Mental Training For Boxing With Teddy Atlas
The mental side of boxing was always a controversial topic, everybody knew the effects it had on a fight, but not everybody gave it attention. Although it is totally normal to slack mentally and give up a little or feel emotional and fearful about a bout, it shouldn’t control us.
Fighters can’t neglect the psychological part, and you definitely can control it; you can control the voice in your head that might lead you to make a mistake and stop him from controlling you any further.
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? Well, leading into a fight, you must make sure they are 100% and never neglect them, but inside the fight, the mind controls both, and it glues everything together, so it is much more important to have that down and be strong mentally.
The following video will go in-depth on the mental side of boxing as Teddy Atlas will talk with us about everything we need to know.
Who Is Teddy Atlas?
Teddy Atlas is one of the last Old School teachers in Boxing today, and he has trained countless world champions under his wings as a coach. Teddy and the great Cus D’Amato had a student-teacher relationship which cultivated Teddy like no other. Teddy has been a coach for 45 years now, perfecting his methods and passing on what he learned from the best teacher the world has seen, his teacher - Cus D’Amato.
Master The Art Of Boxing With Teddy Atlas! Click Learn More!
The Mental Side Of A Fight
In this video, Teddy Atlas will talk with us about the mental side of boxing. But before all that, Teddy wanted to tell us why he likes making videos for Dynamic Striking. When Teddy used to go into fight camps, he would devote himself to only one fighter and invest emotionally with the boxer’s performance as it shows the work he has done.
But this is a very tiring business, and in the end, all this work and knowledge goes only to one person instead of spreading it worldwide so the whole world can enjoy his craft that he gave 45 years of his life for, so Teddy is grateful for the opportunity and he hopes, you can learn and grow from what he is sharing.
Now for the central part of the video - How important is the mental side of boxing?
If boxing can be broken into three components, it will be - Physical, technical, and mental. Now the mental side is the most crucial component, making 75 % of the fight in Teddy’s eyes; it is so important because everything else is built upon it.
To understand the importance of mentality, Teddy gives the example of Oscar De La Hoya, a great fighter and a big promoter nowadays. But Oscar has many problems right now, and Teddy believes the root of the problem is the psychological aspect he always lacked, even as a fighter.
Teddy shares with us that as a fighter, Oscar wouldn’t perform as well in big fights on a psychological level - like the Mosley fight where he didn’t even try to come back when Mosley started to regain himself. After losing a couple of rounds, Mosley changed his strategy, and Oscar broke mentally, not trying to adjust and losing the fight.
Another example was against Mayweather, who is a fast counter fighter, and oscar kept him at a distance as the taller fighter and used his Jab. Still, as the pressure of the fight grew, Oscar abandoned the strategy and entered the range where Mayweather could work and win the fight.
Remember, you must have the discipline to carry on with the plan inside a fight and never let yourself drift into situations that put you at a disadvantage. People think that it is brave to drift away from the plan, but it shows a mental weakness that you can’t stay disciplined and do what you planned to do.
In the case of Oscar De La Hoya, he always found a way to screw up the biggest fights. And the same happens now with his promotional company, and it affects everything in his life, so being mentally stable and not let our emotions control us is crucial.
Teddy summarizes and says that as a coach, you must always work as a psychologist as it is all in mind, 75 percent of the fight is mentally, and everything else is built upon it, everything that we learn.
Learn More From Teddy Atlas!
Suppose you like how Teddy teaches and would like to expand your knowledge and get your skills to the next level; check out some of the instructionals we have on our website and choose what’s good for you. If you find it hard to choose an instructional, here is a recommendation of one of Teddy’s best works - “Timing Boxing Shot Clock For Success - By Teddy Atlas” available exclusively on Dynamic Striking.