Daniel Geale is enjoying his training and hungrier than ever as he prepares for his IBO super middleweight title fight at the Silverdome in just 16 days.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The 35-year-old, former IBF world middleweight champion said he is feeling strong and cannot wait to get into the ring against Sydney’s Renold Quinlan in his first super middleweight fight in front of a home crowd.
“The intensity in my training has really stepped up and I am pushing it and enjoying it more too,” Geale told Fairfax media.
He is doing two training sessions a day in preparation for the fight which includes daily gym, weights, running with sparring sessions two or three times a week.
Geale credits new trainer Anthony Redward with providing a breath of fresh air over the past five or six months mixing up his training schedule and said he was feeling stronger at the higher super middleweight limit.
“I do feel stronger and I think it is a mental thing as well. I don’t feel as stressed as I did fighting down a weight and I am not worried about making a weight and then killing myself to get there.
“I am enjoying Anthony’s different ideas – he is quite young and only a little bit older than me and a bit of enthusiasm has definitely been healthy.”
Geale said he planned to lift the training intensity with more sparring and hard work over the next week before tapering down and sharpening up in the week before the fight.
Tactically, he was keeping his fight plans to himself but said he would go into the ring with a positive mindset despite his last two world title fight defeats to Gennady Golovkin and Miguel Cotto.
“Sometimes it is best not to dwell on negative thoughts and I am going to go in there being positive and concentrating on what I do best.
“I know I have been in there with some of the best fighters in the world but I am going to take positives away from it and not negatives and I know I have still got a lot left in me.
“I am way more hungry than I have ever been and the important thing is that I am enjoying it.”
Quinlan will be a tough opponent he said, despite the fact that some people tend to write him off.
“He is young, powerful and explosive and has plenty of ability so I am definitely going to have to be on my game.
“I can’t relax with a guy like Renold and he is going to be dangerous the whole way through so I am just concentrating on making sure I stick to my game plan and execute everything that I have been doing in the gym.
“I can’t give too much away about my game plan – I just need to get back to what I do best and that’s what I am doing.”