Just under five weeks to go now. I signed up for this thing in August but they reckon 6 weeks is the optimum training time leading up to a fight, so long as you're not a pie-eater. I was a bit of a pie-eater so I started training sort of hard a few weeks ago. I've been mucking about with pads and bags for a couple of years.
A 'pie-eater' is not a technical term, just short-hand for someone who is not in reasonable shape. So you can be pie-eater and only eat sausage-rolls. I got out of shape from eating different kinds of salty, meat things and alcohol.
I mention this because when I asked one of my trainers about my opponent he said they're not yet allowed to give details but that 'he won't be a pie eater.' That's all I know about him. He has a reasonably balanced diet. They don't give away anymore information this far out because they want to be careful not to give either boxer the upper hand.
This means I am free to make up stuff about my opponent. I can then use this make-believe person as motivation to help me endure the unending drudgery that is boxing training.
Most sports are about beating someone else, or a group of other people. Some sports are very rough and physical. But because in boxing you really do have to punch someone else, it would seem obvious that you would want to punch someone who made you cross.
Maybe that works for some people. It isn't working for me. There are lots of people I'm cross with, but it seems I'm not cross with anyone enough to make me jog; a good learning, but not yet enough to make this experience rewarding.
There's a lot on the internet about the psychology of boxing. I've read this article, which takes the line that boxing is 99 per cent psychological. You can say things like this about boxing and everyone is fine with it.
Why is that?
You never hear rowers say, 'Rowing is 99 per cent psychological'. That's because most people would say, 'Nope, I think rowing is about 99 per cent rowing.'
But I think it's mostly because people know that boxing is actually 100 per cent fucking mental and the psychological dimensions are quite easy to grasp: you could get beat up in front of lots of people even though you wanted them to come and watch. All vanity and humiliation with fear the prime motivator. Proper boxers are meant to get a handle on it, but fear is the only thing really motivating me at the moment. I'm a bit spewing.
