Feed off the crowd when they cheer. When the crowd is behind you, you get a burst of adrenaline. Nothing feels better when you have the crowd off their feet cheering you on.
(6) Don’t Get Over Confident
Good confidence is great. Over confidence can kill you. Being overconfident leads to under-training and risky fighting. Some boxers get it in their head that they are the best and because of that they don’t have to train as hard. Never slack during training. Push yourself always to do better.
Never underestimate your competition and take risky chances in the ring. The moment you start taking too many risks is the moment you get knocked out. It only takes one punch from any fighter, good or bad, to knock you on your arse. Strive for perfection always and keep humble about your skills.
(7) Pushing Yourself
I always considered the true training to begin when I was at the point of exhaustion. In most fights, there comes a point when both fighters are exhausted. This is the defining moment. The boxer who decides to put forth that extra step is probably going to win. It’s called having “heart.” A champion throws that extra combination when most fighters wouldn’t. A champion keeps his hands up and defends himself when most fighters wouldn’t. A champion gives two punches for every one received. A champion goes that extra step. And where do you condition yourself to do that? In training. You start with that attitude from the beginning and you carry it till the end.
If you constantly push yourself and say you can do more, you will become an effective boxer. Attitude is the main ingredient towards making a champion. So remember, YOUR TRAINING BEGINS WHERE MOST BOXER’S END.
(8) Sparring
Sparring is important in your training. This is where you can make mistakes and correct them. You can’t do that in competition. You can work on more defence one-day and then more offence the next. You can try out new combinations during sparring sessions. This is practice for the actual fight.
Sparring is where you learn your weaknesses and strengths. If you’re dropping your left, your coach can see it and help you correct that. Or your sparring partner will let you know by popping you one when you do it.
Sparring should not be a negative part of your training. Make sure you are sparring with someone at your level or at least someone that isn’t going to knock you around and use you as a punching bag. Like I said earlier, if you get beat up everyday during sparring, you will become a defensive boxer and you will not want to fight in a competition situation. Some fighters just learn to survive in the ring and never learn how to win. I would rather you fight someone below your level than someone who is just going to knock you around.
(9) Judge Yourself at Your Level and Not Someone Else’s
It’s easy to get discouraged if you’re not excelling as fast as others. You have to put the time in before you can learn the skills. Your skill level depends on the amount of time and dedication you put in. Skill comes with time and experience. That’s why you must judge yourself at your own level and not someone else’s.
(10) You Should Feel Proud Just For Stepping Into the Ring
I’ve played many sports and I’ve found boxing to be, by far, the most demanding and rewarding sport of them all. Boxing demands sacrifice and dedication. Someone who is lazy and undisciplined is not going to make it as a boxer. To win in boxing, you must be an outstanding athlete. 90% of boxing is up to you. Your coaches can’t make you an athlete they can only polish you up. The foundation has to already be there for a coach to build off from.
(11) Boxing Can Relieve Stress
Boxing is a good way to relieve stress. Imagine the bag being someone you can’t stand. You can bang away at it and not them. That way you relieve stress and not go to jail for taking your frustrations out on them. It gives you time to yourself away from the everyday hassles you may encounter. You feel more in control when you have a good workout. Boxing builds self-esteem and lowers self-doubt. Thus creating a feeling of being in control with more power over the stressful things in your life.
(12) Prioritize Your Goals
Deciding what is important for you to achieve, and what is irrelevant is crucial to developing yourself mentally for the fight. You need only worry yourself with what matters in your fight. The less you place on your list of things to do, the more you can concentrate on those things you have on it (i.e. training, nutrition, etc.).
(13) Everyday Goals
Build your self-confidence based on measured achievement of goals. Everyday set a particular goal and try to achieve it. Maybe you’ll try to hit the bag 200 times in two minutes or go maybe go 5 rounds instead of 4. The little things you set out to achieve and then actually do achieve will build your self-confidence. And self-confidence is one of the most important things a boxer can have.
(14) Types of Goals to Consider
There are four types of goals to consider. These are:
Internal - Something about your personality that should be changed for greater competitive success (e.g. Become more... aggressive... relaxed... dedicated... organized...etc.)
Short Term - A series of goals to be accomplished in the near future(e.g. start training harder, get another fight out of the way, create a plan etc.)
Long Term - something you want to strive for in the distant future (e.g. fight for a big prize, large purse, title shot)
Dream Goal - A task that seems almost unimaginable but not quite impossible e.g. Becoming the undisputed champion in your category.
Always keep your goals a few steps ahead of yourself. This is an old sales technique. If you want to sell ten cars, tell yourself that you want to sell 15. Chances are you'll sell 12. If you tell yourself that you want to sell ten you will probably only sell eight. Always have your goals set a little farther ahead so you have something to reach for. When you start to get close to your long term goal re-evaluate your four sets of goals. Your long term goal will turn into a short term goal and before you know it your dream goal may become a long term goal, then eventually a short term goal.
(15) How Goal Setting Helps Build Self-Confidence
Goal setting is probably the most effective way of building self-confidence. By setting measurable goals, achieving them, setting new goals, achieving them and so on. You prove your ability to yourself. You are able to prove to yourself that you are able to perform and achieve effectively. You can see and recognize and enjoy your achievement, and feel real self-worth in that achievement.
Importantly, by knowing what you are able to achieve, you are not setting yourself up for surprise failure - you almost always have a reasonably accurate assessment of what your abilities really are, which is unclouded by ego or vanity.
(16) Keep a Journal of Goals
Writing down the goals you want to achieve and have achieved is a very useful habit to get into. For some reason, having them written down makes people want to achieve them even more. Also having them written down reminds you of what you have achieved. Seeing the ones you have achieved makes going after the new goals easier because you’ve shown yourself that you can set and achieve goals.
(17) Keep Your Goals Manageable
Don’t set goals that are unrealistic. Don’t make a short term goal of becoming world champion within your first year of boxing. Everything takes time and eventually comes. Someone said once that it takes a person 1000 times to do something before they master it. Set goals that are not too hard, but not too easy. Work your way up the ladder slowly or you may fall off that ladder in a very disappointing way.
(18) Judge Yourself on Effort
Set performance goals, not outcome goals. You should only feel like a loser if you didn’t give it your all. You can only expect to do your best. Sometimes that means your not going to win. But that’s O.K.
(19) Use Imagery
Your body is a sophisticated system powered by muscles and controlled by nerves, most of which are in the brain. The nerve pathways in your brain that are most important in sport are trained by presenting them either with real stimuli or, almost as effectively, with vividly imagined images. Imagery is the process of using your imagination to create these vivid images which train the important mental pathways in your mind. At its most menial level, imagery can be used to practice this 'body control center' when no other method of practice is available. At a more sophisticated level you can use it to enhance your self-confidence, to practice and improve boxing techniques, and to focus before a skill is executed.
(20) Mood Control
Bad moods damage your motivation to succeed in training or competition. They make you more prone to negative thinking, and cause distraction, often as you trigger bad moods in other people. Your mood is completely under your control - bad moods are an indulgence you cannot afford. You can improve your mood in the following ways:
Through positive thinking and suggestion - say to yourself 'I feel good' or 'I am going to move faster' or 'I can feel energy pouring into my limbs'. This really helps.
By treating each element of a performance individually - when you make a mistake, refocus and concentrate on the next separate element of the performance. Treating a performance in this way ensures that a bad move or a missed shot does not effect following moves or shots.
By using imagery - imagine a beautiful scene or a time when you were performing very well and feeling good. Alternatively, imagine feeling good directly.
(21) Increasing Stress Levels to get ‘Psyched Up’
The following techniques can be used to psyche yourself up:
- Warm up faster and harder
- Use imagery - for example, imagine yourself in a boxing match.
- Use suggestion - 'I can feel energy and strength flowing into me'
- Focus on what you need to do in the ring
(22) Always Use the Same Warm-up Routine
Part of mental preparation for competition is ensuring that you start your performance in a state of flow. Many boxers do this by developing routines that help them to focus their minds and block out distractions. These may involve complex and detailed rituals that involve preparation, detailed dressing rules, or precisely executed warm-ups. Part of this practiced routine might involve specific things such as imagery, positive thinking, mood control and distraction and stress management. All of this ensures that you enter a competitive situation in the ideal state of mind to give an excellent performance. Experiment with developing a ritual that covers all points of preparation that you consider being important. By practicing this ritual and keeping it standard in training, it will be automatic and complete when you face a potentially stressful competition.
(23) How Imagery and Positive Thinking Helps Self-Confidence
Imagery should be used to imagine achievement of a goal that is being worked towards in order to help you to believe that that goal is attainable. It should only be used, however, where you are rationally aware that you have the raw ability to achieve a goal if you stretch yourself, but if psychological factors such as lack of emotional self-confidence are interfering with your ability to achieve. For many years psychologists have advocated use of imagery and positive thinking without stressing that it should be based on a rational assessment of abilities. This can easily lead to over-confidence and serious failure.
(24) Positive Self Talks
Positive self talks are a vital tool for giving yourself confidence and also help keep you in the right frame of mind. Use your own key words to remind yourself how you want to behave. Think of words to control you in specific situations. Such as:
When you are tired - wake up, bright, alert, sunshine
When you are hurt/injured - I love the pain! I can work through it!
When you are too anxious - Relax, calm down, easy, breathe
When you are too relaxed - pick it up!, step it up a level
When you get knocked down - watch for the count, take a deep breath, get up
(25) Have a Fight Plan
During training your main focus should be on winning...training to win!!! During the actual competition focus on the task at hand in the present and near future, NOT the win. Do not allow yourself to get distracted. If you give 100% at the present moment, throughout the fight, you should be victorious. If not then there was nothing more you could do, you gave 100% and stayed focused. You have to allow yourself to adapt to your opponent but prior to the competition create a general fight plan, for the duration of the fight, each individual round and key words to use inside the rounds. Then following plan is a good general plan to work from.
Fight Plan
(Based on a 3 round fight)
1st - basics, see what he's about, counter punch his attack or use feints to draw
2nd - attack strong the whole round, dominate without a doubt
3rd - give 110% (this is what you've been training for and impress the judges)
Individual Rounds
Beginning:
- hands up, head down, sit down
- move using smart footwork
- stay balanced
- work behind the jab and feints
- (movement, balance, jab)
Middle:
- for every punch he lands give back two
- throw at least three big combinations and move
- keep breathing, focused
- (work, relax, work, relax)
End:
- finish strong, impress the judges
- (Dominate! Dominate!)
