Handling Bullies In Boxing With Teddy Atlas
The mental side of fighting might be the most crucial aspect leading to the results of many fights. All fighters feel the mental effects, whether in preparation or inside the ring/cage; the mental aspect lurks inside our head, and we are the only ones able to deal with and control how it affects us.
The psychological (mental) aspect is proven to be under our control as there is a voice in your head that only we control. If we work correctly with this voice, we will be able to make the right decisions, focusing on whats need to be done instead of making mistakes and failing to execute the mission.
Remember, we can break boxing into three aspects - Physical, technical, and mental. Once we realize that the mental side holds 75 percent of our chances to win a fight, we might give it a lot more attention.
But how come technique and physicality take only 25 percent?
Remember that your physical and technical must always be at 100 percent, you should be in the best shape of your life and the sharpest you have ever been. But the truth is that no matter how good we are, if we are not stable mentally, the fight will never go our way, and everything we worked on won’t show inside the fight.
Notice that mental weakness is not about being afraid or anxious; mental weakness is having a plan and failing to stick with it as things get tougher. Mental weakness is shown when things don’t go our way, and instead of dealing with it, we give up.
When we look at a coach’s job, we sometimes forget that he shouldn’t focus on only preparing you physically; he must also work as a psychologist and prepare you mentally. A coach who understands the importance of the mental aspect understands that everything else is built upon it; the fighter will show everything we taught him if the athlete is mentally stable and prepared.
In the following video, Teddy Atlas will explain how we should deal with bullies when it comes to fighting.
Who Is Teddy Atlas?
Teddy Atlas is a well-known American Boxing coach who has trained countless world champions under his wings and has lived in a world of boxing for the last 45 years. Teddy was also a student of the great Cus D’Amato, who taught him the sweet science philosophy like no other. Today Teddy is passing on what he has learned from Cus, who is considered the best teacher the world has seen.
Check Out Teddy's Instructionals HERE! Click Learn More!
How To Deal With Bullies
The video starts with Teddy giving us a preview of his next instructional video, which in his eyes will be the most important video he has made as it talks about “The World Of Jabs.”
In Teddy’s eyes, the Jab is so important because it is like “having a flashlight in the dark,” the Jab leads our way and sets up everything else. Now we can throw the Jab in so many different ways, and this is precisely what the instructional will talk about - all the various ways we can throw the Jab.
But today, Teddy wants to talk with us about an essential subject of fighting as the smaller guy. We will look at the example of the MMA fighter Israel Adesanya beating a bigger and stronger opponent (Paulo Costa) using strategy and being wise in his approach.
Although this video is not about boxing, athletes can apply everything we see in MMA to boxing; they are both parts of the game of fighting, which is all about overcoming adversity, making a plan, and being smart.
When we deal with a stronger and bigger opponent in boxing, our strategy will be to move and get angles on our opponent constantly so he can’t settle his feet and load a powerful punch.
But in MMA, it is a little bit different as we have much more tools to use and to deal with, so to deal with a stronger guy in MMA, Adesanya used the leg kick to chop the base of his opponent, and when the foundation is not there the top won’t be there (punches).
Now, the exciting thing about this fight is that Israel “bullied the bully,” and it reminded Teddy of Ali fighting Foreman in Zahir, where Ali fought a “monster.” He bullied him with no fear; he stood in front of him and told him to hit him using rope and dope until Foreman couldn’t stand it anymore, and Ali caught him with two punches that finished the fight.
And this is what happens with bullies; even at school, when you stand up to the bully, he immediately backs off and looks for someone to help him. The same thing happened with Israel; he stayed in front of Costa and didn’t let him bully him, which led to Costa breaking under pressure and Israel finding his shots to win the fight.
We can apply the same principle of standing up to the bully to life when the moment comes, and things start to get complicated, we feel like we lose control. But that’s not true, because we are always in control until we give up our control, the choice to behave right will always be there for us.
Learn More From Teddy Atlas
Suppose you liked this breakdown on Teddy explaining the importance of being smart and how to win the fight mentally. In that case, you will enjoy checking out one of his fundamental instructionals, “The Fundamentals Of Boxing - By Teddy Atlas” available exclusively on Dynamic Striking.