Georges St-Pierre remembers the days when he would drive from Montreal to New York to train in mixed martial arts and get lost in The Bronx.
“Back then I used to speak more Spanish than English,” said St-Pierre, a French Canadian. “I used to ask directions from people in The Bronx in Spanish: ‘Donde estas …’”
St-Pierre laughs about it now. Those were the days when he was just beginning his MMA career. Now he is recognized as one of the pound-for-pound best in the sport, holding the UFC welterweight championship. He will defend his championship at UFC 129 next Saturday in Toronto against Jake Shields.
St-Pierre still trains in New York, venturing into the city for at least a week every month to train at Renzo Gracie’s Academy in Manhattan with John Danaher. It remains part of a regimen the man known as GSP maintains whenever he is preparing for a big fight.
“I have training partners there that I don’t have in Montreal,” St-Pierre said, “and there’s a quality of coaches there that I don’t have in Montreal. I know every time I come in New York, I’m a better MMA fighter when I leave than when I arrived.”
St-Pierre (21-2-0) will be making his sixth title defense since regaining the belt by beating Long Island’s Matt Serra in 2008. Shields (26-4-1) has won 15 straight fights. St-Pierre’s ju-jitsu training has been intense, knowing Shields is a ju-jitsu specialist.
“That’s his main asset,” St-Pierre said. “That’s why my training for this fight is very important. I’m sure he’s going to try to bring me to the floor. That’s what he tries to do all the time. It’s going to be up to me to have the right defense for that.”
Too bad New York is one of the few states that has yet to sanction MMA. St-Pierre said he will remain among a number of UFC champions who train in Manhattan. Not only does he know his way around Manhattan these days, but it’s a comfortable setting where he is respected, but not hounded by MMA fans.
“People recognize me when I’m there, but New York is different,” he said. “They’re used to seeing celebrities all the time, but they will make a sign to congratulate you and then they leave you alone. They’re not hysterical. They’re very nice people.”
➤ Kelly Pavlik, 29, is ready to make his return to boxing and it has more to do with moving up from middleweight to super middleweight than completing a stint in alcohol rehab.
“I haven’t had this much energy in a long time for a fight,” said the Youngstown, Ohio, native. “I’m ready to get back on track and start making noise in the super middleweight division.”
Pavlik (36-2, 32 KOs) will meet Alfonso Lopez (21-0, 16 KOs) of Cut and Shoot, Texas, in a 10-round bout on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao-Shane Mosley bout May 7 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Cutting down to the 160-pound middleweight limit had become a burden in recent fights for Pavlik. During a recent conference, he talked more about that call than his experience going through rehab. He has not fought since April 2010, when he lost his middleweight championship in a one-sided decision to Sergio Martinez in Atlantic City. That was after pulling out of successive fights with Paul Williams because of various setbacks and injuries. Pavlik was set to return to the ring last November, but pulled out of that fight and entered alcohol rehab.
“I don’t want to make any excuses that that’s what hurt my boxing career,” Pavlik said of his alcohol abuse. “I wasn’t doing it while I was training. I could easily blame it on that and make it a great excuse. As of now, the big difference is I’m able to focus more clearly on my career and keep myself in shape when I’m out of training. I think that’s going to be the big difference now compared to in the past.”
He still is training in Youngstown under Jack Loew.
“I’m doing everything the same. The difference is I don’t drink,” Pavlik said. “I don’t believe in changing a lifestyle or doing stuff to keep yourself unhappy. That leads to worse problems. My regular day is still the same. I’m having a blast doing what I’m doing and I don’t need to pick up a bottle to make me happy.”
george.willis@nypost.com