Nothing says all in a good day’s work more than shredded, bloodied knuckles.
Or at least, that is the gory version of the saying when Ezra Taylor’s high-profile trainer Malik Scott talks about the “dark days” of merciless work it has taken to get his fighter ready to face Willy Hutchinson.
Nottingham’s Taylor, who boasts an undefeated professional record of 13 wins with nine knockouts, relocated to Los Angeles to join American Scott – a trainer who has both fought and worked with former heavyweight world champion Deontay Wilder.
Scott says he has “high expectations” for 31-year-old Taylor when the light heavyweight steps into the ring to face Scotland’s Hutchinson at Manchester’s Co-op Live Arena on Saturday.
And the reason he anticipates Taylor will “come through with flying colours” is down to the claret stains that quickly became the hallmark of training sessions where no punch has been wasted in search of greater body-shaking blows.
“There’s times when we were in California during camp and his knuckles would just be bloody,” Scott told BBC East Midlands Today.
“One thing a fighter is always going to know how to do is throw punches. But what I’m talking about is power.
“I’m making sure Ezra is bending his knees, is turning his knuckles when he hits the shield I hold, and it’s mission accomplished with bloody knuckles. I look at that as a badge of honour because I’m doing my job and he is doing his.
“As time goes on those knuckles don’t get bloody no more because he is toughening and roughing them up. And this, to me, is how you take someone that hits hard and you turn them into a solid power puncher.”