The role of the coach: Insights from Boxing Champions

Do you tell athletes what to think or how to think?

The excellent “In This Corner” by Peter Heller is a collection of World Champion boxers across 7 decades. There is a lot of experience contained in those recollections and it is interesting to hear from people who have been there and done it.

Tommy Loughran (light heavyweight champion of the world) on boxing:

Tommy Loughran

“It can be a science, but there’s nobody around to teach it, and unfortunately the fellows who are teaching it don’t know enough to come out of the rain.

They have a certain alphabet: “you move this way, move that way, you do this,”, and they go through certain letters of the alphabet. But insofar as the individual is concerned we all have distinctive powers.

We are maybe 99 per cent alike, but the 1 per cent difference can mean all the difference in the world…. We don’t take time out to judge why we do things. We do things because we like them or we dislike them, but you don’t stop to figure out, “why do I dislike this? Why do I like that?” If you did, your whole life would be changed.”

Beau Jack (Lightweight champion of the world)

“When you’re not in shape you can’t show the people anything, and the boxing fans know this. They can tell when something is wrong. The only thing I can do know is to wish every young fellow that’s in boxing today, make sure that they be in shape and good condition… and do not ever go into the ring out of condition because it’s a dangerous thing.

You not only can get killed, but you can get ruined for the rest of your life. And the number one thing is eating and running, and make sure of your roadwork, because it’s number one. Eat the right foods and get the right rest and ain’t nobody going to beat you, not easy. 

You got a good trainer, he’s the boss. Listen to him. Pay attention to him, because if you don’t pay attention you not going anyplace. It’s only a few fighters can fight on their own.”

Jose Torres (light heavyweight champion of the world)

“One thing I have against boxing training is that they try to teach you what to think, and not how to think. That’s the basic difference of a good trainer and a no good trainer. Cus D’Amato teaches you how to think, not what to think in boxing. Cus, I think, is the greatest man boxing ever produced, or the best man that boxing ever had, because Cus had understanding for his fighters, respect for his fighters.”

Summary:

Get fit, eat well, get a good coach and listen to his advice.  That sounds like a good starting place to me.