Fighters That Were Absolutely Impossible...

Yep! Worked with George super early in my adult career.

He trained primarily strength and fundamentals. He worked hard, but very simply, very steadily.

George was hardly the fittest fighter, but he was the steadiest, the most comfortable, and the most relaxed. Boxing to Big George was like breathing. Impossible to discourage, impossible to get his heart rate up. Slow and steady. It's very, very tough to tire a guy like that out.

The top pro boxers are all in some semblance of shape. People overrate conditioning- Every fighter who accomplishes anything conditions himself. We spend 6-7 hours a day in the gym, after all. No, the fighters who make their gas tanks last are special because of their minds and their postures. If you can keep calm, keep poised without tension, keep your breathing regularly, and not get excited, you can make very little gas go a long, long way.

Getting in great shape is only half the battle, stretching it with poise and comfort is the second half, and I have never seen a fighter better at that part than George Foreman.

 

Lemme put it this way.

Jermain Taylor. Perfect specimen. Busts his ass. Runs half-marathons. Builds his body perfectly. Muscular, cut. A true athlete.

Can't last past 6 or 7 rounds. Ever. Why?

Tense. Wastes motion. Forgets to breath with his punches, or his steps. Panics when hurt.

The best conditioned man on Earth will burn out fast this way. The fat, rolly, jolly George, stronger than he is fit, at home in the ring as he is on the couch, can go and go and go.

Look at Marciano. Against Louis, is a perfect example. Watch that fight. Savage, yes. Relentless, yes. But so very steady. He accelerates and decelerates evenly, he has his own rhythm, his facial expression never changes, his stance and his attacks waste no motion beyond punches being a touch too wide to be pretty. Immaculately conditioned, the Rock was, but he was in total control of himself, down to the beat of his heart to the tension of his calves:

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See how there ISN'T any tension in his calves? Me, I flex my legs when I throw hard with the right. I drive with them. The results? I hit like a truck. It's explosive, its fast, it's incredibly powerful. And by the fifth or sixth round, my legs start to give, and a guy like Rocky considers himself well warmed-up. Here comes the pain.

 

Presumably he means at light-heavyweight and cruiserweight. Seeing Qawi push around Spinks, a former heavyweight champ, was incredible when you consider how light Qawi started.

 

Awesome posts Magna :good Very insightful, giving me something to think about next time i spar.

 

I'll give you a paraphrased quote of some of the best advice i've ever received on pressure:

"Pressure is psychological. You can back a man up, cut the ring, make him work, but at the end of the day, if he's in shape and he's comfortable with what is going down, he's not going to tire out.

You're pressure needs to be in consistency. It needs to be in being steady. Unperturbed. You control

When you work, work him. Do not let him be comfortable. Find where he dislikes being hit and hit him. Listen to when he doesn't breathe, look to when he tenses up, and put him in the situation over and over and over again.

Don't be pressured in reverse; Settle yourself. Plant your feet. Breathe in time with your heart beat. Punch with the proper mechanics, and you won't need to coil and bunch your muscles; Drive, never force. Rip, never sink.

Always breathe. Always breathe. When you breathe, and you execute, the crowd falls away, and it's just you and him, and a ring, and he will make a mistake because he isn't tied to his breathe, he isn't comfortable, he isn't focused. He's a man. You are a machine. When he makes a mistake, it ends. Right then, right there."

Mr. Futch, circa 1989. Saved my ass more times than I can count. When you see a fighter who is impossible to discourage? Those words are what that fighter embodies, and it's true for all of them.

 

How much do pro fighters train in general between fights? Let's say that a fighter set ups training camp 6-9 weeks before a fight and works his ass off, but how much does he train during the periods in between? Does he relax his schedule? 'Cause wouldn't you burn out if you train 6-7 hours a day year round?

 

Tyson and Prime Foreman