| >> | >>540986
Yeah I don't like what your teacher is doing. I think he's trying to motivate you, but at an amateur level especially, you should just be focused on yourself and not your opponent.
What are the rules of your fight as well? Back when I was fighting ammy, it was no elbows and 3x1.5 minute rounds with a 1 minute rest. If you want to try and tackle it logically, you only have 4.5 minutes of actual fighting for the whole fight. You've done hard sparring so you know what it's like to be hit, and I imagine you've done rounds longer than the fight itself, so nothing that comes in the fight is anything you haven't experienced before, despite you saying you're inexperienced.
If it helps, I was really nervous before my first fight. In the lead up, one of the pro guys said what helped him was to basically have 3 punches/combos and 3 kicks/knees and mostly just focus on those 3 of each. You want to just practice them constantly and just get really comfortable with them, because they'll be what you fall back to if you get stuck in your head during the fight. In the lead up as well, I heard Rampage Jackson once say that he used to visualise himself winning 100 times a day leading up to your fight, which I tried a lot. Even if it's not winning, just think of stuff like how you can check a kick and land a right straight, and other successes like that and basically remind yourself that you can do good.
At weigh-ins, I normally just look at my opponent's neck. I don't really care for the eye contact or psyche out shit that people do because it all comes down to what happens in the ring in my opinion. If it's something you feel like you might be worried about, which it sounds like it, just don't play the game. Just stare at the neck or chest in a face-off. That being said, I've never seen face-offs for amateur fights, only professional. Similarly when you first get in the ring and they're announcing, I just face my own corner and my coach until the referee tells us to turn around to start. Again, if you're getting scared/anxious, this helps you just focus on the one thing, your coach, rather than all the people around you or your opponent.
And lastly, when the fight starts, just try to have fun. If you don't know what to do, that's what those 3 combos I mentioned earlier are for. You likely won't feel any pain because you're gonna be so full of adrenalin. You don't have to worry about gassing out since the time is so short, honestly just do what you want. Stepping in the ring is more than say 5% of people on the planet have the courage to do and if they wanna give you shit because they think you look bad, they can get in and try it and see if they're any better. Not to diminish how big of a step it is to have your first fight, but the results of amateur fights won't mean much in the long run. Whether you win or lose, it's not like you get paid or make more money. Either way you'll come away with experience and lessons you can apply to your next fight if that's a step you want to take. Amateur fights are there for you to try it out and get experience, and your probably won't get many, so you might as well just enjoy them and have fun. |
