Unfortunately the public’s general view of  Boxing is sometimes seen as a Violent and aggressive sport. This is partially fuelled by the crowd lust for blood and a brutal fight and a false belief that a fighter must be motivated by hate and dislike for his opponent.

This has come about over the last 20 to 30 years or so with the help of the media & Hollywood glamorising the Noble Art with blood and violence. In turn this has created a misguided impression on a generation of children, future boxers and the general public, on how to conduct themselves in a boxing audience and training environment. 

I can only speak from personal experience, having come from the ‘Golden Era’ of Boxing at The Repton , ‘Home of Champions’  in the sixties and seventies. I would say that the majority of Boxers who represented the club and country back in those days, were taught to box in an environment which encouraged good sportsman like behaviour with discipline in and out of the ring.

Also most importantly, we were taught  not  to let our emotions  influence your actions in the ring.  Anger being the worst and most distracting emotion and Fear a close second !

The emergence of ‘Unlicensed’ and ‘white collar’ boxing, has evolved over the last 15 years and morphed into a violent and brutal video game, to emote shock  and sensation, for bloodthirsty punters. This has happened because the bottom line is profit. When money is introduced to the equation, conflict of interest is always the next obstacle for the mind to deal with.

Because of our human conditioning and natural desire to win and be competitive, some people will stop at nothing to do what is necessary to achieve that goal. The result is, we get Thuggish displays of behaviour and wrong attitude, similar to those recently between David Haye and Derek Chisora at a press conference. These Boxers  are meant to be role models for our future Boxing generation.

Throughout boxing history, over the years, we have witnessed that a good Boxer will always beat a strong fighter.

Why is this ?   

As a young man, the combination of peak physical fitness and excess quantities of testosterone, pumping trough your body, can create a thin dividing line between controlled aggression and action controlled by emotion. The trick is to be able to focus your mind on the job in hand and operate in the ‘Moment’. Hence the old saying “Boxing on your feet” .Don’t get me wrong. You can’t be a Good boxer by taking aggression and assertiveness out of the equation, otherwise we would be turning out a bunch of losers and not Champions.

I would suggest that you can develop a controlled aggression through discipline and right attitude toward the sport, your trainer and your opponents.  Call me old fashioned, but if you take emotion out of the equation and replace it with discipline and fitness of body and Mind, you can only end up with an unstoppable fighting machine that embraces the Noble Art as a dance and a game of chess that was always intended from the birth of the sport. Ukrainian lightweight, Boxer Vasyl  Lomachenko is a perfect Role model for Amateur Boxing. He is currently the Best pound for pound Amateur Boxer on the planet !

If you think about this deeply, you will realise that every ‘Action’ we carry out in our daily life comes from our Minds. The Mind is like a jungle, forever babbling with thoughts and feelings from the past and future. This can be major distraction for anyone who wants to become a high achiever, in any area of competitive sport. 

As a Boxer  and sportsman, if your mind is as fit and clear as your highly trained body you will be able to focus more clearly on the task in hand rather than be driven by emotion. A mind which is influenced by emotion will always lead us into making wrong decisions and bad mistakes, which in turn results in failure!

...Food for thought from Mark Newman