coaches. I like them. I think if you watch them you can learn some things from everyone. That’s the truth. But, there comes a point in time when something special comes along and I have done my homework. Seven years of creating something new, and the boxing world has been waiting for it. They are starving for it. There is no superstar in the boxing world anymore. Manny is pretty much the only thing out there that people really go crazy over. The moment that Floyd starts fighting as a real champion and I love Floyd, I think he is one of the most gifted could be best fighter in the world. But until he fights against the best we won’t know, until he does that we won’t know how good he really is.
I personally think he is one of the best of the world, could be. The only reason I say could be is because until he steps inside the ring and doesn’t dictate, we all have seen it in the Juan Manuel Marquez fight, small Ricky Hatton. When he fought against Mosley I loved it. I thought it was a brilliant fight. I thought he caught Mosley a little bit too late. Mosley is past his prime a little bit. Any fighter, who doesn’t think that, doesn’t know boxing. He is not the same “Sugar” Shane Mosley even though he is a great person, a great fighter and I love him. I would love to work with him one day but he is not the Sugar Shane of old. Age is a factor. He caught him later in this career. Even though it was a brilliant fight, Floyd did his thing.
For the record: everybody who thought Floyd Mayweather was hurt when he fought Mosley…he wasn’t hurt. Floyd just went through something that he never felt before. His body mechanics, when he got hit, Floyd wasn’t hurt, he was shocked that he was able to be hit like that from Mosley. Also, his body felt something that he has never felt before. You have to remember, Floyd has beautiful defense. He’s never been hit like that. When he did get hit like that his body shut down on him. He was totally calm, he wasn’t hurt. His body just said “we got hit with something what the heck is this?” We are not used to this; we don’t know what this is. His mind says “I am okay” and his hurt says “I am okay” but his body said “but we’re not”.
Once he recovered, that’s when he was able to beat Mosley as brilliant as he did. But I believe that fight would have been a much different fight had he fought Mosley in his prime. I think it would have been a much different fight had he fought Oscar De La Hoya in his prime.
MA: How did you know that boxing was what you were made for?
You know what…I am going be honest with you. When I was young and this is going sound insane but it’s the truth…my dad was a boxing fanatic, but I was taking martial arts back then: I have been doing martial arts since I was nine years old. From a child I was fascinated by Bruce Lee, the greatest thing I have ever seen from a fighter’s perspective. I had no idea that he was into boxing. Bruce Lee was heavily into boxing. I started really getting into it.
At the time my dad was all into Muhammad Ali. When he was watching Ali, he would always make me watch. And Ali has some similarities to Bruce Lee: Their foot movement…how they moved around. To make a long story short, I got into boxing when I was a kid and I fell in love with it when watching Ali. I knew about boxing. I knew about Joe Frazier, Ken Norton and all those guys.
Again, I was a little kid, but Ali really got me curios because he was so flashy. The first time that I have ever seen a boxer who has a certain kind of flair and flash with the people that was different than most boxers. If you look at the way they looked in comparison to Muhammad, it was different. If you watch the way he walked into the room and electrified it, it was different. That’s when I felt that love for boxing. As I started getting older and more into it, it was “Sugar” Ray Leonard with his flash, it was almost as if Ali passed the torch to Leonard in a different type of way. When “Sugar” Ray came in, that’s when I really started thinking about “Hey you know what I wanted to be a boxer” and I actually started taking up boxing. I still did martial arts but I started taking up boxing.
During that time, I got into a ring, and I will never forget it. I got into a ring and I knocked him out in like fifteen seconds. After that happened the coach couldn’t believe it. He looked at me moving in the ring and he told me I must have done boxing before. I said no…I have taken boxing but I have never strictly done boxing. That’s how I fell in love with boxing: watching Ali and then going into the era of watching “Sugar” Ray Leonard and to add to that what made me create the style that I have.
What made me really get into it from a training perspective was over the years, up until Mike Tyson it started to fade. And then after Mike, it just totally went down. Boxing was no longer pure anymore. It wasn’t about the best fighters fighting against the best fighters. It was about money. And along the way trainers that were really good. You really didn’t get a chance to see them because the politics of boxing.
Let me ask you this real quick and not to stray from the subject but it’s something I guarantee you that when I am done you are going say “wow…it’s a breath of fresh air,” and it’s why so many people around the world are loving what I am doing and they are so excited about me in the game of boxing. I am exposing a lot of things and I am bringing the fight back to boxing and the purity back to boxing.
Why is it in every other sport, baseball, basketball, hockey, football? We could name every sport…, why do they look for the next young thing to emerge? They’re looking for somebody to replace Brett Favre. That’s how it is in every other sport. Look at the NBA today, half of the NBA is young guys. By the way, who is the best team right now? The young guys! Why that is? Because every other sport is smart enough to say” look we can’t take these old guys” because it doesn’t make sense. But because boxing has become so controlled over the years, boxing hasn’t been pure in about ten years.
Look how many belts there are. Because of that I was like you know what, I am watching all these guys, again Naseem Richardson? Good trainer. Mayweather? Great trainer. Freddie Roach? Good trainer. All of them are good. When you read this interview and for people around the world that really don’t know Phenomenon but they are going to get to know me. There is no knock against any of the trainers. This is no knock against them because what they did for boxing has paved the way for a person like me. If it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t have the style that I have. Bottom line is 20 to 30 years from now when I am their age then somebody is going came behind me with something. And it’s just what it is.
Why isn’t Kareem Abdul Jabbar still not playing in the NBA… because he is too old. It’s the same thing with boxing after a while you have to say, okay its common sense,
MA: Makes a lot of sense the recruitment…
Right, why isn’t there recruitment in boxing? All these old trainers, you know why, because they can dictate who gets knocked out. First and foremost you have to remember they are not going to take a risk. Every now and then there are disappointments but we are talking about boxing today. These promoters are not going to put someone in the ring unless they know for a fact there going to win. Just like with Bob Arum, and I love Bob Arum, love Top Rank, but if you look at Manny Pacquiao’s fights up until Mosley they are all Bob Arum fighters. Ask yourself why that is.
MA: I think everyone is pretty much aware that Top Rank guys fight Top Rank guys.
There you go.
MA: That’s a good point about the recruitment at a younger age and the longer camps.
Yeah, that’s my main thing that I have been preaching to everybody. And everybody has been like “wow I have never thought of that.” And they said exactly what you just said. And when you think about it, that’s why it’s a dying sport. It’s going take somebody like myself to bring it back and to breathe something new! When you watch Freddie Roach and when you watch Mayweather, we have been watching it for twenty to thirty years. You have not seen anything new. The same thing, so when the fighters get in the ring you are going see a duplication of that. Twenty to thirty years you are going see the same style. Again let me say on the record, there is no knock against all these trainers because I think they are all awesome and they all brought something very wonderful to the table but here we are thirty years later and we are still watching the same thing happening. And you ask yourself Freddie Roach, good trainer; love him,he has been in the game for a long time. But why is it that all the top fighters are still going to him?
Pacquiao could have gone to any trainer. What was Freddie Roach doing before Pacquiao got to him? Again there is no knock; I am just bringing truth to the matter. That doesn’t take away anything from him. I am just making it known when you see all the best fighters now going to him what happens is he becomes this icon in boxing and more credit to him. If that’s the way it’s supposed to be? That’s cool. But to be honest with you, what happens is look at all these trainers out here that are better than him, they may not touch me in training, but they are better than Freddie Roach that you will never see in a million years that can outshine him but because of the politics. Because he has Pacquiao and that’s the reason why they think he is good. But if you watch Pacquiao like how I critiqued it, you wouldn’t see the brilliance in Freddie Roach. You would see a man that is past his prime, that he has a thoroughbred race horse. If you look at Pacquiao he goes to Las Vegas and does karaoke. He doesn’t even take training that serious. Now when he gets into the ring he handles his business. He is the only fighter that dictates his schedule. This guy would leave his own training camps and do karaoke in Manila or go make a movie and everybody knows it. So Freddie Roach has got something special. Big ups to Freddie though because he is a good trainer, Lord knows we all learned something from him.
Boxing has become political, been closed minded and the boxing world paid the price. Look at MMA, why do you think MMA is so big? Berto vs. Ortiz could not have been pay per view. Nobody would have paid for it. MMA can say Don “the hammer fist” Johnson vs. Andy “the shark” Garcia, you have never heard of them but then pay $54.95! Boxing could never do that. Why? Because MMA come with something the Boxing world didn’t have. One, it was youthful. Two, it appealed to younger people. And three, people were fighting, it didn’t matter all that politics? Dana White said that’s it, we are going to fight you. If you are the best you are going to step into the cage and prove it. They didn’t care who your trainer was, they didn’t care who you worked up under. Dana White said I will take the best.
That’s why I love my style of boxing. I don’t promote who I am under; I am the best at what I do. And if you put me against all the best you will see it. That’s the way I was taught. Big ups to all of them, they all know it. And they know what I mean, for the record; I have been around all those guys by the way.
From Mayweather to Freddie Roach, they know what I am talking about. That’s why I give much credit to Floyd Mayweather SR. because I learned valuable knowledge being with him. He is a lot better then what people think he is. You have to be with him one on one to really see how brilliant he really is. But the point is that he is really not the same of old. Floyd Mayweather SR. at one time was the best trainer period! I have worked with all of them. If he wasn’t as old as he is and if he didn’t have health issues he still would be the number one guy in the world. The only reason Freddie is doing what he is doing is because Mayweather is sick. If he wasn’t sick he would be the top guy.
MA: You also have a documentary?
Yes
MA: When does it come out?
It’s in bidding right now with different distributors. Once that goes through then it’s going be released immediately. It’s already been filmed. Talking to JR., he said it could be in a 90 days. John handles my business and I trust him. He does his thing.
MA: When do we get to see your first A.D.A boxer showcased?
I will tell you this. I think it’s going to be a lot sooner. We have reached out to Manny. We have been in touch with Manny Pacquiao’s camp and we have great relationships over there. I think you are going see Phenomenon in action very soon. Don’t be surprised if it’s not Manny Pacquiao. But I have had a lot of people inquiring about me coming out there to Vegas to train. I am almost positive if God willing it might be Manny Pacquiao next. We are not playing this is the real deal. No Mickey Mouse stuff here. Big ups to JR Usi my agent my, my manager and my partner, he is one of the best agents in the world. We are going to kill it on all levels. Thank you for taking the time to give an opportunity to a person like me.