If you haven't heard,
there's a severe flu bug ravaging the East Coast, specifically New York. “Nightline”
recently opened its broadcast talking about this outbreak (and by the way, am I
the only one watching this show now that it was moved back an hour?). This
weekend, there is a significant fight card taking place in the heart of the
city at the Theater at Madison Square Garden (Saturday,
9:45 p.m., ET/PT, HBO). The fighters and their camps have come
into town and as of now, everybody has been given a clean bill of health.
“I haven't heard anything
that anyone is under the weather. The promoters might be feeling a little sick
but the fighters are doing well,” quipped Carl Moretti of Top Rank on Tuesday night. Top Rank is co-promoting
this HBO tripleheader with K2 Promotions.
A press workout was
scheduled on Wednesday afternoon and for now, everyone looks to be
feeling fine. The key is to keep them that way as they head into the weekend
for these pivotal contests. Sean Gibbons of Zanfer Promotions, which handles
Orlando Salido (who defends his WBO featherweight title versus Mikey Garcia)
says, “I've been told to keep him in the room; we've been out a time or two.
But outside of that, he's not making a lot of contact with anybody and shaking
hands or anything like that stuff.”
Gibbons adds, “Myself, I'm
like a maniac; I've been taking vitamin C, 1000 milligrams an hour. I got a ‘Z-Pak’;
I got vitamins.”
Dr. Margaret Goodman, who
served on the Nevada State Athletic Commission from 1994-2005 as a ring
physician and from 2001-2007 as the Medical Advisory Board Chairperson, recommends
a flu shot for these fighters a few weeks before the fight.
“The good thing for a
fighter is that they're young for the most part unless we're talking about some
of the older guys. But usually if you're young enough, a flu shot is going to
be most effective,” she explained. “If you're in good health, it's going to be
the most effective. So for people like me that are unfortunately older or
little children, a flu shot is the least effective.”
But not everyone believes in
flu shots. There is a belief that they do more harm than good, to which Dr.
Goodman states, “All those old wives’ tales about how you can get the flu from
a flu shot are really ridiculous. That just doesn't happen and it's a dead
virus that they are giving you. So you cannot get the flu from a flu shot. I
used to wonder about that myself but no, that shouldn't happen.”
Whether you get a flu shot
or not, what should be practiced by any athletes in these types of situations
is basic common sense that doesn't need a prescription.
“Obviously, the main thing
is staying away from people who are already sick,” says Dr. Goodman, which may
be easier said than done in New York. “I know this sounds crazy and it's not
the most cosmetic thing to do but if they're traveling in an airplane or in an
airport, I would wear a mask. I know that sounds over-the-top but that's going
to protect you as much as anything.” Yeah, it does sound a bit extreme but the
fact is, airplanes have hundreds of people on them at any given time and during
the flu season, they can easily become cross-country vessels for viruses. Just
think about how many times you've taken a flight and fellow passengers coughed
all the way through the trip.
“Exposure is something they
should avoid. If I was a fighter, and obviously on the night of the fight, it
doesn't matter but beforehand, I would wear a mask. And obviously, wash their
hands as much as they can, don't shake hands with people and if they are forced
in a situation where they are shaking hands or even a doctor examining them,
we'd hope that the pre-fight physical doctor would wear gloves, maybe even a mask
if they were otherwise sick.”
She also recommends hand
sanitizers such as Purell since you could be touching phones, counters or anything
else that is out in public. “The problem is, you yourself could be healthy but
no one else around you is,” Dr. Goodman points out. She also adds, “Stay away
from public transportation as much as possible.”
And there is this factor: Since
these boxers all have to make weight, they might be cutting their consumption
of fluids. “Obviously, losing weight, dehydration is going to lower your immunity,
so that's a bad thing,” said Dr. Goodman.
Daryl Hudson, Garcia’s
strength-and-conditioning coach, had a touch of the flu late last week before
touching down in New York on Tuesday evening. He said it didn't affect their
preparation for this fight. “Not really,” he told Maxboxing, “because it
doesn't take me long to get over it because I know what to do as far as getting
over the flu. But the main thing is limiting my physical contact with him in
doing all the drills and all the work that we normally do.” As for any special
measures they are taking this week, Hudson says it's really no different than
any other fight that would be held in a Las Vegas casino (other than the
temperature, which will range between 30 and 40 degrees for much of the week).
Regardless of the season, if you see boxers during fight week, they are usually
dressed warmly or at least in sweatsuits.
“Stay out of the cold for
one. We're still pretty much following the same diet that we would normally do.
But the main thing is, a lot of rest and stay out of this cold weather and keep
him away from people; keep the contact down. That's the main thing. Limit the
handshakes, no personal contact that [Garcia] wouldn't normally have with
people.”
Gennady Golovkin, Gabe
Rosado, Rocky Martinez and Juan Carlos Burgos are said to be fine.
“They're young; they're fighters. They should probably be in better health than most,” says Dr. Goodman, who then warns, “But anybody can get the flu.”
MANTI FLURRIES
Sergio Thompson faces Moises
Castro in Villa Hermosa, Mexico on Saturday night on Fox Deportes. Also in
action will be Deontay Wilder and Ivan Morales...I'm told that if Manny
Pacquiao does go through with a tune-up fight in April, there is a good chance
that Nonito Donaire's next bout (which might be on April 27th) will
move back to the States...Milli Vanilli can't even believe how phony Manti Te’o
is. I mean, seriously, you thought Alabama and Eddie Lacy exposed this guy? Geez,
what about Deadspin? Seriously, the guy who wrote that piece should be up for a
Pulitzer Prize...That whole snafu was Twitter gold (and yes, I got off some
gems if I say so myself)...RIP to Conrad Bain, he was a man of means...
Steve can be reached at k9kim@yahoo.com and he tweets at www.twitter.com/stevemaxboxing. We also have a Facebook fan page at www.facebook.com/MaxBoxing, where you can discuss our content with Maxboxing readers as well as chime in via our fully interactive article comments sections.
