Anyone here think they could have been a successful professional fighter?

Yep...

The Whole "Silk Pajamas", "Running @ 6am" Axiom Applies to This...Or as REED Likes to Say, "It's HARD Cutting Weight When You've Got a Fridge FULL of Food @ Home"...





REED:mut:

 

No full-contact sparring with punches, kicks, knees & elbows? :dunno:

 

It partially explains why some athletes also turn to shit once they start making the big coin. On the other hand if it just came down to being able to afford not only a comfortable lifestyle but luxuries as well you would expect waaaaay more people in that position to quit or slack off. I believe the reason most don't is if that was their mindset from the outset (make money and get out) they never would have achieved what they did in the first place.

 

Bolded that work because they do and it means competition. Some people outside of the boxing world will assume it only means beating people up. Yes obviously they do enjoy it (and to a degree have to) but it's not a pure bully mentality. Bullies don't like competition.

 

RN?

 

Yep.

 

I have no chin and no punching power,... but one day I'll claim them both under anonymity.

 

:scratcher:

 

Aye, but only occasionally and when not in training for a race. Can't run marathons with smashed legs.

MTF ::

 

Besides having no talent I'm far too soft. I didn't like hitting people- if I landed a good shot in sparring my first instinct was to ask the other chap if he was ok :: never mind a fighter, I'm too much of a pussy to even be a good ringside doctor, I'd stop fights for a burst lip

 

Yeah. It takes a great deal of ruthlessness to punch someone hard in the face, especially if you're not angry with them. So to be a boxer you have to be somewhat sadistic. Even worst is the mentality needed to be an MMA fighter. Can you imagine being ok to break arms, elbow strike, kick to the head and choke people out in addition to hitting them in the face? Not to mention ground and pound. I've always maintained that every MMA fighter is a psychotic nutter! They have to be.

 

I'm the same way... My first instinct is to feel guilty and empathetic ::

 

I blame Catholicism

 

I am exactly the way Hut described, too.

Since I am not Catholic, I guess I have to blame being Finnish. If somebody hurts us, rather than hit them back we'll commit a suicide

 

I always heard that the suicide rate among Finnish men is pretty high and this is due to the fact that their women look like bears.















J/K

 

:laughing:

 

Was a pretty decent little gym fighter. Quick hands- big power. But I wasn't listening enough to the coaches, had too big of a head. Also, I was too much into girls and beer. Always wondered what I could have become. I was able to hold my ground against some low level pro's, but the step between that and being world class is enormous.

 

I was Roman Catholic too, but never felt guilty while boxing as I knew it wasn't personal. Once the bell rang I knew the other guy was going to try to rip my head out so I immediately switched to a cold blooded fighter, looking at my opponent just as a target that needed to be taken out ASAP. Afterwards I will feel bad for the other kid when he was down all bloodied on the canvas, but then after I make sure he was alright, we shake hands and the guilt was gone. I once boxed against one of my cousins whom I really didn't want to fight against because I knew he wasn't that strong, but they still matched him against me and I knocked him out within one minute and got the scare of my life as he did not regained consciousness until what seemed like an eternity. He got a broken nose too on top of that which I felt guilty about and couldn't face my aunt for months afterwards! ::

 

Agreed somewhat...there is definately that element.
If your opponent doesn´t tap out you either a) tell em ¨come on, its over: Quit already¨ or b) render them unconscious or break their arm

 

Has anyone sparred with a top amateur or professional fighter?

 

No, but I almost got into a brawl with a pro boxer from my town, Nicolas 'El Puma' Ortiz, who was drunk as hell and he showed up at the gym that I used to do some bodybuilding while also doing some of my karate training. He wanted to match my karate against his boxing. The other guys present were cheering up for the fight to happen, but I declined because the guy could barely stand on his feet from alcohol intoxication. He tried to punch me a few times, but all I did was move a few steps back as he kept missing. That same night he got arrested for wreckless driving, DUI and resisting arrest.

 

Not long ago, I started boxing again, and my coach was a former ukrainian amateur champ and top 5 european amateur. We spaared a bit, but really softly, and I quickly realised that I was in way over my head.

 

I sparred with a UK Muay Thai champ who boxed as well as few times, just when I thought I was getting pretty competent. I soon realized I wasnt. Like, at all. :: he had about as much challenge from me as I would have with a 12 year old girl. Luckyily he was a nice guy and just gave me the run around rather than spinning my cranium around but I couldn't lay a finger on him and I doubt he'd have noticed if I had.

 

Probably a loving home life that ruined you, I know that's what I blame.

 

No Doubt...

Fighters are a DIFFERENT Breed...REED's Ol' Man Was the Only Guy on the Block with Boxing Gloves and Kids Would ALWAYS Come Over to Borrow Them...Then REED Would Come Visit for the Weekend and Get CHALLENGED By These Kids or VOLUNTEERED By His Ol' Man to Spar...

REED Would Guess He Won 6-7 Out of Every 10 Scraps, Yet LOATHED Every One of Them...Whipping Ass and Getting Ass Whipped SUCKED the Same...Some of the Other Kids Might Only Win 3-4 Out of 10, Yet They'd GLEEFULLY Return the Following Day, Regardless the Outcome...They Simply Loooooooved Fighting...

REED Gets a TRUE Sense of that Looooove for Fighting by Hanging with Pros...Motherfuckers Will Ride to the Gym Together, Beat the Living Shit Out of Each Other in Sparring, GENUINELY Laugh and Joke about WHO Got the Better of Whom and What Shots Landed, Then PARTY Together...

REED Can't Even Relate, Because THE LAST Thing He'd Want to Do is Party with Some Dude That Just Whipped His Ass...Yet Fighters Treat a Bad Day of Sparring as REED Would Treat a Bad Game of Pick-Up Basketball...





REED

 

And then there's another level like Gatti and Ward sharing a damn hospital room. ::

 

Right!!!...

REED Would Be Like, "Dude, You PUT Me in the Fucking Hospital, Get the Fuck OUT of my Room!!!"...

To REED, Fighting Cuts to the Very CORE of Being "Manly"...When Someone Whips Your Ass, They're MORE "Manly" Than You, for Better or Worse...For That Very Reason, REED Would Want NATHAN to Do w/ANY Man that Whipped His Ass, Even In Sparring...And THE Absolute Worst Would Be Catching a Beatdown In Front of Your Wife and Kids...You're SUPPOSED to Be "The Man" of Your House, Yet Your Family Just Witnessed You Getting OUT Manned???...That Would DEVASTATE REED...

It's 1 Thing to Have a Pretty Good Idea Some Dude Can Whip Your Ass, but Having that DEMONSTRATED Is Altogether Different...

But The Fact REED CANNOT Fathom The Fighter's Mindset is WHY he Respects and ADMIRES Them Soooooo Much...Fighters TAKE that Ass Whipping, In Front of MILLIONS, Dust Themselves Off and Willingly Come Back For MORE...

Doesn't Get More MANLY Than That...





REED:cheer: