Looking at Direll-Abraham and Froch-Kessler has me pondering this question. In both fights one fighter is undefeated and seems supremely confident that they will beat whoever is put in front of them, while the other has recently tasted defeat and is desperate for a victory in their next match. Which is the more dangerous mind-set: believing that one can't lose, or being desperate to not lose again?
Depends if the confident fighter becomes complacent, or if the desperate fighter is extremely determined.
Also depends if Dirrel who is desperate to not lose fights to not lose rather than win. And if Abraham is over confident that Dirrel will be a walk in the park and finds himself down on cards and hitting air. It can wok both ways. Hopefully Dirrel will fight desperate and go for it and Abraham will be fearless and go in without any worry. That will make one hell of a fight.
OK. So which has the potential to be more dangerous? Are their more examples of people losing because they were overly confident, or because they had their confidence shattered?
I would say Kessler against Ward was an example of overconfidence. Kessler clearly expected to win just doing his normal stuff.
There are no more or less in all reality. Both are really bad and end up with you crying like a little ***** back in the dressing room.
The confident fighter. BY FAR. These guys look better in every department when they're undefeated. After the L's start coming either they slip with their physical tools and boost up with their courage, or vice versa. Or both go. But rarely, rarely, if ever, do fighters get better after getting thrashed. Depends on the career arc though. Some guys stop giving a **** after they have a setback and improve. All depends. At the top is my clear majority.
Not the toughest question, is it? Absolute confidence is fine as long as they accept they have to put in the work to justify that confidence. All the best fighters are very confident. How confident are Pac or Mayweather when they enter a ring? Desperation is rarely a good thing unless the fighter is miles behind and needs something special. Desperation at that stage is better than a pedestrian attitude, at least they are giving themselves a chance. Entering the ring desperate is dangerous, more likely to make mistakes.
All other things being equal on average confidence trumps desperation. The confident man will play a calculated game while the desperate mind can oftentimes be clouded with too much emotion and takes huge risks easily.
Absolute confidence is a killer for the opponant, it only becomes dangerous when confidence becomes arrogance and complacency.
