Protecting My Strengths

I have always been interested in using and applying sports psychology techniques to my own experience and in particular I have often found myself looking at boxing. One of my favourite quotes is Mike Tyson’s famous “Everyone has a plan, until they get punched in the face” and I recorded a podcast in 2018 entitled “Learning to Defend Myself” which saw me analyse how I could adapt my behaviours to avoid or block some of the punches life likes to hit me with – https://www.sarahwindrum.co.uk/the-ok-cafe/learning-to-defend-myself/

However, it was when I was training for my marathon in early 2019 that I really started to appreciate the discipline of boxing. I started the year carrying an extra 8kg on my ideal body weight which was really going to slow me down over 26 miles, so I started training at my gym with a former boxer. I got a glimmer of insight into the stamina, strength, agility, and balance you need to be any kind of fighter. After that, I have a whole new appreciation for those in the sport.

This turned out to be particularly beneficial in my personal life when I moved in with my new partner at the start of lockdown. My fascination with the psychology behind boxing meant I genuinely looked forward to our Saturday ‘Fight Night’ dates glued to Sky Sports! And one of the names that kept coming up was Canelo. He defeated a mandatory challenger for one of his several weight-class belts in just three rounds last weekend. Now we’re all looking forward to May and seeing him in a unification fight against British boxer Billy Joe Saunders.

Canelo got me thinking in December last year when he defeated Callum Smith with some potentially controversial tactics: namely eliminating Callum’s left hook by continually targeting punches at his bicep. You even see an acknowledgement of this tactic to Callum in the final round when Canelo taps his arm, smiles, and (as we find out from Callum afterwards) asks if it is sore. And it was more than sore. The initial medical diagnosis suggested Canelo had detached Callum’s bicep with potential surgery needed. The boxing community acknowledged the injury but there seemed to be universal acceptance that this was good strategy from Canelo. I wasn’t so sure.

Does eliminating your opponent’s strengths make you a winner? For Canelo it did and it seemed in the interviews and comments afterwards that Callum accepted the injury and Canelo’s strategy behind it. In his post-fight interview, he says:

“it didn’t completely take away the game. But it … took that one shot away from me [his catch left hook] And I’d say credit to him, I think he knew what he was doing … It’s experience on his behalf. It completely tools away probably my best shot.”

Callum goes onto acknowledge even without this tactic he probably wouldn’t have won; but I was left considering Canelo’s strategy and its relevance to my own experiences. My partner reminded me that I don’t box so I must appreciate that competition in the ring is not like competition in other aspects of life. In a ring, you hurt or get hurt. Callum was going to hurt Canelo with that strong left hook if he got the chance. Therefore, they both had a responsibility to protect themselves.

And he is right. Callum shared in his interview that he knew Canelo was targeting his arm from the first round. So he needed to adapt his strategy in order to protect it. I have spent much of my life protecting myself (and others) from the impact of my weaknesses; but now I know I need to have a strategy to protect my strengths too. I may not be the kind of fighter who would target someone’s strength like Canelo; but equally I cannot say I will never come up against such an opponent. Having a strategy to protect my strengths from attack makes good sense: even if I live in the hope I will never have to use it.

This was first published on LinkedIn in March 2021