A sports and conditioning \u201cmad scientist,\u201d Cem Eren trains both Portland Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard and light heavyweight boxing champion David Benavidez.<\/p>\n
Michael Jordan trained with Tim Grover<\/a>. Steph Curry trains with Carl Bergstrom<\/a>. And, for the past nine years, Damian Lillard has trained with Cem Eren<\/a>, a Tigard-based strength and conditioning coach with a unique passion for boxing.<\/p>\n The two meet for training sessions multiple times per day every off-season. Some of their training sessions focus on strength, power and explosiveness. Others focus on boxing with the shorter, powerfully built trainer laser focused on Lillard, stalking him around the ring with mitts as the Blazers\u2019 legend jabs and parries, fending him off. Eren has worked closely with Lillard as he rehabilitates from the Achilles injury that has sidelined him since April.<\/p>\n Eren recently spent 90 days in fight camp with another long-time client, WBA and WBC light heavyweight champion, \u201cThe Mexican Monster\u201d David Benavidez. Eren has trained Benavidez intermittently since the fighter was a pudgy eight-year-old, notably preparing him for a 2017 bout<\/a> that made him the youngest super middleweight boxing world champion in history.<\/p>\n The Benavidez camp began in Miami. Eren flew back to Oregon several times to check in on Lillard\u2019s progress before the fight team moved it\u2019s base first to Dubai and then to Saudi Arabia for the match.<\/p>\n Benavidez dubbed Eren as a \u201cmad scientist in the strength and conditioning world.\u201d A video posted by Eren showed him preparing Benavidez<\/a> for the Yarde fight using many of the same techniques he uses when coaching Lillard<\/a>.<\/p>\n The training program was a success. On Saturday, Benavidez savagely beat down Anthony Yarde<\/a> in a bloody, seventh-round TKO win, defending his WBC light heavyweight championship belt in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n