Staying Focused In High Pressure Situations

Finding Peace Amongst Chaos

Of all the attributes that make up a great fighter, one of the most distinctive characteristics that all the greats have, is the ability to make the difficult feats, look easy. In the ring, you have literally split seconds to react to your opponent and carry out certain actions, such as executing counters. And despite the fact that boxing operates at high speed, the elite fighters of the sport somehow seem to operate on their own timing, somewhat more parallel to slow motion.

A perfect example of this, is Floyd Mayweather Jr., and in particularly, his fight with Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez was one where he exhibited his ability to maintain focus, intently slipping and fading from punches even whilst punching. There is a section in the fight where Floyd lands a one- two and Canelo throws a overhand right which Floyd moves back my centimetres in split- seconds to avoid it. Amazing. With mental practice directed at training your mental state, it is possible to improve this aspect of your game with a few simple things in mind.

Avoiding Tension

With an excessive focus on trying to fight with speed and power, so many fighters allow their mind to get side- tracked, distracted and clouded with unnecessary and impractical goals in mind, which leads to a cycle destructive to their chances of winning. An elite must fight relaxed, but way too many fighters allow themselves to rush what it is their doing whilst their fighting, and this is does no good towards improving your chance of winning. Rushing automatically increases tension not just in the muscles, but more importantly in the mind as well. Tension can lead to mistakes, and this is turn leads to even more tension and frustration, and this is how the cycle begins.

“          As Cus D’Amato, the legendary trainer and mentor of Floyd Patterson and Mike Tyson, said, ‘when you get hit, that’s when you gotta be calm!’ After a mistake, this is when it’s most crucial to be relaxed, maintain focus and discipline. It is that this exact moment that it’s most important to maintain a cool head because the best mind that will navigate you out of trouble is the mind that is calm and fully able to think logically and make the smartest choice.

Practice Remaining Logical

It’s for this reason, that you have to end the negative cycle of tension and mistakes at the earliest point you can, and preferably you want to prepare to counter it before it even makes an appearance. This means that you practice remaining cool under pressure at all times in training, and particularly in sparring. And since the principles in one concept, can be applied to any other, you can take it a step further and practice remaining cool under pressure in all situations in life, so that when it comes to stepping into the ring, it will truly be just second nature.

Condition Your Mind

Those that don’t commit to improving this part of their mental game risk cringing under pressure. When you become tense and frustrated, negative self talk can cause an athlete to engage in negatively self talk unintentionally. This is one of the reasons it can be highly distressing for most boxers to fight a pressure fighter, a come-forward guy that throws a hundred punches a round. A boxer who is not well conditioned may have some early success against a pressure fighter, but it is the nature of a pressure fighter to continue throwing non-stop every round believing they will eventually get to you.

Pressure fighters can usually take a punch and when you nail him several times with your best shot and he continues to come forward throwing punches in bunches, this is when you can start negatively talking to yourself, telling yourself words of discouragement. However, giving in and allowing negative self- talk to emerge serves no purpose, it will ruin you, so what’s the point?  Why let it exist? This is not the right way, do not involve yourself in the impractical.

Seek and Eliminate Negativity

At the earliest possible point, you must shut down any emergence of  negative self talk, by stopping yourself by continue engaging in such talk. Then after that, to prevent its reappearance, you instantly replace it with positive speech. Tell yourself things like ‘I’m great’, ‘I’m motivated’, ‘I have what it takes to win’, ‘I’ll find a way!’ As Marvin Hagler said before ‘The War’ with Thomas Hearns, ‘I’ve been feeding the fate, and starving the doubt’, and this is what you must do also. Do not spend any of your energy on negativity, you will only be encouraging your own demise.

Logic Triumphs

Essentially the opponent your are tasked with defeating obviously is presenting you with a challenge, but you must not look at the challenge as anything more than obstacle that you can and will get past. When you’re mind is positive, it can be clear and logical. This type of mind will allow you see the situation for what it is, identifying what needs to be done in order to overcome the challenge.

Once you have identified what you need in order to win, you can direct your focus to that cause and you must not allow yourself to be side tracked or distracted from this goal. Distractions can be in the form of your opponents corner, a crowd that is against you, or even a seemingly bias referee. Maybe the biggest distraction likely to derail you is being hit, but nothing should shake your focus, consciousness and your positivity. The body and brain will help you accomplish the tasks you want it to as  long as you show it the results you want it to. Never allow yourself to be discouraged, no matter what happens. You can practice this by frequently imagining yourself being in situations of heightened pressure, and what it is that you will do, in a calm and collected manner.

Final Note

            Remember, the nature of a champion is to do anything it takes to win, and anything that maximises your chances of this HAS  to be done. You must not lack in any area and if you want to dramatically increase your chances of succeeding then you have to practice maintaining focus in the ring, and encouraging yourself to always  engage in positive self talk, to remain eternally logical.