Grey & Thomas's Fountain of Knowledge

[Chris Nagel]

About Discouragement:

Getting discouraged is almost daily in boxing; she is a demanding jealous bitch and it can never be good enough to please. But it is something worthwhile and special to even have the courage and the opportuinity to try; I am sure that a vast majority on this site know what I mean, There are boxers and there are humans, and damn are they missing out!

Every day in the gym has its bits and pieces of diappointment- if you are very attuned to it, every critical and demanding, there will always be something, even on those red-letter days that you feel as if you could fly. You can always come back tomorrow and try again, unless of course you come to realize that it just ain't your true calling; this isn't for everyone and there are precious few Robinsons out there. But if/when you hang 'em up you still tried- you had to be budgeoned out of what most fear to even try.

Now, back in the days of fairly old yore, I suffered a pretty good hernia and a back injury. I was sore a few days but generally ignored it and went on with things. That was easy to do then because I was in shape- 6'3", walking around @183- ad pain goes away. Ten years or so down the road and I can't hit the bags much; my left shoulder ain't what it was, the back aches and the hernia don't help. So by now- a couple weeks ago I can barely move, I'm sore and stiff all the time. A friend gets on me about it and you know how when that spirit rises up... He gets me doing a variety of stretching exercises and I feel great . The only day I've felt bad since then was when when we didn't exercise. Doing pushups- building some strength back in the shoulder- and another day or two and 'll be hitting my chinups unassisted, even if it is onlya couple of them. . It'll take longer than before to get my punches sharp but it'll come...

The whole point of this being don't let discouragement throttle you until it becomes depression and takes your wind. If what happened in the gym ain't as you had hoped, why? Start there then fixit then fight it. Because it isn't about winning its about the fight, my friends

[Chris Nagel]

From a pm with Thomas Tabin:

Hey Chris hows it going. Thats actually a very important question you bring up because the same way you watch a fight is similar to the way you watch your opponent in the ring. Ultimately, every fighter, no matter his style, is using some kind of strategy. Its up to you, the fighter, to figure it out.

When watching a fight, start by trying to break down what one guy is doing.

Note the way he he jabs: is it quick, is he stepping in with it - and if so how much, is he throwing it often; what is he trying to accomplish by jabbing, is he trying to counter with it, is he only initiating with jabs, is he jabbing to set up the right hand or other punches? And what about the other punches? how does he throw the hook? The right hand? When, and why is doing it?

Also note how he deals with his opponent's punches: what does he do to avoid the jab, does he slip it, parry it, counter it? If so with what counter? How about other things like does he follow when his opponent steps back? Does he step back when his opponent comes forward?

The point I'm trying to drive home is that every fighter is using some kind of plan or strategy when they fight. If you can figure out what he is trying to do you can therefore start to see patterns in his style. The more and more you understand about a fighter, the more you will know his strengths and weaknesses, and therefore, the better you will be at fighting him.

So using the Whitaker/Chavez fight as an example, you would start by watching the way one of them fights. You will start to see patterns in what they are doing and will start to be able to predict what they will do when certain scenarios occur. Ironically, In watching just one fighter you can get a feel for the other one since both interact with each other and its impossible to get a feel for one without getting a feel for the other (fighter A has to react to the punches fighter B throws, fighter B has to react to the punches fighter A throws)

In his book, Jack Dempsey says to watch what is happening in the middle. That is, that area between he two fighters. This is a decent way to watch fights but I've personally found that it makes me somewhat confused, as I find myself watching so much at one time that I get lost. Also keep in mind that by watching just one fighter, you're using the same mechanism in your brain as you would use in a real fight (in a real fight you're always watching just your opponent and not the both of you at the same time). Therefore I would say that by just watching one fighter at a time you achieve a feeling that is more realistic and is actually something like a mental xercise.

Here is the most important part though:

when you watch a fighter (Monzon, Hagler, Marciano, Tarver -- anybody) try to get a feel f how they fight and then ask yourself how you would fight them. How would you avoid their strengths while at the same time exploiting their weaknesses? This too, is something that you use in the ring be it in sparring or in a real fight. In order to be a great fighter, you will need to know how to assess a fighter and pinpoint their weaknesses. At the end of the day, this is work that is done by the brain, and therefore, can only be exercise by visualizing opponents while shadowboxing and watching tapes as though you were in that ring with him.