Thread: Fear

If you were a boxer how would you overcome the fear that all boxers must have of losing, getting knocked out, getting knocked down in the first round with the first punch with your family watching and millions laughing.

How would you overcome the potential embarrassment, shame and even potential injury and death. What would you do to relax yourself and get in that ring?

I wouldn't want to relax. Fear drives you on!

Fear pushes you to train that bit harder and makes you stay alert.

That said, I'm sure the fear has overcome many fighters before and they have then gone recluse in the ring.

If I was a pro fighter though I'd embrace it, not try and hide from it.

I don't think fighters fear ever to be fair, I think fear only kicks in when they get caught and wobbled and dazed and realise they have to survive.
Example : Taylor vs froch round 12

to be honest, i never had any fear fighting. just adrenalin . body shots are my weakness ;p

I think it has elements to it.

It can be a lever, and a capturing device as in religions use of it.

It can be an aid when fight or flight take over and create adrenalin.

It can be a great tool if you use it to prepare for whats ahead (when you fear an outcome)

It can be stifling in the face of a disaster.



So in combat you can sometimes use the first one to get into the heads of your opponents.

The second can stop you from becoming complacent and able to use the opponents attacks to refuel you.

3rd, the mental tool which can create foresight and temper what you have.

Last is the one that training and the use of no3 dissolves, knowing you have prepared and done everything that you could of done mentally physically spiritually so your thoughts, feelings and actions flow as one prior to the real event.

Fear is the fine line between irrationality and common sense. It can remind one that in order to deal with this allergy called pain, you must remember that you trained to win and you are there for the long haul. Until that first punch is thrown you are tense so loosening up usually helps and a good corner man will talk business and tell you you are a winner. You need pumping up and a reminder that your opponent is just a fearful of you as you are of him. That first punch hopefully whether it misses or not will make his fear yours because now you remember what you came to do, win. Fear is natural and as long as you are breathing fear will always be nearby. If you falter and you aren't prepared,OOPS! Seriously do focus because it's the punches you don't see that hurt, wish I had said that first.

Leonard use to concentrate when he stepped in the ring.
Lennox use to sleep before the fight.
McCall use to cry.
Bruno use to shit his pants.

Golota used to fool himself

Originally Posted by Andre

I think it has elements to it.

It can be a lever, and a capturing device as in religions use of it.

It can be an aid when fight or flight take over and create adrenalin.

It can be a great tool if you use it to prepare for whats ahead (when you fear an outcome)

It can be stifling in the face of a disaster.



So in combat you can sometimes use the first one to get into the heads of your opponents.

The second can stop you from becoming complacent and able to use the opponents attacks to refuel you.

3rd, the mental tool which can create foresight and temper what you have.

Last is the one that training and the use of no3 dissolves, knowing you have prepared and done everything that you could of done mentally physically spiritually so your thoughts, feelings and actions flow as one prior to the real event.

Great post and the same with Ojames.
Incredibly well formulated opinion and I agree. As an existentialist I had to think about it for a bit after Master posed the question a couple of days ago. Hell of a question really because the logical response would seem to be a version of they cant have fear by virtue of the sport they chose.

I was out fishing earlier and started thinking about this thread FFS lol. That has not happened in years.

I started thinking of Tyson and Ike. On the surface bad ass destroyers but I think also scared individuals inside. Cus and Cokes were able to use that fear to get the most out of them and thereby they themselves. Almost like using fear to overcome it.

Cool fight or flight analogy also. Probably our only remaining instinct since we left the tree.

Originally Posted by 0james0

I wouldn't want to relax. Fear drives you on!

Fear pushes you to train that bit harder and makes you stay alert.

That said, I'm sure the fear has overcome many fighters before and they have then gone recluse in the ring.

If I was a pro fighter though I'd embrace it, not try and hide from it.

This! I think Nigel Benn said it best..

"When I stopped feeling those butterflies in my stomach and the nerves backstage, I should have stopped fighting because that's when I was getting knocked out and losing."

That's when he said he was fighting for money only towards the end of his career. Many athletes have said similar things. When you stop feeling the butterflies backstage, it's probably time to call it a day.

Originally Posted by Master

Leonard use to concentrate when he stepped in the ring.
Lennox use to sleep before the fight.
McCall use to cry.
Bruno use to shit his pants.

McCall did not cry due 2 fear 4 himself , it was either anger , fear 4 his opponents' health , something else or some combination of them . But he feared no1 .

Originally Posted by IamInuit

Originally Posted by Andre

I think it has elements to it.

It can be a lever, and a capturing device as in religions use of it.

It can be an aid when fight or flight take over and create adrenalin.

It can be a great tool if you use it to prepare for whats ahead (when you fear an outcome)

It can be stifling in the face of a disaster.



So in combat you can sometimes use the first one to get into the heads of your opponents.

The second can stop you from becoming complacent and able to use the opponents attacks to refuel you.

3rd, the mental tool which can create foresight and temper what you have.

Last is the one that training and the use of no3 dissolves, knowing you have prepared and done everything that you could of done mentally physically spiritually so your thoughts, feelings and actions flow as one prior to the real event.

Great post and the same with Ojames.
Incredibly well formulated opinion and I agree. As an existentialist I had to think about it for a bit after Master posed the question a couple of days ago. Hell of a question really because the logical response would seem to be a version of they cant have fear by virtue of the sport they chose.

I was out fishing earlier and started thinking about this thread FFS lol. That has not happened in years.

I started thinking of Tyson and Ike. On the surface bad ass destroyers but I think also scared individuals inside. Cus and Cokes were able to use that fear to get the most out of them and thereby they themselves. Almost like using fear to overcome it.

Cool fight or flight analogy also. Probably our only remaining instinct since we left the tree.

Remember the clip of a young Tyson crying because he was scared of losing and letting all the people down. Very moving.

You do it all the time, day in, day out, until it becomes automatic. I think that this is why, in the old days, a ko loss wasn't a big deal. You fought again the following week, the week after that and it is behind you. I think it messes with you worse when you have time to think about it forever. Rocky Graziano, and my friend Steve, said it was embarassing to go out in front of people you know and lose.
Coming at it beforehand, it is the job of the trainer to keep the fighter focused on what needs to be done. I think you need to make it as much like a "job" as can be. We have 'rehearsed' this a million times, from day one, so go out and do what we have practiced. Any thoughts about other things are just distractions that keep you from doing what we trained to do, what you have been preparing to do since the first day you put on gloves.
A whole great big bunch of the trainer/fighter relationship is personal trust, and belief. Just as much as the trainer believes in the ability of the boxer, the boxer has to believe in the trainer. You'll find that a lot of good trainers have a very strong, if subtle and understated personal magnetism, that makes people believe in them.

I would try and practice yoga to get the heart beat down, listen to calming music as I enter the ring and Rocky sound track during the anthemn and go out swinging like a maniac as soon as the bell rings.