Amateur Boxing – The Quest for the Vest

I was never what you would consider a naturally talented amateur boxer. Now, you may be thinking “Here we go, a dose of false modesty.” But really, I wasn’t. In fact I can prove that I wasn’t naturally talented. You see in my opinion, naturally talented boxers tend to win and win often. In my first 25 fights I won only 12 of them. By any standards, that record qualifies as average at best.

Whilst natural talent my not have been bestowed upon me, what I did possess was a mix of factors that combined to produce a level of motivation and dedication to improvement that ensured that I had the best possible chance of achieving my goals. So what were my goals? Well, the rose emblem in the picture gives it away. I had an all-consuming desire to get an England vest. To represent my country in the boxing ring.

I achieved my goal and to this day, outside of my wonderful family, getting my England Under-19 vest is the single proudest achievement of my life. Even now, 20 years later, I get butterflies in my stomach looking at that rose and remembering the hard work and dedication that went into getting the vest upon which it is emblazoned. It was anything but an overnight success. And that is what this article about, it’s about motivation and how if you set your mind to it and despite your perceived limitations, you can reach any goal.

I want to talk about the things that I feel gave me the chance to enjoy that moment when the letter came to tell me I was going to represent my country. I was in my parent’s house on my own when the postman arrived. At just 19-years old, it was a rarity for me to receive a letter addressed personally to me. When I opened this letter my curiosity turned to unbridled joy after I read the first few lines. I began to jump about like a man possessed. “Dear Mr Sands, I am pleased to inform you that you have been selected to represent England in an upcoming tournament…”

The joy simply ran through me like an electric shock. I ran across the road to my Nan and Grandad’s house. As two of my most ardent supporters, our smiles and laughter were all-consuming. Even now I’m choking up thinking about it. It was just the most amazing experience. I was getting my England vest, all of the years hard work and dedication had been worth it. It may appear quite a modest achievement, and indeed it is when compared to the careers of others who represented their country at Olympics, won national and international honours and so on. But this was my vest and no-one could take it away from me.

Looking at my vest again now, I wanted to outline what I believe were the key factors that lead to what was an average boxer achieving international representation. I would certainly hope that it may give you as the reader something to think about in terms of setting your targets and going on to achieve them. Whether these goals are within competition as an amateur boxer, as a boxing coach or even getting yourself into decent shape. It’s primarily for those of us who are not ‘naturally talented’.

For me, there were 4 main elements to my success:

1. Determination
2. The Right Environment
3. Right fights, right time
4. Train hard, hard, hard!

Single-Mindedness and Determination

As my career developed as a young amateur boxer, so my determination to succeed grew ever stronger. This was not just a willingness to work hard (which I’ll cover in a moment), but more importantly it was a willingness to continue to improve my capabilities. This boiled down to improving my boxing skills. For that I needed to leave any kind of preconception about my capabilities at the door of the gym.

Learning is what life is all about, and I was determined to continually improve my boxing skills. How could I improve my footwork? How could I cut down on the number of shots I take whilst still landing my own? How can my body punching get better and how can this work within my overall boxing style? Are my basic straight punches working as they should be? What are the best methods for improving my punching speed?

Of course my coaches played a major part in this (more on that in a moment), but for a coach’s advice to work the boxer has to a) be open to receiving that advice and b) think about any potential problems with that advice. A boxer must understand the logic of why they do what they do. This gives them a fixed point of reference from which to work and ultimately improve. By looking for problems with a way of doing things in the boxing ring, or anywhere for that matter, you can establish the logic and therefore the commitment to set out and achieve the goal of getting better at that thing.

There has to be a balance though. One of the drawbacks to my single-minded determination to succeed in boxing resulted in my not achieving the kind of academic results that I should have. Whilst I ultimately have no regrets about this (I caught up on the education stakes in my mid-twenties) I am sure that it would have been better to have maintained the balance and achieved success in both the education and sporting arenas.

So, the single-mindedness and determination to achieve must go beyond simply working hard, it must encompass the openness required to improve the skills.

The Right Environment

For me, the environment for amateur boxers consists of three groups of people:

• Family and friends
• Fellow boxers
• Coaches

I was very fortunate when it came to family and friends. My parents were supportive whilst not being over-bearing and piling pressure on me, something that I have seen happen over the decades of my involvement in amateur boxing. My mum only ever went to watch one of my 60 fights. She really didn’t like the experience (even though I won convincingly) and chose to support from the background.

My Dad went to watch many of my fights, but he never exerted any pressure at all. I guess he knew that boxing was a tough business emotionally (check out the fear in boxing articles), and always offered quiet support. My Grandad and my Uncles too were amazingly supportive. My Grandad brought an air of calm with his presence. I was always happy around my Grandad and seeing him there on fight nights was reassuring.

The trick was that they helped and supported me, but they did not allow their expectations place undue pressure on their young family member.

Whilst boxing may be an individual sport, the importance of fellow boxers I believe cannot be over-stated. In my boxing club, the same one in which all of our videos are recorded, I had a number of fellow boxers who pushed me and motivated me to success. Whether it be competitive spars, watching the hard work and effort they put into everything or indeed watching them compete, I gained massive knowledge and motivation from their presence.

One boxer in particular, my friend and fellow-coach John Jones, was what I would call a naturally talented boxer. In fact, probably the best I’ve been around. John was successful. International boxer, national finalist, endlessly slick and a devastatingly hard puncher. When I saw what John was achieving, I wanted some of that. I watched him, tried to emulate aspects of his boxing style, tried to work as hard as him.

In fact this improvement-by-peers went beyond the walls of the boxing club. As an amateur boxer develops, they move through what is known as the ‘Squad System.’ This is the situation where you not only box as a representative of your boxing club, you also box as a representative of your city then your region. It’s literally the stepping-stones to international representation.

I forged friendships and respect during the squad system that last to this day. I trained alongside guys from other gyms, and in some case actual opponents, and we learned from each other. I am still convinced to this day that a boxer can learn as much from his peers as he can from his coaches.

Speaking of boxing coaches, I was really quite lucky during my amateur boxing career. As well as being in the fortunate position of being brought along by some very experienced coaches at my club, once I made it into the squad system I was exposed to yet more coaches. The coaching in my gym gave me the basis, the back-bone, of what I needed. The coaching within the squad system added in some different approaches that were all geared toward assessing and developing potential as an international-level boxer.

As well as the all-important time in the gym, the coach was there on fight night. I have written a post on The Corner Man so I’m not going to elaborate on the importance of the coach on fight night. Suffice it to say that the right strategic and tactical approach on fight night genuinely can be the difference between victory and defeat. Fights are there to be won, and the boxer needs the input of the coach at all stages of preparation and fighting.

The Right Fights at the Right Time

We should always remember that boxers should box, the more often the better. They should fight the right opponent at the right time in their career. This means that the fights that are made for that boxer should test them the right amount without leaving them out on a limb. This is important during the early stages of the career because later on the boxer has no real control of who they fight. Once they enter a national championships they literally fight all-comers.

Again, in this respect I was lucky. The Club Secretary (the man who made the matches) was very shrewd and maintained a close eye on any potential opponents, always looking for the right match. Whilst I did lose many of my early contests, I was by-and-large competitive. That is to say I was not ‘blown away’ by my opponents. They were tough, competitive boxing matches and I learned a hell of a lot from them.

Having the right fights at the right time was important, but just as important was being active. On average I boxed at least monthly, and when in championships this was at least twice monthly and often as much as every week during periods. Fighters need to fight. Sparring is good, fighting is better.

Train Hard, Hard Hard!

This one kind of goes without saying. As a boxer we learn to take defeat (well us average guys do anyway). You take defeat in the right way. You try to identify the reasons for the defeat and put in place measures to make improvements. This is usually a joint effort between the boxer and the coach. But, the worst possible way to be defeated is by simply not being fit enough.

Early in my boxing career, I lost one or two fights simply because I had not trained hard enough. Against an opponent who was less skilled, losing because of your lack of fitness is the ultimate sin. It can and does happen, but I reached a point where I vowed never to lose because of a lack of hard work.

Working hard in the gym, in the ring and during my road work. To use a Michael Phelps approach “Put lots in the bank during training, because the day will come when you need to make a withdrawal.” Training hard, harder than the imaginary opponent, is non-negotiable. Being defeated by a better boxer is part of the game and will make you a better boxer. Getting whupped because the opponent is simply fitter is unforgivable.

The End Results

So, what where the results of all of these factors in my boxing career? Well, I succeeded in my “quest for the vest.” But, here’s the funny thing. I mentioned that in my first 25 fights I won only 12 of them. That I was a hard worker rather than a naturally talented athlete. Of my final 25 fights, I won 20 of them and this whilst boxing against a much higher caliber of opponent. That’s a very different success rate than in my earlier career.

So, if you are active in amateur boxing and you feel that you might be coming second in more than your fair share of boxing matches, don’t give up hope. We can all improve. It’s the nature of the beast.

If you are not active in amateur boxing, but have other goals that you would like to achieve, then put the right ingredients together in the right amounts and you will get there.  It’s just a matter of time.

Please share any comments below, It would be great to get your views.

Cheers

Fran

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