Laham back with a bang

By Dave Spencer
Photos Herby Whyne

It wasn't the easiest thing coming back. Not after three years. Not after
leaving the Canadian amateur program as well. And certainly not to his
original coach who had his doubts about the seriousness and dedication to
make it as a professional fighter.

Before he left for California and Sergio Martinez's last training camp, Russ
Anber revealed to FightNews how he was taking lightweight Baha Laham (8-0 3KO) with him. "I think he'll find out what it is to be a professional fighter, what it is all
about, what it really takes." It certainly wasn't a rah-rah speech or a
sound bite for the media. Anber had his doubts and some genuine concern
whether Laham could make the jump from good fighter who relied on his natural talent and do enough to get by, or become a fighter dedicated to being his best who could hang with the elite of the sport.

So how did it go?

“You know what?” Laham told FightNews, “It was fucking hard.”

“Russ took me telling me he wanted to show me what it is like to train with a real world class athlete. How the cream of the cream would do it. He told me for me to decide if I was ready to do it and that I would know after two weeks I would know. He said you’re going to know because you’re live, breathe and eat boxing.”
“He was awesome,” said Anber knowing full well the baptism by fire he was throwing the fighter he was reuniting with into.

“They wake up at 5 in the morning for a run,” relayed Laham before elaborating “But not a regular jogging run that you see people do or something you might see on HBO 24/7. It’s a huge run with mountains, up and down hills that are at 45 degree angles. It’s an incredibly fast pace and it’s to die for. They would do it three or four times a week. From the run it’s right to strength training that’s intense, then to physio, they get treated, they eat with the nutritionist, back to gym at night. It’s whole life of boxing. You don’t see friends, you don’t see nothing but boxing. It’s all about boxing. You’re devastated because you woke up at 4AM to get ready to run so you’re in bed at 8 o’clock every day for the two weeks.”

and it was an amazing experience.”

“In shape, there’s not a fighter in the world I wouldn’t put him in with,” boasted Anber, “I’m not saying he beats everybody, but he’ll certainly compete.”
While he boasts his praises now, Anber had his doubts before taking the fighter back. “I started backing training hard right away. For him to trust me enough and make sure I was serious and that I was going to stay and do the hard work, he wasn’t watching me for the first couple of months. He just wanted to see if I was in the gym everyday, he wanted to see if I was the first one in and the last one out like I was back in the day. I think he finally realized that this time I was more mature, more serious, and that I’m training with all my might. He started paying attention more and more and it was okay, you’re ready to fight.”

Getting to those fights certainly looks more likely since his comeback has started with two knockouts in as many tries after only recording one in his first six fights. The knockouts aren’t really a surprise, “Two fights, two knockouts, it’s been awesome,” says the fighter. But blessed with a thudding left hook, the surprise wasn’t so much that guys were now falling, but more why they weren’t falling the first time round in his career.

“I’m going to be honest, the first time I turned pro; it was for the wrong reasons. I wasn’t with Russ; I took the easy way out, I wasn’t training enough. I was with Pierre (Bouchard) who is an amazing coach, but I need somebody like Russ, someone cruel, someone hard, someone who is going to push me. I wasn’t training with all my might. I was fighting conservative knowing I wasn’t going to have the gas to finish the four or six rounder I was fighting. My conditioning was a factor so I didn’t want to load up and get tired after two and look stupid after.

“The second part is that Russ has strived perfection and brought back my left hook the way it was. We practiced on it a lot and the opportunities to use it. My conditioning though now is way better and I can go open up the machine right from the start, that’s what I want to do, I want to hurt him, I want to bully, I want to fight inside, I want to fight.”

So why now? Why the comeback?

“It was several several things,” said Laham of his prolonged three year absence, “Injuries, I had a knee injury, we had a baby, I had to finish school and complete my university. It was many reasons that kept me away, but one of the reasons me coming back I was seeing everyone I used to be with on the team with, Jean Pascal, Antonin Decarie, Benoit Gaudet; they were all fighters on the national team with me and we all turned pro around the same time and they were all doing amazing and they were all ranked in the top ten of the world. You know what, I was there. Deep down inside of me, I knew I had it as much as them. Maybe not Jean Pascal who’s done amazing but I was there and they all made it, so why not me?

I decided to do a comeback, I missed it also. As a boxer, it’s always in you. You’ll see guys at 50 years old come back to the gym and want to fight again. You know what, I didn’t want to be that guy. I didn’t want to be that 50 year-old who’s a coach and not succeeding and saying I was there and saying I was national champion and telling all kind of stories but nobody knows about him because he was out of it. I don’t want to live with regrets, I’ll give it my all. I wasn’t that serious before, I was young. This time I was going to give it a try the right way. Go back to my old coach Russ Anber, who made me national champion at 16 and kept the title for the next 4 years. He going to know how to push me, how to correct those little mistakes, he has an amazing eagle eye for boxing I believe.

Now that he is back in the fray and training hard, the fights are finally starting to come his way. Laham boxes next Friday April 20th card at the Bell Centre in Montreal against Leonis Marie Francoise (8-6 2KO) and then a month later in at a suburban Holiday Inn. “I used to be on the internet and see a guy with two fights and go, ‘How does this guy have two fights? I can’t even get one,’ and now it’s happening to me. My manager Camille Estephan is doing an amazing job. He’s helping us little guys survive. He’s friends with everybody and I think that is the key, he’s got me two fights and there should be a third one in June or July.”