17.08.04 – By Frank Lotierzo – GlovedFist@Juno.com – Suppose you’re Heavyweight contender Monte Barrett, and you just signed to fight WBC Champ Vitali Klitschko for the title. Obviously it’s the biggest and most important fight of your life. No doubt you’ll want to cover all the important bases in the hopes of giving yourself the best possible chance to win. The ironic thing about this is the fact that no matter how much Barrett intends to be the best prepared he can be, he really only has control of one thing. And that pertains to all fighters, not just Barrett or Klitschko.
Think about it. He has no control over who will officiate and score the fight. When and where the fight is going to take place is also out of the fighters control. Another thing a fighter has no say in, is the skill and talent level of his opponent. Talent and skill along with strength and power are something that fighters are blessed with at birth.
Sure, all fighters can do things to improve their speed and power, but if you aren’t a puncher, nothing can be done about that. A fighter can just work to improve his technique and do some strength training to improve his power. Again, he will not transform himself into a puncher, punchers are born not created.
Fighters can also improve their speed, but not that much. He can increase it a little, but not significantly. If he’s not fast, he’ll never be fast, he can only be a little faster than he was. And the same thing pertains to his ability to take a punch. Nothing he can do can make him Chuvalo, Cobb, or Hagler. Being in shape will help somewhat along with learning how to relax and conditioning himself mentally, but he’ll never have a Hagler type beard unless he was born with it.
As far as his strategy and fight plan, he needs a Boxing person in his corner that understands styles and how to take away his opponents strengths and expose his weakness. Even with this, what if his corner is wrong. We’ve seen it many times where the corner hasn’t given a fighter the best advice during the heat of battle in a close fight that was there to be won or lost.
What about the unforeseen? No one can scheme and be ready for all the different factors that can occur during a fight. Things like an accidental head butt, a torn ligament like what happened in the Tyson-Williams fight last month. How about a referee who doesn’t let a fighter fight on the inside, where he is the most effective. And last but not least, nobody can insure themselves against inept or corrupt judging and scoring.
In the months and weeks leading up to their fight, Vitali Klitschko and Monte Barrett will do and think of everything under the Sun in order to tilt the odds most heavily in their favor. When I say think of everything, that doesn’t imply cheating or bending the rules. It simply means eliminating outside distractions and obstacles that can knock them off their stride interfering with their preparation.
The fact is that when all is said and done, on the night of the fight the only thing that Klitschko and Barrett can know for certain is that they prepared harder and worked harder than the other. This doesn’t just apply to Klitschko and Barrett, it applies to every single fighter who steps into the ring.
There are many things that fighters can try and change and influence leading up to a fight. But in reality, the only thing that he has total control of is how hard he works and prepares before that bell starting the first round. The only thing that Monte Barrett can know for certain as he’s staring at Klitschko at center ring before the fight is, no way he prepared better than me and is more ready. And the same thing goes for Klitschko as he’s staring back at Barrett. Only Vitali and Monte know what they did prior to the fight and how hard they worked. And nothing gives a fighter more confidence than when he can look into opponents eye and say to himself, no way you’re more ready than me. Remember, preparing and getting ready is mental and physical.
Some may try and add some other insignificant things into the mix, but they are just trying to sound smarter than they are. A fighter has no control over whether or not he is the more talented fighter, or if he has been managed as well as his opponent. Even desire and toughness are God given. Some fighters/athletes have more desire and are more determined than others. Toughness is also something that a fighter or any other athlete is born with, no one has a say as to how tough they are.
When all is said and done, the only thing a fighter has ABSOLUTE control over is, that he did more and prepared better and harder than his opponent. That’s the only thing that the fighter, and only the fighter has complete and total control over!