After making the thread "A thought on Buster Douglas" and analyzing Douglas on the night he beat Tyson I find it interesting how when at the right mental state along with that physical it can change a lot of things. I think not enough is stressed on that mental aspect as people will look at things like the size and other physical intangibles but it takes more than that though to strive through fights or life in general. To me without the mental the physical is useless. So ESB how do you feel about the importance of a strong mentality?
I believe a strong mentality is of vital importance. Rocky Marciano exemplifies this as well as anyone. Someone posted recently that he never should have been a champion because of all of his so-called negatives, but he did, and largely because he fought with that never-say-die attitude. Also, I remember that later in his career, Floyd Patterson would sometimes delay fights until he was mentally ready - for example his fight with Oscar Bonavena. And there was Jack Sharkey - capable of an all-time great, or a journeyman performance on any given night. This is what prompted NY Boxing Commissioner Muldoon to say that Sharkey was the best fighter in the world - from the neck down. These are but a few examples, and it has been said that all things being equal in a match, the victory will go to the one who wants it most.
he lacked a lot of it tonight but Floyd is normally known to take people out of their focus and take that mental aspect away from them giving him an advantage
Yea but it was extra weird. Guy does a jumping goat head butt, then tries to kiss and hug floyd like 4 times. I think Oritz has always had a suspect sense of self. I know bringing up one interview after a loss is a bit unfair, but when he said "I don't deserve to be beaten up like this..." I was like ****. I was hoping he would at least make Floyd work as hard tonight as he did in the hatton fight...oh well.
LaMotta explicitly stated that he put himself into a state of "self hypnosis," mentally programming himself with the conviction that punches couldn't hurt him. (He said this during his review of the "Valentine's Day Massacre" with SRR on Curt Gowdy's "The Way it Was" sports nostalgia program during the 1970s.) Not being afraid of punches, he didn't flinch from them, and was psychologically prepared to get hit. In Marciano's case, Vince Lombardi's maxims, "Fatigue makes cowards of us all," and "The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender," very definitely applied to his obsessive work ethic. He was forever fueled by the memory of his early amateur disgrace against Henry Lester before his hometown supporters, figuring the power of his right hand alone would be enough to get the job done.
The mental aspect is the biggest part. That sang wasnt created for fun. Boxing truly is 90% mental 10% physical. You can be in the best shape physically, but if your not dialed in mentally your in big trouble. Look at guys like Bruce Seldon and Mike Grant and Andrew Golota, these guys went through painstaking training camps and busted their ass, only to meltdown in fights.
