NBA – Victor Wembanyama and the young Spurs take boxing lessons with James Leija, legend of San Antonio who has worked for a long time with Tim Duncan or Manu Ginobili.
A native of San Antonio, “Jesse” James Leija was the WBC super featherweight world champion in 1994. Retired since 2005, the boxer has long worked with Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili. Now it’s the turn of Victor Wembanyama and the young Spurs to take lessons with the “Texas Tornado”.
But boxing with the 2m22 French rookie is quite special for James Leija, who for his part culminates at 1m65.
“Oscar De La Hoya was 1m80 or 1m78, and he had the longest reach compared to me”he explains in an interview with the San Antonio Express-News. “But Victor probably beats Oscar by a meter and a half. Someone asked me how I had done (to train him). I replied that my arms were outstretched. Plus, I was wearing Pee Wee Herman’s (raised) shoes. But my arms were stretched out in the air and they barely reached his eye level.
Classes started last week, and will continue for the next two months. A habit for James Leija, who has worked with the Spurs, and therefore Tim Duncan or Manu Ginobili, for more than twenty years.
“Boxing is a great sport in terms of hand-eye coordination and movement. Thanks to them, players develop faster reflexes or better hand-eye coordination. so he develops. “But the main reason Spurs are doing this is the mental attitude that you’re going to develop through boxing. You’ll play a little harder, you’ll push your opponent a little more because you know deep down that you’re going to be able to take it. That’s what I call insurance. In case something happens, you will have this insurance to protect you. »
An “insurance” that the Spurs want to help Victor Wembanyama to develop, especially since with the hype surrounding the Frenchman, the first choice of the last Draft will be targeted. He must therefore learn to take the blows.
“If we can get him to think, ‘I’m ready to face everybody, come on’, and get him to have the mental attitude, ‘Come on, come on. Come on, you think it’s easy against me? Go for it’. It’s the approach you need to have in any sport to be among the best.”concludes James Leija.
2023-08-21 07:02:00
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