Off the top of my head, I can only call two examples of sport psychologists being used by boxers. The first is James Loehr, a relatively well known figure in sports psychology, who worked with Ray Mancini. The second is Alan Heary, a hypnotherapist whom Steve Collins employed to prep him for Eubank. (Which had the added ironic benefit of psyching Eubank out.) Can anyone else think of sports psychologists who were used in high level boxing? How successful and useful do you think sports psychology is for boxing? And why?
Chris Marshall. Works with the GB Olympic team and also was utilised by Froch ahead of the Groves rematch. Groves loved him.
Ken Norton before the first meeting with Muhammad Ali on March 31 1973 used a Hypnotist, this was verified by Eddie Futch. Sometimes a fighter does lack confidence in his abilities and needs that extra assurance that is locked away in their subconscious.
One of the weirder byways of boxing history, by the way -- Norton and his hypnotist apparently had a rather odd legal fight. This content is protected (In his later book, "Going the Distance," Norton did credit the guy with one or two helpful contributions.)
Sort of in the ballpark, Lou Nova practiced and advocated yoga - orig. mentored by Pierre Bernard. Some viewed this as a publicity stunt also - initially advertised in the lead up to Nova’s fight vs Max Baer. The yoga of course entailed pre-fight meditation. Nova also credited a “cosmic” punch and “dynamic” stance to yoga. Nova appeared on the Groucho Marx series You Bet Your Life in1961. From about the 8 min mark Lou talks about yoga and performs an inversion. If you thought Max Baer and Galento were crazy, think again. LOL. From this particular segment, Nova comes across as a very likeable character. Note the current weight he gives, his weight for Louis and finally his walk around weight in normal shape. This is great at every level, not least for the wit of the brilliant Groucho Marx. Before my time but it is very good television imo. The tiny lady named Jean who appears alongside big Lou is pretty damn cute also. This content is protected
If I recall correctly, Anthony Joshua saw a sports psychologist at one point leading up to the Ruiz Jr. rematch.
