BLACKEYE BRAND BOXING

TO KNOW THE MIND OF A BOXER, IS TO UNDERSTAND THE DEPTH OF ITS CONTROL

The Mental Preparation of a boxer is special in nature and the right mind is not in all boxers. The approach is different than other athletes; as the boxer is a lone performer at a different level. The discipline of the mind has to be in place before the discipline of the body. The boxer has to be mentally ready and stable at all times while getting ready for a fight, during the fight and after the fight. Not like other sports that have a team, boxers have to rely on themselves throughout. Not to neglect the team of a trainer, sparring partners, management the boxer has to perform alone. In football, baseball, hockey and basketball you can call time outs, be substituted and replace the injured. You can mentally checkout while playing those sports and check back in when it’s time. Team sports have a different concept and really don’t compare with the concept of boxing. The discipline of the mind is of the utmost importance.

The condition of a fighter is special while preparing for a fight focus is paramount. Diet, sleep, exercise, sex and mental stability all have to be in sync. While all the other sports require optimum conditioning as well, with the boxer it’s different. Tennis players and golfers are lone players also but it doesn’t compare with the boxer. Again not to belittle the mind of those athletes in other sports, rather to point out the boxing mentality.

Imagine being in the ring six rounds deep into the fight and your huffing and puffing pressing yourself to keep going while delirious from fatigue. Your opponent is barely breathing and totally composed, and your mind is spinning with what’s coming up in the next three minutes. There is no calling time out and you cannot not pause to recover, you can try and run while in the confines of the ring or quit. Your thought is on the lack of preparation prior to the fight and now their is a fear settling in. Your a fighter and in the worst type of trouble in the sport. Being ill prepared and mentally unstable at this point with no one to blame but yourself.

Your mind has to be laser focused while preparing for the fight so your condition can be on point when the time is at hand. In order to do that the boxer cannot let his family get in the way, his ego has to stay in check, friends cannot come around, his diet must be on point, his sexual appetite is shut down at a certain point, and his rest must kick in. The condition of a boxer is best when while in training he runs the same time daily, is in the gym the same time daily, he eats the same time daily, he defecates the same time daily and sleeps the same time daily. This is the point when you know you can get in the optimum condition to perform at your absolute best. Your objective is to get the best out of yourself, not trying to be more than what you are. This is why boxers go away to camp to get solitude and work on the craft without distraction. The speed one has, is his speed, which is not as fast as the next man, so to combat the fighter that is faster than you, your form and technical skill has to be tight. One man being stronger than the other is an advantage, but it can be overcome.

There have been fighters that have had superior skills and everyone knew it and they would win the fight before the fight began. Sometimes the mind set of the opponent would make him quit and not fight because of fear. Some fighters had exceptional speed and boxing skills but no heart (courage of mind), they were able to hide behind their skillset until another fighter that wasn’t afraid of those skills and had nothing but heart (no fear of mind). Fear starts in your mind and some fighters cannot get it out of their head. It has been said that boxing is 80%-90% mental and that statement will always be true. It is absolutely terrible for your mind to fail you in the midst of a match. That usually happens when your head was not in it before the fight while training for the fight, or your head got too far away between fights. Then again there are fighters that don't expect much from themselves and stay with the sport because of some type of love for one aspect or another.

When you study boxing and the history thereof you will find all of these elements of the mind in several fighters that have journeyed through the robes of pugilism and made names for themselves one way or the other. I purposely didn’t mention any names but expounded with certain fighters in mind as I was a fighter myself and have known several throughout my career.

Keith Providence