On June 20th we will see Filipino slugger Warlito Parrenas (24-6, 21) take part in his most significant bout to date, a WBO Interim Junior Bantamweight title bout against Mexico’s David Carmona (19-2-4, 8).
The hard hitting Parrenas seems to know that this is possibly a career changing match up and one that, if he wins, will really put him on the boxing map and open up a potential major pay day against Japanese sensation Naoya Inoue (8-0, 7). He’ll also know that for this bout he needs to be at his very best.
To help prepare for the bout Parrenas has, for the first time in his career, began training with an altitude mask. The mask, which replicates the conditions of training at altitude, is often used by athletes wanting the benefit of altitude training whilst managing to train in more normal environment. It can help replicate the conditions that a fighter may find themselves in, especially if they are set to fight at altitude, like Parrenas is with his bout set to take place in the elevated Mexico city.
Parrenas has described the experience as making him “feel like a super hero” though has confessed that the training is difficult with the mask, which limits the amount of oxygen a fighter can breath in at any time. It does however seem to have been a smart decision considering the conditions that he is set to fight in.
(Image courtesy of Warlito Parrenas’s facebook)