I'm a pro boxer; any questions about pro boxing let me know?

[brown bomber]

Basically same as dempseys thread- ill answer what I can.

[pichuchu]

Do you prefer the amaure game or the pro sport?
How hard is it training for a fight while holding down a full time job to support yourself. (obviously training is longer/ more intense for a pro fight)

[StillWill]

Describe the transition from amateur to pro if you wouldnt mind mate

[brown bomber]

Originally Posted by pichuchu

Do you prefer the amaure game or the pro sport?
How hard is it training for a fight while holding down a full time job to support yourself. (obviously training is longer/ more intense for a pro fight)

I prefer the pro game as a spectacle, but I enjoyed the amateur days too. The most annoying thing about being pro was having to shift tickets.

Work wise I've always being quite lucky I was able to earn enough working part time and I was also studying a degree the last three years.

If you love something enough you'll find a way.

[brown bomber]

Originally Posted by StillWill

Describe the transition from amateur to pro if you wouldnt mind mate

The biggest difference is you can take your time more. It's not as frenzied.

You have got a decent amount of time to settle - whereas in the ams you have about a minute then you've got to be taking control.

Everyone can punch hard- even the journeyman. They all know how to fight - whereas in the ams you'll come across people with glaring deficiencies at least at area level.

The money was a great bonus at times but I fought for free on more then one occasion just because I hadn't done enough tickets etc.

I'd go back to the amateurs even now if I could. What I would say is that people get to 22 and retire from the ams because they can't quite cut it. Keep it going its a great sport and your always learning.

[pecho26]

Did you ever worry about long term effects of boxing or were you ever: **** me,what if something happenes in my fight?(knocked out pretty bad or something like that).
When i was in depression 1,5 ago(not anymore)cause of lots of things that plagued me bad(that and my dad died cause of hereditary spinocerebellar ataxia,so i saw him getting worse every day).
Ty.

[StillWill]

Originally Posted by brown bomber

The biggest difference is you can take your time more. It's not as frenzied.

You have got a decent amount of time to settle - whereas in the ams you have about a minute then you've got to be taking control.

Everyone can punch hard- even the journeyman. They all know how to fight - whereas in the ams you'll come across people with glaring deficiencies at least at area level.

The money was a great bonus at times but I fought for free on more then one occasion just because I hadn't done enough tickets etc.

I'd go back to the amateurs even now if I could. What I would say is that people get to 22 and retire from the ams because they can't quite cut it. Keep it going its a great sport and your always learning.

Thanks

One more question; if you had to do it all over again what would u do differently?

[brown bomber]

Originally Posted by pecho26

Did you ever worry about long term effects of boxing or were you ever: **** me,what if something happenes in my fight?(knocked out pretty bad or something like that).
When i was in depression 1,5 ago(not anymore)cause of lots of things that plagued me bad(that and my dad died cause of hereditary spinocerebellar ataxia,so i saw him getting worse every day).
Ty.

When your a kid - or me at least. My personal well being came second to my dreams- it was only when my kids came that I started to really enjoy life and that's when I started to worry a little about long term things. I was never bothered about getting KO'd I knew I had a good chin and it was unlikely to happen.

I have being lucky injury wise- broken hands, broken nose, a little bit of forgetfulness that's it really. I didn't really get hit too much. 61 fights that's not bad - plus all the sparring.

[brown bomber]

Originally Posted by StillWill

Thanks

One more question; if you had to do it all over again what would u do differently?

Be better, listen more to my trainers. Maybe stay amateur longer.

[brown bomber]

Originally Posted by orriray59

What were your experiences like pre-fight? How nervous would you get on the morning of the fight and the hours before battle?

Really interested.
Ever meet any dodgy ****ers?

I was really nervous sometimes but other times usually in my best performances I would literally not worry at all. I would go in with the mentality 'lets have it'.

The mind is the most important thing in boxing. If you go in to survive you'll struggle - you need to not doubt for one second that you have the capability to win- that takes delusion... I think that's an important asset for all fighters.

[brown bomber]

Dodgy ****ers?

[pecho26]

Originally Posted by orriray59

Yeah. One time I (and I shit you not) fought a lad with about 15kg's on me and five inches in height. I had six ****ing fights at the time, he had a good 30 or 40 or something like that.

Needless to say, I got ****in' belted from post to post for three rounds. My trainer never told me any of these details despite him knowing everything. There was nobody in my division to fight that day so they chucked me in with this thunder-cunt.

Every word of that is true, btw. Dodgy shit altogether.

Experienced something similar to this,when my opp didnt come to weigh ins at all and then he came into a looking like a ****ing hulk.,baring 10 kg on me.I was ****ing mad at my trainer because he didnt give a flying **** about it.
BROWN B. how much sparring did you do a week?
I saw kessler in one of interview saying that he doesnt do much sparring(once every 14 days)

[brown bomber]

Originally Posted by orriray59

Yeah. One time I (and I shit you not) fought a lad with about 15kg's on me and five inches in height. I had six ****ing fights at the time, he had a good 30 or 40 or something like that.

Needless to say, I got ****in' belted from post to post for three rounds. My trainer never told me any of these details despite him knowing everything. There was nobody in my division to fight that day so they chucked me in with this thunder-cunt.

Every word of that is true, btw. Dodgy shit altogether.

ha ha oh that kind of dodgy shit.

Quite a good one was my fourth pro fight- boxed a guy called dave curran... Anyway I was 3-0 and he was 1-1 I think or 1-2 but he'd being signed with frank Maloney initially.

I didn't ask much and left things to my trainer but I recognised his name for some reason. So I asked my trainer if he had any form. Anyway my trainer was like no he's just had a few amateur fights so I just got on with business.

He was quite tidy but I knocked him down five times and stopped him in the fifth. Anyway it turned out that curran was the national amateur champion and an England rep.

Glad I didn't know before but shows the power of the mind.

[brown bomber]

Originally Posted by pecho26

Experienced something similar to this,when my opp didnt come to weigh ins at all and then he came into a looking like a ****ing hulk.,baring 10 kg on me.I was ****ing mad at my trainer because he didnt give a flying **** about it.
BROWN B. how much sparring did you do a week?
I saw kessler in one of interview saying that he doesnt do much sparring(once every 14 days)

I believe you should spar every session. Or nearly every session. I don't mean heavy sparring I mean conditioned sparring- drilled or working on specific things.

In the run up to a fight I would spar a lot, as a youngster I was only a super feather and I hated sparring. Everyone was bigger then me and I'd avoid sparring as often as possible but I didn't realise it was just hurting me. I wasn't testing myself and my self belief was too fragile.

In the run up to each of my five comeback fights I was sparring current British super middle champ kenny Anderson. He's a top fighter and has about two stone on me. He's also a banger 18-1 (13kos) so even though he wasn't trying to take my head off he would really make me dig deep.

I knew whatever I experienced in the ring wouldn't be as hard as that. I'd also spar others heavily I actually knocked out a few current pros in sparring but this heavy sparring can't be done regular or you'd be a zombie.

So too answer heavy sparring maybe once a week when your very fit, conditioned sparring as often as possible.

[Nicky P]

Thanks for making this thread BB.

Can you give us some thoughts on tapering off of intense training before a pro fight?