Maintaining Composue

[Hulk]

Hi Southpawwolves,
There are three things I recommend you doing to help you overcome this debilitating tendency and that is: 1) isolation-drill an opponent rushing you in the ways that make you lose your composure so you become acclimated to it. As you get more and more desensitized, gradually incorporate an audience (increasing it as you go along) into your training sessions to simulate fight night conditions. When you have noticed significant progress in yourself, have the audience become more and more boisterous. Hell, have them even heckle you to give you practice on keeping composed and focused on the task at hand. Another thing, prior to drilling, be sure to work out practical defensive measures along with potent counter-offensive tactics into the scheme of things beforehand in order to ingrain effective/efficient responses as well; 2) integrate both first-person and third-person visualization into your training regimen. Visualize yourself facing the type of rushes that have debilitated you and "see"/"feel" yourself effectively defending and countering them in a cool, collected manner in the ways you pre-planned in front of a big audience; and 3) isolation-spar various opponents and have them, during the course of the rounds you decide upon, to randomly rush you in slower tempos and with less aggressive intent, allowing you to practice remaining calm and coolly respond with the predetermined tactics you worked out beforehand. As you get more accustomed to things, have your sparring partners gradually increase the tempo and viciousness of their rushes until you reach the point where you are just sparring "normally." With all this said, be sure to keep in mind that "Rome wasn't built in a day." Anything worthwhile takes time to fully develop/change. So, be patient and persevere. You will reap what you sow...

Take Care,
Lito

This is detailed and excellent advice.

I too get nervous in fights due to the crowd and in preparation for my most recent fight which was to be October 6th (they couldn't find me an opponent), I sparred in front of people and encouraged them to be loud.

In amatuer boxing or the lesser form of smokers that I have done anyway, you gotta figure that most guys are going to rush you at some point.

Covering up well and countering with straight shots worked for me when I was rushed in my first fight (only had 3).

[artistmoving]

I have a less detailed answer-- I just have to say that my meditation practice has helped me keep my composure even when I'm outmatched.

Practice focusing on your breath and relaxing into wherever you are holding tension. I tend to tense up in the waist and I'm still working on that part.

[Andre]

Smile for real on the inside and enjoy the thought and process of making them miss.

You could practice that by only moving and not hitting back at all while getting someone you trust to take pot shots at you, make em miss with your feet and duck and weave, retreat on angles etc. Then after only gently touch their arms to guide them or disrupt with the foot work, then block and catch them with counters later.

Break it down , know you can do each segment and enjoy each for what it is and you wont give your mind time to freeze up.

[artistmoving]

Smile for real on the inside and enjoy the thought and process of making them miss.

You could practice that by only moving and not hitting back at all while getting someone you trust to take pot shots at you, make em miss with your feet and duck and weave, retreat on angles etc. Then after only gently touch their arms to guide them or disrupt with the foot work, then block and catch been them with counters later.

Break it down , know you can do each segment and enjoy each for what it is and you wont give your mind time to freeze up.

Thank you that's great advice Andre. My tai chi Sifu was just telling me about the inner smile. I've also started doing that kind of defensive sparring. Hearing that from you drives it home a little more.

Sidetracking a little-- I've also been practicing switch stance since I started training a few months ago-- reading your "advanced boxing article" got me more interested in this site-- it's rare to hear creative advice like that. It's a lot to follow on paper-- do you ever plan on making a youtube video?

[nikola_ganchev]

I think that the composure comes with the thinking and knowing the problem. Here I am not implying that some one don't thing in the ring, but if he is going to find the hot water again in there it is already to late...

The first step is knowing the technique, then make sparring with some one who is not going to take your head off... Pick some basic stuff like breading, moving, blocking and straight punching and build upon this. The problem with boxing is the variety and if you try everything at once you are doomed. Start with the basics and think over every step you take. If you know then there will be the composure.

[Andre]

Smile for real on the inside and enjoy the thought and process of making them miss.

You could practice that by only moving and not hitting back at all while getting someone you trust to take pot shots at you, make em miss with your feet and duck and weave, retreat on angles etc. Then after only gently touch their arms to guide them or disrupt with the foot work, then block and catch been them with counters later.

Break it down , know you can do each segment and enjoy each for what it is and you wont give your mind time to freeze up.

Thank you that's great advice Andre. My tai chi Sifu was just telling me about the inner smile. I've also started doing that kind of defensive sparring. Hearing that from you drives it home a little more.

Sidetracking a little-- I've also been practicing switch stance since I started training a few months ago-- reading your "advanced boxing article" got me more interested in this site-- it's rare to hear creative advice like that. It's a lot to follow on paper-- do you ever plan on making a youtube video?

Thanks. My way of thinking in that is more suited to MMA though which came along a few years after I wrote that. To use it in boxing works only if you are smart enough to know exactly when to use it.

I loath switching for no reason and if a boxer does it for no reason theres an opening straight down the pipe mid switch (which amazes me again that people are not taught how to go there very fast against a constant switcher who doesnt use it off someones moves to their advantage instead.) A flying hook or a lunging straight would catch these twits. (Usually they have the cheek to stand square and place one fist in front of the other fast and roll their shoulders back and forth as if to say guess which way Im going to go! so they let you know its coming .
Theres always at least two sides to everything minimum most train with one thought and one outcome in mind. If you watch a fighter and love or hate what they do you can work out what they think or what they want, once you've got that,its easier to work on the reverse to them. Making it fun for you and more composure comes with knowing the enemy better.

[artistmoving]

That's insightful. I don't try to be showy but I might fall into the twits category as I would roll my shoulders if I felt more comfortable with it. It seems to me that if you have good timing you can come in fast with a step and by switching sides really have some momentum behind you-- I do have my whole body coming into my punches but I'm hoping to get some additional power with the turning part of the switch stance. I also want to keep my opponent uncomfortable with jabs from different sides and angles. I'm trying to keep it real as far as what is applicable from tai chi-- but I'm certain it's making me a better boxer.

I see what you're saying-- I need to learn how to take advantage of or create openings with the switch stance-- but there has to be purposeful intention there.

[Stickgrappler]

Awesome advice on this thread!