The Hitman starts sparring as training hots up, with a little help from The Stones, Oasis and Kings of Leon.
Part Four - Ricky's no rolling stone as sparring gets underway
Thursday, April 2
Today was the first day of sparring and I did six rounds with the former amateur world welterweight champion, Erislandy Lara.
He is a tough southpaw who is signed to Golden Boy and will most likely be on my undercard at the MGM.
Gareth has now flown back to England and will be back soon, so at the moment there' s just a small team here at the IBA Gym.
The
24/7 crew are filming me for HBO and they have been following me around all day.
They make a fantastic show and I will be looking forward to watching it - and I believe you can also see it back in the UK on
Sky Sports.
I am taking things easy this week and just trying to get into the swing of things and finaly get rid of the jet lag.
I have been running around that local park in the mornings but next week will be the mountains. I can't say I'm looking forward to it, one little bit!
Floyd has me running in those big old boots again. I know it helps, but it don't half make your legs feel heavy!
While I'm pounding the roads I like to listen to Oasis, Kings of Leon and the Stone Roses.
But I have also set my ipod so that when I am coming towards the end of the run, which is five miles, the Rolling Stones come on and i pick it up for a fast sprint.
Songs like
Start Me Up and
Satisfaction really get me going at the end of a tough run. I know it's daft but when you get a good track banging out, it really lifts you.
