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Trainer on top with Liddell - Hackelman Helped Mold Champion |
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Written by By Kevin Iole of Reviewjournal.com
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Thursday, 28 December 2006 |
 Chuck Liddell's first professional fight was a kickboxing match around 1991 at ancient Strongbow Stadium in Bakersfield, Calif. Fighters were expected to report by 5 p.m., but Liddell's fight wasn't until the end of the card. He didn't get into the ring until after 11 p.m.
"I fell asleep waiting, there were so many fights," Liddell said. "I
guess that's how I got into the habit of sleeping before a fight. But I
was like the 16th or 17th fight. It was crazy."
Beside him the entire time was a registered nurse who had taken off work that night to serve as his trainer. John Hackelman waited the entire six-plus hours, for which he got exactly $32.
And while it didn't make him rich, at least it was better than what Liddell made for the bout.
"Everything Chuck got, he gave to me," said Hackelman, who some 15 years later is still at Liddell's side for each of his fights.
These days, Liddell is arguably the most well-known mixed martial artist in the world and will make in excess of $1 million for defending his Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight title Saturday against Tito Ortiz at the MGM Grand Garden.
And Hackelman remains Liddell's chief trainer, the architect of a style that has helped Liddell to earn untold millions and carried him to the top of the fast-rising sport.
Hackelman, 47, was a boxer with more power than style who had a 17-3 record but no notable wins.
"Good power, pretty much zero technique," Hackelman said, chuckling, of his boxing style.
He was born in Honolulu and became fascinated at an early age by a Hawaiian form of martial arts known as Kajukenbo.
It combines kenpo, karate, jiu-jitsu, judo and boxing and was, in many ways, the forerunner of what is now MMA.
When Hackelman moved to California in the mid-1980s, he was competing as a boxer and a kickboxer and still was studying Kajukenbo. It was then he heard for the first time about this raw-boned wrestler who loved to punch and reportedly had the same type of power packed in his fists as Hackelman himself.
Liddell lived one town over and there were reports floating back to the gym where Hackelman trained that nobody could stand up to his power.
Hackelman had to see for himself and a sparring session was arranged.
"They were right when they told me he could punch," Hackelman said. "But at that point, that was about it. He was very raw."
A partnership was born that night, though Hackelman goes to great pains to say they're not friends. Hackelman said Liddell asked him to train him immediately after their sparring session and they've never parted since.
Liddell is more like a younger brother to him, Hackelman said, but the two maintain a strict coach-athlete relationship.
And though Hackelman said Liddell is extremely bright about MMA and teaches him as much as he teaches Liddell, he said Liddell never tests the boundaries of that relationship.
"Chuck loves to fight, Chuck loves to compete, but I think more than anything, Chuck loves to win," Hackelman said. "The reason he's so good, other than his God-given talent, is that he puts so much of himself into it. He studies. He listens. He doesn't settle for just all right. He wants to constantly push, to constantly improve.
"He's the kind of guy you would want to be on your side in anything competitive you were doing, because he finds a way to win. I'm just kind of around here keeping an eye on things and trying to help him reach his goals."
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 28 December 2006 )
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